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Module Catalogue

HI2C9-15 War, Sex & Gender in the United States: from Civil War to WWII

Department
History
Level
Undergraduate Level 2
Module leader
Susan Carruthers
Credit value
15
Module duration
10 weeks
Assessment
100% coursework
Study location
University of Warwick main campus, Coventry

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Introductory description

War has played a central role in shaping politics, society, and culture in the United States since its inception. This module explores the multiple ways in which wartime mobilisation has both drawn on and reconfigured American gender constructs in consequential ways, some more durable than others. Organized around three thematic blocs, the module will examine martial processes that sought to remodel over the decades from the Civil War to the end of World War II.

Module web page

Module aims

The structure of the module will encourage students to interrogate how gender norms have been manipulated to build support for conflict and to sustain morale; how women have been recruited to perform various forms of gendered war work; and, finally, how processes of postwar reconstruction-- demobilisation, mourning, and healing-- have often sought to rehabilitate traditional gender identities. Over the course of the module, students will be exposed to the ways in which war generates not only pressures for conformity but also resistance, analysing how ethnicity, class, sexuality, and race have complicated the wartime expectations and experiences of many non-elite Americans.

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Part I: Mobilisation

  1. Gender crises as a cause of war?
  2. Pacifism, feminism and anti-war resistance
  3. Forging martial masculinity

Part II: Gendered War Work
4) Nursing and the “feminine” duty of care
5) Women auxiliaries in the US military in World War I and II
6) Reading Week
7) Entertainment and morale in the “Good War” Film Screening: The Best Years of our Lives (1946)

Part III: Aftermaths
8) Mourning: Grieving widows and mothers
9) Wounded bodies and the gendered work of rehabilitation

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

  • Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the multiple ways in which gender is imbricated with war mobilisation, combat motivation, and postwar reconstruction.
  • Communicate ideas and findings, adapting to a range of situations, audiences and degrees of complexity.
  • Generate ideas through the analysis of a broad range of primary source material.
  • Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing scholarship.
  • Act with limited supervision and direction within defined guidelines, accepting responsibility for achieving deadlines.

Indicative reading list

Reading lists can be found in Talis

Specific reading list for the module

Subject specific skills

See learning outcomes.

Transferable skills

See learning outcomes.

Study time

Type Required
Lectures 9 sessions of 1 hour (6%)
Seminars 9 sessions of 1 hour (6%)
Tutorials 1 session of 1 hour (1%)
Private study 131 hours (87%)
Total 150 hours

Private study description

History modules require students to undertake extensive independent research and reading to prepare for seminars and assessments. As a rough guide, students will be expected to read and prepare to comment on three substantial texts (articles or book chapters) for each seminar taking approximately 3 hours. Each assessment requires independent research, reading around 6-10 texts and writing and presenting the outcomes of this preparation in an essay, review, presentation or other related task.

Costs

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Assessment group A2
Weighting Study time Eligible for self-certification
Assessment component
Essay 50% Yes (extension)
Reassessment component is the same
Assessment component
Source Review 40% Yes (extension)
Reassessment component is the same
Assessment component
Oral Participation 10% Yes (extension)
Reassessment component is the same
Feedback on assessment

Written feedback provided via Tabula; optional oral feedback in office hours.

Courses

This module is Optional for:

  • Year 2 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History

This module is Option list A for:

  • Year 2 of UHIA-V1V5 Undergraduate History and Philosophy

This module is Option list B for:

  • Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
  • Year 2 of UHIA-VM11 Undergraduate History and Politics

This module is Option list C for:

  • Year 2 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology