Centre for Gender History

Semester 1 2023

Wednesday 4 October 2023, 3:30pm
Thompson room, 3 Uni Gardens
Welcome Event and Book Swap
Social welcome event and book swap. Bring along a book you’ve read and you’ll get a book to take home!

Wednesday 25 October 2023, 3:30pm
Thompson room, 3 Uni Gardens
MSc Dissertation Talks
Join us to hear about recent MSc Gender History Graduates’ dissertation research.

Wednesday 1 November 2023, 2:30pm
Thompson room, 3 Uni Gardens
Jeehan Ashercook and Shruti Shukla (University of Glasgow)
Erasure Poetics: Decolonial Feminist Responses to ‘Othering’

Wednesday 29 November 2023, 3:30pm
Thompson room, 3 Uni Gardens
Julia Vallius (University of Glasgow)
‘Looking for Women in Medieval Documents’

Wednesday 13 December 2023, 3:30pm
Thompson room, 3 Uni Gardens
End of term film screening
Film TBC!

Semester 2

17th January, 10-12, 102 10 University Gardens, in-person
PG Coffee Morning

26th January, 17:30-19:00, 237C ARC, in-person plus online
In Conversation with…Ian Forrest, Peggy Brunache, and Andrew Mackillop

21st February, 15:30-17:30, Schaper Room (312) 67 Oakfield Avenue, in-person plus online 
Pomegranates, Parsnips and Pornography: Fertility and Sexual Health in Early Modern Scottish Women’s Manuscript Culture with Rosyln Potter 

8th March, 15:00-17:00, Schaper Room (312) 67 Oakfield Avenue, in-person plus online
A dive into Victorian political theatre: play-reading of ‘Mrs Warren’s Profession’ by George Bernard Shaw

22nd March, 10-12, 102 10 University Gardens, in-person 
PG Coffee Morning

26th April, 15:00-17:00, Hunterian at the Kelvin Hall, in-person
A Hands-on History of Coinage Production from Antiquity to the Modern Era with Cameron Maclean

31st May, 17:00-19:30, Curler’s Rest (Byres Road), in-person 
Why do I hate writing? Cathartic sharing social

2022-23 seminars - semester 1

Semester 2

Friday 28 January 2022
4pm in the Thompson Rm, 3 Uni Gardens
Arron Cockell (University of Glasgow): The masculine paradigm in the study of fascism

Wednesday 23 February 2022
3pm in the Thompson Rm, 3 Uni Gardens
Marianna Golinucci, (University of Glasgow): Investigating race relations in 1980s Glasgow: the Middleton Affair
CW: This talk will include some discussion of rape.

Wednesday 4 May 2022
3pm on Zoom
Georgia Grainger (University of Strathclyde): 'Objectionable, mean, and demeaning': Masculine opposition to vasectomy in Britain in the twentieth century

Wednesday 25 May 2022
2pm-4pm
Women's Heritage Walking Tour with Glasgow Women's Library
Email arts-hufton@glasgow.ac.uk to book a place on the tour.

Semester 1

22 September 2021

Hufton Postgraduate Reading Group Conference - information

Wednesday 20 October 2021
3pm
Thompson Room, 3 University Gardens
Book Swap Welcome Social
Bring a book or two you’ve finished reading and swap them for a new book someone else has brought. A great way to get to know one another and discover new reading material!

Wednesday 27 October 2021
3pm
On Zoom Anna Kantanen, University of Jyväsky ‘Intimate partner homicides in Finland, c.1894–1930.’

Wednesday 24 November 2021
3pm
On Zoom Amrita DasGupta, SOAS University of London ‘Life of Sundarbans Female Islanders: Past and Present’

Wednesday 15 December 2021
3pm
On Zoom Jessica White, University of Manchester ‘The making of female identity in innercity Britain, 1970-1990.’

