Classicism zoom session

23 Abril 2020, 12:00 • Adelaide Victória Pereira Grandela Meira Serras

Classicism as the dominant aesthetic expression in Europe - the application of Greek rules on architecture, sculpture and painting (based on mathematical calculus) in modern works. The pioneering works of the Italian  Quattrocento : Reference to Andrea Palladio,  I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura, 1570; Leonardo da Vinci,  the Vitruvius Man.Analysis of several examples of these appropriations of the ancient perspective of balance, beauty as a means to convey the then current cultural weltanschauung - neoclassicism.

The Gender question zoom session

21 Abril 2020, 12:00 • Adelaide Victória Pereira Grandela Meira Serras

The gender question by the end of the eighteenth century. the impact of the French Revolution and the Rights of Man ideology on the vindication of rights for women.Feminism' and proto feminism The distinction between civil and political rights.Approach of Mary Robinson's Letter to the Women of England and Catherine Macaulay's Letters on Education.

The gender question zoom session

16 Abril 2020, 12:00 • Adelaide Victória Pereira Grandela Meira Serras

Gender ideology in the seventeenth and eighteenth century.The then current perspective on women's place and role in society justified by the teachings of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, the Book of Genesis: Eve the frail, easily tempted woman, but simultaneously the temptress. The impact of Greek knowledge on biology and the notion of woman's passive role in procriation.The impact of the economic factor on gender ideology, mainly on middle and high class families. the forging of the spheres theory - the private sphere for women; the public sphere for men. The control of wealth by men; the masculine participation  on public, political affairs.Opportunities for professional carriers for women, or the lack thereof. The importance of female education to contest the  status quo.Reference to some women who wrote against the dominant views: Christine de Pizan, late fifteenth century; Mary Astell, seventeenth century.Distinct educational solutions in Catholic and protestant countries and the opportunities they presented.

zoom session: The French Revolution

7 Abril 2020, 12:00 • Adelaide Victória Pereira Grandela Meira Serras

The French Revolution. 

^{The political and social structure in France: the three orders [états] -  clergy, nobility [1ier et 2nd états]; and the people (3ième état) and the absence of the latter's political representation.}  

^{The poor conditions of the labouring classes due to bad agricultural years and an unbalanced fiscal system.}

^{The failure of fiscal reforms in consequence of the political hierarchical distrivution of power.} 

^{The gap between the royal house and the people as illustrated by the palace of Versailles.}

^{The break of the conflict. the storming of the Bastille, July 14, 1789 as a symbolicand down-to-earth manoeuvre: the surge of the "sans cullotes" to take the weaponry and the liberation of the political prisoners..} 

^{The motto of the Revolution: liberty, equality, fraternity.}

^{The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, 1789: analysis of some of its most significant articles.}

^{The establishment of the New Régime.}

The struggle for power: Jacobines and Girondines, The period of Terror and the rise of Napoleon's absolutist rule.

^{Paine's praise of the Revolution in}  Rights of Man . The emphasis on natural and social rights and the importance of the constitution as the basis of a legitmate and representaive government,

zoom session: The American Revolution

2 Abril 2020, 12:00 • Adelaide Victória Pereira Grandela Meira Serras

The American Revolution

_{The lack of American colonialists' representation in the British Parliament and the consequent unbalanced defense of their interests and grievances. Reference to Edmund Burke's "Speech on the Conciliation with America".The enforcement of taxes and their rejection by the American colonialists.}