European and Women’s History

Laura Talamante is a Professor of History at California State University, Dominguez Hills. At CSU Dominguez Hills, she teaches courses in European and Women’s History. She specializes in eighteenth-century Enlightenment and French revolutionary women and gender history. Dr. Talamante also guides student research in French and global revolutionary history, focusing on issues of human rights and social justice.

My goal is to expand my previous study of women and their influence on geopolitical space to include the revolutionary impact on women’s control of space in terms of property rights and household compositions.

Mapping is a tool that I began exploring for better understanding the breadth and depth of women’s political engagement and how women from various social milieus used their familial, social, and economic networks to influence the development of revolutionary consciousness, culture, and practices in Marseille.

This current project will be integrated into a larger, interactive digital humanities mapping project on women in revolutionary Marseille that unpacks their political, social, and cultural experiences in terms of change and continuity from 1789-1795

Mapping women’s revolutionary experiences in Marseille illuminates women’s impact on local and regional politics and also the impact of local and regional politics on women’s everyday lives, including those who fled the city during the Federalist rebellion in 1793 and those brought to Marseille by revolutionary politics

Mapping Women's Control of Property

To further improve our understanding of women’s control of their environment, my current research follows an analysis of revolutionary Marseille’s census and tax records between 1792 and 1793. With extensive census records, much can be revealed about women’s relationship to property. Preliminary research indicates that women’s control of property varied by area within the city, and mapping helps illustrate the ways that women controlled their day-to-day environment.