An introduction to key concepts and texts in contemporary feminist theory. Authors may include Anzaldua, Butler, deBeauvoir, hooks, Lorde, Mulvey, Rich, Sedgwick, and Spivak. This course does not meet a distribution requirement. Ms. E. Young Prereq. This course is offered around a different theme each semester, with the goal of integrating theory and methods acquired at the 100 and 200 levels.
Topics vary according to the interests of the instructor.
These courses all include a sophisticated level of feminist analysis with ongoing attention given to the imbrication of gender with other categories of difference. In this course, we will focus on these issues, exploring in particular the tensions among poststructuralist, Marxist, and materialist approaches. In analyzing contemporary theories of gender and sexuality, we will pay particular attention to issues of race, class, ethnicity, nationality, and globalization. Theorists to be discussed include Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Rosemary Hennessey, Jacqui Alexander, Leela Fernandes, Elizabeth Grosz, John D. Emilio, Monique Wittig, Gayatri Spivak, Steve Seidman, Stuart Hall, and Gayle Rubin. Ms. Barad Prereq.