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1140179914400The first thing I want to say to you who are students, is that you cannot afford to think of being here to receive an education: you will do much better to think of being here to claim one.’ - Adrienne Rich00The first thing I want to say to you who are students, is that you cannot afford to think of being here to receive an education: you will do much better to think of being here to claim one.’ - Adrienne RichPhoto by Susan Yin on UnsplashGender Theory syllabusDeveloped by Alison Phipps at Sussex University Gender Theory Syllabus?by?Alison Phipps?is licensed under a?Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.Summary and notes for tutorsThank you for downloading my Gender Theory syllabus! It is based on a core module I developed for the Gender Studies MA at Sussex University, but would also be suitable for students at upper undergraduate levels. It is an independent reading module which aims to help students become more autonomous as learners whilst giving them lots of support. This was designed to be appropriate to different levels of background knowledge and experience - because of the independent reading format, students can follow their own path. Students who are well-versed in gender theory may be reading very different texts to those new to it. The syllabus currently contains thirteen topics (and I will keep adding more over time as it is not exhaustive). It could be taught over any number of weeks - just pick the topics you want to cover and the order you want to do them in (you do not have to follow my numbering). Alternatively, you could just use one or two (or more) topics to slot into an existing module. A key reading (or two) is suggested for each topic and then students are expected to find additional literature themselves (with prompts). The reading prompts are not comprehensive and there are many names and lines of thought left out – if you want to change them or add extra names please do, and/or if students want to search for something different, they should. There are also suggestions for multimedia content and individual and group tasks you can ask students to do for each topic. The syllabus follows a ‘flipped’ structure - all the preparatory reading, thinking and doing builds up to an interactive seminar (and there are suggestions for seminar activities as well). Seminars can be conducted in person or online – if you are conducting seminars in person you may want to make them longer and incorporate some of the preparation tasks into the session, whereas if you are conducting them online you may want to make them shorter and ask students to do the tasks outside the seminar. If you are going to use this syllabus as a basis for a module, I suggest you collaborate with your library colleagues to ensure students have practical input on literature searching from the outset. I usually do this via an initial dedicated session held in the library or remotely, with one of our library experts. Students can then also book one-to-one sessions with library colleagues if they need extra help during the module. Additionally, study skills are built into some of the topics in this syllabus. I also suggest you organise students (or ask them to self-organise) into study groups early in the module, so they can complete the group tasks. Here are some online resources on critical reading that you might find useful to share with students at the beginning:Handout on ‘reading in the social sciences’ from the University of North Carolina‘Critical reading techniques handout from the Open UniversityHandout on ‘critical reading in the social sciences’ from the University of VictoriaCritical reading handout from BerkeleyHandout on critical reading from the EAP FoundationHandout on critical reading and critical thinking from Leeds UniversityReflective journalYou can also introduce an element of praxis through a reflective journal that students can keep throughout the module. Ideally, they would be allotted 10-15 minutes at the end of each seminar to write in it, but they could also write in their own time or set up writing and discussion groups (either in person or online) together. Suggested writing prompts are: what has struck you this week, from your reading and the other module content?why does this resonate with you personally, politically, and/or professionally?are you inspired to take any actions as a result, and if so, what? Here are some online resources on reflective learning journals that you might find useful to share with students:Handout on learning journals from the University of Worcester‘What is a reflective journal?’ – handout from Warwick UniversityHandout on reflective and/or learning journals from the Australian College of Applied Psychology‘Learning journals and reflective writing’ – handout from Queen’s University Belfast Classroom principles There are six key principles which underpin our classroom spaces on the Gender MA (whether in person or online), which are intended to facilitate students’ learning and enjoyment of our sessions. Please use or adapt these if you think they would be helpful for your teaching. We start from a position of trust - there are very few rules, and we assume you already know how to engage constructively with each other. Unkind and discriminatory speech and behaviour will be addressed, but we will ‘call in’ rather than ‘calling out’ wherever possible. ?This is a learning, not a ‘knowing’, space - we can all learn from each other and we are all responsible for our own