Here are some general themes for potential Term Papers. Your research paper reading and interpretations are to be shared with the class. This project will be integrated into the class meetings. You should plan to work consistently throughout the semester. The work you do for this paper should reflect and build upon the readings in the course and I encourage you to choose a topic arising from some of the pensum readings – both to keep your reading load reasonable and to provide common points of reference for discussions.
- Portrayals of mothering, or women’s identity/purpose in movies or on TV
- Sexuality (by race or class or era)
- Lesbianism
- Femininity or mothering on the trail west, or in a region, or by race in an historical period
- A particular woman (Catherine Beecher, Jane Addams, Margaret Sanger, etc.)
- Advice literature
- Evangelical ideology about women
- Feminism and motherhood
- Birth control, fertility, and forces which encourage or discourage childbearing
- Eugenics
- Intersections of Race and gender or sexuality
- Women reformers and female identity
- Mothering the Nation
- First Lady as Nation’s Mother, Grandmother, wife…
- Work and Family tensions
- A Law covering women’s opportunities (employment, abortion, sexuality)
- Surrogate mothering
- Childlessness
- Choose a scholar who has written several things on the topic and assess the changes in interpretation by that scholar.
- Other? Talk to me about your own ideas.