Histories of Honor and Masculinity in Modern Societies

History G8661 Pablo Piccato

Spring 2005 Department of History

Monday 6:10 to 8:00 pm Columbia University

1101 International Affairs Building [email protected], 212 854 3725

Office hours: Tuesday 2:00 to 3:30pm

This colloquium will explore the historical literature on masculinity during the modern era, with particular emphasis on the notion of honor. After honor became the object of anthropological research and debate in the Mediterranean world, historians have been attracted to its study in pre-modern societies and, increasingly, the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the latter period, a republican honor based on legal equality generated a combative press, an increasing use of dueling, and a concern about the state’s protection of honor as a citizen’s right. Recent historiography has opened new perspectives on republican honor as an historically contingent, locally specific construction, yet one that reveals cultural patterns and interactions that transcend a national framework. New perspectives emphasize the need to establish a perspective centered on gender, and particularly the construction of masculinities, to understand politics, codes of honor, uses of violence, and tensions between normative and heterodox sexualities.

As a historical category, honor is particularly fruitful because it involves multiple aspects of social life. This colloquium will stress the role of honor in the development of modern masculinities, but it will also address other areas where honor provides a useful focus: violence and politics, state building and citizenship, nationalism, the formation of a bourgeois public sphere, the exclusion of women from politics, war and international relations, race and class difference. Readings will include Europe, the United States, and Latin America, thus raising comparative possibilities, and a discussion about transnational interactions.

Requirements:

Presentations, weekly reviews, final paper involving research or a historiographical review.

Syllabus:

January 24	Introduction: The Mediterranean model Peristiany, John G. Honour and Shame: The Values of Mediterranean Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966. (Chapters by Pitt Rivers, Bourdieu, Peristiany.)
January 31	Honor as a category of historical and cultural analysis Stewart, Frank Henderson. Honor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1994. See also: Gilmore, David D. Honor and shame and the unity of the Mediterranean. Washington, D.C.: American Anthropological Association. 1987. Introduction, conclusions and chapter by Gilmore.
February 7	Honor and colonial rule Johnson, Lyman L., and Sonya Lipsett-Rivera, eds. The Faces of Honor, Sex, Shame, and Violence in Colonial Latin America. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1998. Introduction and chapters by Burkholder, Twnam, Johnson, Boyer and Lipsett-Rivera. See also: Twinam, Ann. Public Lives, Private Secrets: Gender, Honor, Sexuality, and Illegitimacy in Colonial Spanish America. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. 1999. Seed, Patricia. To Love, Honor and Obey in Colonial Mexico: Conflicts over Marriage Choice, 1574-1821. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1988.
February 14	Honor and slavery Greenberg, Kenneth S. Honor and Slavery: Lies, Duels, Noses, Masks, Dressing as a Woman, Gifts, Strangers, Death, Humanitarianism, Slave Rebellions, The Pros-Slavery Argument, Baseball, Hunting, and Gambling in the Old South. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 1996. See also: Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the old South. New York: Oxford University Press. 1982. Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. The Shaping of Southern Culture: Honor, Grace, and War, 1760s-1890s. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 2001.
February 21	Republican honor and modern politics 1 Freeman, Joanne B. Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic. New Haven: Yale University Press. 2001.
February 28	Exploring masculinity beyond honor Herzfeld, Michael. The Poetics of Manhood: Contest and Identity in a Cretan Mountain Village. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. 1985. See also: Herzfeld, Michael. "Honour and Shame: Problems in the Comparative Analysis of Moral Systems." Man, New Series 15 (2):339-351. 1980. Wikan, Unni. "Shame and Honour: A Contestable Pair." Man, New Series 19 (4):635-652. 1984. Bourdieu, Pierre. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press. 1977.
March 7	Contested masculinities Connell, R. W. Masculinities. Berkeley: California University Press. 1995. Parts I and chapter 8. Melhuus, Marit, and Kristi Anne Stølen. Machos, Mistresses, Madonnas: Contesting the Power of Latin American Gender Imagery. London, New York: Verso. 1996. Introduction and chapters by Archetti, Prieur and Melhuus.
March 21	Republican honor and modern politics, 2 Chambers, Sarah C. From subjects to citizens: Honor, gender and politics in Arequipa, Peru, 1780-1854. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University. 1999. Gayol, Sandra. ""Honor Moderno": The Significance of Honor in Fin-de-Siècle Argentina." Hispanic American Historical Review 84 (3):475-498. 2004.
March 28	Republican honor and modern politics, 3 Nye, Robert. Masculinity and Male Codes of Honor in Modern France. New York: Oxford University Press. 1993. See also: Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire, Gender and culture. New York: Columbia University Press. 1985.
April 4	Republican honor and modern politics, 4 Reddy, William M. The Invisible Code: Honor and Sentiment in Postrevolutionary France, 1814-1848. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1997. See also: Frevert, Ute. Men of Honour: A Social and Cultural History of the Duel. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press. 1995. Spierenburg, Pieter, ed. Men and Violence: Gender, Honor , and Rituals in Modern Europe and America. Columbus: Ohio University Press. 1998.
April 11	Struggles around female sexuality Caulfield, Sueann. In Defense of Honor: Sexual Morality, Modernity, and Nation in Early-Twentieth-Century Brazil. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. 2000.
April 18	Struggles around male sexuality McLaren, Angus. The Trials of Masculinity: Policing Sexual Boundaries, 1870-1930. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1997.
April 25	Foreign relations, war and honor, 1 Hoganson, Kristin L. Fighting for American Manhood: How Gender Politics Provoked the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars. New Haven Conn.: Yale University Press. 1998.
May 2	Foreign relations, war and honor, 2 Theweleit, Klaus. Male Fantasies. Vol. 1 and 2. Minneapolis, 1987.
May 13	Final Paper Due

