This course critically examines gender in the context of politics, society, culture, and economics across a range of comparative times and spaces depending on instructor expertise. In what ways have gendered norms and transgressions been part of human societies and lived experiences? How have those norms shifted across historical and geographical contexts? How has the history of gender impacted gender as it is lived and made political today?  Throughout the course, we will be querying the theoretical assumptions underlying and framing the historical texts we are studying, as well as assessing the different kinds of primary sources used to recover women’s and gender history.