Unit rationale, description and aim
Women in the Later Roman Empire explores the fascinating and varied lives of women in the Christian Roman Empire. The period saw new roles for powerful empresses, female clerics, physicians, ascetics, intellectuals, actresses and prostitutes, among others and their stories and experiences allow us to consider significant political, religious, and legal changes that affected women in the period.
This unit will enable you to understand and critique gender norms in the ancient world by studying a period of history in which women’s roles, responsibilities, identities, and rights were in flux. Students will grapple with questions of gender, power, religion, law, and class by studying the roles women could take on in society and how these roles were constructed in relation to other social, political, religious, and intellectual changes in the period. You will learn how historians of the ancient world use contemporary approaches to gender and women’s history, to interpret a wide range of source materials from this intriguing period.
The unit aims to enable students to develop skills in historical interpretation, gender history, and understanding diverse perspectives.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Apply and critique relevant theoretical approaches...
Learning Outcome 01
Critically analyse diverse roles, identities, and ...
Learning Outcome 02
Locate, evaluate, synthesise and appropriately ref...
Learning Outcome 03
Independently develop well supported and clearly c...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
- Sources for the study of women in this period
- Church roles for women: widows, deaconesses, abbesses
- Maternal power, rights, and responsibilities: depictions of motherhood
- Martyrdom, asceticism, retirement: the rise and diverse forms of female monasticism
- Ancient medicine: women physicians, healing shrines, and powerful saints
- Empress and poet Aelia Eudocia, Female Education, and Women’s Writings
- From actress to empress: Empress Theodora, her past as an actress and the changing legal rights for women
Assessment strategy and rationale
Assessment task 1: Source analysis. The purpose of this task is for students to develop skills in critical analysis of primary source material for the study The reasoning behind the specific choice, alignment with LOs, weighting and sequencing of assessment tasks is provided. of women in the later Roman empire. Skills honed during this assignment will assist students in preparing for the research essay. (LO2, LO3, LO4) Assessment task 2: Theoretical analysis and self-reflection. Students analyse a piece of scholarly theory relating to gender and women’s history. They reflect on how their understanding of women in the period and women’s history in general have changed through their analysis. This task aims to help students hone their analytic and critical skills and assist them to be self-reflective learners with well-developed metacognitive skills. (LO1, LO4) Assessment task 3: Research essay. Students demonstrate high-level research skills to locate and use appropriate primary and secondary materials to build a well-written, evidence-based, and independent argument on a topic related to an area of the unit content. (LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4)
Overview of assessments
Assessment task 1: Source analysis Source analysi...
Assessment task 1: Source analysis
Source analysis. The purpose of this task is for students to develop skills in critical analysis of primary source material for the study of women in the later Roman empire. Skills honed during this assignment will assist students in preparing for the research essay.
25%
Assessment Task 2: Theoretical Analysis and Self-...
Assessment Task 2: Theoretical Analysis and Self-Reflection
Students analyse a piece of scholarly theory relating to gender and women’s history. They reflect on how their understanding of women in the period and women’s history in general have changed through their analysis. This task aims to help students hone their analytic and critical skills and assist them to be self-reflective learners with well-developed metacognitive skills
35%
Assessment Task 3: Research Essay Students demons...
Assessment Task 3: Research Essay
Students demonstrate high-level research skills to locate and use appropriate primary and secondary materials to build a well-written, evidence-based, and independent argument on a topic related to an area of the unit content
40%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total across the semester, which is around 12.5 hours a week for 12 weeks.
Students will gain a deep understanding of the content covered in the unit and the range of theoretical approaches used in the study of gender and women’s history in the period. They will develop and hone skills fundamental to the discipline of history, including the development of methods for working with and interpreting primary sources; the ability to identify relevant and high-quality secondary sources and incorporate them into their own research and analysis; the ability to process extensive amounts of historical information and identify what is most relevant and valuable; and to communicate their findings in a style appropriate to their audience.
In online scheduled mode:
All learning activities are held online. The lectures will be available online asynchronously for self-paced learning. Tutorials will be at scheduled times, which will require camera-on attendance to enable interaction with the tutor and other students. Students are expected and encouraged to engage in discussions in tutorials and through Canvas discussion forums to facilitate their own learning and that of their peers.
In multimode offerings:
The lectures will be available online asynchronously for self-paced learning. Tutorials will be at scheduled times and may be on campus, which will require in-class interaction with the tutor and other students, or online schedule, which will require camera-on attendance to enable interaction with the tutor and other students. Students are expected and encouraged to engage in discussions in tutorials and through Canvas discussion forums to facilitate their own learning and that of their peers.
In Rome campus offerings:
The in-country field school prioritises a ‘hands-on, field-based’ approach. On-site, group-based, problem-based learning activities are employed in order to develop interdisciplinary content knowledge as well as problem-solving, reasoning, communication, and interpersonal skills. End-of-day debriefs while overseas and a final debrief session on return to Australia allows students to reflect on their learning experiences both during and after the completion of the field school. Students are also expected to use the Learning Management System to post theoretical analysis and self-reflection entries on their learning while in-country. The unit will include pre-departure workshops to provide students with basic content knowledge, as well as guidance and advice around key issues, debates, and problems. In this way, the workshops establish a framework appropriate for the overseas intensive study mode.