learning. However, we respect and validate expertise where it exists, whether this is academic or in the form of lived experience or professional skill. ?We believe in dialogue, not ‘debate’ - we explore issues with an emphasis on listening and empathy, and try to move away from adversarial understandings and engagement. ?A ‘safer space’ is one in which it is OK to feel things deeply and express them in the knowledge that they will be heard with understanding. However, we also acknowledge that there are always power relations in play, and that one person’s freedom of expression can limit another’s ability to speak. ?We recognise multiple inequalities and power relations in the classroom, but we also recognise that the structural and the interpersonal are not always connected in a linear way. ?We acknowledge that the system is dysfunctional, institutionally and globally, and that while we can all work to resist and mitigate its effects, no individual among us should be responsible for fixing it.I hope you find this syllabus useful – feel free to adapt it as you like and share it further if you wish. I want to thank my colleagues Gill Love and Liz McDonnell, who have contributed their expertise and insights to the Sussex module this syllabus is based on. If you do use the syllabus, please consider making a voluntary donation to one of the following organisations, which I recommend (and donate to myself) to acknowledge my own significant debt to Black feminist theory and practice. Sistah Space – a London-based organisation working with African heritage women and girls who have experienced domestic or sexual abuse.Survived and Punished – a US-based organisation which aims to free criminalised survivors of domestic and sexual violence.The Consent Workshop – an organisation located in Lagos, Abuja, Toronto, and St Vincent and The Grenadines which delivers youth education aiming to disrupt rape culture. Topic 1: Theorising gender This initial topic looks broadly at how to theorise gender – and of course, this always requires us to have several thoughts at once. We can see gender as a structural and cultural binary, as a spectrum of individual identities, as a political trope and device, and much more besides. At this point, I like to encourage students to think big. Key readingThere is no key reading for this topic – it is very difficult to recommend a single text that will introduce the concept of gender! Here are some suggestions: students should read one or two (or more if they wish). Ahmed, Leila. 1992. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Connell, Raewyn. 2014. Gender in World Perspective. Cambridge: Polity Press. Davis, Angela. 1981. Women, Race and Class. New York: Random House. De Beauvoir, Simone. 1949. The Second Sex. Any edition will do! Koyama, Emi. 2001. The Transfeminist Manifesto. Lugones, Maria. 2007. ‘Heterosexualism and the colonial/modern gender system’. Hypatia 22(1). Maracle, Lee. 1996. I am Woman: a native perspective on sociology and feminism. Vancouver: Press Gang Publishers. Scott, Joan. 1986. ‘Gender: a useful category of historical analysis’. The American Historical Review 91(5). Spillers, Hortense. 1987. ‘Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: an American grammar book’. Diacritics 17(2). If students are well versed in gender theory, they can read whatever they like. If they are new to it, they can look at my Feminism 101 introductory lecture series (also available free for academic colleagues to download, adapt and use). Seminar preparation tasks (assign as many or as few as you like)Listen to this Tithi Bhattacharya interview on COVID-19 and feminism Watch this Angela Davis lecture on ‘frameworks for radical feminism’ On your own, write one or two pages of bullet points on: What does the reading and media material this week tell us about (a) what gender is, (b) what it is for, and (c) how and why it is done? How should we think about gender as a structure, a practice, and an embodied or assigned identity? How do the three intersect?What are the relationships between the systems of heteropatriarchy, racial capitalism and colonialism? Suggested seminar activities Discuss and compare students’ bullet point notes in small groupsCreate a shared mind-map (electronically using a platform such as Miro or on a flipchart or whiteboard) on how we might theorise gender. What are some of the things it is and does in the world? What systems produce and maintain it?Topic 2: Working at the intersections In my module we usually end up discussing intersectionality in the first week, as it is foundational to how we understand gender. This second topic covers the different forms of intersectionality Crenshaw theorises and some of the debates around the term, although if students are familiar with intersectionality they can read other theories and theorists. Key readingCrenshaw, Kimberlé. 1991. ‘Mapping the Margins: intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color.’ Stanford Law Review 43(6). Note to students: when you read Crenshaw, think about the three forms of intersectionality - structural, political, and representational. Can you think of examples of these, from your immediate environment or experience? Is it helpful to think about intersectionality on different levels like this? Suggestions for further readingSearch using intersectionality as a keyword, or use key authors’ names – Crenshaw, Patricia Hill Collins, Angela Davis, Jennifer Nash, Jasbir Puar, Chandra Talpade Mohanty and Sirma Bilge to name a few. More recent texts may be applying intersectionality to different areas of oppression and experience, but this concept is grounded in Black feminist thought so if students are unfamiliar with this canon, they should start there. They could also look at some social reproduction theory: Tithi Bhattacharya, Silvia Federici, Maria Mies, Nancy Fraser and Lise Vogel are key names here. Gargi Bhattacharyya’s book Rethinking Racial Capitalism is also recommended for students working at more advanced levels. Seminar preparation tasks (assign as many or as few as you like)Listen to an episode of your choice of the Intersectionality Matters podcast Watch Jennifer Nash’s lecture on ‘The institutional life of intersectionality’Read this Vox article on intersectionality and the ‘culture wars’ In study groups, create a visual representation of intersectionality along with a short (max 200 words) blurb explaining your visualisation. You can use any media you like – e.g. drawing or painting, graphic design, collage, sculpture using clay or plasticine, body sculpture, role play, or Lego or other construction toys. You could think about: Crenshaw’s three forms of intersectionalityAngela Davis’ idea of the ‘intersectionality of struggles’The intersecting systems of heteropatriarchy, racial capitalism, and colonialism and how they fit together Suggested seminar activitiesExamine and discuss each group’s visualisation. What are the common themes and differences? Ask them about their experience of trying to represent intersectionality – do they think they did a good job? Is it helpful to visualise intersectionality? Discuss whether intersectionality has been institutionalised and neutralised as Nash argues. If so, what could be done to counteract this? Discuss the role of intersectionality in the contemporary ‘culture wars’. Why has it become so threatening? Topic 3: The coloniality of gender This topic digs deeper to talk about the coloniality of gender – how gender, class, race and other categories have been co-constructed in the context of colonial capitalist relations and histories. If you wish, you can swap topics 2 and 3 to do this systems theory first – there is no right way to teach this so approach it however you like. Key readingLugones, Maria. 2008. ‘The coloniality of gender’. Worlds and Knowledges Otherwise Spring Note to students: when you read Lugones, think about what it means to say that gender itself is colonial. What functions did binary gender have in the colonial context? How did the imposition of bourgeois gender intersect with the invention of race? How does gender persist today as a colonial mode of knowing and doing? Suggestions for further readingSearch for post- or decolonial feminist theory or for key names: Gayatri Spivak, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Sylvia Tamale, Oye?ro?nke?? Oye?wu?mi?, Nira Yuval Davis, Gargi Bhattacharyya, Leila Ahmed and Lila Abu-Lughod, to name a few. Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa are important names in Chicana feminism, and Sunaina Arya’s book Dalit Feminist Theory is very significant. There are also many important Native, indigenous and First Nations feminists – for instance, Lee Maracle, Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Beth Brant and Beatrice Medicine. Some of these writings may be online rather than in mainstream academic outlets, which is absolutely fine. It might also be useful for students to start reading about colonial/imperial feminism this week.Seminar preparation tasks (assign as many or as few as you like)Explore the All my relations podcast – episodes 1, 5 & 6 may be especially relevant Listen to this interview with Sunaina Arya on Dalit feminism Listen to Alana Lentin and Debbie Bargallie on Surviving Society Watch this panel on Fifty years of Chicana Feminist resistanceStudy skills: think about how you take notes from literature. What method do you use? Do you extract information/quotes, or build up your own analysis? If your note-taking is very information-driven, have a look at Mike Rohde’s videos on sketchnoting – might this help you to create more analytical notes? If not, then is there another method that might? Choose a note-taking method and try it out on the Lugones article and any other material you engage with. Share and discuss your notes with your study group or with a friend Suggested seminar activities I find a close re-reading of the Lugones article is usually helpful during this session, as these ideas are complex – do it either as a whole class or in small groups Group discussions: what does it mean to say that gender itself is colonial? Come up with four or five bullet points to explain 2305053244250‘Each of us carries around those growing up places, the institutions, a sort of backdrop, a stage set.’ – Chandra Mohanty00‘Each of us carries around those growing up places, the institutions, a sort of backdrop, a stage set.’ – Chandra MohantyIdentifying examples – how do contemporary gender norms, practices and debates reflect the colonial past and neocolonial present?Topic 4: Reproducing genderThis topic tackles the gendered, raced and classed distribution of biologically and socially reproductive labour, attempts to control reproduction (and women) within the structures of patriarchy, capitalism and colonialism, and the role of motherhood in feminist theory. It also examines debates about reproductive rights versus reproductive justice. Key reading(s)Bhattacharya, Tithi (ed). 