Pre-Modern Gender & Sexuality Working Group

The Pre-Modern Gender and Sexuality Working Group (PMGS) is a forum for sharing, discussing, and presenting work on gender and sexuality in an interdisciplinary setting that is dedicated to the study of pre-modern (defined as prior to ca. 1750) societies and cultures. Yale has a strong tradition of interdisciplinary programs, colloquia and student-led working groups, such as, for example, the Medieval Studies Department, the Renaissance Studies Department,  the British Studies Colloquium, and the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Working Group.  In accordance with this tradition PGSWG offers a forum for students and academic fellows to meet and tackle questions and problems with like-minded colleagues who have a shared interest in gender and sexuality as well as the pre-modern.  Thus the group also addresses issues of sources, methods, and frameworks for the study of pre-modern societies.  Our meetings (typically held on Fridays once a month, between 12:30-2:00 pm) focus on:

  • Presenting and discussing our own work within the framework of our studies at Yale (such as the writing of the prospectus and the drafting of syllabi, dissertation chapters, and seminar papers);
  • Presenting and discussing works in progress for conferences and publications;
  • Reading and discussing (“work-shopping”) important theories and theorists, seminal or otherwise useful and interesting articles and books, and mapping how they have been and can be applied to the pre-modern period.

Please don’t hesitate to join us, or contact us if you have any questions!

Contact:  Mireille Pardon (mireille.pardon@yale.edu) and Seamus Dwyer (seamus.dwyer@yale.edu).