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GENDER HISTORY (LM)

Program Overview

The course will address the main topics related to gender history and discussed by scholarly literature, especially the more recent studies. In particular, the lessons will focus on the role of women and the relationships within families and society along the medieval centuries with special attention to the period spanning the twelfth to fifteenth centuries.

Aims and Content

Learning Outcomes

Aim of the course is providing students with historiographical and theoretical tools for the analysis and construction of gender in the Middle Ages (fifth to fifteenth centuries) and to additionally illustrate the general framework of research on the role of women in distinct local and territorial contexts in specific time periods.

Aims and Learning Outcomes

The course aims at instructing students on how to read sources and scholarly literature which deal with aspects of gender and to provide the theoretical tools for the analysis and construction of gender in the Middle Ages (fifth-fifteenth centuries), by providing an introductory picture of scholarship on women in distinct local and territorial contexts and in specific time periods. At the end of the course, the students will be able to read sources as well as scholarly literature critically, and contextualize the gender perspective when applied to history.

Prerequisites

No pre-requisites are required.

Teaching Methods

Traditional face-to-face classes. Slides will be shown during lectures; part of the material will be provided in class, part will be available on Aulaweb. Scheduled presentations by the students; optional exercises corrected in the classroom, which may be taken into account in the examination assessment.

Syllabus/Content

An overview of gender history relative to the Middle Ages, interpretative categories, historiographical updates.

• Gender history and historiography
• Changes in gender dynamics from the early to late Middle Ages
• Women's property rights
• Medieval masculinities

Recommended Reading/Bibliography

For attending students:

• Compulsory texts: D. Lett, Uomini e donne nel Medioevo, il Mulino 2013.
• Only one of the following three options:
  1. 5 chapters of: Violenza alle donne. Una prospettiva medievale, a cura di A. Esposito, F. Franceschi, G. Piccinni, il Mulino 2018
  2. 5 chapters of: Donne, famiglie e patrimoni a Genova e in Liguria nei secoli XII e XIII, a cura di P. Guglielmotti, Genova, Societŕ ligure di storia patria, 2020
  3. Christiane Klapish-Zuber, Matrimoni rinascimentali. Donne e vita famigliare a Firenze (secc. XIV-XV), Roma, Viella, 2022.

For non-attending students:

• Compulsory texts: D. Lett, Uomini e donne nel Medioevo, il Mulino 2013.
• Two of the following three options:
  1. 5 chapters of: Violenza alle donne. Una prospettiva medievale, a cura di A. Esposito, F. Franceschi, G. Piccinni, il Mulino 2018
  2. 5 chapters of: Donne, famiglie e patrimoni a Genova e in Liguria nei secoli XII e XIII, a cura di P. Guglielmotti, Genova, Societŕ ligure di storia patria, 2020
  3. Christiane Klapish-Zuber, Matrimoni rinascimentali. Donne e vita famigliare a Firenze (secc. XIV-XV), Roma, Viella, 2022.

Teachers and Exam Board

• DENISE BEZZINA
• Ricevimento: By appointment
• Exam Board:
  • DENISE BEZZINA (President)
  • ELENA MACCIONI
  • FRANCESCA PUCCI DONATI (Substitute)

Lessons

• Lessons Start: 22nd September 2025
• Class Schedule: The timetable for this course is available on the Portale EasyAcademy.

Exams

• Exam Description: Oral exam.
• Assessment Methods: The oral exam will test the student's knowledge of the main gender dynamics both along the Middle Ages, and in more circumscribed contexts, as well as of the historiographical and methodological approaches illustrated during the course and in the texts. The use of an appropriate terminology will also be assessed.
• Exam Schedule:
  • 15/12/2025 | 09:00 | GENOVA | Orale
  • 21/01/2026 | 09:30 | GENOVA | Orale
  • 04/02/2026 | 09:30 | GENOVA | Orale
  • 03/06/2026 | 09:30 | GENOVA | Orale
  • 29/06/2026 | 09:30 | GENOVA | Orale
  • 20/07/2026 | 09:30 | GENOVA | Orale
  • 07/09/2026 | 09:30 | GENOVA | Orale

Agenda 2030 - Sustainable Development Goals

• Quality education
• Gender equality
• Reduce inequality
• Peace, justice and strong institutions