2017. Social Reproduction Theory. Pluto Press (read a chapter or two – or more if you like – from this excellent collection)Note to students: while you read, think about how biological and social reproduction both intersect and diverge, and how both are gendered, raced and classed. Suggestions for further readingStudents can read more on social reproduction theory – Silvia Federici and Maria Mies are other authors (they can also read up on the history of Wages for Housework, the Global Women’s Strike, and similar movements). Motherhood is central to African feminist and womanist perspectives: Obioma Nnaemeka, Oyeronke Oyewumi, Catherine Obianuju Acholonu?and Alice Walker are some key names. Students can also look at Western maternalist feminism – Carole Gilligan, Sara Ruddick, Nancy Chodorow and Adrienne Rich for example (and they could compare these perspectives with African feminist ones). Shulamith Firestone’s book The Dialectic of Sex is very influential, as is Dorothy Roberts’ Killing the Black Body. Loretta Ross and Jennifer Nelson are important authors on reproductive justice, and Kristin Luker and Rosalind Petchesky on abortion. Students can also explore literature around ‘natural birth’ and breastfeeding, queer and trans kinship, and trans pregnancy.Seminar preparation tasks (assign as many or as few as you like)Explore the African Feminist Forum’s video series ‘know your African feminists’Create a Google doc on African feminism/womanism in your study group. You might want to discuss it all together first and then assign particular thinkers or themes. Include links to different kinds of resources – text-based or audio-visual – but pay attention to who has produced them (primary or locally-produced material is often more accurate than Western summaries)Listen to this interview with Sophie Lewis on her book Full Surrogacy Now Listen to this interview with Monica Simpson on reproductive justice Listen to this interview with Paula ?vila-Guillén on reproductive rights in Latin America during COVID-19 Suggested seminar activities Look at students’ Google docs and discuss the main themes in them. How does the idea of motherhood function within African feminism/womanism? Is this different to Western maternalist feminism and how/why? Discussion question: what role should reproduction and motherhood (and the different forms they can take) play in feminism? (students can refer to the other preparation tasks here as well as their Google docs)Topic 5: the state we’re inThis topic explores how gender is produced and maintained via the state and its institutions. It also looks at the complex relationship between feminism and the state, and how some feminists have deployed or been complicit with state discipline and violence. Key readingsMama, Amina. 1995. ‘Feminism or Femocracy? State Feminism and Democratisation in Nigeria’, in Africa Development 20(1)Carby, Hazel. 1982. ‘White Woman Listen! Black feminism and the boundaries of sisterhood’, in The Empire Strikes Back: Race and Racism in Seventies Britain. RoutledgeSuggestions for further readingThis is a huge area of literature to get to grips with, but here are some suggestions. For broad theorising on the state (from different perspectives) students can try Nira Yuval-Davis, Angela Davis, Catharine MacKinnon, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Cynthia Enloe, Carole Pateman, Joan Acker, Emma Goldman, Kate Millett, Sylvia Walby and Hester Eisenstein. Social reproduction theory is also relevant this week – see previous recommendations. For imperial/colonial feminism look at Leila Ahmed, Oye?ro?nke?? Oye?wu?mi?, Sylvia Tamale, Valerie Amos, Anne McClintock, Gargi Bhattacharyya (Dangerous Brown Men) and Jasbir Puar (Terrorist Assemblages). Foucault’s Discipline and Punish is also relevant this week, as is Mbembe’s Necropolitics. Students can search for ‘state feminism’, ‘femocracy’, ‘governance feminism’, ‘neoliberal feminism’, ‘transnational feminism’ and ‘carceral feminism’. Seminar preparation tasks (assign as many or as few as you like)Listen to one or more of the Always Already podcasts on Marxist feminismListen to Hester Eisenstein being interviewed on CounterfireListen to Emily Kenway, Ella Cockbain and Molly Smith discuss ‘the truth about modern slavery’Watch this video on ‘Sweden: the world’s first feminist government’Watch Juno Mac’s Ted Talk on ‘the laws sex workers really want’Make some notes on: (a) what the state is and what its various institutions are and do; (b) how the state is gendered/how it produces gender and intersecting inequalities; (c) what the role of the state is/could be in working towards equality Suggested seminar activities This is such a big topic that I find collective mind-mapping useful: here are some suggested prompts. You could use Miro or a physical whiteboard or flipchart.Describe the state and its various institutions. What do they do and how are they related? How is the state gendered/how does the state produce gender and intersecting inequalities?How might the state be used to work towards equality? (This question is likely to provoke disagreement, which is good)Further discussion question: What are the possibilities, limitations and dangers of state feminism? Topic 6: Thinking and knowing gender This topic explores the idea that there is a feminist standpoint that reflects gendered social positioning and oppression. It also puts this idea in conversation with various perspectives that trouble it such as decolonial, queer and trans epistemologies. The big question this week is: what is the relationship between knowledge (including self-knowledge) and power? Key readingsCollins, Patricia Hill. 1986. ‘Learning from the outsider within: the sociological significance of Black feminist thought.’ Social Problems 33(6). Collins, Patricia Hill. 1999. ‘Reflections on the outsider within.’ Journal of Career Development 26(1)Note to students: When you read Collins’ first piece, consider what she is saying about how knowledge is generated. Why is Black feminist thought so sociologically significant? Reading her second piece, think about her critique of the appropriation of ‘outsider within’ status as a marketable identity category – does this resonate with you and why? How might we avoid this? Suggestions for further readingAlongside Collins, the feminist standpoint has been theorised by other authors including Dorothy Smith, Sandra Harding, Nancy Hartsock and Donna Haraway. Tina Campt and Christina Sharpe are Black feminists whose work speaks profoundly to how we think and know gender and intersecting categories. Foucault is important for this topic, especially if students have not read him before, and Paul Gilroy’s The Black Atlantic is a very powerful text. Students can read up on queer and trans epistemologies: some key authors are Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Sara Ahmed, and Blas Radi. ‘Cripistemology’ is also an important area - Alyson Patsavas and Mel Y. Chen are some names here. Postcolonial theorists who are relevant this week include Anzaldúa, Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, and Spivak. Seminar preparation tasks (assign as many or as few as you like)Watch Walter Mignolo’s lecture on coloniality and Western modernity Read Alana Lentin’s article on decolonising epistemologyListen to AnneMarie Mol on the Always Already podcastListen to episode 3.23 of Secret Feminist Agenda on pain Discuss your reading and preparation activities in your study groups, and create two ‘talking points’ that you’d like to raise in class Suggested seminar activities Discuss of students’ ‘talking points’ either in small groups or as a classAsk students to write individually for ten minutes on one or both of the following, then share some of their thoughts: What are the relationships between positionality, identity and knowledge? What are some helpful and unhelpful ways the three can be linked? What does it mean to consider the relationship between knowledge and power in a global context? What questions does this raise about Western standpoint theories? Topic 7: Gender, power and violence This topic explores the theorisation of sexual violence. It encompasses: how sexual violence both reflects and reproduces gendered and intersecting power relations; who is able to claim state protection and who is more frequently a focus of state violence; how our definitions of violence and victimhood are shaped by gender and intersecting oppressions; and, how these dynamics enter the political and geopolitical spheres.Key readingGómez, Jennifer M and Gobin, Robin L. 2020. ‘Black Women and Girls & #MeToo: Rape, Cultural Betrayal, & Healing’, in Sex Roles 82. Suggestions for further readingStudents could start by re-reading Crenshaw’s ‘Mapping the Margins’ and Davis’ Women, Race and Class. Radical feminist theorists of rape include Susan Brownmiller, Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon (content note: their texts may contain hostile statements about sex workers). Students should also read Angela Davis’ critique of Brownmiller in Women, Race and Class. Saidiya Hartman’s Scenes of Subjection is a very important book, as is Danielle McGuire’s At the Dark End of the Street. Joanna Bourke, Ann Cahill, Linda Martín Alcoff and Tanya Serisier have all written books which give broad perspectives on sexual violence and how it has been interpreted within mainstream feminism. Kristin Bumiller’s In an Abusive State explores the neoliberalisation of the mainstream feminist anti-violence movement. For relationships between sexual violence and trans-exclusionary feminism, read Emi Koyama and Julia Serano. Students can look at Kiran Grewal, Paul Kirby, Zillah Eisenstein and Cynthia Cockburn on rape as a weapon of war. Students can also return to carceral and colonial feminisms, in which sexual violence is a major theme. Seminar preparation tasks (assign as many or as few as you like)Explore Mariame Kaba’s site Transform Harm: which themes are you attracted to, and which pieces resonate with you, and why? Read this article by Shalini Nair on the Dignity March in India Read this article by Charlotte Shane on consent in the context of sex workListen to this Intersectionality Matters podcast on Black women and #MeTooSuggested seminar activities Discussion question: can the ‘silences’ in #MeToo and similar movements be tackled by simple acts of inclusion or is the problem deeper than that, and why? Think about the different ways sexual violence enters the world: through acts, threats, allegations and punishment. How are these gendered, classed and raced? What systems do they legitimate and maintain? Create a mind map (either online or on a physical whiteboard or flipchart paper): how could we develop a theory of sexual violence that encompasses both the gendered reality of its prevalence and the many harms it causes, and how the spectre of sexual danger (and the idea of ‘women’s protection’) is used to demonise racialised, classed and other groups? Topic 8: Caring for self and Other This topic returns to the issue of care in feminism, broadening the focus beyond reproduction and motherhood to think about care more expansively (including care for the planet). This is