Informal Essays:

Assignment 1: The Significance of Western Women's History (Due T September 12)

Answer the question below in a brief (2-3 pp.) essay. To support your argument, you should draw specific examples from the following readings: Lillian Schlissel and Catherine Lavender, "The Angle of Vision," in The Western Women's Reader; Elizabeth Jameson and Susan Armitage, "Introduction," in Writing the Range: Race, Class, and Culture in the Women's West; Susan Armitage and Elizabeth Jameson, "Through Women's Eyes: A New View of the West"; Elizabeth Jameson, "Toward a Multi-Cultural History of Women in the Western United States"; Peggy Pascoe, "Western Women at the Cultural Crossroads"; Antónia I. Castañeda, "Women of Color and the Rewriting of Western History: The Discourse, Politics, and Decolonization of History"; Susan Johnson, "'A Memory Sweet to Soldiers': The Significance of Gender."

Question:

How does Western Women's History as a field shed new light on: American Women's History; Western American History; the history of Race and Class in the United States?

Assignment 2: The Nature of Women's History (Due T September 19)

Answer the question below in a brief (2-3 pp.) essay. To support your argument, you should draw specific examples from Vera Norwood's essay, "Writing Animal Presence."

Question:

One of the key debates in women's history focuses on reasons for writing about women's history separately as opposed to writing human history which includes women's experiences. In Vera Norwood's essay, "Writing Animal Presence," the author examines the ways in which women authors of different backgrounds have written about "Nature" by including the stories of non-human animals in their works. With the debate about woman-specific history versus woman-inclusive history in mind, examine how Vera Norwood negotiates this debate. Consider whether she argues that women's perspectives are significant because they are different from men's, or because they are interesting in their own right without regard to their relation to men's perspectives. Why does Vera Norwood believe women's writing matters? Does she successfully prove that it does?

Assignment 3: Identifying thesis (Due T 17 October)

Answer the question below in single paragraph.

Question:

What is the thesis of Mercier's essay, "We are Women Irish"?

Writing Projects, Women's Autobiographies of the American West

Part One: Identify your chosen Western woman's autobiography to professor by T 24 October.

Part Two: Submit final version of work to professor by T 21 November.

Part Three: Sumbit historiographical project to professor by T 19 December.