ENGL-545-01 Race, Religion and Gender in Early Modern English Culture

Faculty:

Kaplan, M. Lindsay

This course engages and builds upon recent scholarship which has argued for understanding race in terms of gender, and demonstrated that religion is an important element in the construction of race in the early modern period. Many scholars have considered the conceptualization of race as an early modern phenomenon, but an examination of medieval texts and scholarship reveals that a racial discourse is already being articulated in the thirteenth century. We will therefore consider the scholarship of this earlier period to see how the intersections of race, gender and religion are represented, before turning to the early modern engagement with and development upon these ideas. Our focus will be on Islam and Judaism as the primary sites of the intersection of religious and racial alterity, noting gender differences in the representations of these faith groups. Our readings will cover a range of texts: theoretical essays on intersectionality and historicism, literary criticism, historical essays, and early modern dramatic and non-literary texts.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: None

Other academic years
There is information about this course number in other academic years:

• 2008-2009 Fall and Spring

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