The Comparative Women's History
Workshop
The Value of Comparison
Undergraduate Teaching
MJ Maynes and Ann Waltner's course World Civilizations in the Era of Global
Contact is an example of a comparative women's history framework applied
to undergraduate teaching. They combine geographic specificity with a thematic
focus by using China, the Swahili Coast of East Africa, Mexico, and the Holy Roman
Empire as case studies to examine the themes of marriage, religion, everyday life,
power and political authority, and religion. The case studies allow students
to develop the in-depth knowledge and context while the thematic focus highlights
general processes that have rough equivalents in different cultures. Using this
approach they are able to juxtapose comparable institutions and explore a multiplicity
of approaches to human social organization. As they outline in the course guide,
they use comparison to:
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expand our understanding of the multiplicity of approaches to human social
understanding;
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begin to appreciate the connections between one aspect of social organization
such as family life, and others, such as the economy or political organization;
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to reflect on connections between social organization and values;
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to think about the ethics of cross-cultural contacts of differing
sorts, and, indeed, of cross-cultural comparison itself.
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