Semester 2

From 3pm to 4.00pm

Wednesday 27 January 2021
Zoom
Niamh Coffey, University of Strathclyde
“‘We advertised ourselves as the Irish Ladies Distress Committee’: Irish republican women in Britain, 1919-1923"

Thursday 4 February 2021
Zoom
Dr Rachel Hope Cleves, University of Victoria
Book talk: Unspeakable: A Life Beyond Sexual Morality (University of Chicago Press, 2020)

W/C Monday 22 February 2021
Zoom
Speaker to be confirmed
Paper Title: TBC

Wednesday 24 March 2021
Zoom
Sam Dobbie, University of Glasgow
“The Importance of Power Couples in the French Revolution in relation to Female Agency: The Case of Madame Roland”

Wednesday 28 April 2021
Zoom
Ally Williamson, University of Edinburgh
“Interviewing Scottish lesbians during COVID-19"

Wednesday 19 May 2021
Zoom
Amrita DasGupta, SOAS University of London
“Life of Sundarbans’ Female Islanders: Past and Present”

Semester 1

From 3pm to 4.00pm

Wednesday 14 October 2020
Zoom
Welcome social 
An opportunity to get to know one another better

Wednesday 28 October 2020
Zoom
Wiktoria Muryn, University of Glasgow
‘Holy (Mis)conceptions: Late Medieval Depictions of In Utero Infants in Visitation Scenes and Their Female Monastic Audience’

Wednesday 18 November 2020
Zoom
Kristin Hay, University of Strathclyde
'What Kind of Woman Was I?" Shame and Stigma in Narratives of Contraception Use in 'Post-Pill' Scotland, c.1968-1975'

Wednesday 9 December 2020
Zoom
Danielle Schwertner, University of Glasgow 
‘Gender and Identity in the Visual Satires of the Glasgow Looking Glass, 1825-1826’

Wednesday 16 December 2020
Zoom
Christmas social: join us for a virtual catch up over a cup of something cheering to mark the end of the semester

Wednesday 17 October 2018             
Jennifer Wartnaby (University of Strathclyde)
The Emergence of the Feminist Movement to End Men’s Violence Against Women in Scotland, 1970-1983

Wednesday 21 November 2018         
PhD Applications Workshop
An informal discussion about the process of applying for PhD study. Come and speak to current PhD students about how to put together a PhD proposal and write applications to universities and funding bodies.

Wednesday 5 December 2018           
Visit to Glasgow Women’s Library
A trip to Glasgow Women’s Library to learn about their superb archival collections from the archivist. (Time: 2pm - 4pm)

Wednesday 23 January 2019
Interdisciplinary Roundtable: Gender and History in the Arts & Humanities
An informal discussion about the role of gender and history in research in all disciplines within the Arts & Humanities

Wednesday 27 February 2019
Celebrating IWD: Recognising women in our research
Come along and discuss the history of women who feature in y/our research. However ordinary or atypical, known or unknown, share her story.

Wednesday 20 March 2019
Hannah Yoken (University of Glasgow)
‘Local, National or Transnational Feminist Activism? Multilingualism, Translation & Gender History’

Wednesday 17 April 2019
Ashley Dee Paton (The Open University)
‘Recovering the Influence of Class on Marital Cruelty in Victorian Glasgow

Wednesday 22 May 2019
Sophie Conaghan-Sexon (University of Glasgow)
‘Using a Queer Methodology in Medieval History’

6th October 2017:  Gender, Memory & Oral History

Kate Darian-Smith, (Professor of Australian Studies and History, University of Melbourne) – ‘Gender, Memory and the Second World War: Australian Women and the US 1st Marine Division’. 

4th November 2017: Law & Gender

Rebecca Mason (University of Glasgow) and Hannah Telling (University of Glasgow) lead a discussion on applying gender as a category of analysis to legal records – from civil to criminal, early modern to current day. 

1st December 2017: Intersections: Male Criminality

Film screening: The 13th– 2016 documentary by Ava DuVernay, exploring the intersections between gender, race, justice and mass incarceration in the US.

