Gendering the Nation Online Museum Exhibit
Created by the class of HIST 465 (Topics in Women's History) 2015-16
Queens University, Canada
The Exhibit...
This “exhibit” is a collection of pages designed by university students as part of their course, “Gendering the Nation”. The exhibit brings together existing photos and artifacts, combined with the students’ own interpretations, into one online space. The exhibit addresses the primary question of their course: “What is the connection between the nation and gender?” Students have selected a variety of topics that consider this question, and many of its variations, in different nations and time periods. The goal is to make gender history more available to the general public and address this considerable gap in commemoration. Students are not only adding women to the historical narrative, but confronting the gendered constructions of women, men, and the diverse intersections with other identities, such as race and social class.
The Course...
This course is an upper seminar offered at Queen’s University. The topic offered in 2015-2016 was “Gendering the Nation”, a transnational consideration of the connections between the ‘nation’ and ‘gender’. This course was created by Brittney Anne Bos shadowing her own research into the connections between commemoration and gender. The course began by considering the modern changes ushered in by the French Revolution, stretched across the Western world for the next two centuries, and ended with a discussion of the Cold War. Students were encouraged to critically engage with topics and particularly how ‘gender’ is a constructed idea unique to time, place, and other identities.
The Assignment...
As their final year-end project, students were required to create an online museum exhibit ‘page’ that would fit within the theme of the course. Students chose their own topics based on their understanding of the course and their own areas of interest. They were required to complete secondary background reading to acquaint them with the subject matter. Then, they selected images and pictures of artifacts related to their chosen topic. Using a standard set of parameters, students were then required to write their own interpretations and commentary panels for their individual pages. Throughout the process, students were reminded of the importance of gender history in commemorative spaces and encouraged to recognize their own contributions to this under-developed history.