The department has confirmed they are moving forward with these changes to our curriculum. This is entirely the result of your commitment because I never imagined we could actually achieve this together.
April 2, 2014
Final supporters
Petitioning Professor Claire Mackie, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning), Professor Matthew Cragoe, Head of HAHP, Professor Claire Langhamer, Head of History, Dr. Jim Endersby, Director of Teaching and Learning for HAHP
And all Faculty, Associate Tutors, Professional Services Staff, postgraduate and undergraduate students who convene, teach, facilitate or attend courses in the History department of the University of Sussex.
We, the student body of the History department (and students who take electives in this department) implore you to address the marked gender inequality we feel is present in both the history course content and the wider faculty itself, by implementing these three points by the start of the next academic year (2014/15):
1. To increase the number of lectures given by women faculty, teaching fellows and associate tutors, particularly on the core modules.
2. To include in all courses, but particularly core modules, more history written by and about women. This should not be restricted to a ‘gender week’ but seen as an essential part of the intellectual content of any course.
3. To offer at least one module option for both the second and third years on Feminisms or gender studies within history.
Implementing these three points would begin the process of ensuring the University of Sussex History Department provides a fairer, more representative education.
Updates
February 28, 2014
I am honestly a bit overwhelmed by the momentum this has gained so far. This energy belongs entirely to those of you who decided this mattered enough to stand behind. It is truly humbling to see how many people care about the direction of our department.
Reached 100 supporters
February 28, 2014
26 Comments
I was really surprised by the lack of gender in the course. I would expect it to be embedded in every subject, as well as being represented in separate modules at all levels. I know I cannot understand the past or the present without interrogating gender (both feminities and masculinities, in patriarchy), and don't see how we can expect our undergraduates to do so.
I think this is really important. I was proud to do my MA supervised by a feminist historian and if I'd have chosen Sussex I may have not been so lucky. Feminist history provides a really important challenge to the male-stream historiography as well as allowing us to ask questions about the role of gender in shaping ideas and identities of the past.
We pretend to be all open minded and lefty but frankly we only ever learn what left leaning European men thought, especially in core modules.
I do not so much feel that women tutors are underrepresented in the history department, I have been taught by many fantastic female tutors, and they run fantastic courses. But the content of the courses that I have taken has very little on women. I don't actively choose the study the civil rights movement but it comes up in all of my topics because it is a fundamental event of the 20th century, the same should be said for feminism and the feminist movements of the 19th and 20th centuries
I definitely agree that there is a severe lack of female representation in the History department and it is disappointing because I expected Sussex to have more lecturers and modules about women. This definitely needs to be changed ASAP.
no
More feminist focus in AmStuds is also needed
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The department has confirmed they are moving forward with these changes to our curriculum. This is entirely the result of your commitment because I never imagined we could actually achieve this together.
April 2, 2014
Final supporters
Petitioning Professor Claire Mackie, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning), Professor Matthew Cragoe, Head of HAHP, Professor Claire Langhamer, Head of History, Dr. Jim Endersby, Director of Teaching and Learning for HAHP
And all Faculty, Associate Tutors, Professional Services Staff, postgraduate and undergraduate students who convene, teach, facilitate or attend courses in the History department of the University of Sussex.
We, the student body of the History department (and students who take electives in this department) implore you to address the marked gender inequality we feel is present in both the history course content and the wider faculty itself, by implementing these three points by the start of the next academic year (2014/15):
1. To increase the number of lectures given by women faculty, teaching fellows and associate tutors, particularly on the core modules.
2. To include in all courses, but particularly core modules, more history written by and about women. This should not be restricted to a ‘gender week’ but seen as an essential part of the intellectual content of any course.
3. To offer at least one module option for both the second and third years on Feminisms or gender studies within history.
Implementing these three points would begin the process of ensuring the University of Sussex History Department provides a fairer, more representative education.
Updates
February 28, 2014
I am honestly a bit overwhelmed by the momentum this has gained so far. This energy belongs entirely to those of you who decided this mattered enough to stand behind. It is truly humbling to see how many people care about the direction of our department.
Reached 100 supporters
February 28, 2014
26 Comments
I am currently a Gender Studies student at Sussex, but I am also a historian, and I find the backwardness of the History department at this university both shocking and depressing. Time to change.
I was really surprised by the lack of gender in the course. I would expect it to be embedded in every subject, as well as being represented in separate modules at all levels. I know I cannot understand the past or the present without interrogating gender (both feminities and masculinities, in patriarchy), and don't see how we can expect our undergraduates to do so.
I think this is really important. I was proud to do my MA supervised by a feminist historian and if I'd have chosen Sussex I may have not been so lucky. Feminist history provides a really important challenge to the male-stream historiography as well as allowing us to ask questions about the role of gender in shaping ideas and identities of the past.
We pretend to be all open minded and lefty but frankly we only ever learn what left leaning European men thought, especially in core modules.
I do not so much feel that women tutors are underrepresented in the history department, I have been taught by many fantastic female tutors, and they run fantastic courses. But the content of the courses that I have taken has very little on women. I don't actively choose the study the civil rights movement but it comes up in all of my topics because it is a fundamental event of the 20th century, the same should be said for feminism and the feminist movements of the 19th and 20th centuries
I definitely agree that there is a severe lack of female representation in the History department and it is disappointing because I expected Sussex to have more lecturers and modules about women. This definitely needs to be changed ASAP.
no
More feminist focus in AmStuds is also needed
Share Petition
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I am currently a Gender Studies student at Sussex, but I am also a historian, and I find the backwardness of the History department at this university both shocking and depressing. Time to change.