Gender and Prophecy: East and West

This unit is an elective of Medieval and Early Modern Studies; it has 50% early modern content and students can choose the subject for their essays, so students can make it directly relevant to their interests.

Taking a global history perspective, we explore the nature of prophecy and its
intersections with history through a number of cases east and west. Prophetic visions range from solitary experiences to the wellspring of millenarian movements. Students have the opportunity to focus on the content of messages, socio-structural factors which give rise to prophetic vision or some combination of both. At the core of prophetic vision lies human spirituality itself, and part of our discussions will speculate on the spiritual quest for meaning. Historical themes running throughout include the interplay of gender and religion as well as socio-political circumstances (e.g., war, famine, epidemics and madness) which contribute to apocalyptic visions. Prophetic messages will be read in a variety of ways including structure (e.g., narrative, poetic or visual), ambiguity of language (including puns and multiple layers of meaning), imagery, audience, authorship.

Examples from Asia include prophecy arising from indigenous traditions as well as religious movements that grew out of ‘first contact’ events. Ancient traditions of divination (the I Ching) and alchemy (the five elements) associated with Daoism (Taoism) inform some readings. The ‘first contact’ phenomenon of the Taiping millenarian rebellion in China
and the Cao Dai religion in French colonial Vietnam offer other case studies. From the opposite side of the world, both north and south of the Mediterranean a rich literature exists from Biblical times down to the present. Prominent in this literature is material from medieval and early modern Europe and the Kabbalist tradition arising in medieval Spain. Students are welcome to choose essay topics from their own areas of research expertise.

Semester: One, 2008

Coordinators:

Dr Esta Ungar (History)
Dr Jacqueline Van Gent (Women’s Studies)