WGS 325
Feminist Theories
Required texts
Carole R. McCann and Seung-Kyung Kim, Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives. Routledge 2003. (Called FTR in the calendar.)
Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues: The V-Day Edition. Villard 2000.
Other readings will be available on SOCS or linked to the online schedule.
Learning activities Introduction, learning goals, and assessment
Calendar of Readings and Assignments
I. Feminism: Conversations and Actions
FIRST WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Class policy working groups
January 19
Introductions; mapping concepts; plan class policies and guidelines; biography presentation sign-ups; introduction to daily talking points assignment
January 22
Biography assignment sign-ups: Review the full online calendar and make three choices of theorists whose biography you will research. You will only make one presentation, but if I have your top three choices it will be easier to distribute the schedule fairly. Sign-ups will take place in class. The assignment page is here.
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
FTR: "Introduction," pp. 1-9
SOCS: Marilyn Frye, "Oppression" (1978) from The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory, pp. 1-16.
SOCS: Nancy Julia Chodorow, "Gender, Relation, and Difference in Psychoanalytic Perspective" (1979)
SOCS: Carol Gilligan, from "In a Different Voice," 1982
SECOND WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Prewriting dialogues for first paper
January 26 Prewriting for first essay due
Voting on class guidelines and policies
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
FTR: "Introduction" to Section I, pp. 12-23
Inja Aflatun, "We Egyptian Women" (1949), 26-31
Margot Badran, "Feminism in a Nationalist Century" (a history of twentieth-century Egyptian feminism)
SOCS: Nawal El Saadawi, selections from The Nawal El Saadawi Reader
Biography: Maren
January 29 Imagine a huge, multi-colored ball...standpoint exercise
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
FTR: Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, "Introduction" (1949), 32-41
Biography: Courtney
SOCS: Elizabeth V. Spelman, "Gender & Race: The Ampersand Problem in Feminist Thought" (1988) from Inessential Women, pp. 74-88
THIRD WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Office conferences (sign up)
February 2 First Essay due
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
SOCS: Gayle Rubin, "The Traffic in Women: Notes on the Political Economy of Sex" (1975) 228-244
Biography: Lisa A.
FTR: Christine Delphy, "Rethinking Sex and Gender" (1993), 57-67
February 5 Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
Bonnie Kreps, "Radical Feminism 1" (1970) 45-50
Biography: Leslie
Gwendolyn Mikell, "African Feminism: Toward a New Politics of Representation" (1995) 103-112
Yvonne Corcoran-Nantes, "Female Consciousness or Feminist Consciousness? Women's Consciousness Raising in Community-Based Struggles in Brazil" (1997) 126-137
FOURTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: V-Day/Vagina Monologues
Performances: Thursday, 8 PM: Kendall Friday, 8 PM: SC 202 Sunday, 4 PM: Kendall
February 9 Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
Robin Morgan, "No More Miss America!" (1970) 80-82
Biography: Danielle
Sonia Correa and Rosalind Petchesky, "Reproductive and Sexual Rights: A Feminist Perspective" (1994) 88-102
Biography: Sylvia
Margaret D. Stetz, "Wartime Sexual Violence Against Women: A Feminist Response" (2001) 138-147
February 12 Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
Charlotte Bunch, "Lesbians in Revolt" (1987), 83-87
Biography: Heidi
Elizabeth Martinez, "La Chicana" (1997), 41-45
bell hooks, "Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression" (1984)
Biography: Megan
Noel Sturgeon, "Ecofeminist Appropriations and Transnational Environmentalisms" (1999) 113-125
The V-Day Interlude
FIFTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Vagina Warriors
No Talking Points due this week!
February 16 Introduction to Adopt-a-Book
Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues
Biography: Jamie
February 19 Vagina Monologues Essay draft due
Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues
II. Theorizing Intersecting Identities
SIXTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Peer critiques
February 23 Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
FTR: "Introduction" to Part II, 148-163
The Combahee River Collective, "A Black Feminist Statement" (1977), 164-171
SOCS: Chela Sandoval, "Feminism and Racism: A Report on the 1981 National Women's Studies Association Conference," 55-71
February 26 Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
SOCS: Audre Lorde, "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House" (1981)
Biography: Susan
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
Biography: Dianna
SOCS: Rebecca Aanerud, "Thinking Again: This Bridge Called My Back and the Challenge to Whiteness" (2002) 69-77
SEVENTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Study for midterm
March 1 Vagina Monologues Essay due
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
SOCS: Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan, "Introduction: Transnational Feminist Practices and Questions of Postmodernity," 17-28, from Scattered Hegemonies (1994)
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
March 4 Midterm exam (essay question based on the reading for today)
SOCS: Chela Sandoval, "US Third-World Feminism: The Theory and Method of Oppositional Consciousness in the Postmodern World" (1991) 75-99.
