| What does "feminism" mean in nonwestern
cultures, and how have local movements and international agencies addressed
gendered oppression around the world? Within the framework of global concern
for human rights and social justice set by the Beijing Platform of 1995, we will
explore how the analysis of gender applies to defining and addressing social
issues.
The workshop-style class structure—in which everyone’s
active participation is vital to the learning process—will include a variety
of kinds of activities. We will make extensive use of the internet to enrich our
knowledge while at the same time exploring problems about what information is
presented, how, and for what purposes. We will use, and invent, imaginative
exercises like those used by grassroots activists and community educators to encourage critical
thinking and creative cultural change. And we will form study circles and
research teams, dividing reading
assignments and open questions among small groups that explore a topic in depth and report back to
the class as a whole.
REQUIRED
TEXTS
Bhasin, Kamla. Understanding
Gender. Kali for Women, 2000.
Brumberg, Joan
Jacobs. Fasting Girls: The History of Anorexia Nervosa.
Vintage, 2000.
Dirie, Waris, with
Cathleen Miller. Desert Flower: The Extraordinary Journey
of a Desert Nomad. Quill, 1998.
Smith, Bonnie, ed. Global
Feminisms Since 1945. Routledge, 2000.
Wichterich, Christa.
The Globalized Woman: Reports from a Future of Inequality.
Zed, 2000.
Other required
readings will be available online or on library reserve.
REQUIREMENTS
(under construction)
See my attendance
policy, grading
policy for written work, and policies
on academic integrity.
Study
Circle Portfolio (due September 28) - 10%
Web
Ethnography (due October 16) - 15%
Talking
Paper (draft due November 2; revised paper due November 6) - 15%
World-traveling
Paper (due November 28) - 20%
Research
team presentation - 15%
Participation 20% -
Includes attendance at Wangari
Mathai's lecture (October 17) and the Ethics of Consumption Conference
(November 8) as well as regular attendance and active engagement in
class activities.
SCHEDULE
Who are we,
and what is this course about?
Baseline: Beijing ‘95
August 28
Film: "Beyond Beijing"
August 31
Reading: "The
Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action," chapters 1-3.
Assignment: Research
a participant in the Beijing Conference and introduce her to the
class.
September 4
Labor day break: No class
September 7 Reading: Universal
Declaration of Human Rights; Introduction
and text
of CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women)
Assignment: Identify
an area of progress (or lack of progress) in women's status
since the Beijing Conference.
Feminisms:
Historical Themes in Global Perspective
September 11-21
Study
circles
September
11: Reading: Introduction (pp. 1-10) to Global Feminisms
Since 1945; review titles and topics for Parts I, II, and
III.
September
14: Part I, II, or III of Global Feminisms Since 1945;
study circles on Nation-Building, Sources of Activism, and Women's
Liberation.
September 18
& 21: Part IV of Global Feminisms Since 1945
Study
Circle Portfolio due September 28
The Globalization
of Gender
September
25-October 19
September 25:
Chapter 1, The Globalized Woman. Organize research teams.
September 28:
Chapter 2, The Globalized Woman; visit with writing
consultant Gina Matturri: approaching the web ethnography
October 2:
Chapter 3, The Globalized Woman; workshop on economics
October 5:
Chapter 4, The Globalized Woman; Development for Whom
workshop.
October 9:
Chapters 5 & 6, The Globalized Woman.
October 12: What's
so important about women in Kenya planting trees? Interpreting
the Greenbelt Movement in the context of globalization.
October 16:
No class.
October 17:
Wangari Maathai, "The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the
Approach and the Experience," 12:30 PM, Kendall Hall
Wangari Mathai at TCNJ
website
World-Traveling:
Two Case Studies
October
19-November 27
October 19:
Reading: Waris Dirie, Desert Flower; What
is FGM?
Web
Ethnography due
October 23
- Fall break (no class)
October 26:
Reading: Desert Flower, through Chapter 10. Fauziya
Kassindja and Waris Dirie.
October 30:
Reading: Desert Flower, through Chapter 13. Quick
research: What are some successful programs to end FGM?
November 2:
Reading: Desert Flower, through the end. Talking
paper due.
November 6: Revision
of talking paper due.
November 8:
Conference: "Feeding a Small Planet," a symposium on Ethical Consumption. Attendance at one of the
three events is required:
1:30-3:15 PM, Forcina 130,
"Consumer Images of Women," film and discussion led by
Gloria Pierce, Professor of Counseling, Human Development, and
Educational Leadership, Montclair State University
3:30-5:30, Forcina 130,
Workshop: "The Politics of Food" with Frances Moore
Lappe, Stuart McCook, Mary McFeely, and Nachilala Nkombo.
7:30-9:30 PM, Music Building
Concert Hall, "Hope's Edge: Finding Our Path in Troubled
Times," Frances
Moore Lappe
November 9:
No class.
Split
agendas: World-traveling/current crisis.
November 13:
Reading: Brumberg, Fasting Girls, chapters 1-3.
November 16:
Reading: Fasting Girls, chapters 4-6.
November 20:
Reading: Fasting Girls, chapter 7.
November 23:
Thanksgiving break--no class.
November 27:
Reading: Fasting Girls, chapters 8, 9, and afterword.
World-traveling
paper due.
"Whenever I watch
those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be
skinny like that but not with all those flies and death and stuff".
- Mariah Carey
Catalog of Nigerian artists against FGM
www.emote.org/thin/
- 17-year-old's website on anorexic imagery
“Mars and Venus, or Planet Earth? Women and Men on
Campus in the New Millennium.”
World-traveling
paper due November 30
Wrapping Up:
Research Group Presentations
November
30-December 11
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