Syllabus for Roster(s):
- 14Sp SOC 3100-001 (CGAS)
Feminist Theory/Claire Raymond
Feminist Theory Syllabus
Sociology 3100
Professor: Claire Raymond
Office Hours Monday/Tuesday/Thursday afternoons *by appointment*
Office Location: Fayerweather 209
Course Rationale: Feminist Theory examines characteristic trends (e.g. Liberal, Radical, Marxist, Queer), positions, and topics (e.g. politics, ethics; race, gender, identity; sexuality and sexism, misogyny, and equality) of twentieth and twenty-first century feminist theory. This course offers a focused exploration of how some late 20th Century and early 21st Century feminist theorists challenge, alter and deploy central concerns and paradigms of Western cultural assumptions and paradigms of analysis. A goal of the course is to immerse the student in the work of feminist thinkers as training in how to immerse oneself in a field of thought. The course is also intended to generate a substantial final paper in which the student chooses an aspect of feminist social inquiry and pursues it. Although Feminist Theory as a category incorporates an interdisciplinary perspective, the slant of this course is a focus on Feminist Social Theory, with a focus on Western feminisms.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
·To develop analytical thinking
· To recognize and articulate an argument
·To recognize and articulate different systems of thought
·To develop writing skills
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Diana Tietjens Meyers, Feminist Social Thought
Judith Butler, The Psychic Life of Power
Patricia Fallon, Feminist Perspectives on Eating Disorders
Lois McNay, Gender and Agency
(recommended text)
McCann and Kim, Feminist Theory Reader
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Participation: Students are expected to do the reading assignments and come to class prepared to discuss the texts. The participation grade depends upon the quality of your comments and questions in class. If you have difficulty speaking in front of a group, please talk with me during office hours. Attendance will also factor into this part of your grade (see my attendance policy below).
There will be a final exam. The date will be assigned by the University Registrar and will appear on the University calendar.
Essays: Students are required to write three essays during the semester; the first essay will be 3-5 pages long; the second 8-10 pages long, the third 12-15 pages long.
GRADING PERCENTAGES:
Participation: 15 %
Essays: 5 % first essay, 15 % second essay, 40 % third essay
Final Exam: 25 %
GRADING SCALE:
A 100-93 B 86-83 C 76-73 D+ 69-67
A- 92-90 B- 82-80 C- 72-70 D- 62-60
B+ 89-87 C+ 79-77 D 66-63 F 59-0
ATTENDANCE POLICY:
Regular course attendance is required. If you have more than three absences, your participation grade will be negatively affected. Please try to be on time. Excessive tardiness will affect your grade.
MISSED WORK:
· Late essays will be accepted without penalty only if there are truly extenuating circumstances. Please back up all of your work, and plan to print out your work well in advance of our class meeting time. All work must be submitted printed and in class.
I do not grant extension except in cases where *unexpected* occurrences significantly alter a student's situation. Simply having a heavy workload from other classes does *not* constitute grounds for an extension. Late work turned in without an extension, or more than two days late, will be marked down one full letter grade for each day late.
All papers must be printed. All papers must be submitted during class
COURSE SCHEDULE:
All readings are culled from the text books listed above, and from Collab; For Mondays, please prepare the FIRST reading listed; for Wednesdays, please prepare the SECOND reading listed; if there are three readings listed, I will give more detailed instructions per that class week.
Weeks One and Two
A little Hitchcock: please view Vertigo and Marnie; read from Collab site "Queer Hitchcock"
First essay due by the end of the second week of class--3 to 5 pages long--describe your interest in Feminist Theory--why do you want to study Feminist Theory and from what vantage point do you undertake this study? If you like, you may interweave this response essay with personal description but my strong advice is don't get too personal. Anecdotes from your social world and the culture are usually better to write about than personal confession.
