Lecturers: Dr Tanya Harmer & Dr Imaobong Umoren

This course provides students with a broad overview of twentieth-century history, politics, and international relations through the lens of women, rights and justice.

These are topics that have grabbed headlines around the world in context of the global struggle for reproductive rights and the aftermath of MeToo. This course offers an insight into these movements’ origins, evolution and intersection with questions of justice, democracy and human rights.

Students will explore how women influenced and were influenced by the First and Second World Wars, the Cold War, Decolonisation, leftist movements in the 1960s, revolutions, authoritarian regimes and struggles related to gender, racial and LGBTQ+ equality. Through broad global, regional and comparative analysis in lectures and in-depth historical study of key women, groups, movements or institutions, students will explore different methodologies for examining history in the 20th and 21st century. The course’s geographical focus is the Americas, including the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, though there will also be opportunities to explore comparisons and contrasts with other parts of the world including Britain, Europe and Asia.

Key topics include:

• First Wave Feminism and the First World War in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean
• The Global 60s, the Women’s Liberation Movement and Black Power •    Women and the Cold War in the Americas
• Third Wave Feminism: Reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ politics in a comparative geographic focus

Learning will take place in and beyond the classroom, with visits to the archival collection at the Women’s Library at the LSE, the Americas collection at the British Library, the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton and the Feminist Library. Led by two leading historians of the Americas and the Caribbean, students will get a chance to learn about the current and existing research and therefore have a chance to discuss with them both the content of the course and questions relating to historical methodology and approaches.