Gender, War, and Migration: Europe, 1914 to the Present

Catalog description

(same as WGST 4660 ; cross-leveled with HIST 7660, WGST 7660 ). Scholars have long recognized the fundamental ways that war and migration marked the lives of European women and men in the 20th century, and yet, rarely have they focused on the interrelations between mobilities, violence and gender. This class explores how war and mass migrations inscribed new gendered, racial and class hierarchies into the European landscape, and created new kinds of political and social divides. The total wars of World War I and World War II, requiring the participation of civilians and soldiers, erasing lines separating the home front from the battlefield, forcing millions to flee their homes, and drawing men and women from the colonies into the war effort reshaped notions of gender, work, family, nation and citizenship within Europe. The subsequent wars of decolonization and post war migrations, followed by the conflicts that erupted at the end of the Cold War challenged the postwar gender ideals underpinning the European welfare state and the European Union, and fueled the rise of contemporary xenophobic and racist populist movements. Course materials will include historical monographs, articles, novels, memoirs and films. Credit Hour s : 3