5th January 2018: Queer Theory as Methodology

Sophie Conaghan-Sexon (University of Glasgow) leads a discussion on utilising queer theory as a methodological approach to analysing late medieval texts, images and performances. 

2nd February 2018: Consumerism & Gender

Mona O’Brien (University of Glasgow) – ‘Tea, Coffee and Gender Anxiety in 18th Century Britain’. 

2nd March 2018: Gender History & ‘Impact’

A workshop exploring public engagement, publications and collaboration – how we can make our research relevant to a non-academic audience and why this matters. 

16th March 2018 – Gender History in the archives

Visit to The Women’s Archive at Glasgow Women’s Library – Scottish Women’s Aid archive, Women’s Suffrage Collection, The Lesbian Archive & Scottish Abortion Campaign archive.

All welcome!

Friday 17 January 2014

The first meeting of the Hufton Postgraduate Reading group in 2014 shall take place at 12pm Friday 17 January. There is a change of venue for this term and the meetings will be taking place in Room 102, 10 University Gardens. The theme for this discussion is 'Gender History Across Epistemologies'. Participants are asked to read the following introductory article, and one other article of their choice from this special edition of Gender & History (vol. 24:3).

Gabaccia, D. R. and Maynes, M. J. (2012), 'Introduction: Gender History Across Epistemologies'. Gender & History, 24: 521–539.

Friday 13 December 2013

The Hufton Postgraduate Reading Group shall take place at 12PM in Room 207, 9 University Gardens. We will be discussing the relationship between the "spatial turn" and gender history. Participants are asked to read Kathryne Beebe, Angela Davis, and Kathryn Gleadle's article, "Introduction: Space, Place and Gendered Identities: feminist history and the spatial turn", and one other article of their choice from this special edition of Women's History Review (Volume 21, Issue 4, 2012) on gender and the spatial turn.

Friday 8 November 2013

The Hufton Gender History Reading group will next take place at 12PM next Friday, November 8th, in Room 207, 9 University Gardens.
We will take a long view on the perennial theme of gendered public and private 'spheres', looking at it through the prism of medieval women's studies and reading Kimberly LoPrete's short article on '"Public" aspects of lordly women's domestic activities in France, c.1050-1200' from 'Gender and Historiography: Studies in the earlier middle ages in honour of Pauline Stafford' (eds. Nelson, Reynolds, and Jones). Hanna Kilpi will lead the discussion with a short introduction to medieval gender theory, and how she uses it in her own work. Hanna will also guide us through some primary source material on the day to illustrate LoPrete's points.

Friday 11 October 2013

This term’s first meeting of the Hufton Postgraduate Reading group shall take place in Room 207, 9 University Gardens. We will be discussing the recent 25th edition of Gender and History, which is edited in the Centre for Gender History here at Glasgow. Participants are asked to read the introductory article, and one other article from this edition of their choice:

Lynn Abrams, Eleanor Gordon and Alexandra Shepard, 'Twenty-five Years of Gender & History, Gender & History, Volume 25, Issue 1, pages 1-6, April 2013..
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gend.12012/abstract

October 2012

For the first meeting of the new academic year we took the important, if at times controversial, theme of patriarchy and its value as a theoretical framework in our own research.  Katie Barclay’s recent work on patriarchy and marital relations in early modern Scotland acted as the spring-board for our discussion, in particular her prize-winning book:  Love, Intimacy and Power: Marriage and Patriarchy in Scotland, 1650-1850 (2011).

Several points emerged from our discussion of Katie’s research, including her important argument that patriarchal marital relations do not preclude companionate or affectionate marriage and her emphasis on the negotiations between couples about their roles in marriage that acted both to give individual women agency within a patriarchal society, and ultimately to ensure the continuation of patriarchal relations through its continual evolution (drawing on Kandiyoti’s ‘patriarchal bargain’ and Bennet’s ‘patriarchal equilibrium’).  The definition of patriarchy was another point of discussion, focusing on patriarchy as a ‘system’.  The point was also raised that the term ‘patriarchy’ is sometimes used only as a description of gender inequality, rather than as a theoretical framework in which to situate analysis.