Bibliography:

Beattie, Peter M. The tribute of blood : army, honor, race, and nation in Brazil, 1864-1945, Latin America otherwise. Durham: Duke University Press. 2001.

Bourdieu, Pierre. Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press. 1977.

Bourdieu, Pierre. Masculine domination. Cambridge, England: Polity Press. 2001.

Caulfield, Sueann. In Defense of Honor: Sexual Morality, Modernity, and Nation in Early-Twentieth-Century Brazil. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. 2000.

Chambers, Sarah C. From subjects to citizens: Honor, gender and politics in Arequipa, Peru, 1780-1854. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University. 1999.

Connell, R. W. Masculinities. Berkeley: California University Press. 1995.

Freeman, Joanne B. Affairs of honor : national politics in the New Republic. New Haven: Yale University Press. 2001.

Frevert, Ute. Men of Honour: A Social and Cultural History of the Duel. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press. 1995.

Gay, Peter. The Cultivation of Hatred: The Bourgeois Experience. Victoria to Freud. Nueva York: Norton. 1993.

Gayol, Sandra. Sociabilidad en Buenos Aires: Hombres, Honor y Cafés, 1862-1910. Buenos Aires: Signo. 2000.

———. ""Honor Moderno": The Significance of Honor in Fin-de-Siècle Argentina." Hispanic American Historical Review 84 (3):475-498. 2004.

Gilmore, David D. Honor and shame and the unity of the Mediterranean. Washington, D.C.: American Anthropological Association. 1987.

———. Manhood in the making : cultural concepts of masculinity. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. 1990.

Greenberg, Kenneth S. Honor and Slavery: Lies, Duels, Noses, Masks, Dressing as a Woman, Gifts, Strangers, Death, Humanitarianism, Slave Rebellions, The Pros-Slavery Argument, Baseball, Hunting, and Gambling in the Old South. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 1996.

Herzfeld, Michael. "Honour and Shame: Problems in the Comparative Analysis of Moral Systems." Man, New Series 15 (2):339-351. 1980.

———. The poetics of manhood : contest and identity in a Cretan mountain village. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. 1985.

Hoganson, Kristin L. Fighting for American manhood : how gender politics provoked the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars. New Haven Conn.: Yale University Press. 1998.

Irwin, Robert McKee. Mexican Masculinities. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2003.

Johnson, Lyman L., and Sonya Lipsett-Rivera, eds. The Faces of Honor, Sex, Shame, and Violence in Colonial Latin America. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1998.

McLaren, Angus. The trials of masculinity : policing sexual boundaries, 1870-1930. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1997.

Melhuus, Marit, and Kristi Anne Stølen. Machos, Mistresses, Madonnas: Contesting the Power of Latin American Gender Imagery. London, New York: Verso. 1996.

Nye, Robert. Masculinity and Male Codes of Honor in Modern France. New York: Oxford University Press. 1993.

Peristiany, John G. Honour and shame: the values of Mediterranean society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1966.

Peristiany, John G., and Julian Alfred Pitt-Rivers. Honor and grace in anthropology, Cambridge studies in social and cultural anthropology ; 76. Cambridge England ; New York: Cambridge University Press. 1992.

Reddy, William M. The Invisible Code: Honor and Sentiment in Postrevolutionary France, 1814-1848. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1997.

Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire, Gender and culture. New York: Columbia University Press. 1985.

Seed, Patricia. To Love, Honor and Obey in Colonial Mexico: Conflicts over Marriage Choice, 1574-1821. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1988.

Spierenburg, Pieter, ed. Men and Violence: Gender, Honor , and Rituals in Modern Europe and America. (Columbus: Ohio University Press. 1998.

Stewart, Frank Henderson. Honor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1994.

Theweleit, Klaus. Male Fantasies. Vol. 1 and 2. Minneapolis, 1987.

Twinam, Ann. Public lives, private secrets : gender, honor, sexuality, and illegitimacy in colonial Spanish America. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. 1999.

Wikan, Unni. "Shame and Honour: A Contestable Pair." Man, New Series 19 (4):635-652. 1984.

Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. Southern honor : ethics and behavior in the old South. New York: Oxford University Press. 1982.

———. The shaping of Southern culture : honor, grace, and war, 1760s-1890s. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 2001.