The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism
Prof. Roberta Seelinger Trites 438-4572
STV 207; Office hours TR 8:30-9 a.m. seeling@ilstu.edu
ENG 470: Studies in Children’s Literature:
Twenty-First Century Feminisms in Children’s Novels
Required texts:
Alaimo & Heikman, Material Feminisms (textbook)
Collins, The Hunger Games (2008)
Curtis, The Mighty Miss Malone (2012)
DiCamillo, Flora & Ulysses (2013)
Gillman, Melanie, As the Crow Flies [webcomic] (2012-2014)
Hartnett, Butterfly (2009)
Johnson, A., a cool moonlight (2003)
Pratchett, Wee Free Men (2003)
Price, Starters (2012)
Rhodes, Ninth Ward (2010)
Rowell, Eleanor & Park (2013)
Ryan, Becoming Naomi León (2004)
Sharafeddine, The Servant (2013)
Also: READINGS ON RESERVE AT MILNER LIBRARY, UNDER “COURSE
RESERVES” for “Trites” (on the dropdown menu at Milner, not the ENG dept!):
Recommended reading prior to course start date:
Trites, Waking Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Voices in Children’s Novels (1997)
[and we’ll undoubtedly discuss the sequels to The Hunger Games, so read them before we discuss The Hunger Games if you don’t like spoilers!]
Course objectives:
Although early feminist studies foregrounded the inherent sexism in children’s literature, by the 1990s, scholars were paying attention to feminism as a way to understand children’s literature in more complicated ways. Waking Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Voices in Children’s Literature (1997), for example, focuses on discourse and subjectivity, narrative structure, motherhood and sisterhood, and metafiction as children’s authors use these constructs to depict empowered girls. But within the field of children’s literature, feminism and feminist thought has become increasingly nuanced in the twenty-first century. This course seeks to expand on the preliminary work done in Waking Sleeping Beauty within the context of more recent feminist scholarship.
Course requirements:
Class participation: 10%
Response essays: 20%
Presentation/class discussion 15%
Mini-presentation of seminar paper 5%
Seminar paper: 50%
Class participation: Students are expected to attend every seminar for the full three hours. Students are expected to have read the material scheduled for each class prior to each class meeting and to then engage actively in the class discussion.
Response essays: Before 10 a.m. each Wednesday, students will post to me and to each other a response essay that analyzes how the major theoretical issues raised in that week’s scholarly readings (not the works of fiction!) interact with each other. What is each theorist arguing? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments? (“I did not understand this” is not a legitimate critique of an essay’s weaknesses.) How do the theorists engage with each other’s ideas or those we have previously read? How do they agree and disagree? Please post your response to every student in the class, using the “reply to all” feature of email, and please limit your response to 300-500 words. (I really do expect you to write these as short essays that demonstrate rhetorical control, not as rambling self-reflections.)
Presentation/class discussion: Each of you will sign up to lead at least a portion of the class discussion one week. Your grade for this assignment will be based on how well you have prepared discussion questions that generate rich discussion. (Hint: “What did you think?” and “What did you like about this reading?” are not intellectually rigorous questions.)
Mini-presentation: The last afternoon of class, I will ask each of you to present on the topic of your paper in a 5-minute presentation (and I really do mean FIVE MINUTES ONLY). You will identify your thesis and the major argument of your paper, also including information about your conclusion. The purpose of this presentation is to provide your classmates with information about other texts for youth and also the pertinent scholarly sources.
Seminar paper: Each student is to perform a theoretically engaged reading of a topic that involves gender and children’s novels. Ideally, the paper will involve at least one or more of the theoretical concepts we’ve discussed in class. This is meant to be a scholarly paper that follows the conventions of writing at the graduate level in an English department. Typically, seminar papers are approximately 20 pages long. Students must consult with me about their paper topics; I will not accept papers on topics that I have not approved.
Policies:
• Students are expected to attend class. It is impossible to imagine how students who have missed more than two classes will be able to complete all of the expectations for the course.
• Any assignment that is late will be penalized one letter grade per day that it is late.
• I expect you to have read the assignments listed on the syllabus before you come to class. Yes, I know it’s a lot of reading. Please recognize that there is a direct correlation between your self-presentation and how other people perceive you. (In other words, when you are unprepared and/or complain, you negatively affect how other people perceive you professionally.)
• Proofread everything you turn in, because grammar, organization, MLA style, and mechanics are a substantial part of every grade you receive.
• I will not discuss any evaluation I have given your work until at least twenty-four hours after you have received the evaluation.
• You earn your grade by performance, not by negotiation. Unless I have made an error of computation, please do not ask me to raise your grade.
• Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should contact Disability Concerns at 350 Fell Hall, 438-5853 (voice), 438-8620 (TTY).
Communication:
I consider communication between the student and the instructor a key factor in maximizing students’ learning. Please feel free to email me at the address above; I find email exchanges with students very fruitful.
I also encourage you to drop by my office during office hours or to contact me to set up an appointment. Students are my top priority; don’t be afraid to contact me!
I expect students to treat each other respectfully at all times both in class and outside of class. Sometimes, discussions will touch on controversial topics. When we treat each other with as much civility and professionalism as possible, our discussions will generate the best possible learning environment for all students.
Webpage:
August 20: Introduction (PLEASE READ THESE PRIOR TO THE FIRST CLASS; however, no emailed response papers are due this day.)
Alaimo and Hekman, “Introduction: Emerging Models of Materiality in Feminist Theory,” in
Material Feminisms, eds. Alaimo and Hekman, 1-19
Butler, Judith. “Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire.” In Feminist Theory: A Philosophical Anthology, eds. Ann E. Cudd and Robin O. Andreason. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 2005. 145-153. (Milner e-reserves)*
August 27 Performativity and other Feminist Philosophies:
Anderson, Elizabeth. “Feminist Epistemology: An Interpretation and a Defense.” In Feminist Theory: A Philosophical Anthology, eds. Ann E. Cudd and Robin O. Andreason. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 2005. 188-209. (Milner e-reserves)*
Hekman, Susan. “Constructing the Ballast: An Ontology for Feminism,” in Material Feminisms,
eds. Alaimo and Hekman, 85-119
September 3: Embodiment and ability:
Johnson, A., a cool moonlight (2003)
Asch, Adrienne. “Critical Race Theory, Feminism, and Disability: Reflections on Social Justice and Personal Identity.” Ohio State Law Journal 62.1 (2000): 391-425. (Milner e-reserves)*
Bordo, Susan. “Introduction: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body,” from Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. Berkeley: U of California P, 1993. 10-45. (Milner e-reserves)*
Grosz, Elizabeth. “Introduction: Refiguring Bodies,” from Volatile Bodies: Toward a Corporeal Feminism. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1994. 3-26. (Milner e-reserves)*
September 10: Narrative Structure:
Pratchett, Wee Free Men (2003)
Blackford, Holly. “Reaching for the Narcissus: Byronic Boys, Toys, and the Plight of Persephone,” from The Myth of Persephone in Girls’ Fantasy Literature. New York: Routledge, 2012. 1-20. (Milner e-reserves)*
Day, Sara K. Chapter 1, “She is a Creature Designed for Reading,” from Reading Like a Girl. Jackson: U of Mississippi P, 2013. 3-29. (Milner e-reserves)*
September 17: Alterity:
Ryan, Becoming Naomi León (2004)
Bost, Suzanne. “From Race/Sex/Etc....,” in Material Feminisms, eds. Alaimo and Hekman, 340- 372
Fernández, María José. “Negotiating Identity: Migration, Colonization, and Cultural Marginalization...” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 28.2 (2003): 81-89. (Milner e-reserves)*
Harris, Violet J. “Applying Critical Theories to Children’s Literature.” Theory Into Practice 38.3 (1999): 147-54. (Milner e-reserves)*
Recommended: Sanders, Joe Sutliff. “Spinning Sympathy: Orphan Girl Novels and the Sentimental Tradition.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 33.1 (2008): 41-61. (Milner e-reserves)*
September 24: Genre:
Collins, The Hunger Games (2008)
Alaimo, Stacy. “Trans-Corporeal Feminisms and the Ethical Space of Nature,” in Material Feminisms, eds. Alaimo and Hekman, 237-64
Connors, Sean. “I Try to Remember Who I Am and Who I Am Not,” in The Politics of Panem, eds. Sean Connors (to be distributed)
Lem, Ellyn, and Holly Hassel, “‘Killer’ Katniss and ‘Lover Boy’ Peeta: Suzanne Collins’s Defiance of Gender-Genred Reading,” in Of Bread, Blood, and the Hunger Games, eds.Mary Pharr and Leisa Clark, 118-127. (Milner e-reserves)*
Recommended:
Meeusen, Meghann. “Hungering for Middle Ground,” in The Politics of Panem, eds. Sean Connors (to be distributed)
October 1: Motherhood:
Hartnett, Butterfly (2009)
Miller, Rose. “The Suburban Gothic in Sonya Hartnett’s Butterfly” (to be distributed)
