Conference for Novembre 2009, in McGill, Department of History. By definition, “gender” is a concept developed in the 1970s by Joan Scott. It is about the social relations of men and women in the society. Generally, historians study women with the concept of gender in mind, in order to understand their unknown place in History. It is why the Gender History uses the idea of gender in society to understand the women’s point of view of the past. For example, it permits us to study some works about the place of the women in the wars, like the study of Ruth Roach Pierson: They’re Still Women After All: the Second World War and Canadian Womanhood. However, this concept of gender also permits the study of some works about the question of men and the masculinity during war. The objective of this conference is to study the male point of view during history in order to understand the role of the men and of masculinity during the wars. The discussion could be developed around the question of homosexuality, the social relations of the men towards women, or the definition of masculinity in war. Those are some examples of possible subjects. Comparative and international questions are welcomed, and the periods that will be discussed during the conference are the ages of Antiquity to the present.

This conference will help to complete the history of men during the wars.

If you want to contribute to this conference, please send a short abstract (200 words, in English or French) and a short CV at djebabla.mourad@mail.mcgill.ca

You have to send your abstract and CV before the 15 June 2009.