WGS 325
Feminist Theories
Fall 2005
Introduction, learning goals, and assessment Learning activities
Calendar of Readings and Assignments
I. Feminism: Conversations and Actions
FIRST WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Class policy working groups
Thursday, September 1
Introductions; introduce Adopt-a-Book and talking points; organize task forces; "Feminist theory is...."
SECOND WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Class policy working groups (meet and carry out your assignment; see the links under August 31 for a description of your group's task)
Tuesday, September 6 - Introduction to first essay
To prepare for class:
1. CHOOSE your Adopt-a-book
2. Review the full calendar and choose four class sessions you would be interested in co-facilitating. Once I have your choices, I'll organize facilitation teams. (Each student will be on only one team.) The assignment is described here.
3. Read (on SOCS):
Charlotte Bunch, "Not by Degrees: Feminist Theory and Education" (1979)
Audre Lorde, "Poetry Is Not a Luxury" (1977) from Sister/Outsider: Essays and Speeches (1984)
Maria Lugones and Elizabeth V. Spelman, "Have We Got a Theory for You! Feminist Theory, Cultural Imperialism and the Demand for 'The Woman's Voice'" (1983)
bell hooks, "Theory as Liberatory Practice" from Teaching to Transgress (1994)
Bring to class a quote from one of these readings that you find particularly useful, enlightening, or powerful. The Poster Task Force will collect these.
Thursday, September 8 Prewriting for first essay due
Organize prewriting review groups; reports from Discussion and Attendance task forces
Read: FTR: "Introduction" to Section I, pp. 12-23
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on this question: Do you understand the reading? If not all of it, how much of it do you understand? What clarifications are needed? What “dumb questions” need clearing up before we can go on to a more complex grasp of the reading?
FTR: Inja Aflatun, "We Egyptian Women" (1949), 26-31
Margot Badran, "Feminism in a Nationalist Century" (a brief history of twentieth-century Egyptian feminism)
FTR: Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, "Introduction" (1949), 32-41.
THIRD WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Prewriting review groups meet
Monday, September 12
http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=6681
Reports from Poster and Website Task Forces
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on this question: Again, focus on your comprehension of each reading. Restate central arguments, key concepts, or important passages in your own words. What specifically is difficult to grasp, and why?
SOCS: Elizabeth V. Spelman, "Gender & Race: The Ampersand Problem in Feminist Thought" (1988) from Inessential Women, pp. 74-88
FTR: Christine Delphy, "Rethinking Sex and Gender" (1993), 57-67.
Bonnie Kreps, "Radical Feminism 1" (1970) 45-50
Thursday, September 15 First Essay due
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on this question: What in the reading do you readily accept as accurate, valuable, or true? What do you question, and why?
FTR: Gwendolyn Mikell, "African Feminism: Toward a New Politics of Representation" (1995) 103-112.
SOCS: Sylvia Tamale, "Alternative Leadership in Africa: Some Critical Feminist Reflections" (2004)
FOURTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Individual conferences
Monday, September 19
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on these questions: Again, what in the reading do you readily accept as accurate, valuable, or true? What do you question, and why? How do you evaluate the "truth" of concepts that are unfamiliar or do not correspond with your own experience?
FTR: Yvonne Corcoran-Nantes, "Female Consciousness or Feminist Consciousness? Women's Consciousness Raising in Community-Based Struggles in Brazil" (1997) 126-137
SOCS: Uma Narayan, "Contesting Cultures: 'Westernization,' Respect for Cultures, and Third-World Feminists" (1997)
Thursday, September 22 Organize Adopt-A-Book Roundtables
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on these questions: Where in the writing does the author provide details or examples that help to support the argument or make the concepts more vivid? If the author doesn’t do so, can you?
FTR: Robin Morgan, "No More Miss America!" (1970) 80-82.
Sonia Correa and Rosalind Petchesky, "Reproductive and Sexual Rights: A Feminist Perspective" (1994) 88-102.
SOCS: Bikini Kill, "RIot Grrl Philosophy" (1995)
Facilitators: Cathy & Amanda
FIFTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Adopt-A-Book Roundtables
Monday, September 26
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on these questions: Again, how does the author illustrate concepts or make them vivid? What examples could you add to further support, clarify, or complicate the argument?
FTR: Margaret D. Stetz, "Wartime Sexual Violence Against Women: A Feminist Response" (2001) 138-147
SOCS: Larry May and Robert Strikwerda, "Men in Groups: Collective Responsibility for Rape" (1994)
SOCS: V. Spike Peterson, "Gendered Nationalism"
Facilitators: Jackie and Jenny S.
Thursday, September 29
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on this question: How does this reading address the learning goals for the course, or feminism generally?
Charlotte Bunch, "Lesbians in Revolt" (1987), 83-87
bell hooks, "Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression" (1984)
Elizabeth Martinez, "La Chicana" (1997), 41-45
Facilitators: Karen and Jen D.
SIXTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: NGO Surfing
Monday, October 3
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on these questions: Again, how does this reading contribute to the learning goals for the course, or add new dimensions to your understanding of feminism?
FTR: Amrita Basu, "Globalization of the Local/Localization of the Global: Mapping Transnational Women's Movements" (1995) 68-77
Take a look at: DAWN
FTR: Malika Dutt, "Some Reflections on United States Women of Color and the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women and NGO Forum in Beijing, China" (1996), 197-203
Beijing Declaration of Indigenous Women (1995)
SOCS: Winona LaDuke, "Mothers of Our Nations: Indigenous Women Address the World" (1995)
Thursday, October 6
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on these questions: How does the reading take us beyond themes and concepts you’ve encountered before? Where does the reading offer greater depth, a closer look at the complexities of a concept, a revealing discussion of why the concept matters?
FTR: Noel Sturgeon, "Ecofeminist Appropriations and Transnational Environmentalisms" (1999) 113-125
Check out: Women's Environmental and Development Organization
SOCS: Vandana Shiva, "The Chipko Women's Concept of Freedom" (1993)
SOCS: Diamond and Orenstein, "Introduction" to Reweaving the World (1990)
Optional: Starhawk, "A Pagan Response to Katrina"
SEVENTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Finish Adopt-a-Book Logs!
Monday, October 10 Readings for midterm
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on any aspect that you find difficult to understand or particularly useful in thinking through issues we've discussed in class:
Marilyn Frye, "In and Out of Harm's Way: Arrogance and Love"
Maria Lugones, "Playfulness, 'World'-Traveling, and Loving Perception"
Isabelle R. Gunning, "Arrogant Perception, 'World'-Traveling, and Multicultural Feminism: The Case of Female Genital Surgeries"
II. Theorizing Intersecting Identities
Thursday, October 13
Talking Points portfolio due (through October 5)
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on these questions: Again, how does the reading extend themes we've already encountered? Where does it offer greater depth or a closer look at a concept and why it matters?
FTR: "Introduction" to Part II, 148-163
The Combahee River Collective, "A Black Feminist Statement" (1977), 164-171
SOCS: Kimberle Crenshaw, "Intersectionality and Identity Politics: Learning from Violence Against Women of Color" (1997)
And take a look at: Kivulini (an NGO in Tanzania)
In-class links:
EIGHTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Study for midterm
Monday, October 17
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on these questions: Does the reading consider alternative viewpoints, or present a viewpoint unfamiliar to you? If you were someone other than who you are (with different views, circumstances, experiences), how might you respond to the reading?
FTR: Donna Kate Rushin, "The Bridge Poem" (1981), 172-3
Mitsuye Yamada, "Invisibility Is an Unnatural Disaster: Reflections of an Asian American Woman" (1981), 174-8
Gloria Anzaldua, "La Conscienzia de la Mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness" (1981) 179-88
SOCS: Audre Lorde, "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House" (1981)
SOCS: Rebecca Aanerud, "Thinking Again: This Bridge Called My Back and the Challenge to Whiteness" (2002) 69-77
SOCS: Mary, "things i'm gonna stop doing with my white privilege" (1997)
Facilitators: Sharlene, April, and Caitlin
Thursday, October 20 Visitor: Anila Kamal
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on these questions: Again, what about the reading presents a viewpoint unfamiliar to you or different from the viewpoints of previous readings? What would need to change about your own identity for you to respond differently to the reading than you initially respond?
FTR: Marie-Aimee Heli-Lucas, “The Preferential Symbol for Islamic Identity: Women in Muslim Personal Laws” (1993) 188-196
Take a look at: Women Living Under Muslim Laws
SOCS: Suhair Hamad, "A Road Still Becoming," 2000; "First Writing Since," 2001
For fun: Here's Hamad's website
SOCS: Amina Jamal, "Transnational Feminism as Critical Practice: A Reading of Feminist Discourses in Pakistan" (2005)
NINTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Dialogue Essay Orientation (after class Thursday)
Monday, October 24 Midsemester Break
Thursday, October 27 Midterm Essay due; Midsemester reflections due
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on these questions: How do the ideas in the reading hold together? What is the underlying logic?
Heidi Hartmann, “The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union,” 206-221
Linda Y. C. Lim, “Capitalism, Imperialism, and Patriarchy: The Dilemma of Third-World Women Workers in Multinational Factories,” 222-230
Maxine Molyneux, “Mobilization without Emancipation? Women’s Interests, the State, and Revolution in Nicaragua” (231-239).
Facilitators: Matt and Debbie
TENTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Identities Dialogue
Monday, October 31
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings, focusing on these questions: How do the ideas in the reading hold together? What is the underlying logic?
FTR: Anne Koedt, “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” (1970), 242-248.
