Course Outline Part I. Theory and Method Class 1 (Aug. 25): What is feminism? Discussion of class policies, the syllabus, and assignments. Treichler and Cheris Kramarae, 1985, A Feminist Dictionary: In our Own Words, Pandora Press: 158-160. bell hooks, 2000, “Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression” in Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, Pluto Press: Ch. 2. Recommended: Nancy F. Cott, 1986, “Feminist Theory and Feminist Movements: The Past Before Us,” in Juliet Mitchell and Ann Oakley, What is Feminism? Pantheon: 49-62. Johanna Brenner, 1993, "Best of Times, Worst of Times,” New Left Review, I/200, Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, 2000, "What Is Feminism?" in Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. (Check them out on ) Class 2 (Aug. 27): What is feminist theory? What is it good for? Charlotte Bunch, 1979, “Not by Degrees: Feminist Theory and Education” in Passionate Politics: Feminist Theory in Action, Macmillan: 240-253. Check out this film clip about . C. Lugones and Elizabeth Spelman, 1983, “Have We Got a Theory for You!” Hypatia 6 (6): 573-581. bell hooks, 1991, “Theory as Liberatory Practice.” Check out this of bell hooks speaking about voice. Recommended: Wendy Kolmar and Frances Bartkowski, eds., 2010, 3rd edition, “Lexicon of the Debates,” Feminist Theory: A Reader, McGraw Hill: 42-60. NB: This reading has definitions of key terms and is available under the Resources Tab on Collab.
Part IV. “Third Wave” Feminisms Class 12 (Oct. 1): Postmodern Feminism Sandra Lee Bartky, 1988, “,” Ch. 3. Judith Butler, 1990, “Bodily Inscriptions, Performative Subversions,” Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Routledge: 128-141 (focus on 134-141). Recommended: Scott, Joan Wallach, 1988, "Deconstructing Equality-Versus-Difference: Or, the Uses of Poststructuralist Theory for Feminism," Feminist Studies 14 (1): 33-50. Benhabib, Judith Butler, Drucilla Cornell, and Nancy Fraser, 1995, with an introduction by Linda Nicholson, Feminist Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange, Routledge. Linda Nicholson, ed., 1990, Feminism/Postmodernism (Thinking Gender), Routledge. Diana Fuss, 1989, Essentially Speaking, Routledge. Colette Guillaumin, 1995, Racism, Sexism, Power, and Ideology, Psychology Press. Allison Weir, 1996, Sacrificial Logics, Routledge. (Oct. 6): NO CLASS - READING DAY 13 (Oct. 8): Woman and Gender* Toril Moi, 1999, What is a Woman? And Other Essays, New York: Oxford University Press: 72-83 and 93-99 (Corbett v Corbett). Iris Marion 2002, “Lived Body vs Gender: Reflections on Social Structure and Subjectivity,” Ratio 15 (4): 410-428. Recommended: Joan 1988, “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis,” Gender and the Politics of History, Columbia University Press: 28-50 (focus on Part II). Elizabeth Spelman, 1988, Inessential Woman, Beacon Press. Denise Riley, 1988, Am I That Name?: Feminism and the Category of “Women” in History, MacMillan.
15 (Oct. 15): “Third World” Feminism* Half the students will read Mohanty, the other half will read Narayan. Everyone reads Mies. Maria Mies, 1998, “Women Under Colonialism,” Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labour, Zed Books, 2nd edition: 90-111. Chandra Talpade Mohanty, 1988, “ in Power, Representation, and Feminist Critique: Uma Narayan, 1997, “Contesting Cultures: ‘Westernization,’ Respect for Cultures, and Third-World Feminists,” in Dislocating Cultures, (SW #23) [Note: the online version is a different excerpt. Use the SW version posted on Collab if you do not own SW.] Recommended: Lila Abu-Lughod, 2002, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others,” American Anthropological Association 104(3): 783-790. Valerie Amos and Pratibha Parmar, 1984, "Challenging Imperial Feminism," Feminist Review 17: 3-19. Hazel V. Carby, 1985, “On the Threshold of Woman’s Ear”: Lynching, Empire, and Sexuality in Black Feminist Theory,” Critical Inquiry 12 (Autumn): 262-277. Gayatri Spivak, 1988, “?” in Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg, eds., Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, Macmillan. Trinh T. Minh-ha, 1989, Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism, Indiana University Press. Kumkum Sangari, 1989 [1990], Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History, Kali for Women [Rutgers University Press]. Anne McClintock, 1995, Imperial Leather, Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest, Routledge. Oyeronke Oyewumi, 1997, The Invention of Women: Making African Sense of Gender Discourse, University of Minnesota Press: Ch. 2.
