FEMINIST THEORY: WST 456/PHIL 456
University of Wisconsin-Superior • Spring 2006 • Dianna Hunter
TR 4 -5:15
Old Main 302
3 credits
http://frontpage.uwsuper.edu/wspage/
Office: 143 Sundquist
Office phone: 394-8405
Office hours: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 1-2:15, or by appointment. Please also feel free to contact me by phone or email to schedule another time that works for both of us.
Texts and other class materials:
Radical Feminism: A Documentary Reader, Barbara Crow, ed.
Women, Race and Class, Angela Y. Davis.
Threads: Gender, Class, and Power in the Global Apparel Industry. Jane Collins.
The F-Word: Feminism in Jeopardy. Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner.
Plus handouts, videos, and special events as announced.
Welcome to Feminist Theory. In this course we’ll take a deeper look at feminist thought and its relationships to political consciousness, personal politics, and action. Building on the introduction provided in Introduction to Women’s Studies, students will view films and read a diverse range of feminist thinkers, both historic and contemporary.
Our inquiry will focus on three main concerns: 1) developing feminist curiosity and consciousness, 2) exploring recurring and evolving issues across generations of feminists, and 3) exploring the interconnectedness of feminist thought, consciousness, and action. Prerequisites: WST 150 or permission of instructor.
Learning objectives for the class
§ reading and listening curiously and empathetically
§ developing a deeper understanding of feminist terms and concepts—understanding how meanings and implications differ among a range of feminist thinkers
§ grappling with contested terms and controversial issues, with a goal of establishing your own thoughtful position
§ examining the interconnected natures of various kinds of oppression, including but not limited to sexism, racism, classism, colonization, and heterosexism
§ exploring connections between consciousness, theory, and action
Expectations: The work of this course
We’ll need to work together to keep this class interesting. After years of teaching, I can tell you that the success of any class depends on the students as much as the teacher. The class will come alive if you share your curiosity, wonder, scrutiny, doubt, hope, and energy. This means taking responsibility, completing the readings, attending class, and participating in an open, helpful, friendly, inclusive way. As a student in this class, you will be expected, as Adrienne Rich puts it so eloquently, to “claim” your education. You will be encouraged to explore, deepen, and record your own thinking, to think critically about the readings, to participate in group exercises and a project, and to reflect on and evaluate your own work.
Ground rules for respectful discussions
I picked up the following ground rules for respectful discussion at a National Women’s Studies Conference in the 1990s. These are not true “rules” and can’t really be enforced, but if we can agree to follow them, they should help us have open, interesting, and non-threatening class discussions:
§ We will not interrupt one another.
§ We will address our responses to the content of the comments, not to the person.
§ We will try to use “I statements,” stating what we feel and think rather than anticipating what others may think.
§ We will all be responsible for seeing that everyone has an opportunity to speak.
§ We will all participate and contribute to each other’s learning, recognizing that learning is an interpersonal process, both a gift and an ethical responsibility to our fellow learners.
§ We will respect confidentiality.
§ We won’t belittle or demean individuals or groups.
§ We will give people the benefit of the doubt. Life is hard for all of us. We’ll do our best to be wise, caring, and decent.
Assignments:
Course activities will include reading; small-group and full-class discussions; individual essays; a group report on a women’s liberation-era manifesto; a group report on a section of the Collins book; an activism/service project; and a final that consists of writing your own manifesto. Honest, thoughtful, and supportive discussions will be encouraged. Integrating class materials with knowledge from students’ experiences, outside readings, and other classes will be valued.
Assignments and their value in determining the final grade:
Class discussion and participation 20%
Weekly thought papers 30%
Manifesto report (group project) 10%
Collins presentation (group project) 10%
Activism/service learning project 20%
Final test activity: personal manifesto 10%
More information about each assignment will be given in class.
CLASS POLICIES
Please come and see me if you have any questions or concerns at all. I’ll almost always be in my office during the office hours shown on page one of this syllabus (and at many other times as well). From time to time, I may need to attend meetings that come up with little or no advance notice. So if you come to my office and find me gone, please just phone or e-mail me, and we’ll work out a mutually agreeable time to get together. My contact information is on page one, too.