From here our discussion turned to the value of patriarchy in our own research, ranging from its usefulness in understanding doctor-patient relationships, through studies of nineteenth century divorce and childhood to modern consumerism and the labour movement.  There was a general consensus that it provided a compelling theoretical framework, and that a patriarchal system could be identified in many of the areas and periods of research represented around the table. However, many of us found it much harder to move beyond that to analyse its operation on an everyday basis and to understand how individuals negotiated the patriarchal system as Barclay has so impressively done.  In part, it was felt that this was an issue of available source material. 
We were left with a question to consider: if we so readily accept the concept of patriarchy as system of social relations that has survived much historical change, how can we ever hope to see its end?

Wednesday 14 November 2012

We shall be discussing the legacy of Eric Hobsbawm in light of his recent death, and consider how his contributions to social history have influenced our own research.
Since his death he has been described as ‘the most widely read, influential and respected British intellectual and historian from the Marxist tradition’ and credited with ‘bringing history out of the ivory tower and into people’s lives’. However Hobsbawm was not always so revered by feminist historians, many of whom criticised him during the 1970s after he characterised women as: ‘belonging to the proletariat not as a worker, but as the wife, mother and housekeeper of workers'.
In this seminar, we shall consider the extent to which this view of women in social history still prevails today, the value of a Marxist approach to history and whether it can ever be successfully reconciled with an approach that considers gender. Please feel free to come along and discuss any examples relevant to this debate from your own research.

Wednesday 12 December 2012 – Christmas Special: Consumerism and Gender

Hayley Cross will open our discussion with an informal introduction to some of her oral history work. Hayley has interviewed a number of Scottish men and women, born between 1920 and 1965. She will discuss how she and her participants have explored Christmas and the role played by gender in the construction of testimony. Themes covered will include; credit and debt, the pressure of advertising and black-market goods. This should stimulate discussion on the wider theme of 'consumption' and will provide the group with an opportunity to reflect on the possible role of 'gendered consumption' in their own work.

Here are some links to three articles that might be of interest:

• Theodore Caplow, 'Rule enforcement without visible means; Christmas gift giving in Middletown', American Journal of Sociology, 89 (6), 1984;
• Eileen Fischer and Stephen J. Arnold, ‘More than a labor of love; gender roles and Christmas gift shopping’, Journal of Consumer Research, 17, 1990;
  Both are American research but should provide some interest.
• AND on gender and consumerism more generally, Matt Hilton, ‘The female consumer and the politics of consumption in twentieth-century Britain’, The Historical Journal, 45, 2002.

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Laura Paterson shall be discussing her research and presenting statistical data on women's paid employment between 1931 and 1971, providing a national and regional analysis. She has suggested the following articles as appropriate reading for people planning to attend:

• Hakim, C., ‘Five Feminist Myths about Women’s Employment’, The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 46, No. 3 (Sept., 1995), pp. 429-455.
• Pahl, J. et al, ‘Feminist Fallacies: A Reply to Hakim on Women’s Employment’, The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 47, No. 1 (Mar., 1996), pp. 167-174

at 3pm in the meeting room in Lilybank House.

Tuesday 19 February 2013

The next meeting of the Hufton Postgraduate Reading group shall take place at 12 noon on Tuesday 19th February in the Meeting Room of Lilybank House. We shall be having a general discussion about periodisation and gender history. Those planning on attending are suggested to read the following as an introduction to the topic, before having a general discussion that will allow people to reflect upon the significance of periodisation in their own research. 
Shepard, A. and Walker, G. (2008) ‘Gender, change and periodisation’ in  Gender and History, 20 (3).

Tuesday 19 March 2013

The following meeting shall take place at 12 noon on Tuesday 19th March in the Meeting Room of Lilybank House. Klara Arnberg, visiting researcher from Stockholm University, shall be giving a paper entitled: ‘Illegally Blonde: The pornographic construction of the “Swedish sin” in Private magazine 1965-1971’. 

