HST 154C / CA 154 -- Spring 2002 -- History of Emotions
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This course (1) traces the codes of conduct aimed at the management, expression,and concealment of emotion over the last thousand years of European history, with a focus on the self, manners, dress, romance, and agression; (2) compares the developed Western notion of emotions with configurations of emotional expression and emotional practices in selected other parts of the world: within Islam, the Hindu tradition, Japan, certain postcolonial settings. The aim is to raise questions about our emotional "common sense" and to appreciate how much of our experience is shaped by history.
This course will provide an introduction to the history of emotions, depending (for the most part) on historical literature for areas inside the West, and anthropological literature for nonwestern areas. Because the history of emotions is a new field, this survey will follow the strengths of the existing research in choosing what to focus on. Original documents will supplement secondary readings. The course will be in a lecture-discussion format. The emphasis will be on appreciating the close links between conceptions of emotion, on the one hand, and politics, gender, and social life on the other. The problem of whether, and how, emotions themselves change over time will be explored.
Topics covered:
Troubadours and Courtly Love (Europe, 12th to 14th centuries)
Renaissance Civility (Europe, 16th to 17th centuries)
Sentimentalism (Europe, 18th century)
American Cool (U.S.A., 20th century)
Islamic Emotional Styles (North Africa and Bali, 20th century)
Hindu Rasa (11th to 20th centuries)
Japanese Amae (11th to 20th centuries)
Pacific styles (20th century)