Time Schedule:
Sasha Welland
WOMEN 305
Seattle Campus
Women and feminism from global theoretical perspectives. Critical theoretical ways of thinking about feminism. How women are differently situated throughout the world. How they are represented affects women's agency. Focus on how race and gender affect one another. Representations of and by women throughout the world.
Class description
This course explores the heterogeneous processes involved in the cultural construction of gender, and therefore, in feminist praxis. "Gender" indicates the way societies organize people into female and male categories--within families, workplaces, communities, and nations--and the meanings produced around those categories. Our focus on how gender categories vary across cultures will form the basis for a critical examination of diverse feminist theories and practices as culturally and historically situated. Framed by critiques of "universal sisterhood" launched by women of color and Third World feminists, this course aims to dismantle the conventional Western story of feminism as something that began here and then spread elsewhere. As we analyze the workings of power and gender in different cultural contexts and within international feminist discourse, we will also focus on the creative cultural practices women use to negotiate their lives and consider the various strategies and dilemmas of transnational feminist practice.
Addressing these issues requires an understanding of how gender intersects with race, class, and sexuality; and of how movements such as nationalism, colonialism, and transnational capitalism affect these identity constructs and related material differences. In analyzing these intersections through the course readings, we will consider the following questions:
• How are feminist movements culturally and historically situated? • How do representations of women shape knowledge, as well as agency? • When and how does gender change? How do feminist theory and practice relate and respond to such shifts? • How does a serious appreciation of differences among women in the world impact our understanding of gendered and other forms of inequality? In other words, why does thinking internationally matter?
The course is organized around four books, with additional complementary readings and films. We will start, in a way, at home (and in the feminist classroom) with an ethnography that addresses questions of gender and intersectional difference in a California high school, before moving to book-length works based in Egypt, Zimbabwe, and China. This selection of readings is not meant, by any means, to be geographically exhaustive, but will enable us to gain basic knowledge about the historical and geographical contexts of these regions necessary for engaging with the theoretical concerns of the course. Finally, the course is designed to hone students' analytic, writing, and speaking skills.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Class instruction will include lectures, films, active class discussion, and student presentations.
Recommended preparation
Previous exposure to feminism, gender as a cultural construct, and some aspect of internationalism are recommended but not absolutely necessary.
Class assignments and grading
1) Readings and Class Participation: Attendance and active participation in class discussions by all students will be crucial to the success of our class meetings. You are expected to complete the readings by the day they are listed in the syllabus and be prepared to discuss them in depth by raising relevant questions, concerns, insights, and responses. Students are encouraged to contribute postings to the on-line class EPost discussion board as another means of exchanging ideas and collectively reflecting upon issues raised in class. Your class participation grade is based on your preparation for and contributions to class discussion, and is judged not by the quantity of your comments but by their quality. This means that the more time you spend reading and thinking about the issues in the readings, the better your final grade will probably be. Failure to attend more than two classes will seriously jeopardize your ability to pass this course.
2) Collaborative Student Presentations: Students will sign up for one of four student presentation groups (each subdivided into three smaller groupings of 3-4 students). I will circulate a sign-up sheet on the first day of class, during which time you can choose the class youÕd like to help facilitate. These groups will collectively lead a 15-minute class discussion or activity focused on one of the books covered in the course. I will help guide each group by suggesting themes or topics to focus upon. Each group will be expected to generate reading responses and questions that they will post one day in advance on the on-line class EPost discussion board. For the presentation, groups should bring in at least one visual and one other sourceÑnewspaper, magazine, video clip, etcÑand relate it to the class discussion. Please let me know in advance if you have any A/V needs.
3) Midterm Exam: Students will take one in-class exam during the first 45 minutes of class on Thursday, April 14. The exam will include definitions and short essay questions.
4) Short Papers: Students will write three 5-page papers. You will be given four possible paper topics and deadlines to choose from. Paper topics/questions will be handed out one week before they are due. Deadlines for each of the four possible papers are indicated in the course schedule.
Each student's performance will be evaluated as follows: Attendance and Class Participation 10% Collaborative Student Presentation 15% Midterm Exam 15% 3 Short Papers (20% each) 60%