23 April 2013

The next meeting of the Hufton Postgraduate Reading group shall take place at 12 noon on Tuesday 23rd April in the Meeting Room of Lilybank House. Cristin Sarg shall be discussing the impact of gender theory on Jewish history.

Friday 17 May 2013

‘Histories of Gender, Histories of Skill’: Postgraduate Masterclass with Laura Lee Downs, Professor of Gender History, European University Institute, Florence,

The masterclass will focus on the relationship between gender, work and skill. Preparatory reading for the session focuses on extracts from her book Manufacturing Inequality available as an e-book in GUL.: the Introduction, chapter 3 (Toward an epistemology of skill); chapter 4 (Unravelling the Sacred Union – on women’s strikes and the politics of equal sacrifice in wartime France); chapter 8 (The Limits of labor stratification in interwar Britain – on gender, skill and labor militancy (women and men) in 1930s Britain). Ideally, students should also have a look at chapter 6, on demobilization and the reclassification of labor, as the gender and skill argument is brought to its conclusion in that chapter.

Wednesday 28 September 2011 at 3pm

in Room 214, Lilybank House, Economic and Social History, Glasgow University 
Meagan Butler has agreed to lead the discussion on 'Gendered Expectations'.  She will be discussing gendered differences in marital expectations of the early Victorian period, based on her own findings from the Court of Session cases.

Thursday 24 November 2011

Graduate Masterclass with Professor Maria Luddy (University of Warwick)

at 3pm in the Seminar Room (201), Lilybank House

Professor Maria Luddy has published extensively on the history of women in nineteenth and twentieth century Ireland.  From 1997 to 2001 she acted as Director of the Women's History Project, funded by the Irish Government and based in Dublin.  Her published work has covered a wide range of issues and themes including women and philanthropy, 'outcast' women in Irish society, women's involvement in religious communities and the role of nuns in workhouse nursing, in addition to biographies of Isabella M. S. Tod and Hanna Sheehy Skeffington. 

Wednesday 25 January 2012

at 3pm in the Meeting Room 214, Lilybank House, University of Glasgow.  

Informal 'Welcome Back' session, at which plans, ideas and suggestions for the coming year can be discussed. 

Wednesday 29th February 2012

at 3pm in Room 214, Lilybank House, Economic and Social History, Glasgow University.
Jonathon Moss will be leading the discussion on ‘Women’s Experience and Protest in the British Labour Movement c.1969-1981’.  
My research uses oral history to examine the protests of female workers in Britain who took part in labour disputes during the 1970s. It shall use a number of separate case studies to consider how the interests of the growing number of female trade unionists in this period were misrepresented by their unions and examine the alternative ways that female workers began to organise themselves outside of the formal institutions of the labour movement. In doing so it shall consider the wider effects that the Women’s Liberation Movement had on working women and re-examine the critical role that gender has played in shaping the structure, goals and achievements of workers’ movements in the past.

Wednesday 28 March 2012

at 3pm in the Meeting Room of Lilybank house, Economic and Social History, Glasgow University.

At this meeting we will be discussing Caitlin Moran, a ‘modern feminist icon’ whose book How to Be a Woman topped best seller charts last summer. We will be asking what the popularity of writers, such as Moran, means for the study of Gender History within universities and whether it offers anything new to students of gender theory. 
If anyone is interested in attending this meeting but is unfamiliar with Moran’s work, please contact Martha Kirby as we have also prepared a selection of reviews and interviews with Moran herself to help guide the discussion. 

Wednesday 25 April 2012

at 3pm in the Meeting Room of Lilybank house, Economic and Social History, Glasgow University.
At this meeting we will be discussing a special edition of Women’s History Review, published last year on the theme of ‘Gender and Generations’. Specifically, we will be focusing on the introduction to this edition ‘‘Gender and Generations’: women and life cycles’, Women’s History Review, Barclay, Carr, Elliot and Hughes, Vol. 20, No.2, pp.175-188. The intention of this meeting will be to discuss whether the experience of aging can be considered an innately gendered process and how considerations of the male and female lifecycle can impact on our own work in gender history.