Last day to withdraw from a Course: Oct. 20 Class 16 (Oct. 20): Ecofeminism Karen J. Warren, 1990, “The Power and Promise of Ecological Feminism,” Environmental Ethics 2 (2): 125-146. Vandana 1993, “Reductionism and Regeneration: A Crisis in Science,” in Maria Mies & Vandana Shiva, Ecofeminism, Zed Books: 22-35. In-class Film Clip: Film clip: “” Recommended: Susan Griffin, 1978, Woman and Nature, Harper & Row. Ynestra King, 1989, “The Ecology of Feminism and the Feminism of Ecology” in Healing the Wounds: The Promise of Ecofeminism, New Society Publishers. Carolyn Merchant, 1995, Earthcare: Women and the Environment, Routledge. Vandana Shiva, 1989, “Development, Ecology and Women” in Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development, Zed Books (author of many books, most recently: 2005, Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace, South End Press). Diamond and Gloria Orenstein, eds., 1990, Reweaving the World: The Emergence of Ecofeminism, Sierra Club Books. Jytte Nhanenge, 2011, Ecofeminism: Towards Integrating the Concerns of Women, Poor People, and Nature into Development, University Press of America. 17 (Oct. 22): Queer Theory* Judith Butler, 1993, “,” (SW #18). Judith Halberstam, 1998, Female Masculinity, Duke University Press: 1-44. Recommended: Michael Foucault, 1990, History of Sexuality, Volume I, An Introduction, Vintage. Gloria Anzaldúa, 1981 [1983], “La Prieta” in Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, Persephone [Kitchen Table Press] 2nd edition: 198-209.
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, 1990 [2008], Epistemology of the Closet, University of California Press. Gilbert ed. 1996, Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History, Zone Books. Steven Seidman, 1995, “Deconstructing Queer Theory or the Under-Theorization of the Social and the Ethical,” in Linda Nicholson and Steven Seidman eds., Social Postmodernism: Beyond Identity Politics, Cambridge University Press: 116-141. Michael Warner and Lauren Berlant, 1998, “,” Critical Inquiry 24 (2): 547-566. Georgia Warnke, 2001, "Inter-sexuality and the categories of Sex," Hypatia, 16 Judith Butler, 1993, Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex, Routledge. Garatri Gopinath, 2005, Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures, Duke University Press. Class 18 (Oct. 27): Masculinity and Men R. W. Connell, 2005, Masculinities, University of California Press, Ch. 3 and Afterward. Patricia Hill-Collins, 2004, “Booty Call: Sex, Violence, and Images of Black Masculinity,” Black Sexual Politics: African-Americans, Gender and New Racism. Routledge: Ch 5. Homework film clip: (NB: sexual violence briefly depicted). Recommended: Tim Carrigan, Bob Connell, and John Lee, 1985, “Toward a New Sociology of Masculinity,” Theory and Society 14 (5): 551-604. Rachel and David Savran, eds., 2002, The Masculinity Studies Reader, Blackwell. Judith Kegan Gardiner, 2002, Masculinity Studies and Feminist Theory, Columbia University Press: 244-268. bell hooks, 2003, We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity, Routledge.
