Resources – The Warrior Women Project

Background Resources and Readings

Map of Ballad Locations/Settings: A Google Map showing the locations mentioned in Diane Dugaw’s Warrior Women ballads, compiled by Sarah Chapman

Wars Involving England in the 17th and 18th Centuries: Context and Background for the Warrior Women Ballads, compiled by Robert Chapman-Morales

Warrior Women in Films and Documentaries

About Letterpress Printing of Music

Teaching with the Warrior Women Project

Syllabus for an undergraduate course on Warrior Women designed by Simone Chess

Sample student assignments developed by Erika Carbonara and Bernadette Kelly:

In Class Activity: Representations of Mary Frith
- Mary Frith is a historical figure who was assigned female-at-birth, but performed masculinity throughout her life, similar to the protagonists of the warrior women ballads. After reading the ballads, Mary Frith’s biography, and Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker’s The Roaring Girl (a fictional work starring Mary Frith), the class completed this activity which analyzes various depictions of Mary Frith.
In Class Activity: Contextualizing John Lyly’s Gallathea
- Once students have encountered a number of crossdressing narratives (Dugaw’s ballads, Hic Mulier, The Roaring Girl, and Gallathea) this assignment encourages them to examine these narratives in conjunction with each other, but also in conjunction with other narratives. Specifically, what can we learn about Lyly’s Gallathea by comparing it with other representations of Gallathea and other crossdressing narratives? This assignment will give students the opportunity to prepare for the final project by asking them to analyze and critically engage with two distinct texts and then putting them in conversation with each other.
In Class Activity: Textual Analysis of Merchant of Venice
- Students read Shakespeare’s play, which features crossdressing, alongside the WW ballads. One aspect of the Merchant of Venice that has changed drastically since the original printings is the division of the plays into acts and scenes and expanded stage directions. This in-class assignment is intended to expose students to early editions of Shakespeare, to help them understand the differences and nuances of early printing, and to reinforce the performative nature of the plays.
Online Prompt: As You Like It and Warrior Women Ballads
- In addition to reading the warrior women ballads from Dugaw’s catalogue, our class studied other texts that depicted women who cross-dressed for protection or to perform a normatively masculine role. Prompt is meant to stimulate conversation on an online discussion board either before an in-class session or in lieu of a physical class session. This specific prompt followed the assigned reading of As You Like It, but similar prompts could be generated for various texts.

Undergraduate student project samples from Winter 2020 semester