You are warmly invited to a Gender history Masterclass being hosted by the Centre for Gender History in conjunction with the Hufton Postgraduate Reading Group. 

Thursday 17 May 2012 

at 2.30pm in the seminar room of Lilybank House.
Gender & History Masterclass with Professor Antoinette Burton World History, Global History, Gender History
Antoinette Burton is Professor of History and Bastian Professor of Global and Transnational Studies in the Department of History, University of Illinois. She is the author of Burdens of History: British Feminists, IndianWomen and Imperial Culture, 1865-1915 (1994) and At the Heart of the Empire: Indians and the Colonial Encounter in Late Victorian Britain (1998). 
Her most recent work has been in the field of world/global history (Primer for Teaching World History) and this masterclass will offer us the opportunity to talk to her about recent interventions and her own contributions. 
We encourage participants in the masterclass to undertake a little preparatory reading. The following have been suggested by Antoinette Burton as prompts for discussion:

1.http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2010/1009/1009art1.cfm
2.Our World Histories from Below
3.The e-journal World History Connected, which aims to link research and pedagogy across several audiences (school teachers, public historians, academics) - it's free/ungated
4.Essay by Micol Seigel on Latin America and world history (attached)
5.A.Burton (ed), Primer for Teaching World History (chapters from this will be available shortly).

Contact: Martha Kirby
Please feel welcome to pass details of this Masterclass on to other postgraduates or early career researchers who you think would be interested in attending.  Postgraduate students and early career historians from other Scottish universities are also very welcome.
If you are interested in attending, I would be grateful if you could RSVP to my e-mail above in order to confirm your attendance.

Semester 3  

Wednesday 25 May 2011

11am
Meeting Room (214), Lilybank House, University of Glasgow
Hayley Cross will lead the discussion on Gender Identities, Consumer Identities

Wednesday 27 April 2011

11am 
Meeting Room (214), Lilybank House, University of Glasgow
Hazel Morrison will introduce this discussion.  Ahead of this, she has selected the following quotation for our consideration:  
'Sex plays a certain part in the causation of mental disorder, as the stresses vary in men and women.  Males suffer chiefly from worry and anxiety and excesses of all kinds, whereas the stress in the case of the female is largely connected with the reproductive functions.  The onset of menstruation at puberty, the monthly menses… are all periods of severe stress, and in unstable women may be the determining factors in bringing about a mental breakdown.' 
Printed in Psychological Medicine, A Manual on Mental Diseases for Practitioners and Students by Maurice Craig M.A. M.D. 1917

Semester 2

Wednesday 23 March 2011

at 11am in the Meeting Room (214), Lilybank House, University of Glasgow
Matthew Winterbottom: Juvenile delinquency
Matt will be leading the discussion on juvenile delinquency from a gendered perspective and has very kindly suggested the attached reading (which he adds is by no means prescriptive) ahead of the discussion:

• Andrew Davies, 'These viragoes are no less cruel than the lads': Young women, gangs and violence in late Victorian Manchester and Salford', Brit. J. Criminol., Vol 39, No 1, Special Issue 1999
• Linda Mahood and Barbara Littlewood, The 'Vicious' Girl and the 'Street-Corner' Boy: Sexuality and the Gendered Delinquent in the Scottish Child-Saving Movement, 1850-1940, Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 4, No. 4 (April 1994)
• David Phillips, 'Three 'moral entrepreneurs' and the creation of a 'criminal class' in England, c.1740s-1840s', Crime History & Societies, Vol 7, 1 (2003)

Wednesday 23 February 2011

10.30am
Meeting Room (214), Lilybank House, University of Glasgow
Linsey Robb and Alison Turnbull,  Civillian Masculinities during the Second World War
 
Sonya Rose has argued that the hegemonic masculine role in Britain during the Second World War centred on the man in uniform in what she terms 'temperate masculinity'. This 'temperate masculinity' was a blend of the traditional soldier hero, as explored by Graham Dawson, and the inter-war shift towards the celebration of the more homely 'little man', as studied by Alison Light. However, this focus on the military does raise questions about the masculine identities of men, of fighting age, who remained in civil employment throughout the war. These men, at the peak of armed forces employment in 1943, numbered around 5 million. How these civilian men were represented culturally and how they represented themselves is the focus of study by Linsey Robb and Alison Turnbull respectively.