addressed intersectionally and trans-nationally, considering racial capitalist frameworks in which care is compelled, forced, outsourced and unevenly distributed, and withheld from those who need it most. A key question is: what does all this mean for formulating a feminist politics of care? Key readingEmejulu, Akwugo, and Bassel, Leah. 2018. ‘Austerity and the politics of becoming’. Journal of Common Market Studies 56(S1). You could also watch Emejulu’s talk on ‘care/full solidarity’ Note to students: while you read and watch, think about the benefits and drawbacks of emphasising the politics of care. Do these shift depending on our social and geographical positions? Social reproduction theory is of course relevant again this week. Disability theory is also very important in relation to care, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s work is excellent. Dean Spade’s work on mutual aid is also useful to look at. Students can read up on ecofeminism/gender and environmental justice – some key authors are Vandana Shiva, Carolyn Merchant, Wangari Maathai, Ariel Salleh, Wendy Harcourt and Julie Sze. Alice Echols’ work on cultural feminism is an interesting critique of the essentialism of some of these perspectives. Students can also investigate Greenham Common, Standing Rock and other direct action interventions. They can look into the literature on domestic labour and global care chains - Ai-jen Poo and Andrea Cristina Mercado are important authors here. Seminar preparation tasks (assign as many or as few as you like)Watch Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s talk on ‘care work: dreaming disability justice’Listen to this interview with and lecture by Vandana ShivaRead this interview with Berta Cáceres Explore Dean Spade’s website, especially the materials and resources on mutual aidStudy skills: listen to Les Back’s ‘lockdown lecture’ on writing. Then reflect: how do you write, and what do you struggle with? Who are your favourite academic writers, and why? Are there things about their styles you would like to emulate, and how? Suggested seminar activities Discussion questions: How can care simultaneously be violent and oppressive and the key to building solidarity and alternative worlds? Can we formulate a feminist politics of care which acknowledges the disproportionate burden placed on women without resorting to essentialism? Can we resist women’s disproportionate care burden in a way that liberates all women rather than just a few? Topic 9: Identity (and) politics One of the ways we can understand gender is as a spectrum of individual identities which are nonetheless formed, expressed and imposed in the context of structural relations and intersecting binaries. This topic explores various ways of understanding gender identity, as well as looking at the history of identity politics and the contemporary backlash against it. Key readingsSnorton, C Riley. 2017. Black on Both Sides: a racial history of trans identity. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press Combahee River Collective. 1977. The Combahee River Collective Statement Note to students: when reading Snorton, think about what his analysis tells us about what identity is and how it is constructed. Think also about what this means for the possibility of an identity-focused politics. When you read the Combahee River Collective statement, think about how their understanding of ‘identity politics’ might differ from contemporary ones. Why do you think this is? What does identity politics mean today? Suggestions for further readingSearching ‘gender and identity’ brings up a lot of results, so perhaps try some key authors. For instance: de Beauvoir, Foucault, Monique Wittig, bell hooks, Judith Butler, Kate Bornstein, Julia Serano, Stella Dadzie, Gayle Rubin, Jack Halberstam and Raewyn Connell. Gail Lewis’ work is wonderful and brings a social-psychological perspective. Post- and decolonial theories help us understand the intersecting binaries within which identities are constructed: try Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, Homi K. Bhabha, Leila Ahmed, and Chandra Mohanty. Spivak’s work on ‘strategic essentialism’ and Diana Fuss’ book Essentially Speaking are good things to read together. Students might also return to Davis’ Women, Race and Class, as well as ‘Mapping the Margins’ (particularly the section on representational intersectionality). Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk is a powerful and influential historical-sociological work. Seminar preparation tasks (assign as many or as few as you like)Listen to Paul Gilroy’s interview with Gail LewisRead Shelina Janmohamed’s article ‘get over the veil debate’Read Julia Serano’s critique of Judith ButlerCreate a short presentation, either individually or in groups, on the different forms of identity politics we currently see at play on both sides of the political divide and in a global context. What are the similarities and differences between them? How do they utilise different identities and identity-based claims? How do they define identity itself? Suggested seminar activities I usually spend some time on the Snorton reading as it is a complex and multi-layered text – this can be done in small groups or all togetherDo and discuss the presentations on ‘identity politics’ Discussion question: especially given the current pitfalls, is it possible to create a progressive politics focused on identity (and how)? Topic 10: Feeling genderThis topic covers the central role of experience in feminist thought as both epistemology and politics. It also explores theories of affect and emotion and asks how these realms and their theorisation are gendered, classed and raced. Key readingGarcia-Rojas, Claudia. 