Sexuality, love and family in historical sources

or know love in the past 

 

The course is taught by: Mgr. Balázs Csiba, PhD.

Form of instruction: lecture and seminar (P:1 / S:1)

ECTS: 4

Objective:

Students will gain an overview of the development of selected themes related to contemporary perceptions of sexuality, love, and family from the Middle Ages through approximately the mid-20th century. They will learn about the development of the themes based on contemporary written and pictorial sources, with an emphasis on sources from Central Europe, especially the territory of Hungary and today's Slovakia. The subject of the research will be not only the contemporary reality and its perception by contemporaries, but also the later (mis)interpretation through later documentation and presentation in memory institutions (museums, archives) or in public space (younger literature, movable and immovable monuments).

Brief outline:

• Introduction (history of research) + Woman and family in medieval sources - J. Šedivý.
• Sexuality and love in medieval sources - J. Šedivý.
• Extramarital relations and children in the Middle Ages - B. Csiba.
• Museum documentation and presentation of human sexuality from the earliest times to the present - J. Dolák.
• The status of women in early medieval society from the perspective of heraldry - F. Federmayer.
• Sex between relatives. Genealogy of the Hungarian ruling families (1490-1918) - F. Federmayer.
• LBGT+ issues in history and presentation of the phenomenon in domestic and foreign memory institutions - M. Orosová.
• Queer museum - representation of queer culture in memory institutions - L. Vargová.
• “The oldest craft" (the development of prostitution and the fight against it) - M. Orosová.
• Cultural monuments and immovable objects with a focus on sexuality (brothels, topography of
• Vydrica in the 19th and 1st half of the 20th century

Graduation requirements:

• Attendance at lectures, active participation, three absences allowed.
• In the examination period: Final written test (70 points) or seminar paper (min 8 NS + sources).

Recommended reading:

• FOUCAULT, Michel. Dějiny sexuality. Praha 2003.
• BECCHALOSSI, Chiara – CROZIER, Ivan (ed.). A Cultural History of Sexuality. London – New York 2014.
• BOCKOVÁ, Gisela. Ženy v evropských dějinách. Od středověku do současnosti. Praha 2007.
• NEUMANN, Stanislav K. Dějiny ženy. Praha 1999.
• ENNEN, Edith. Ženy ve středověku. Praha 2001.
• HERLIHY, David. Woman in Medieaeval Society. Houston 1971.
• LENGYEL, Alfonz: Ancient Chinese Sexual Objects – The “intangible” value of Spiritual & Material Heritage. Paris : ICOFOM Study Series, 2004.
• MAIRESSE, Francois: Dictionary of Museology, Routledge, 2023.
• SPENCER, Colin. Dejiny homosexuality. Bratislava 1999.
• RINGDAL, Nils Johan. Dějiny prostituce. Brno 2000.
• HORSKÁ, Pavla. Dětství, rodina a stáří v dějinách Evropy. Praha 1990.