Walker, Michelle Boulous. “Mothers and Daughters: Speaking” and “Conclusion,” from Philosophy and the Maternal Body. New York: Routledge, 1998. 159-81. (Milner e-reserves)*
Wood, Naomi. “(Em)bracing Icy Mothers: Ideology, Identity, and Environment in Children’s Fantasy.” In Wild Things: Children’s Culture and Ecocriticism, eds. Sidney I. Dobrin and Kenneth B. Kidd. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 2004. 198-224. (Milner e-reserves)*
October 8: Ecofeminism:
Rhodes, Ninth Ward (2010)
Copeland, Marion W. “The Wild and Wild Animal Characters in the Ecofeminist Novels of Beatrix Potter and Gene Stratton-Porter,” from Wild Things: Children’s Culture and Ecocriticism, eds. Sidney I. Dobrin and Kenneth B. Kidd. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 2004. 71-81. (Milner e-reserves)*
Harraway, Donna J. “Otherworldly Conversations...,” in Material Feminisms, eds. Alaimo and
Hekman, 157-87
Tuana, Nancy. “Vicious Porosity: Witnessing Katrina,” in Material Feminisms, eds. Alaimo and
Hekman, 188-213
Recommended: Donna Harraway, “The Cyborg Manifesto”
October 15: Material feminism:
Curtis, The Mighty Miss Malone (2012)
Bordo, Susan. “Cassie’s Hair,” in Material Feminisms, eds. Alaimo and Hekman, 400-24
Hames-Garcia, Michael. “How Real is Race?” in Material Feminisms, eds. Alaimo and
Hekman, 308-39
Yenika-Agbaw, Vivian. “African Child-Rearing in the Diaspora: A Mother’s Perspective.” The Journal of Pan-African Studies 3.4 (2009): 3-16.
October 22: Varia
NB: no response paper needs to be emailed to your classmates this week.
Gillman, Melanie: As the Crow Flies
[please note that although this is available online “free,” it would be great if you could make a donation to the author/illustrator. Thank you for considering this request.]
Trites: Distinguished Professor lecture (practice)
October 29: Embodiment and agency:
Price, Starters (2012)
Barad, Karen. “Posthumanist Performativity,” in Material Feminisms, eds. Alaimo and
Hekman, 120-54
Colebrook, Claire. “On Not Becoming Man” in Material Feminisms, eds. Alaimo and
Hekman, 52-84
Hager, Lisa. “‘Saving the World Before Bedtime’: The Powerpuff Girls, Citizenship, and the Little Girl Superhero.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 33.1 (2008): 62-78. (Milner e-reserves)*
November 5: Sexuality:
Rowell, Eleanor & Park (2013)
Kokkola, Lydia. “The Calamitous Consequences of Carnality.” Fictions of Adolescent Carnality. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2013. 51-93. (Milner e-reserves)*
Mallan, Kerry. “Queer Spaces in a Straight World: The Dilemma of Sexual Identity,” from Gender Dilemmas in Children’s Fiction. New York: Palgrave, 2009. 125-55. (to be distributed)
Marshall, Elizabeth. “Stripping for the Wolf: Rethinking Representations of Gender and Sexuality in Children’s Literature.” Reading Research Quarterly 39.3 (2004): 256-70. (Milner e-reserves)*
Recommended: Stein, Katy. “‘My Slippery Place’: Female Masturbation in Young Adult Literature.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 37.4 (2012): 415-28. (Milner e-reserves)*
November 12: Ethics:
Sharafeddine, The Servant (2013)
Marshall, Beth. “Schooling Ophelia: Hysteria, Memory, and Adolescent Femininity.” Gender and Education 19.6 (2007): 707-28. (Milner e-reserves)*
Moran, Mary. “Ethical Recognition across Difference in Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quartet,” from Ethics and Children’s Literature, ed. Claudia Mills (to be distributed)
Noddings, Nel. “Chapter 1: Why Care About Caring?” from Caring, 2nd ed., Berkeley: U of California P, 2013. 7-29. (Milner e-reserves)*
November 19: Conclusions: DiCamillo, Flora & Ulysses (2013)
Greenstone, Daniel. “The Sow in the House: The Unfulfilled Promises in Ian Falconier’s Olivia
Books.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 33.1 (2008): 26-40. (Milner e-
reserves)*
December 3: Final presentations (final seminar papers are due)
Please plan to present a five minute “mini-presentation” in which you highlight your
thesis, main arguments, and conclusion. If you think a list of your major sources would be helpful to your colleagues, please feel free to distribute a printed copy of your works cited to them (but this is not a requirement).
* Readings marked “Milner e-reserves” are available for download electronically (and free!) through Milner’s online “course reserves” system:
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