Teaching
Latin with a Feminist Consciousness
Now, what happens when we realize
this, attaining what I call a "feminist consciousness,"
and we go back to the history and culture we are teaching? We
begin to realize that "adding" women to materials we
have will not work, that the whole structure of what we are teaching
has to be changed in order that the central place of women in
history and culture is affirmed. This will mean examining closely
the contributions women have made to the world, and giving these
women and their contributions a central place in our account
of human history and culture. It will also mean examining closely
the exclusion of women from areas of political, economic, and
intellectual power and giving the story of this exclusion from
power on the basis of gender a central place in our account of
human history and culture.
This necessary re-writing of
every period of human history is now taking place; the contribution
of feminism is and will continue to transform the making of history.
It is making a great impact on Classical Studies. Please read
Barbara McManus' fascinating book, Classics and Feminism, for
a feminist history of the field and for a sense of how the field
has already been changed. Are we willing to be a part of this
enterprise? If we are, we might begin to ask questions such as
the following about what we are teaching:
- Where were women? What were
women doing? What were women not doing, and why? What do we know
about real women at this time, and how do we know it?
- What ideas about women were
expressed in religion, literature, and art?
- How do ancient ideas about
women, preserved mostly in the writings of men, compare with
what we know of the lives of real women at this time?
One chapter dealing with these
questions will not do. These questions must be asked about every
topic that we teach. They must be made central.
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