Women’s Studies 988:



Women’s Studies 988:515

Feminist Theory and Practice

Feminists agree that history catalogues a pattern of systematic social, economic, and political discrimination against women. They agree that this pattern is devoid of moral justification and they demand that this discrimination be ended. Hence, feminists are defined by their commitment to end women’s subordination. This shared commitment, however, masks marked differences among feminists over the nature and causes of women's oppression, the dimensions of human freedom, appropriate strategies for social change, and the contours of a just social order. Given the enormity of transformative challenge feminists face, there is also significant disagreement about priorities for social change and immediate tactics for feminist activism.

This course is designed as an introduction to contemporary feminist activism. To illuminate the interconnections of theory and practice, the course will consider feminist efforts to move from critiques of oppression to the realization of feminist praxis. In exploring particular modes of feminist activism, the course will consider the nature and extent of transformation feminists have achieved in specific areas, the continuing issues that need to be addressed to realize feminists visions of social justice, and the complex theoretical issues that feminist praxis raises. The course seeks to foster an understanding of the multiple ways that feminist theory has opened our imaginations to the possibilities for inclusive democratic practices, and expanded the repertoire of strategies for realizing social change.

Challenging popular misconceptions, this class will try to demonstrate that theory is not abstract, disengaged from, or foreign to the activities of daily life. On the contrary, feminist theory is rooted in and seeks to illuminate the complex experiences of women and men across cultures and ages. This course also seeks to compare how feminists living under different historical and cultural conditions understand gender, as a system of meaning, a source of fulfillment, and a mode of constraint and act to change the oppressive practices that structure their lives.

Feminist theory and practice challenge prevailing beliefs, dominant paradigms, traditional practices, and disciplinary methodologies. A major goal of this course is to help students think critically about the beliefs and practices that structure contemporary social relations and to develop the capacities to engage in feminist transformative praxis.

Course Requirements

The quality of any seminar is a direct result of the level of preparation and degree of participation of class members. In this seminar, each student will be expected to:

1) complete all reading assignments by the dates specified below;

2) use this reading as the basis for informed class participation;

3) write and present one seminar paper;

4) complete one research paper; and

5) complete a final examination.

Seminar Papers

One objective of the course is to help students to develop their analytical writing skills. The seminar papers are means to this end. A good seminar paper involves exposition, analysis, and critique of a central theme in the assigned reading. A great seminar paper involves exposition, analysis, critique, consideration of the author's possible responses to the critique, and the development of rejoinders.

Each student will be expected to write one seminar paper (7-10 pages). Each student will also be expected to present and defend this paper in class. The seminar paper is due on the day of class when it will be presented. Students will be given the opportunity to revise each paper on the basis of class discussion and faculty assessment. Revised seminar papers are due on the last day of class.

Research Paper

In addition to the seminar paper, each student will also be expected to complete a sustained research paper (20 - 30 pages) concerning an area of contemporary feminist activism. A research paper involves examination of the pertinent literature in the field as the basis for the student's analysis of the issue under investigation. In these research papers, students will be expected to analyze how feminists are framing the issue under investigation, what strategies they are devising to address the issue, and how those strategies have been put into practice. Students will also be expected to assess the intended and unintended outcomes of the feminist activism related to the issue they have chosen and identify new theoretical and practical concerns raised by the activism being studied.

Grading Policy

In calculating grades for the course, student performance will be assessed according to the following weighting scheme:

Class participation 15%

Seminar Papers 25%

Research Paper 30%

Final Exam 30%

Required Reading

The following books are required reading for the course:

Sonia Kruks, Retrieving Experience

Uma Narayan and Sandra Harding, eds., Decentering the Center: Philosophy for a

Multicultural, Postcolonial, and Feminist World

Nancy Naples, ed., Community Activism and Feminist Politics

Myree M. Ferree and Patricia Y. Martin, Feminist Organizations: Harvest of the New

Feminist Movement

Catharine MacKinnon, The Sexual Harassment of Working Women

Mary Fainzod Katzenstein, Faithful and Fearless: Feminist Mobilization with Institutions

Azza Karem, Women in Parliament: Beyond the Numbers

Mimi Abramovitz, Regulating the Lives of Women: Social Welfare Policy from Colonial

Times to the Present

Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body

Emma Perez, The Decolonial Imaginary

Christa Wichterich, The Globalized Woman: Reports from a Future of Inequality

The Social Justice Group at the Center for Advanced Feminist Studies, Is Academic

Feminism Dead?

Semester Calendar

Week 1 Feminist Theory and Practice

Lessons from the Nineteenth Century

Week 2 Theorizing Oppression, Envisioning Change

Sonia Kruks, Retrieving Experience

Week 3 Mobilization at the Grassroots

Nancy Naples, ed., Community Activism and Feminist Politics

Week 4 Creating Feminist Institutions to Foster Change

Myree M. Ferree and Patricia Y. Martin, Feminist Organizations:

Harvest of the New Feminist Movement

Week 5 Using the Law to Transform Social Relationships

Catharine MacKinnon, The Sexual Harassment of Working Women

Week 6 Electoral Office as a Mechanism for Social Transformation

Azza Karem, Women in Parliament: Beyond the Numbers

DEADLINE FOR APPROVAL OF RESEARCH TOPICS

Week 7 Insider Strategies as Transformative Praxis

Mary Fainzod Katzenstein, Faithful and Fearless: Feminist Mobilization

with Institutions

Week 8 Social Policy as a Target for Transformation

Mimi Abramovitz, Regulating the Lives of Women: Social Welfare

Policy from Colonial Times to the Present

Week 9 Fighting Hegemonic Conceptions of Citizenship

Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body

Week 10 Expanding the Terms of Debate

Uma Narayan and Sandra Harding, eds., Decentering the Center:

Philosophy for a Multicultural, Postcolonial, and Feminist World

Week 11 Rewriting the Past to Restructure the Future

Emma Perez, The Decolonial Imaginary

Week 12 Globalization and the Prospects for a Feminist Future

Christa Wichterich, The Globalized Woman: Reports from a Future of

Inequality

Week 13 Feminist Activism within the Academy

The Social Justice Group at the Center for Advanced Feminist Studies,

Is Academic Feminism Dead?

DEADLINE FOR RESEARCH PAPERS

Week 14 Reports on Research

Week 15 Final Exam

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