Syllabus

Lecture topics

The lectures for Autumn 2025 are scheduled for Tuesdays at 12-1pm in OCULUS 1.01. If you miss a lecture or want to recap, I do use LectureCapture, and you'll find the recordings on the module Moodle site. But I'd strongly encourage you to attend in person, if possible!

Note: In case you want to cast ahead, I've kept the slides on the website from the last time I taught the module in 2022-23. I will, however, update the slides on a weekly basis. New versions will be downloadable no later than noon each Monday, 24 hours before the lecture. The slides for week 1 are available now.

Part I: Mobilisation

1) Terms of engagement: war/sex/gender

To download the lecture slides, click hereLink opens in a new window.

2) Conscripting martial masculinity

To download the lecture slides, click hereLink opens in a new window.

3) Pacifism, feminism and anti-war resistance

To download the lecture slides, click hereLink opens in a new window.

Part II: Gendered War Work

4) What do soldiers do?

To download the lectures slides, click hereLink opens in a new window.

5) Women in uniform

To download the lecture slides, click hereLink opens in a new window.

6) Reading Week [no lecture]

7) Morale, morality and sexuality in the 'Good War'

To download the lecture slides, click hereLink opens in a new window.

Part III: Aftermaths

8) Mourning and memorialisation

To download the lecture slides, click hereLink opens in a new window.

9) Wounded bodies, disordered minds, and the remasculinization of veterans

To download the lecture slides, click hereLink opens in a new window.

10) War, demobilisation and progressive social change?

To download the lecture slides, click WSG10_2022Link opens in a new window.

Seminar Topics

Click on the links for full details of each week's required readings, suggested further reading and seminar questions.

The Talis Aspire reading list is linked here: Talis.

1) Gender as construct and 'cause'?: the Spanish-American War (1898-99)Link opens in a new window

2) Conscripting masculinityLink opens in a new window

3) Maternalism and women's resistance to World War ILink opens in a new window

4) Nursing and the evolution of gender normsLink opens in a new window

5) The Women's Army Corps and the politics of sexuality in World War IILink opens in a new window

6) Reading Week [no seminar]

7) 'Good' and 'bad girls' in the 'Good War'Link opens in a new window

8) Gendered grief and 'Gold Star Mothers'Link opens in a new window

9) The 'remasculinization' of wounded veterans after World War IILink opens in a new window

10) War as an agent of progressive social change?Link opens in a new window