FEMINIST THEORY
WS 615/POLS 615C
FALL 2008
T:1:30-4:00PM; BusAd D 301
 
Dr. Monisha Das Gupta
George Hall 306, Ph: 956-2914
dasgupta@hawaii.edu
Office Hours: W: 9am-10am, F: 9am-11 am; or by appointment

Course description:
This course maps how feminists have theorized patriarchy capitalism, racism, heterosexuality, colonialism, and neocolonialism as institutional forms. It introduces students to debates in feminist theory and places them in conversation with not only other theoretical traditions such as critical theory, poststructuralism, and psychoanalysis but also with each other. The course will focus on US women of color, indigenous, postcolonial, and poststructural feminisms to trace new areas that these overlapping bodies of knowledge have articulated as legitimate subjects of feminist inquiry.  The power of feminist theory lies in its explanatory frameworks, its playfulness, and in it ability to move people to change the conditions under which they live.  A central theme that will run through this course is the question of praxis: what sorts of visions and political possibilities open up when we move way from a notion of "sisterhood" based on the unitary category, "woman"?

Required Readings:

These books are available at Revolution Books, 2626 S. King Street in Puck's Alley (944-3106). 

* A course reader marked “CR” in the syllabus will be distributed in class.

Course Requirements and Grade Distribution:

Weekly Assignment (2%x15=30%): Each week for 15 weeks,students will bring a brief 1-2 page  written response that synthesize the readings to answer the following questions: a) What are the central arguments of the reading/s?  b) What aspects of feminist theory do the readings address/develop (Alternatively, how do the readings theorize gender and its intersection with other axes of power)?  c) How do you see the readings speak to each other?  End the assignment by posing one discussion question. Please send your response out to the class (including me) by Monday 5pm each week.  Quickly scan each other's responses before class to get an idea of what people are thinking about the texts.

Seminar Discussion:  Each week two students will be in charge of leading the seminar.  They will identify three themes that will set the discussion agenda.  Students are welcome to add to these themes.  Your weekly assignment will be starting point, if not the basis, of the discussions.  Every student is expected to make substantive contributions to the discussion.  Discussion leaders should make sure that everyone gets the chance to participate substantively, and that no one or two students dominate the discussion. 

Papers (10%+ 10%+ 40%= 60%): You will write two five-page papers that will build up to your final paper.  The final paper should be geared toward a new project you want to do, an ongoing project, or your WS capstone paper and presentation. Thus, the work on the research project will be incremental and class time should be used to formulate your project and solving problems.  A part of the class for at least 6 weeks of the semester will be devoted to talking about pieces of the final research project.  The paper must bring feminist theory to bear on the particular research questions you are asking. The deadlines for these papers are marked in the course outline below.

Women’s Studies Colloquium Series (10%):  All students are required to attend the WS the colloquium series on Fridays between 12:30pm and 2pm.  The schedule will be distributed in class.  If you have a conflict with another class at that time, you may arrange to attend another colloquium series after consultation with me.  Attending talks and engaging with the material presented is a core part of your graduate education.  You will be required to submit a short commentary and a question based on the talk.  I encourage all students to get into the habit of asking questions in public.  I hope the lecture series will offer you enough opportunities to participate in the Q&A.

Attendance: Attendance is mandatory.  To miss class you have to have a valid reason. 
 
NB: Students are encouraged to utilize my office hours.  One-to-one meetings enable us to discuss your ideas, help you with any difficulty you face with the course material, and help me to get to know you better.  Those who have special needs should make an appointment to see me within the first week of class so that we can ensure your full participation.

Learning Objectives:

Learning core concepts: This course aims at introducing students to the concept of “gender” as a system of power and its intersection with other systems of power.  One goal of the course is to provide you with analytic tools that will allow you to undertake a feminist analysis of any social phenomenon or text.  This moves us away from the idea that feminist analysis is only applicable when studying women.  The course also aims at familiarizing students with different types of feminist analyzes.
 
Linking theory with experience:  Students will be asked to apply the concepts and theories to their own experiences.  One key contribution of feminist theory is the realization that theory is lived and theory exists to make sense of realities.

Critical thinking: You will be developing your critical thinking skills in this class in order get into the habit of identifying and formulating arguments while situating them in a body of literature. 

Writing:  This course will help you professionalize your writing.  We will pay particular attention to how to incorporate theory in our writing and how to develop an original argument.   