2017. ‘(Un)Disciplined futures: Women of color feminism as a disruptive to white affect studies’, in Journal of Lesbian Studies 21(3)Note to students: when reading this piece, think about why the field of affect studies might be predominantly white. What does this say about how emotions are racialised as well as gendered? What might be the economic, social and cultural histories underlying this? Suggestions for further readingStudents can read Patricia Hill Collins again on the feminist standpoint, as well as the other authors recommended before. Joan Scott and Linda Martín Alcoff are important theorists of experience and how it operates in feminism. Key names in emotions/affect theory are Sara Ahmed, Sianne Ngai, Natalia A. Martinez, Lauren Berlant, Clare Hemmings, Elizabeth Grosz and Ann Cvetcovich. Kyla Schuller’s book The Biopolitics of Feeling explores how emotion itself was constituted through bourgeois whiteness by colonialism. Students could explore particular emotions such as anger (which appears in the work of Sara Ahmed, Mona Eltahawy, Audre Lorde and Brittney Cooper) or tears (which appears in the work of Ruby Hamad and this article by Mamta Accapadi). They could also look at Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa’s influential collection This Bridge Called My Back.Seminar preparation tasks (assign as many or as few as you like)Listen to this podcast interview with Suhaiymah Manzoor-KhanListen to this interview with Kyla Schuller on the Always Already podcastRead this interview with Mona Eltahawy Watch this lecture by Sara Ahmed on ‘complaint as diversity work’Study skills: individually, make an annotated bibliography of texts you have already read, and use this to think about what you might want to read next. Are there gaps in your knowledge you want to fill? Do you want to explore particular topics, themes or thinkers in more detail? Are you working towards an assignment which will require you to focus your reading? Suggested seminar activities Discussion questions:How are emotions and affect gendered, classed and raced?What are some of the positives and negatives of feminist politics located in emotions and experience? Ask students to discuss in pairs or small groups where they are with their reading and where they want to go next. Ask them to write on a whiteboard or in the chat box or on a Padlet (if you are teaching online) requests for recommendations on particular topics, themes or thinkers; they should then give each other recommendations where they can. Topic 11: Gendering symbols and signs This week we will talk about the symbolics of gender. How does gender function as a symbolic device, and how does deconstructing ideas about gender both expand and limit the possibilities for liberatory feminist politics? Key readinghooks, bell. 1994. ‘Postmodern Blackness’, Postmodern Culture 1(1)Heberle, Renee. 1996. ‘Deconstructive strategies and the movement against sexual violence’, Hypatia 11(4).Note to students: these are old texts but they raise questions still relevant to gender theory and feminist politics. How do we organise politically around fragmented identities and categories that are the product of power? How do we make political claims – especially around victimhood – without essentialising them in unhelpful ways? Suggestions for further readingJudith Butler, Donna Haraway and Monique Wittig are key names again this week (and Nussbaum’s critiques of Butler are also relevant). Also again, Spivak’s work on ‘strategic essentialism’ and Diana Fuss’ book Essentially Speaking are good things to read together. Christina Sharpe and Hortense Spillers are important again this week, as is Sylvia Wynter. Wendy Brown’s States of Injury is a very influential text, and many scholars including Jo Doezema, Mariana Ortega and Linda Martín Alcoff have built on her work. The edited collection Feminist Contentions is old but still relevant. Students can also read the French feminists Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray, and Julia Kristeva. If they have not read Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard, and/or Lacan, now would be a good time to do that (and Lois McNay’s work on Foucault and feminism is very useful). Other key names: Jack Halberstam, Susan J. Hekman, Carol Bacchi and Bronwyn Davies. Seminar preparation tasks (assign as many or as few as you like)Watch Angela Davis and Judith Butler in conversation on inequalityListen to the Partially Examined Life podcast series on Butler’s Gender TroubleRead this article on Feminism in India – ‘What postmodern feminism taught me about power’Watch this conversation between Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Oscar Guardiola-Rivera on the politics of deconstructionSuggested seminar activities I find a close reading of both the Heberle and the hooks is useful this week. Ask students to do this in small groups and come back with questions/talking points Writing exercise: Ask students to take one quote or passage from one of the key readings (or something else they have read) that speaks to or resonates with them They should then freewrite individually on it for around ten minutes After this, students should either share in small groups or as a whole class, what emerged from the exercise for them. Did their writing take them to any surprising places? What questions emerged or