HIST-3420 Masculinity and Femininity in China, 1500-Present

This class will critically examine changing notions of masculinity and femininity in China from the Ming dynasty to the present. In it, students will grapple with the following questions: How have culture and history shaped the categories of "woman" and "man"? What are the lines we draw between these categories, have the relationships among them changed over time ? How have class, status, and divisions of labor influenced the shaping of normative gender roles and sexualities, as well as actual patterns of behavior? How has gender performance interacted with the body? Who has the power to define masculine and feminine traits? (Offered every other year.)