Topic: From the late 19th century onwards, with increasing industrialization, democratization and urbanization, European cities saw significant changes in their social and occupational structure, their infrastructure as well as in their inhabitants’ living conditions and lifestyles. These changes in urban landscapes strongly affected their female inhabitants. Women and girls experienced new opportunities and responsibilities, they engaged in new female networks and gained access to better education. They entered new professions and claimed economic and political representation. With the formation of women’s movements and their strife for political recognition and suffrage, these demands reached a wider public. Booming cities like Berlin or London continuously attracted new inhabitants and visitors from all levels of society. These cities became the backdrop for an increasing liberalization of society, a loosening of previously rigid gender roles or expectations. They set the framework for cultural innovation, for an expanding entertainment and hospitality industry as well as for trends in leisure that quickly gained popularity. At the same time, the growing cities held new dangers to women, as they were marked by a high level of criminality and domestic violence, deepening patterns of misogyny and an often unsafe infrastructure. Program: In this seminar, we will take a closer look at entangled aspects of women’s history and urban history of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This course combines approaches of social and cultural history. We will investigate, how women and girls of different social classes, age groups, professions and lifestyles experienced metropolitan everyday life. Furthermore, we will trace their participation in their cities’ cultural, economic and political development. Is this the right course for you? The course is open to students who are interested in discussing and analysing aspects of social and cultural history. Students should be prepared to study academic and literary texts, historical newspaper and magazine articles, old photographs etc. As this is a fortnightly course, students must not miss more than two sessions. Workload and Assessment: In order to obtain 5 ECTS credits, students will have to attend the course regularly, participate actively in seminar discussions and group work, give a short presentation (15 minutes) that requires independent research, study the course materials, and pass the written examination. Schließen