HIS 472/572 History of American Masculinities

Course Description:

This course examines the history of masculinity in the United States from the colonial era to the late twentieth century. To say that this is a history of masculinity is not to say that it is merely a history of men for, as women's historians have been arguing for the past three decades, the very archive of American history has been primarily the story of men. Rather, this course is an exploration of how men and women have constructed ideas of manhood; how those ideas have been shaped by other categories of identity - such as race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and region; and how men have performed their identities as gendered beings. As such, this course will explore the ways in which masculinity has been historically constituted in the United States and how men and women of varying backgrounds have affirmed, contested, and/or disrupted these historically-constituted meanings of manhood. Although the course is, for the most part, an exercise in historical inquiry, we will draw on a number of other disciplines - including anthropology, sociology, and cultural and film studies - in order to construct a more comprehensive, and hopefully more provocative, history of American masculinities.

Assigned Readings:

Elliott Gorn, The Manly Art: Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting in America. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1990.
Mary A. Renda, Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism, 1915- 1940. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.
George Chauncey, Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940. New York: Basic Books, 1994.
Matthew Basso, Laura McCall, and Dee Garceau, eds. Across the Great Divide: Cultures of Manhood in the American West. New York: Routledge, 2001.
Gail Bederman, Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
David D. Gilmore, Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity. New Haven, Ct.: Yale University Press, 1990.

All of the above books are on reserve at Knight Library. The Gorn, Renda, and Chauncey books are also available at the University Bookstore. There is a course packet, both available for purchase as well as on reserve at Knight. Readings from the course packet are required and are indicated in the syllabus by (R).

Course Requirements:

This is a reading- and writing-intensive course. Although I will give occasional lectures to introduce key concepts and/or provide broader context for important themes and ideas, the questions we are seeking to answer require group discussion. Therefore, I expect students to attend class regularly and be prepared to discuss the assigned readings. Class participation is paramount. Students with more than three unexcused absences will have their final grade lowered by a letter grade. Students with more than five unexcused absences will fail the course.

The written work for this class consists of three papers. Two short essays (3-5 typed, 12 point, double-spaced pages with 1" margins) will address specific themes within the class readings and are due during weeks five and eight. I will give further direction on these papers well before their due dates.
The final paper will be a longer essay (8-10 typed pages with the same specifications) in which you will select a single primary source and analyze it within a broader historical context. By primary source, we are referring to a historical piece of evidence, a source that was produced during the actual historical period under consideration. Primary sources can be textual (speeches, letters, novels and poems, song lyrics, newspaper articles, debates, etc.), aural (musical instrumentation), visual (films and television programs, works of art, advertisements, etc.) and material (architecture, fashion, folk art, iconography, toys, etc.). The central question that should drive your analysis is: What does this primary source tell us about the social construction of manhood during this particular historical period? Some questions that should help you get at this larger question - and that should also help deepen your analysis - include: What are the explicit and implicit meanings contained within the source? Who, or what, produced the source? Who was the intended audience and did the way they interpret or consume the meanings of the source conform to the producer's intent? Do the meanings of the source - either in their production or consumption - reflect particular biases in terms of class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, age, nationality, ability, or region? You are required to consult at least five secondary sources to assist you in analyzing your primary source and placing it within its specific historical context. Secondary sources are academic-oriented works that are based on the interpretation of primary sources. These include historical monographs, articles, documentaries, and so forth. Although you are free to use class readings as secondary sources, your paper must have at least three secondary sources that are not included on the syllabus. The final paper is due during finals weeks but you are required to submit a proposal by week three and an abstract and bibliography by week six. Your final paper must be accompanied by the primary source itself or a representation of it and must also provide proper documentation (Chicago Manual of Style, APA, or MLA) and bibliography. The final papers are due in my office (or mailbox) no later than 5:00 on Wednesday, March 17th.

