WGS 325   Feminist Theories

Spring 2005

Required Texts, Introduction, and Learning Activities overview

Calendar  Learning Activities

Required texts

Carole R. McCann and Seung-Kyung Kim, Feminist Theory Reader:  Local and Global Perspectives.  Routledge 2003.  (Called FTR in the calendar.)

Other readings will be available on SOCS or linked to the online calendar

Adopt-A-Book List (choose one of the books on this list as your own individual reading; see the Reading Log assignment for details)

Introduction

WGS 325 is one of the core required courses for both the major in Women's and Gender Studies and the WILL program.  Students are required to have had prior coursework in the study of gender, and the course is closed to first-year students.  WGS 325 is an enhanced, writing intensive course.  Based on college-wide expectations for such courses, you should plan on spending six or seven hours per week outside the classroom engaged in activities related to the course.  One of these hours, described as the "Fourth Hour" in the calendar, will involve a structured activity each week. 

We have changed the title of this course from Feminist Theory to Feminist Theories, recognizing that there is no single, unified set of rules that guides feminism.  Feminist theoretical thinking is better described as a long-term and often conflicted conversation among thinkers who represent a wide variety of viewpoints but share a commitment to historical change.  Thinkers¹ immersion in specific times, places, and social configurations motivate and shape their theorizing--which means that, while theory is a way of "getting above" daily life, it¹s also limited by the structuring circumstances of daily life.  The dynamic life of theory emerges from debate and critique, from seeing newly from somewhere else.

This semester, through class discussion and written assignments, we will join that conversation.  The central text for the course, The Feminist Theory Reader:  Local and Global, immerses us in a current critical moment in the conversation, as U.S.-based feminists reconsider Western feminist thinking in light of now global networks of feminist thought and action.  Theorists are asking:  how do we think globally while acting locally?  How do we recognize the localness of our knowledge?              

Feminist theory texts can be demanding to read—intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, even physically.  Besides challenging what we think we already know, studying theory can confuse us, make us anxious, or fill us with self-doubt.  It can hurt our heads and guts.  “Theory” is by nature abstract, and many theorists draw on difficult vocabularies from other theoretical disciplines (such as psychoanalytic and economic theory) in their efforts to open up new ways of thinking.  Even people with a lot of experience reading these texts often find them frustrating. 

But the rewards of really getting it can be exhilarating.  We’ll work together to overcome the difficulties and gain a grasp of the conceptual tools that our texts offer, discovering and exploring questions, posing problems, uncovering and challenging assumptions, defining and trying out a variety of points of view. 

If you ever feel lost, come back to this website to remind yourself what we're working toward.  And ask questions.              

Learning Goals:  Grasping the tools*

 * I've referred to the introductory essays in The Feminist Theory Reader in writing this introduction to the course.

Feminism claims:

Feminist theories provide intellectual tools—concepts and methods of analysis--that help historical agents examine injustices.  These tools can be applied to building knowledge about women’s oppression and to developing strategies for resisting subordination and improving women’s lives at every level—from the individual to the local grassroots activist group to transnational movements.

So, the first goal of this course is to give you facility with some of these intellectual tools and a knowledge of how they work, both in relation to activist movements and in relation to a variety of academic disciplines.

Gender is one of the central concepts feminist theorists have used to expose how oppression works.  Since the 1970s, feminist theories have identified gender as a socially constructed category of identity, arguing that biological sex does not destine a person to dominance or subordination, but rather that gender inequality, as well as other meanings attached to “male” and “female,” arise from the politics and culture of specific historical circumstances.       

A second goal of this course, then, is to enrich our understanding of gender as an intellectual tool—to explore how the construction of gender has limited what counts as legitimate knowledge, and how the analysis of gender construction can help create and legitimize new knowledge. 

In the United States, theories that emphasized creating knowledge based on women’s common experience of oppression were influential as feminism became an academic field from the 1970s to the 1980s.  At the same time, however, some theorists—mostly (but not all) women of color and lesbians—were pointing out the many differences among women’s experiences of oppression, and the ways that ignoring these differences meant that a white, middle class perspective dominated feminist thinking.  Discussions of the limitations of gender alone as a feminist intellectual tool have produced tools that help us consider the complexities of identity in relation to power. 

 A third goal of this course is to analyze how systems of privilege and oppression intersect—gender as well as race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, and other categories of identity that influence people’s access to power.

Theorists of the global South (sometimes called the “third world”), too, especially since the 1980s, have contributed to conversations about differences among women, offering new conceptual tools for broadening feminist understanding across cultures and nations.  For example, Southern theorists have pointed out that by emphasizing the politics of personal life, Northern (or “Western”), white, middle-class theorists may fail to develop tools for addressing systemic issues—such as poverty—that affect women’s lives.  By emphasizing equality between women and men (which “men”?), Western feminists may advance the status of some women at the expense of others.  By categorizing feminist activism based on Western women’s movements, feminist theorists may fail to recognize the many ways that women actually bring about change.          

A fourth goal of this course is to apply feminist theories to the transcultural and transnational analysis of gender, systemic oppression, and women’s resistance and agency.

How can we stretch our knowledge so that we truly recognize the significance of differences among women while addressing our own local issues, and, at the same time, build a common ground for acting to change the conditions of women’s oppression?  Feminist thinkers engaged in these debates have developed new conceptual tools for understanding how knowledge and action are shaped.  These tools call our attention to the complexities of our own identities and help us ground our theory and practice in our own local circumstances, while negotiating the tensions that arise around differences.   

A fifth goal of this course is to gain an awareness of the instability of identity categories and the situated, partial, and political nature of fields of knowledge—and to apply this awareness to your own identity and your own learning.

Assessment

The learning activities for this course are designed to guide and support you in making progress towards these advanced goals of a Women's and Gender Studies education.  You'll find my general criteria for evaluation of academic work listed here.   Please read them thoroughly, as well as these academic integrity guidelines, before you submit any assignments.  Let me know if you have questions. 

In addition to these general criteria, I will evaluate students' progress toward the course's learning goals.  Success will depend on your making an active commitment to the course, consistently working to understand the readings, supporting one another's efforts to learn, and taking risks as you seek ways of connecting and applying the concepts.  Plan to listen at least as thoughtfully as you speak; count on learning from one another.  Everyone is expected to ask "dumb" questions, make mistakes, and move on.

Opportunities for students to get feedback on their work from both me and their classmates are scheduled throughout the semester.  For each of the four short essays, you'll submit a preliminary version and I will comment on how you might strengthen your best ideas as well as what you should focus on to improve style and organization.  You will be able to view your scores on assignments on SOCS as I post them.  Individual conferences, scheduled for the third and eleventh weeks, are times for you to brainstorm ideas with me, ask clarifying questions, and talk over how you are doing in the course.  You'll also have an opportunity to give me feedback during the seventh week, when students will respond to a set of questions about the course, your involvement in it, our successes as a group, and directions for change.

Special opportunity for language majors and minors

This course is compatible with the new Language Across the Curriculum program directed by Debbie Compte.  What this means is that you could get a language credit for undertaking a project that involves extensive reading or conversation in a language other than English.  If you're interested, check out this link.