persist? Topic 12: Essay-writing workshop This workshop can be done at any point in the module – I have placed it near the end of this syllabus but in practice I usually deliver it in either week 6 or 7 of term as this works well with our assignment deadlines. For preparation I usually just ask students to think about a topic they would like to write their essay on – in my module students are allowed to formulate an essay question themselves. They can come to the workshop with an essay question if they are able to get that far, but I usually find they need a bit of help with this. I have produced an introductory lecture on essay-writing as part of my Feminism 101 series. Although this is targeted at undergraduates, I also find it useful for MA students as there can be different levels of writing experience and confidence in MA groups. I usually talk through the presentation and encourage students to ask questions throughout. The Prezi for this lecture can be accessed here – you can also copy and change it if you like. There is also a text transcript available here, for students who might need it. Suggested workshop activitiesStudents could freewrite for 10 minutes or more on their possible/chosen topic Put students into pairs or small groups by possible topic, to discuss potential questions and approaches (check the collusion rules at your institution first)Small group discussions: What are the differences between descriptive and critical writing?What does it mean to write theoretically?What does a good essay question look like?How is it best to plan an essay?Resources for tutorsThis handout on ‘descriptive vs critical writing’ from Hull University is very goodThe Writing into Meaning group at Sussex has some excellent resourcesHere is a handout on ‘devising your own essay title’ from the SkillsHub at SussexI have produced an infographic on academic writing that you are welcome to share with your students (text version here)There are various resources at LearnHigher that might be helpful. I suggest you look at the whole site but here are a few:Worksheet on approaching the questionWorksheet on starting to writeWorksheet on how to structure a paragraph Essay-writing workbookChecking referencesThe Harvard Writing Program?has a large number of resources on essay-writing?The?Royal Literary Fund website?has useful materialsThere are 365 creative freewriting prompts here Stephen King’s tips for better writing10 steps towards better writing?Here are some useful technical resources:Grammar GirlPurdue Online Writing Lab?Common writing errorsRMIT Learning LabTopic 13: Reflective workshopThis final session can be run however you like – I like to use it both to reflect on what students have learned from the module, and to think about bigger questions they might take forward into their future learning or actions. You could use a workshop format or even an ‘open space’ where students propose and facilitate sub-groups themselves. Here are some suggested activities:Individual reflections:Ask students to reflect individually on what they have learned from the module. They could prepare some notes or a sketch (you could also ask them to prepare sound or video files if you like). This could be done before the session and then students can compare in small groups together during the session (if the session is taught face-to-face then you could capture this on flipcharts or with post-its, and if done online you could use an online whiteboard or Padlet). Ask students to look through their reflective journals (if you have used them) and note down some key themes. Again, this could be done before the session and students could use the session to compare and to develop some collective themes and/or actions arising from their reflections. Ask students to talk together about study skills: what skills have they developed from the module? What skills do they still need to develop and work on, and how will they do this in future? ‘Big questions’ reflections:Ask students to reflect individually and/or talk together about what the key questions and issues might be for future gender theory and research, and how they might be tackled. They might start by thinking about what ‘big questions’ remain for them about theorising gender, and work outwards from there. Ask them to produce a poster (electronically or by hand) or a group video, based on their discussions. Ask students to think about one thing they can pledge to do, going forward, to work towards gender justice or equality (however they define it). This could be as small or as big as they like: for instance, setting up a neighbourhood collection for the local food bank, to deciding to be more outspoken in challenging misogyny and intersecting forms of oppression they encounter in their everyday lives, to joining a feminist collective working on an issue they care about, to setting up their own initiative. Some things to inspire students in this final week:Google’s resource ‘Me Too Rising’, an interactive map of activism against sexual harassment and violence worldwideThis piece on the Ni Una Menos movement’s fight for abortion rights in ArgentinaThis feature on the Dignity March of marginalised survivors in IndiaThis interview with Mariame Kaba, on moving past punishmentThis panel with Gail Lewis, Miss Major, Zoé Samudzi, Hortense Spillers and Akwugo Emejulu, entitled ‘The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house’This article by Harry Josie Giles on ways forward for trans liberation ................
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