NB: Late papers will be deducted one letter grade for every day that they are beyond the deadline. All writing assignments must be submitted in hard copies. I will accept papers formatted in electronic text only in the case of emergencies and, even then, it is the student's responsibility to follow up on whether or not the file was successfully transmitted and opened.

Note to graduate students:

We will meet early in the term to determine additional reading material, alternate assignments, and separate class meetings. Your final assignment will be the same as undergraduates although your paper should be longer (15-20 pages) and include at least eight secondary sources. You may also change the final project if you wish to use it as an opportunity to write a prospectus or chapter of your thesis or dissertation. Consult me early in the term to let me know what you wish to do.

Course Evaluation:

Class participation (10%)
Two short writing assignments (25% each for a total of 50%)
Final research paper (40%)

Course Outline:

Week 1
Mon 1/5 Introduction
Wed 1/7 Studying masculinity: Biological essentialism v. social constructionism
Reading: Sullivan, "The He Hormone" (R)
Connell, "The big picture: Masculinities in recent world history," Segal, "Changing men: Masculinities in context," Donaldson, "What is hegemonic masculinity?" (R)
Gilmore, Manhood in the Making, pp. 9-29 (KL)

Weeks 2-4 Labor and Class

Mon 1/12- The Market Revolution and the emergence of hegemonic manliness
Wed 1/14 Reading: Gorn, Manly Art, pp. 11-128

Mon 1/19 NO CLASS - MLK DAY
Wed 1/21 Race, age, and the constructions of working-class manhood in the 19th century
Reading: Gorn, Manly Art, pp. 129-47
Baron, "An 'Other' Side of Gender Antagonism at Work" (R)
Leong, "'A Distinct and Antagonistic Race: Constructions of Chinese Manhood in the Exclusion Debates, 1869-1878,'" in Basso et. al., Across the Great Divide (KL)

Proposal due in-class on Wednesday, January 21st

Mon 1/26- The twilight of hegemonic manliness and the birth of modern masculinity
Wed 1/28 Reading: Gorn, Manly Art, pp. 148-254
Bederman, "Remaking Manhood Through Race and Civilization," in
Manliness and Civilization, pp. 1-44 (KL)

Weeks 5-7 Race and Imperialism

Mon 2/2- Manhood, domestic expansion, and the beginnings of American empire
Wed 2/4 Reading: Bederman, "Theodore Roosevelt: Manhood, Nation, and 'Civilization,'" in Manliness and Civilization, pp. 177-215 (KL)
Clark and Nagel, "White Men, Red Masks," in Basso et. al., Across the Great Divide (KL)
Klopotek, "'I Guess Your Warrior Look Doesn't Work Every Time," in Basso et. al., Across the Great Divide (KL)

Writing Assignment #1 due in-class on Monday, February 2d

Mon 2/9- Gender and the cultural politics of empire: Politics
Wed 2/11 Reading: Renda, Taking Haiti, pp. 3-181
Kaplan, "Black and Blue on San Juan Hill" (R)

Abstract and bibliography due in-class on Wednesday, February 11th

Mon 2/16- Gender and the cultural politics of empire, part II: Culture
Wed 2/18 Reading: Renda, Taking Haiti, pp. 181-307
Film: Emperor Jones

Weeks 8-10 Sexuality

Mon 2/23- Homosexuality, heterosexuality, and the construction of normative masculinity in the early twentieth century
Wed 2/25 Reading: Rotundo, "Romantic Friendship" (R)
Chauncey, Gay New York, pp. 1-127

Writing Assignment #2 due in-class on Monday, February 23d

Mon 3/1- The spatial and performative dimensions of gay male culture in early-twentieth- century New York
Wed 3/3 Reading: Chauncey, Gay New York, pp. 131-361

Mon 3/8- Sexuality, Cold War politics and the American male
Wed 3/10 Reading: Courdileone, "'Politics in an Age of Anxiety'" (R)
Film: The Manchurian Candidate

Back to top