Instructor: Janet Gray, Bliss 219, gray@tcnj.edu, x2163
Women everywhere are oppressed. Why? How? What can we do about it?
“Global feminisms” refers to the growing transnational network of movements and organizations working on behalf of women at many levels of civil and state society, from grassroots organizing to global governance, together with a growing body of writing and research on women’s status, gender oppression, and priorities for change around the world. This course’s purpose is to prepare you, as a world citizen, to participate in this network by exposing you not only to issues and movements but also to the conceptual, methodological, and affective challenges of building solidarity across a vast range of differences—differences in identity, locale, worldview, focus, strategy, and standpoint in relation to global systems of power.
WGS 330 is a subtitled course that can be repeated for credit as the focus changes. In the fall of 2004, we will concentrate on the Caribbean, using intersections between feminist and ecological thought to explore current writing and activism from the region, as well as its dramatic history of connections among nature, gender, and race.
Global Feminisms meets the WGS and WILL requirement for a course covering gender in global perspective. It is writing intensive and fulfills the gender and global perspectives goals of liberal learning. As a 300-level course, Global Feminisms places high expectations on you for thinking critically, linking theory to practice and research to activism, and negotiating intricate connections among concepts. While there is no prerequisite, you must be at least a sophomore to enroll. Any background you have in studying gender, social systems, the global economy, human rights, multiculturalism, international relations, or—especially for the Fall 2004 version--ecology will be valuable.
"Global campaigns are much more likely to succeed when women's civil and political rights rather than their economic rights (food, shelter, housing) have been violated. They are more effective in challenging physical violence than structural violence against women," writes Amrita Basu, a leading scholar in transnational feminism. One implication of her statement is that Westerners are more likely to join transnational movements on behalf of women in the global South (or “two-thirds world”) when they can see themselves as rescuing victims than when it would involve understanding and confronting global systems of power.
As a student in this course, you’ll be building knowledge and skills that will help you think beyond “rescuing victims” and act with an awareness of the complexity and connectedness of the world. With the instructor’s support and the collaboration of your classmates, you will:
· apply transcultural and transnational feminist theories and current research to the analysis of intersecting systems of privilege and oppression, as well as movements in resistance to those systems, with attention to the global scope of gender’s inflections through race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, nation, and religion
· explore the impacts of identity, standpoint, privilege and power on what counts as knowledge, with attention to the challenge of moving from a northern/western-centered knowledge base to multiple, hybrid standpoints
· analyze particular forms of the construction of gender generated by the globalization of economic and political power, militarism, mass culture, and local and transnational accommodation and resistance
· apply the central concepts of the course to specific instances of transnational feminist concerns, researching, planning, and taking action for social justice
Global Feminisms takes us well beyond an understanding of gender and human rights that is grounded in the American experience. It challenges us to grasp equity as entailing far more than abstract equality between women and men; to recognize cultures and their constructions of gender as historically dynamic and interlinked; and to envision how movements engaged in a multitude of issues can build strength through coalition. This course provides in-depth exposure to the application of theory to practice, the articulation of theory from practice, and the critique of theory based on the experience of movement organizations. Students experience their connectedness to lives that may have seemed remote. The course thus broadens the base from which you can envision future study, travel, service, and career options.
The format of this course is based on the premise that an undergraduate Women’s and Gender Studies program belongs in the network called “global feminisms.” We will immerse ourselves in this network through the assigned readings, by meeting with speakers from local and international organizations, and by exploring the internet, which since 1995 has become an invaluable tool for transnational women’s movements. Class activities will be very much like those that grassroots and nongovernmental organizations engage in as they “think globally and act locally,” addressing specific critical issues while building coalitions: collaboratively gathering and foregrounding marginalized knowledge, raising mutual awareness through dialogue, sharing knowledge and planning strategies.
Four written assignments—and the process of developing, focusing, enriching, and refining them—will form the groundwork for everything we do. We will integrate individual writing into class activities through peer critique, brainstorming and dialogue sessions, collaborative research resulting in presentations and simulations, and activities that take us beyond the classroom. The purpose of these activities is to support one another’s learning as you build a critical vocabulary, work out the implications of theoretical concepts, explore examples of global feminisms, and devise ways of presenting what you have learned.
Global Feminisms brings a special perspective to the intensive writing component. Writing is not just an academic skill; it is power. Creating and sharing knowledge are ways to engage in global citizenship: to recognize your relationship to social systems; to work through an awareness of the limits of your own standpoint; to open channels between those whom power systems render invisible to one another, and to know the world and envision action in ways that incorporate many points of view.
Cliff, Michelle. Abeng
Ellis, Patricia. Women, Gender, and Development in the Caribbean: Reflections and Projections. Zed 2003.
Mohammed, Patricia, ed. Gendered Realities: Essays in Caribbean Feminist Thought.
Sources of additional required and optional readings
Alexander, M. Jaqui, Lisa Albrecht, and Mab Segrest, eds. Sing, Whisper, Shout, Pray: Feminist Visions for a Just World.
Anzaldua, Gloria E., and Kantrowitz, Melanie Kaye, eds. Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Women of Color.
Anzaldua, Gloria E., and Analouise Keating. This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation.
Hawthorne, Susan. Wild Politics: Feminism, Globalisation, and Bio/Diversity.
Held, David and Anthony McGrew, eds. The Global Transformations Reader: An Introduction to the Globalization Debate. Blackwell, 2000.
