War, Genocide, and Gender in Modern Europe

Catalog description

Representations of war and genocide in popular culture and mass media often foreground men as fighters and heroes, while women (and children) are shown as victims with little agency. Do these portrayals reflect the experience of individuals? What role do they play for the formation of individual and collective identities, and for our understanding of war and genocide? The seminar explores how gender and gender relations shaped and were shaped by war and genocide in 20th century Europe. Students inquire, how gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexual behavior determined individual and collective experiences of war and genocide, and how they were used to pursue imperial, colonial, genocidal, or other goals. The course draws on a broad variety of primary sources, including letters, diaries, interviews etc., and on comparisons between different regions. Course topics include the redefinition of female and male role expectations during WWI; occupation violence including sexual violence against civilians during WWII; how combatants and civilians dealt with fear, injury, and trauma; gender specific experiences of survival and resistance against the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust; the role of gender for responses to mass refugees during WWI and the Yugoslav Wars; the construction of memory of anti-Jewish pogroms and colonial violence; and many other topics. This course is open to all students, requires no prerequisites, and may be used to fulfill one of the elective requirements for the Gender Studies minor.