Linsey and Alison will be presenting short film and radio extracts along with oral history interviews to allow discussion on such issues as the intersection of masculinity and national identity, gender relations in wartime and the issue of dealing with masculinities which deviate from the hegemonic.

If anyone would like to do any reading on the topic we suggest:

• Sonya. O. Rose, Which people's war? : national identity and citizenship in Britain 1939-1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004)- Chapter 5 will probably be of most use to the discussion
• Graham Dawson, Soldier heroes : British adventure, empire, and the imagining of masculinities (London: Routledge, 1994) -especially the Introductory chapter
• Penny Summerfield, Reconstructing women's wartime lives : discourse and subjectivity in oral histories of the Second World War (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998) -especially the chapter on wartime masculinities and gender relations'

Wednesday 26 January 2010

1pm, in the Meeting Room (214), Lilybank House, University of Glasgow
A Lethal Form of Masculinity? Masculinity, Health and the Body
Martha Kirby will introduce this discussion.
What do Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Charles Atlas have in common? By using exercise to achieve ‘ideal’ and ‘powerful’ male bodies, they have become role models for different generations of young boys. Yet paradoxically, such bodies are idealized for their appearance rather than for their health. The distinctive patterns of male and female health have long been documented, and since the 1960s the explanations for their differences have focused on potential cultural causes. In this seminar, Martha intends to discuss the idea that masculine performativity and sex role identity have been crucial in the development of a distinct pattern of male health behaviours. 

For those who are particularly interested in the topic, Martha recommends the following reading:

• Men's Health and Illness: Gender, Power and Illness, ed. Donald Sabo and Frederick Gordon, Sage, 1995. (Copies are available from Martha)
• Feeding the Organization Man: Diet and Masculinity in Postwar America, Jesse Berrett, Journal of Social History, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Summer, 1997), pp. 805-825.
• Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept, R. W. Connell and James W. Messerschmidt, Gender and Society, Vol. 19, No. 6 (Dec., 2005), pp. 829-859.

Meetings to follow:

• Wednesday 30 March 2011: details to be confirmed
• Wednesday 27 April 2011: Hayley Cross will discuss gender and consumerism

Semester 1

Wednesday 24 November 2010

at 1pm in the Meeting Room (214), Lilybank House, University of Glasgow
The conundrum of Patrick Geddes: misogynistic man of science or misunderstood male feminist? 
Tanya Cheadle will introduce this discussion of Patrick Geddes. Geddes was a maverick natural scientist, sociologist, urban planner, educationalist and art patron who lived and worked in Edinburgh in the 1880s and 90s. He was at the centre of a progressive network of men and women who interacted in a heady atmosphere of high morality and neo-Romanticism. He was also the co-author of an influential text on sex, The Evolution of Sex (1889), which according to Thomas Laqueur, represents the pinnacle of late-Victorian belief in sexual diamorphism. 
Broadly, Tanya would like to us to explore how the particular configurations of modern feminism impact our interpretations of the politics of gender relations in history, in the context of new methodologies which are revising our understanding of what constitutes 'feminist action'. 
The following reading is suggested:-
Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990). 
Annmarie Hughes, Gender and Political Identities in Scotland, 1919-1939 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010) - available as an e-book in the library.

Wednesday 27 October 2010

at 1pm in the Meeting Room (214), Lilybank House, University of Glasgow 
'Gender and Creating Home': Yvonne McFadden will use women's magazines and oral testimony to examine representations and experiences of the sexual division of labour within the context of creating the interior of the home. The discussion afterwards will focus on the different value placed on women and men's work within the home.