Meillon, Cynthia, ed. Holding On to the Promise: Women’s Human Rights and the Beijing +5 Review.
Merchant, Carolyn. Reinventing Eden
Mies, Maria and Vandana Shiva, Ecofeminism.
Moore, Brian, et al. Slavery, Freedom, and Gender: The Dynamics of Caribbean Society. 2001.
Moraga, Cherrie, and Gloria Anzaldua, eds. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color.
Rocheleau, Dianne, ed. Feminist Political Ecology: Global Issues and Local Experiences.
Rowbotham, Sheila, ed. Women Resist Globalisation: Mobilising for Livelihood and Rights.
Sheller, Mimi. Consuming the Caribbean
Springfield, Consuelo Lopez. Daughters of Caliban: Caribbean Women in the Twentieth Century.
Sturgeon, Noel. Ecofeminist Nature: Race, Gender, Feminist Theory, and Political Action.
Warren, Karen, and Duane L. Cady, eds. Bringing Peace Home: Feminism, Violence, and Nature.
Websites
Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Activism (CAFR) - http://www.cafra.org
UNIFEM - http://www.unifem.undp.org/beijing/index.html
Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) - http://www.wedo.org/
Links on environmental activism in the Caribbean:
http://trinicenter.com/Environment/GeneticallyEngineeredFoods.htm
http://www.centrelink.org/fntt/Stollmeyer.html
Feminist International Radio Endeavor/Radio Internacional Feminista - http://www.fire.or.cr/indexeng.htm (search “Caribbean”)
Resources on “Life and Debt”
About the film: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2001/lifeanddebt/thefilm.html
IMF and the World Bank: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2001/lifeanddebt/moreabouttheissues.html
Other related articles: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2001/lifeanddebt/resources.html
See the course website for complete descriptions of the requirements for these assignments.
Four essays – 40% (5%, 10%, 10%, 15%)
Semester-long research log – 20%
Midterm exam – 10%
Fourth hour team projects – 15%
Final collaborative action/research presentation – 15%
Grading Policy
"A" work builds on the requirements of an assignment and does more, showing an intellectual or imaginative engagement that transforms the project in an unusual way. It avoids the obvious, presenting illuminating insights. Ideas are flexibly developed, but with control and purpose. The student has taken time to find the right words, to avoid clichés and unsupported generalizations, to communicate ideas with precision. These projects often focus on a very specific aspect of a big issue, and, while they may not claim to come up with "the" answer, they reach toward new questions and new perspectives on a problem. Ideas are supported by well chosen evidence; ideas are linked with other ideas, sources with other sources. An "A" essay or presentation has a richly developed central idea; shows a detailed understanding of sources; has sound organization; has few if any grammatical or mechanical errors. A lively, original voice speaks; it has something special to say, says it well, and supports it fully.
"B" work effectively fulfills the requirements of the assignment, showing independent thought and active engagement with the topic. The project has a clear sense of order which shows conscious planning and crafting. Ideas are well thought out, reasonably interpreted in their context, and well demonstrated from sources and supported by appropriate examples. Only minor errors are present. From overall organization to word choice, the writer has invested the project with purpose, direction, and strategy.
"C" work shows an effort to present ideas, but they are weak and fuzzy; the effort to get ideas across has not been effective. The project may be padded with unconnected materials or it may say the same thing over and over. Instead of analysis, the project relies on clichés, self-evident statements, or unsupported generalizations. The project may show incomprehension or confusion about what the sources have to say, or sources may simply be quoted or paraphrased rather than analyzed. Supporting examples are few, and those included do not clearly support the writer’s central point. Organization is either mechanical, or it falls apart. Some words and concepts are misused.
A “D” project wanders around without a point and lacks substance. It may be significantly shorter than the assigned length. Ideas are few and shallow.
“F” is a no-show, a project that shows minimal effort, or a project that violates intellectual integrity. See the course website for details, including a definition of plagiarism and how to avoid it.
Caribbean Voices in the Network of Global Feminisms
First essay and fourth hour workshops: reading beyond a reading
Week 1: Selections from This Bridge Called My Back; M. Jaqui Alexander, “Remembering This Bridge, Remembering Ourselves” (SOCS); Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies (online)
Week 2: CAFRA website; Gendered Realities.
Week 3: Beijing +5 Review Outcome Document (UNIFEM website); selection from Holding On to the Promise (SOCS).
Ecofeminist Theory and Practice
Second essay and fourth-hour group project (presentation): Illustrating theory
Week 4: Selection from Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale and Ecofeminism (SOCS)
Week 5: Selections from Ecofeminist Nature.
Week 6: Selections from Feminist Political Ecology; midterm.
From Columbus to Globalization: Nature, Gender, Race, Development
Third essay and fourth-hour group project (simulation): Inhabiting marginalized knowledge
Week 7: Michelle Cliff, Abeng.
Week 8: Howard Zinn, Chapter 1 of A People’s History of the United States; selections from Slavery, Freedom, and Gender
Week 9: Film: “Life and Debt”; selections from The Global Transformations Reader
Weeks 10-11: Selections from Consuming the Caribbean; Women, Gender, and Development in the Caribbean
Applications: Nation/Issue Studies
Fourth essay and fourth-hour group project (class facilitation): Linking research and action
Week 12-14 Readings to be assigned by facilitation groups