"we can better understand the persistence and durability of saturating hegemonic systems like culture when we realise that their internal contraints upon writers and thinkers were productive, not unilaterally inhibiting." (Said, Orientalism)
Taking Said's comment above as a critical launching point, this course examines the (re)production, dissemination and maintenance of a range of stereotypes of womanhood in mid to late Victorian culture. Using a variety of materials - newspaper editorials, periodical essays, pamphlets, poetry, posters, political cartoons, photographs - we will work to assess the ideological work of such stereotypes. Of particular interest will be the work of such stereotypes in political argument. What can stereotypes tell us about the conditions of women's participation in political culture in this period? How effective is the stereotype as a political tool? How do feminist and anti-feminist speakers/writers participating, for example, in the Woman Question negotiate stereotypes (their own, and those of the ‘opposition') to political purpose? How do stereotypes of womanhood alter in a period which saw profound changes to women's legal, economic and cultural status? Stereotypes for discussion will include: the governess, the distressed needlewoman, the fallen woman; the angel in the house; the strong-minded woman; the New Woman; the suffragette, the harem woman and the hysteric.
TEXTS Consult the computer printout in the University Bookstore. A substantial number of texts will be collected in a coursepack.