Midsemester Break
EIGHTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Women's History Month events
March 15 Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
FTR: Marie-Aimee Heli-Lucas, “The Preferential Symbol for Islamic Identity: Women in Muslim Personal Laws” (1993) 188-196
SOCS: Suhair Hamad, "First Writing Since," 2001
Barbara Lee, "Statement in Opposition to Authorizing Military Force in Afghanistan," 2001
Fawzia Afzal Khan, "Here are the Muslim Feminist Voices," Counterpunch, November 16, 2001
Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan, "RAWA statement on the terrorist attacks in the US," September 2001
Paola Bacchetta, Tina Campt, Inderpal Grewal, Caren Kaplan, Minuo Moallem, and Jennifer Terry, "Transnational Feminist Practices Against War," October 2001
Required Women's History Month event:
March 15, 3:30 PM: Kendall Hall 118
Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Talk/Performance: Where are the Muslim Feminist Voices?If you can't make this event, watch it on the video which will be available in the WGS office a few days after the event.
Optional readings by Fawzia Afzal-Khan on Pakistani women's political theater: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/social_text/v019/19.4afzal-khan.pdf http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the_drama_review/v046/46.1afzai_khan.pdf
March 18 Midsemester reflections - bring completed questionnaire to class
Peer Dialogue Essays - Round 1 due (e-mail it to me and to your dialogue partner)
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
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).
Biography: Melissa
NINTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Women's History Month Events / Peer Dialogue process
March 22 Peer Dialogue Essays - Round 2 due (meet with your dialogue partner)
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
FTR: Anne Koedt, “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” (1970), 242-248.
Monique Wittig, "One Is Not Born a Woman" (1981), 249-254
Biography: Christine
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 (K&B)
March 25 Peer dialogue essays: forward Rounds 1 and 2 to your Active Listening Partner
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.
THIS READING CANCELLED: SOCS: Trinh T. Minh-Ha, from "Difference: 'A Special Third World Women Issue'" from Woman Native Other (1989), 79-102
II. Theorizing Feminist Agency and Politics
TENTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Peer Dialogue
March 29 Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
FTR, Introduction to Part III, 278-289
Nancy C. M. Hartsock, "The Feminist Standpoint: Toward a Specifically Feminist Historical Materialism" (1983), 292-307
Biography: Jennifer
April 1 Peer Dialogue Essays - Active Listening round due; arrange to meet with your correspondents to finish up the project
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)
ELEVENTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Dialogues
April 5 Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
Cheshire Calhoun, "Separating Lesbian Theory from Feminist Theory" (1994) 334-352 (8 pp)
Biography: Jessica
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)
April 8 Final peer dialogue essay due
Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
Joan W. Scott, "Deconstructing Equality-Versus-Difference: Or, the Uses of Poststructuralist Theory for Feminism" (1988) 378-390 (12 pp)
Norma Alarcon, "The Theoretical Subject(s) of This Bridge Called My Back and Anglo-American Feminism" (1990) 404-414 (10 pp)
TWELFTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Individual conferences
April 12 Readings carried over:
Joan W. Scott, "Deconstructing Equality-Versus-Difference: Or, the Uses of Poststructuralist Theory for Feminism" (1988) 378-390 (12 pp)
Norma Alarcon, "The Theoretical Subject(s) of This Bridge Called My Back and Anglo-American Feminism" (1990) 404-414 (10 pp)
April 15 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)
Biography: Lisa D.
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)
Biography: Nathalie
THIRTEENTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Study groups; start manifesto process
April 19 Prepare talking points on each of the following readings:
SOCS: Bernice Johnson Reagon, "Coalition Politics: Turning the Century" (1983) from Homegirls: A Black Feminist Anthology, 356-68 (8 pp)
Biography: Kristen
Jude Jordan, "Report from the Bahamas," 438-446 (8 pp)
Adrienne Rich, "Notes Toward a Politics of Location," 447-459 (12 pp)
Biography: Debbie
April 22 Final exam:
Short essay questions (your choice of 5 out of 8 options) incorporating these three texts and asking you to link them to other readings from the last half of the semester.
Chandra Talpade Mohanty, "Feminist Encounters: Locating the Politics of Experience," 460-471 (9 pp)
JeeYeun Lee," Beyond Bean Counting," 472-476 (4 pp)
SOCS: Maria Lugones, "Playfulness, 'World'-Travelling, and Loving Perception," Making Faces Making Soul 390-402
FOURTEENTH WEEK FOURTH HOUR: Go to DC (if you can) and join the March for Women's Lives (April 25)
Manifesto process
Virtual class session (message board) - all week!
April 26 Prospectus for fourth paper due
FINALS WEEK Thursday, May 6, 8:00-10:50 AM, Bliss 229
Fourth paper and Adopt-A-Book log due; Manifesta project exhibit
Closing reflections (bring the questionnaire to class)