Your words and ideas must be your own. If you use anyone else’s words or ideas, you need to give them credit by naming them and giving the title of the work they wrote or otherwise created. Do this in oral presentations, as well in written ones. Not to give credit is plagiarism, and plagiarism will affect your grade. At my discretion, plagiarism may result in failing the assignment or the course. Plagiarism may also result in referral to a university investigating officer. University sanctions may include probation or expulsion. For more on the university’s policy on academic misconduct, see the UW-Superior’s web site (Student Information/Social Issues Bulletin/ Disciplinary Policies and Procedures).
University policies to note
Class cancellations due to weather will be announced via the media. Please don’t call Campus Safety. Phone lines need to be open for emergencies.
Accommodation of religious beliefs: University policy states that students’ sincerely held religious beliefs shall be reasonably accommodated with respect to scheduling all examinations and other academic requirements. If you have such needs, please inform me at the start of the semester.
Disability and other accommodations: If you need adaptations of methods, materials, or testing, please see me, and I will do my best to make appropriate adaptations.
Week One. Jan. 24 and 26. Introductions
Tues.: Introductions.
Thurs.: Conscious-raising on feminism and theorizing. Handout on theorizing. Thought paper due.
Week Two. Jan. 31 and Feb. 2. Where are we? Ongoing feminist discontents and the myth of post-feminism.
Tues.: Crow 223-232. View A Passion for Justice.
Thurs.: Rowe-Finkbeiner. 85-146. Thought paper due.
Week Three. Feb. 7 and 9. A topic for feminist theorizing: Motherhood. Tues.: Crow 403-420. View Margaret Sanger.
Thurs.: Rowe-Finkbeiner. 147-183. Thought paper due.
Week Four. Feb. 14 and 16. Good (hetero) girls: challenging mind and body control. Tues.: Crow 305-326. View Miss America.
Thurs.: Crow 371-390. Thought paper due. Form groups for manifesto assignment.
Week Five. Feb. 21 and 23. Roots of women’s oppression.
Tues.: Crow 58-89. View Votes for Women. Thought paper due today.
Thurs.: Start work on manifesto project.
Week Six. Feb. 28 and Mar. 2.
Tues.: Work on manifesto project.
Thurs.: Reports on manifestoes. No thought paper due this week.
Week Seven. Mar. 7 and 9.
Tues.: Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention “Declaration of Sentiments,” Anthony “A Constitutional Argument, Stanton “The Solitude of the Self.” (handouts or electronic reserve). Start to view Not for Ourselves Alone.
Thurs.: Rowe-Finkbeiner 185-211. Continue viewing Not for Ourselves Alone. Thought paper due.
Week Eight. Mar. 14 and 16. Race, class, womanhood, and the movement
Tues.: Davis 3-45. Finish viewing Not for Ourselves Alone.
Thurs.: Davis 46-86. View A Place of Rage. Thought paper due.
Spring Break. Week of Mar. 21. No class.
Week Nine. Mar. 28 and 30. Dealing with racism in the women’s movement.
Tues.: Davis 87-126. Start viewing Iron-Jawed Angels.
Thurs.: Davis 127-148. Finish Iron-Jawed Angels. Thought paper due.
Week Ten. Apr. 4 and 6. Material girls: Women, labor and the reproduction of labor.
Tues.: Davis 149-171. View If Women Counted.
Thus.: Crow 486-498 and 513-515. Finish viewing If Women Counted. Thought paper due.
Week Eleven. Apr. 11 and 13.
Tues.: Handouts from Enloe. View The Global Assembly Line.
Thurs. Handouts from Enloe. View short video on Bosnia. Thought paper due.
Week Twelve. Apr. 18 and 20. No class. Work on Collins presentations.
Week Thirteen. Apr. 25. And 27
Tues.: Presentations on readings from Collins. Write questions for Collins.
Thurs: Class visit with Collins. No thought paper due this week.
Week Fourteen. May 4 and 6
Tues.: Discuss, plan, work on activism/service learning projects.
Thurs.: No class. Work on activism/s.l. projects in Women’s Resource Center.
Week Fifteen. May 9 and 11
Tues.: Work on activism/s.l. project in Women’s Resource Center.
Thurs: Present activism/s.l. project. Hand in written description and evaluation.