SOCS: Audre Lorde, "Uses of the Erotic: The erotic as Power" (1984)
SOCS: Jane Gerard, "The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm": The Female Orgasm in American Sexual Thought and Second Wave Feminism" (2000), 449-476.
OPTIONAL: SOCS: Shannon Bell, "Feminist Ejaculation" (1991)
Thursday, November 3 Round 1 of Dialogue essay due
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
FTR: Monique Wittig, "One Is Not Born a Woman" (1981), 249-254
Audre Lorde, "I Am Your Sister: Black Women Organizing Across Sexualities" (1988), 255-259
SOCS: Adrienne Rich, "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" (1980), 304-312
SOCS: Judith Halberstam, "Transgender Butch: Butch/FTM Border Wars and the Masculine Continuum"
Facilitators: Jennifer B. and Ginet
ELEVENTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Identities dialogue
Monday, November 7
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
FTR: Gayatria Gopinath, “Funny Boys and Girls: Notes on a Queer South Asian Planet,” 1996, 260-266.
Karin Aquilar-San Juan, “Going Home: Enacting Justice in Queer Asian America,” 1998, 267-276.
SOCS: Inderpal Grewal and Karen Kaplan, "Global Identities: Theorizing Transnational Studies of Sexuality" (2000)
Facilitators: Allison and Marileny
Thursday, November 10 Round 2 of Dialogue essay due
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
SOCS: Trinh T. Minh-Ha, "Difference"
SOCS: Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, "Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory" (2001)
Facilitators: Victoria, Heather, and Jessica
II. Theorizing Feminist Agency and Politics
TWELFTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Mapping Feminist Epistemology
Monday, November 14 Dialogue essay: forward Rounds 1 and 2 to your Active Listening partner
Lecture/discussion: key points in feminist epistemology and why it matters to feminist activism
Prepare talking points on each of the readings listed below, focusing on these questions:
What is epistemology, why does it matter, and why is it a problem for feminism?
How does the reading connect with one or more of the learning goals for this course?
FTR, Introduction to Part III, 278-289
Nancy C. M. Hartsock, "The Feminist Standpoint: Toward a Specifically Feminist Historical Materialism" (1983), 292-307
Thursday, November 17
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
Patricia Hill Collins, "The Politics of Black Feminist Thought" (2000) 318-333
Uma Narayan, "The Project of Feminist Epistemology: Perspectives from a Nonwestern Feminist" (1989), 308-317 (9 pp)
In case you're wondering: What is positivism???
THIRTEENTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Dialogues
Monday, November 21 Dialogue essay: Active Listening round due
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
Cheshire Calhoun, "Separating Lesbian Theory from Feminist Theory" (1994) 334-352 (8 pp)
Maxine Baca Zinn and Bonnie Thornton Dill, "Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism" (1996) 353-361 (8 pp)
Lata Mani, "Multiple Mediations: Feminist Scholarship in the Age of Multinational Reception" (1990) 364-377 (7 pp)
Thursday, November 24 Thanksgiving!
FOURTEENTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Theory Festival
Monday, November 28 Final Dialogue essay due
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
FTR: Joan W. Scott, "Deconstructing Equality-Versus-Difference: Or, the Uses of Poststructuralist Theory for Feminism" (1988) 378-390 (12 pp) Here's a brief summary of her key points about poststructuralism: Some Basic Poststructuralist Tools for Feminism
Norma Alarcon, "The Theoretical Subject(s) of This Bridge Called My Back and Anglo-American Feminism" (1990) 404-414 (10 pp)
SOCS: Susan Bordo, "Feminism, Postmodernism, and Gender Skepticism" (1990)
Facilitators: Maya and Christi
Thursday, December 1
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
Judith Butler, "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory" (1997) 415-424 (9 pp)
Carolyn Sorisio, "A Tale of Two Feminisms: Power and Victimization in Contemporary Feminist Debate," 428-436 (8 pp)
Donna Haraway, "Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective" (1988) 391-403 (12 pp)
FIFTEENTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Start manifesto process
Monday, December 5
SOCS: Bernice Johnson Reagon, "Coalition Politics: Turning the Century" (1983) from Homegirls: A Black Feminist Anthology, 356-68 (8 pp)
Jude Jordan, "Report from the Bahamas," 438-446 (8 pp)
Adrienne Rich, "Notes Toward a Politics of Location," 447-459 (12 pp)
Thursday, December 8 Prospectus for Manifesto project due
Chandra Talpade Mohanty, "Feminist Encounters: Locating the Politics of Experience," 460-471 (9 pp)
JeeYeun Lee," Beyond Bean Counting," 472-476 (4 pp)
SOCS: "Third Wave Manifesta"
FINALS WEEK
December 20: 2:00-4:50 PM, Bliss 147
Third Talking Points portfolio due
Manifesto project due; Manifesta project exhibit
Closing reflections (bring the questionnaire to class)