Course Outline:

Week 1: Introductions, US feminism in historical perspective

8/26:  Thompson, “Multiracial feminism”; Yamada, “Invisibility is an Unnatural disaster” (FTR #17); Anzaldúa, “La Conciencia de la Mestiza” (FTR #18); Zinn and Dill, “Theorizing difference” (FTR #33)
Recommended: Davis, “Class and race in the early women’s rights campaign” (A copy will be left in the ES Office, George Hall 301)  
(These readings need to be done by 9/2)

Week 2: Location

9/2:  Rich, “Notes Toward a Politics of Location” (FTR # 41); Mohanty, “Feminist Encounters” (FTR #42); Combahee River Collective, “A Black Feminist Statement” (FTR #15); Jolly, “Our Part of the World” 

Week 3: Location

9/9: Collins, “Preface to the Second Edition,” Part 1 (Chs 1-2) Part 2 (Chs 3, 6, 8, 9)

 Week 4: Gender

9/16: Beauvoir, “The Second Sex, ‘Introduction’” (FTR #2), Delphy, “Rethinking sex and gender” (FTR #6); Connell, “The body and social practice” (CR); Collins, Ch 7, Butler, Undoing, Introduction
Guest Speaker

Week 5: Gender

9/23: Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution” (FTR #38); Butler, Undoing, Chs 1-4 and 9-10.
Writing Workshop

Week 6: Epistemology

9/30:  Hartsock, “The Feminist Standpoint” (FTR #29); Haraway “Situated Knowledges” (FTR #36); Collins, Part 3, (Chs 10-12); Harding, “A Socially Relevant Philosophy of Science?”
Guest Speaker: Prof. Vrinda Dalmiya , Dept of Philosophy, UHM

 Week 7: Epistemology

10/7: Fraser, “What’s critical about critical theory?”; Butler, “Contingent Foundations”; Jacobs, “Earth Honoring: Western Desires and Indigenous Knowledges”; A. Smith, "Native Studies and Critical Pedagogies" (e-mailed file); Million, "Felt Theory"
Writing Workshop

Week 8: Colonialism/Postcolonialism/Empire and War
10/14:  Lowe, "The intimacies of four continents" (Handout to be disstributed in class 10/7);  Koikari, “Exporting democracy?” ; A. Smith, Conquest Chs 1-3; Hall, "Strategies of erasure: U.S. Colonialism and Native Hawaiian Feminism" (Handout to be distributed in class 10/7); Kauanui, "Native Hawaiian decolonization and the politics of gender" (Handout to be disstributed in class 10/7)
Writing Workshop

Week 9: Colonialism/Postcolonialism/Empire and War

10/21: A. Smith, Conquest, Chs 4-7; Mohanty, “Under Western Eyes” (CR); Mohanty, “Under Western Eyes Revisited”

 Week 10: Colonialism/Postcolonialism/Empire and War

10/28: A. Smith, Conquest, Ch 8; Kaplan, “Manifest Domesticity”; Abu-Lughod, “Orientalism and Middle East Feminist Studies”; Russo, “Feminist Majority Foundation’s Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid”
Guest Speaker : Prof. Mari Yoshihara, Dept. of American Studies, UHM

 Week 11:  Colonialism/Postcolonialism/Empire and War

11/4 (Holiday):  Puar, Acknowledgments, Chs 1 and 2

 Week 12:  Colonialism/Postcolonialism/Empire and War

11/11 (Holiday):  Puar, Ch 4, Conclusion, Puar Ch 3; Butler, Undoing Ch 5

 Week 13: Globalization: Capital, Sovereignty, Citizenship

11/18:  Grewal, “Women’s Rights as Human Rights” (CR); Ong, Ch 1

 Week 14: Globalization: Capital, Sovereignty, Citizenship

11/25:  Ong, “The Production of Possession”; Ong, Neoliberalism, Introduction, Part II (Chs 2 and 3), Part III (Chs 5 and 7)
Writing Workshop

Week 15: Globalization: Capital, Sovereignty, Citizenship

12/2: Ong, Neoliberalism, Part IV (Ch 8-10)
Writing Workshop

 Week 16: Wrapping Up

12/9:  What are the building blocks of feminist theory?  Last questions about/discussion of Final Project.
Writing Workshop

FINAL PAPER (40%) DUE 12/16 3PM, GEORGE HALL 301
 * Please note that this syllabus is subject to minor revisions.