Class 20 (Nov. 3): Intersectionality Cathy Cohen, 1999, The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics, University of Chicago Press, Ch. 1. Patricia Hill-Collins, 2004, Sexual Politics: African-Americans, Gender and New Racism, Routledge, Ch. 3. Homework Film Clip: Recommended: Mary Hawkesworth, 2006, “Intersectionality,” in Feminist Inquiry: From Political Conviction to Methodological Innovation: 207-248. Mary A. Robertson and Arlene Sgoutas, 2012 “Thinking beyond the Category of Sexual Identity: At the Intersection of Sexuality and Policy,” Leslie McCall, 2005, “The Complexity of Intersectionality,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 30 (3): 1771–1800. Rita Kaur Dhamoon, 2011, “Considerations on Mainstreaming Intersectionality,” Political Research Quarterly 64 (1): 230-243. Nira Yuval-Davis, 2006, “Intersectionality and Feminist Politics.” European Journal of Women’s Studies 13 (3): 193-209. Special on Intersectionality, 2008, Sex Roles 59 (5-6). Class 21 (Nov. 5): Transnational Feminism* Inderpal Grewal and Kaplan, 1994, “Introduction: Transnational Feminist Practices and Questions of Postmodernity,” in Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan, eds., Scattered Hegemonies, University of Minnesota Press: 1-33. Richa Nagar and Amanda Lock Swarr, 2010, “Introduction: Theorizing Transnational Feminist Praxis,” in Amanda Lock Swarr and Richa Nagar, Critical Transnational Feminist Praxis, SUNY Press: 1-22. Recommended:
Inderpal Grewal, 2008, “The Transnational in Feminist Research: Concept and Approaches,” Mehrheit Am Rand? 4:189-199. Davis, 2006, “Human/Women’s Rights and Feminist Transversal Politics,” in Myra Marx Ferree and AIli Mari Tripp, eds., Global Feminism: Transnational Women’s Activism, Organizing, and Human Rights, New York University Press: 275-295. Nancy A. Naples and Manisha Desai, 2002, “The Challenges and Possibilities of Transnational Feminist Praxis,” Routledge: 276-281. Mendoza, 2002, “Transnational Feminisms in Question,” Feminist Theory 3 (3): 295–314. Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan, 2001, “Global Identities: Theorizing Transnational Studies of Sexuality,” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 7 (4): 663-679. Ellen Carol Dubois and Katie Oliviero, 2009, Special issue on circling the globe: International feminism reconsidered, 1910-1975, Women’s Studies International Forum 32 (1): 1-66. Brooke A. Ackerly and Katy Attanasi, 2009, “Global Feminisms: Theory and Ethics for Studying Gendered Injustice,” New Political Science 31 (4): 543–55. Class 22 (Nov. 10): Contemporary Socialist Feminism Iris Marion Young, 2003, “The Logic of Masculinist Protection: Reflections on the Current Security State,” in Marilyn Freedman, , Oxford Scholarship Online; also posted on Collab. Elizabeth Bernstein, 2010, “Militarized Humanitarianism Meets Carceral Feminism: The Politics of Sex, Rights, and Freedom in Contemporary Antitrafficking Campaigns,” Signs 36 (1): 45-71. film clips: “” and “” Recommended: Elisabeth Anker, 2012, “Feminist Theory and the Failures of Post-9/11 Freedom,” Politics & Gender 8 (2): 207-216. Nancy Fraser, 2009, “Feminism, Capitalism and the Cunning of History,” New Left Review 56 (March/April): 97-117.
Mary Hawkesworth, 2012, Political Worlds of Women, Westview Press. Lisa Duggan, 2004, The Twilight of Equality: Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics and the Attack on Democracy, Beacon For articles by socialist feminist theorists on a wide array of global issues, from microcredit to population flows, see Signs: A Journal of Women in Culture and Society, especially volumes published in the past 6 years. Class 23 (Nov. 12): Contemporary Queer Theory* Anne Fausto-Sterling, 2000, “Should There Be Only Two Sexes?” in , Basic Books: Ch. 4. Heath Fogg Davis, 2014, “Sex-Classification Policies as Transgender Discrimination: An Intersectional Critique,” Perspectives 12 (1): 45-60. Recommended: Judith Halberstam, 2005, In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives, New York University Press. Kristen Schilt, 2009, “Doing Gender, Doing Heteronormativity,” Gender & Society 23 (4): 440-464. Riki Wilchins, 2002, “A Certain Kind of Freedom: Power and the Truth of Bodies,” in Genderqueer: Voices from Beyond the Sexual Binary, Alyson Books: 21-63. Julia Serano, 2009, “” 547-551. Mary Anne Case, “ Buz Bissinger, 2015, “,” Vanity Fair July. “” Reality TV Show “Transparent,” TV series Class 24 (Nov. 17): Final Research Project Brooke Ackerly and Jacqui True, 2010, Doing Feminist Research in Political Science and Social Science, Ch. 1 and 2. Shaun McNiff, 2008, “Art-based Research,” in J. Gary Knowles, Ardra L. Cole, eds., Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research: 29-40. WE WILL NOT MEET IN CLASS TODAY.