Wednesday 06 October 2010

at 1pm, in the Meeting Room (214), Lilybank House, University of Glasgow 
Planning meeting regarding the Hufton Postgraduate Reading Group during the 2010/11 session

During this meeting, we'll be planning ahead for the coming academic year in terms of choosing topics for future seminars, and perhaps optional reading and sub-topics for discussion. This initial meeting is intended to faciliate this seminar-planning, with all of our involvement.

In addition to finalising the schedule for the October, November and January seminars (and even beyond), we can also use this opportunity to take forward ideas and plans for the Hufton Group's planned January 2011 Research Seminar/Lecture event. 
Any other subjects that anyone would like to discuss are of course warmly welcomed and, as always, tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided. 
All interested in gender history are very welcome to attend.

Established in 2007, the Glasgow University Gendering History reading group, also known as the Hufton Seminar Group, is organised by postgraduate students on a six-weekly basis and provides the opportunity to discuss and debate gender and other theories and histories in an informal setting.  All postgraduates, academics, and other university staff are welcome to attend.  Postgraduate students and early career historians from other Scottish universities are also welcome. 

The Group welcomes all suggestions regarding topics for discussion and these meetings also provide a forum for discussing students’ own work and experience of gender history.  The research of those attending the group covers a diverse range of historical periods and themes and students are therefore able to offer one another different insights into the practice of gender history.

Wednesday 14 July 2010

4pm, Meeting Room (214), Lilybank House, University of Glasgow
In this informal catch-up meeting, we will be discussing our proposed programme of 2010/11 seminars (including suggested topics), our plans for an Autumn launch event and aspects of our own research – picking un new ideas from each other and refreshing old ones!  Any other subjects that anyone would like to discuss on Wednesday are of course warmly welcomed and, as ever, biscuits will be provided.  All interested in gender history are very welcome to attend.

Thursday 22 April 2010

at 10am in the Meeting Room (214), Lilybank House, University of Glasgow
We'll be discussing the theoretical approaches we apply in our own work.

Wednesday 10 March 2010

at 11am in the Main Seminar Room (201), Lilybank House, University of Glasgow

Following on from the last seminar, we will be discussing the work of Judith Butler and evaluating her influence on gender theory. The following reading is suggested:

• Bulter, J., 'Contingent foundations: feminism and the question of 'postmodernism', in Butler, J., and J. W. Scott, eds., Feminists theorise the political. London: Routledge (1992)
• Butler, J., Gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity. London: Routledge (1992)

Copies of the 'Contingent Foundations' article can be obtained from myself - just drop me an e-mail if you need a copy of this.
Looking forward to seeing you all next Wednesday.  As ever, tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided but please feel free to bring your lunch with you, given the time we are meeting :-)

Thursday 28 January 2010

12 noon, Meeting Room, Lilybank House
The group will discuss Joan Scott's seminal article on ‘Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis’, consider how she reflects on it now and discuss how we apply 'gender' in our own work.
The following reading is suggested:

• Original article: Joan W. Scott, 'Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis', The American Historical Review, Vol. 91, No. 5 (Dec 1986), pp. 1053-1075
• Update article: Joan W. Scott, 'AHR Forum. Unanswered Questions', The American Historical Review, Vol. 113, No. 5 (Dec 2008), pp. 1422-1429.

The forum starts earlier on p. 1344 and includes Joanne Meyerowitz, 'A History of "Gender"', as well as other articles discussing gender from a range of standpoints, including medieval history.

Wednesday 2 December 2009

11am, Meeting Room, Lilybank House
Introductory meeting – attendees will introduce themselves and discuss their own research interests.

For details of meeting times and places, and to be added to the Hufton Mailing List, please contact Andrea Thomson or Eilidh Macrae, Room 115, Department of Economic and Social History, Lilybank House, University of Glasgow, G12 8RT