LS 744 - American Manhood in the Making

(3.00 cr.)

With the dawn of the American democratic experiment came new opportunities for identity and gender construction. Men and women from all over the world poured into America and brought with them their own notions of what it meant to be men and women. Although manhood is often viewed as stable and fixed-rooted in biological truths-history and literature tell a story of gendered contingency and uncertainty, often paired with intense anxiety. Students look at the way manhood has changed in America by reading the historical and literary documents that influenced Americans' perceptions of themselves and their individual and collective manhood.