Syllabus for Jane Barstow's "Women Writing about Marriage" - UCONN Adult Learning Program
The Syllabus for Jane Barstow's "Women Writing about Marriage"

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Syllabus for Jane Barstow's "Women Writing about Marriage"

Syllabus for Women Writing about Marriage in Changing Times & Cultures presented by Jane Barstow, PhD, Professor Emerita, University of Hartford.

January 28
Commonalities and differences in married women’s lives.
Background on Sawako Ariyoshi and the Tokugawa era in Japan.
To read: The Doctor’s Wife (1967), first 8 chapters pp.3-89.
ZOOM Recording:
https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/-HFkmmbS7aHHpsqvcc6GxNDfiiw5PrJZ1Uo9nIfWx0KZZMnOvgoEuLp7f7ugSQmX.qglX9iCzb8G03DXr?startTime=1738078223000
Passcode: y3+Pii9#

February 4
Finish reading and discussion of The Doctor’s Wife.
Background on Mariama Ba and post-Independence Senegal.
To read: So Long a Letter (1980), first 13 chapters, pp. 1-38.
ZOOM Recording:
https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/Fshti9McPJc_-t98q_2bKOw8Hw_EE7jiBfhQMWyJpIMNF7Ehp7H3YvbdFhTNJ-Q.43UviCXjkaMNTUuw?startTime=1738682982000
Passcode: @#98mi^u

February 11
Finish reading and discussion of So Long a Letter.
Background on Kate Chopin and 19th century Creole culture.
To read: The Awakening (1899), chapters 1-10, pp. 51.
ZOOM Recording:
https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/TSKi3mneUwMUG5g6ai9upsA3hQZJRsLqxTT3Jo7kKKfUFfVsg0MEtQKRhG6SpAdA.CBTLs8843e-TP622?startTime=1739287818000
Passcode: 73a$9K%a

February 18
Finish reading and discussion of The Awakening.
Commonalities and differences in the lives of our three protagonists.
Final thoughts. Recommendations for future reading.
ZOOM Recording:
https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/Bja1csxElrmViXmryKDJiJwNfD9c3TRpOmE0i4xquRxdQjPHL1OtuD7-BvVdknMv.j0OyYBlIVSTnat8A?startTime=1739892746000
Passcode: 5@+8NkSQ
Almost every introductory anthropology text has a chapter on marriage and families across cultures…
To think about:

  • How and when marriage occurs
  • Family structures
  • Sexual relationships
  • Division of labor
  • Economic issues – before and during marriage
  • Legal issues
  • Relationships with in-laws
  • Rights, responsibilities, status, roles of wives and husbands
  • Children

Final thoughts on The Doctor's Wife

  • Prosperity vs. deaths of Koben and Okatsu. In chapter 9.
    Otsugi vs, Kae as volunteers for Seishus’ experiments with anesthesia – competition intensifies (inheritance, nightgowns and samurai knots, reaction of community, why Seishu eventually agrees to Kae’s request, the outcome).
  • Kae’s blindness vs perceptiveness especially re: husband. Did she “win” as Koriku asserts?
  • Koriku’s key role in last chapters
  • Seishu’s growing success and new tenderness toward Kae.
  • Does Kae represent an ideal version of the traditional role of Japanese women? Is the novel’s perspective therefore conservative? Or: Does Kae ultimately exhibit agency and vitality in the face of extreme social restraint? Can the novel be considered feminist?
  • Is the novel simply a dramatization or ultimately a critique of patriarchy and the deadly competition it engenders between Kae and Otsugi?
  • What did you think of the novel as a factual history of Hanaoka Seishu’s medical genius?
  • Is this a novel you think should be better known? Would you recommend it?

Information on So Long a Letter:

  • Love matches vs the desires of parents… The role of class (Aissatou as the daughter of a goldsmith–a tradesman considered beneath Mawdo’s family (his mother comes from royalty–the rulers of the kingdom of Sine). Modou chooses to work for the union rather than as a lawyer. His family is considered lower status than Ramatoulaye’s.
  • The two friends as career women, teachers, rather than housewives. The significance of education.
  • The historical moment–tradition vs, progress, the positive and absurd aspects of the colonial legacy.
  • The contrast between how the two men each end up taking a second wife and how the two women respond to their husbands’ actions and explanations.
  • The young second wives (young Nabou and Binetou) in contrast to Ramatoulaye and Aissatou..
    Where and how the novel begins. The realities of adulthood vs the innocence of youth.
  • The traditions surrounding death in this Islamic culture at this point in time.
  • The importance of religion in the novel and to Ramatoulaye. The teachings of the Koran vs, its betrayal by corrupt Imams.

Note on books:
Used copies of all three books are available on Amazon. You can also download a free copy of So Long a Letter at https://openlibrary.org/


Awakenings - Awakenings
Final thoughts on So Long a Letter - Final thoughts on So Long a Letter
The Doctor’s Wife (1967) by Ariyoshi Sawako - Final thoughts? - The Doctor’s Wife (1967) by Ariyoshi Sawako
So Long a Letter (1980) - So Long a Letter (1980)
The Awakening - The Awakening (2 session)