Prepare for Discussion Wednesday January 15th, the film Vertigo
NO CLASS on MLK day (http://mlkday.gov) Monday January 20th; for Wednesday January 22nd, prepare for discussion the Hitchcock film Marnie and the reading “Queer Hitchcock” (Collab site); First paper due in class January 22nd
Week of January 27th
Feminist Thought, Feminism, Marxism, Method and the State: An Agenda for Theory (Catharine MacKinnon)
Feminist Thought, Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power (Sandra Lee Bartsky)
Week of February 3rd
Feminist Thought, Social Criticism without Philosophy (Nancy Fraser)
Feminist Thought, Race, Class, and Psychoanalysis (Elisabeth Abel)
Week of February 10th
Feminist Thought, Beyond Racism and Misogyny (Kimberle Crenshaw)
Feminist Thought, Sisterhood: Political Solidarity Between Women (bell hooks)
Week of February 17th
from Collab, please read Hill Collins, and from Collab please read Feminist Thought and the Matrix of Domination
Feminist Thought, Feminism, Citizenship, and Radical Democratic Politics (Chantal Mouffe)
Week of February 24th
The Psychic Life of Power, pages 1-31
The Psychic Life of Power, pages 83- 106;
Week of March 3rd
The Psychic Life of Power, pages 167-201
In class Wednesday March 5th—second paper due Please note: the second paper should be an expanded consideration of one topic or author from one reading covered by this point in the semester. That is, choose one reading and develop *through research* a paper that more deeply explores the main topic or a main topic from the reading you've chosen. This paper is a research paper.
The paper must be 8-10 pages long, and that page count does *not* include works cited or charts or illustrations. The paper must be a minimum of eight pages of your writing. Please use Times New Romand 12 point font, standard margins. The emphasis in this paper is on using research to deepen your investigation of Feminist Theory. Therefore as you pursue your topic, please do so by engaging in *library* searches. If you do not know how to use the library, please consult Barbara Selby, our research librarian. The paper is due in class; if you do not turn it in in class, the paper will be considered late, and marked down accordingly. Do not email your paper. Frame your paper not around a thesis but around a guiding research question or a group of guiding research questions. What do you hope to explore and learn by writing this paper? Write that question, or those connected questions, at the top of your paper.
Week of March 17th
From Fallon, Feminist Perspectives on Eating Disorders
For Wednesday's class Chapters 1, 5, 9, and 20* for the questioners assigned for this day, you may choose one chapter on which to focus
Week of March 24th
For Monday's class please read “Technologies of Gender”
for Wednesay, please read Monique Wittig (collab site)
Week of March 31st
For Monday Feminist Thought, please read chapter 6 AND From Collab site read Queer Utopias
for Wednesday pleaase read from McNay Gender and Agency, the introduction, and read also "Body, Position, Power"
Week of April 7th
Monday from McNay , Gender and Agency, please read chapter “ Psyche and Society”
and Wednesday from McNay Gender and Agency read “Gender and Change”
Due this Wednesday in class: A written statement of your intended term paper topic*
Week of April 14th
From Collab, please read “belmore more” and “Feminist Studies (Native American)”
From Collab, please read “Native American Feminism, 2nd article”
Week of April 21st
If we have gotten all the readings done up til now, this week we will read Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved. I know it’s not on the syllabus, but you can buy this book used for five dollars on line, and it will cap off our study of Feminist Theory in ways that I will explain when we get there.
April 28th
no class April 28th, as I will be out of town
We will hold an exam review *Wednesday* April 30th at 2 pm, in our regular classroom
A word on the term papers: the term paper is your chance to explore an aspect of Feminist Theory that is personally important to you. Insofar as this course is a survey course, I endeavor to represent in the syllabus many feminisms. But in your term paper, you should choose an aspect of Feminist Theory that really matters to you, and research in depth. Thinking about and deciding on your term paper topic well in advance of its due date is crucial to developing a strong research paper. The term paper is a research paper; it is not a think-piece. You will need time to do the research, and for that reason must declare in writing your term paper topic by the date of indicated on the syllabus above. The term paper is now due Saturday May 3rd, when you come in to take the final exam, bring the term paper. I will not give you your final exam unless you give me your term paper.
*Final Paper, due on the day of our final exam. Please bring a printed copy to the exam, standard 12 point font, Times New Roman, Standard Margins. Please do not write fewer pages than the minimum indicated on the syllabus. A final paper less than 12 pages long, not including works cited, is an incomplete. Works cited, illustrations, charts, and appendices do not count towards the page length of your paper. Here I have pasted below the date and time of our final exam. *I will not give you your final exam unless you give me the term paper* In other words, you need to bring the term paper printed to the final exam.
| Saturday, May 3, 2014 | 1400-1700 |
Plagiarism—the copying without full citation of words of ideas originally written by someone else—guarantees a failing grade, at the least. Cite every source, whether it be conceptual or verbatim quote. If you are unclear as to what constitutes plagiarism, please see me during office hours.