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Are Women Animals? |
In 1872, a woman known only as ‘An Earnest Englishwoman’, published an open letter entitled ‘Are women animals?’. She protested that women were not treated as fully human, and that their status was worse than that of animals. Joanna Bourke, author of What it Means to be Human: Reflections from 1791 to the Present, talks about what it means to be ‘human’ rather than ‘animal’.
Joanna Bourke is a Professor of History at Birkbeck College in London where she has taught since 1992. Over the years, her work has ranged from the social and economic history of Ireland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, to social histories of the British working classes between 1860 and 1960s, to cultural histories of military conflict between the Anglo-Boer war and the present. In recent years, she has been researching the history of the emotions, particularly fear and hatred. She has also been exploring the history of sexual violence. Her book An Intimate History of Killing: Face-to Face Killing in Twentieth Century Warfare received critical acclaim, winning the Wolfson History Prize. Her latest book, What it Means to be Human: Reflections from 1791 to the Present, is published by Virago.
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May 18th, 2012 at 1:09 pm
What a great event. Not quite what I expected from the title, but turned out to be far more interesting – the title being a way into the subject rather than the subject matter (though Professor Bourke explained he uses the word “woman” to mean humankind, much in the same way “man” is generally used for the same purpose – which makes the title odf the event much clearer!).
I’d like to praise the interviewer, whose name I didn’t catch, but whose homework paid off wonderfully. She used her knowledge to guide the talk rather than show how clever she is – a common fault.
Professor Bourke was as insightful, often couterintuitively, as anyone who’s read “An Intimate History of Killing” will know she can be and, I found when I talked to her afterwards, a relaxed, down to earth, world class historian!
Thank you to all involved. Another great success in a history of FOI littered with successes, but as always one grudging criticism – why not make these an hour and a half sessions. I often leave feel we haven’t quite got all we can out of such amazing speakers.