Women’s Studies 527



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Women’s Studies 7740

Theorizing Gender Representation, Spring 2014

Prof. L. Mizejewski, 113D University Hall, phone 292-2467

email: mizejewski.1@osu.edu

Office hours: Thur. 11a.m.-2 p.m.

This course introduces students to feminist theoretical work on the representation of gender/race/class/sexualities in visual and narrative culture and to methodologies for analysis. Our topics will include autobiography, visual culture, and popular culture. This class will be conducted as a seminar, structured by discussion, with occasional mini-lectures as needed.

Students who need to have an accommodation for disability are responsible for contacting the professor as soon as possible. The Office for Disability Services (150 Pomerene Hall; 292-3307; 292-0901 TDD) verifies the need for accommodations and assists in the development of accommodation strategies.

Required texts (at SBX only):

Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Mariner, 2007.

Lorde, Audre. The Cancer Journals: Special Edition. San Francisco: Aunt Lute, 1980.

Weber, Brenda. Makeover TV: Selfhood, Citizenship, and Celebrity. Durham: Duke UP.

2009.

.

Online texts (Web E-books through OSU library):

Crow, David. Visible Signs: An Introduction to Semiotics in the Visual Arts. Lausanne: AVA Academics, 2010.

Ovalle, Priscilla. Dance and the Hollywood Latina: Race, Sex, and Stardom. New

Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 2011.

Thomson, Rosemary Garland. Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature. New York: Columbia UP, 1997.

Required outside screenings:

I’m the One That I Want (Cho, 2000) available at drm.osu.edu

Imitation of Life (Sirk, 1959) available at drm.osu.edu

Shall We Dance (Chalsom, 2004) available for streaming at Amazon

Essays on Carmen:

Benstock, Shari. “Authorizing the Autobiographical.” Smith and Watkins, 145-55.

Emerson, Rana. “'Where My Girls At?': Negotiating Black Womanhood in Music Videos.” Gender & Society 16.1 (Feb 2002): 115-35.

Gilmore, Leigh. “Autobiographics.” Smith and Watkins, 183-89.

Heung, Marina. “’What’s the Matter With Sara Jane?’ Daughters and Mothers in Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life.” Imitation of Life: Douglas Sirk, Director. Ed. Lucy Fischer. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1991. 302-24.

hooks, bell. “The Oppositional Gaze.” Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End, 1992. 115-32.

Itagaki, Lynn. “Witnessing and Performances of Proximity." Manuscript.

Kaplan, “Resisting Autobiography.” Smith and Watkins, 208-16.

LaTorre, Guisela. “Gender, Indigenism, and Chicana Muralists.” Walls of

Empowerment: Chicana/o Indigenist Murals of California. Austin: U of Texas P, 2008. 140-75.

Lindsey, Treva. “Complicated Crossroads: Black Feminisms, Sex Positivism, and Popular Culture.” African and Black Diaspora 6.1 (2012): 55-65.

McKay, Nellie. “The Narrative Self.” Smith and Watkins, 96-107.

Martínez, Ernesto Javier. “Cho’s Faggot Pageantry.” On Making Sense: Queer Race Narratives of Intelligibility. Stanford: Stanford UP, 2013. 137-63.

Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” 1975. Feminism and Film Theory. Ed. Constance Penley. New York: Routledge, 1988. 57-68.

Perreault, Jeanne. “Autobiography/Transformation.” Smith and Watkins, 190-96.

Scott, Joan W. "The Evidence Of Experience." Critical Inquiry 17.4 (1991): 773-797.

Smith, Sidonie. “Autobiographical Manifestos.” Smith and Watkins, 433-39.

--- and Julia Watson, eds. Women, Autobiography, Theory. Madison:

U of Wisconsin P, 1998.

Springer, Kimberly. “Policing Black Women’s Sexual Expression: The Cases of Sarah Jones and Renee Cox.” Genders 54 (Summer 2011).

Warhol, Robyn. “A Feminist Approach to Narrative.” Narrative Theory: Core Concepts and Critical Debates. Ed. David Hermann. Columbus: OSUP, 2012. 9-13.

---. "The Space Between: A Narrative Approach To Alison Bechdel's Fun Home." College Literature 38.3 (2011): 1-20.

Requirements and assignments:

1) Attendance, engaged participation, and daily discussion questions: As with any graduate seminar, you are responsible for attending every class and engaging in the discussion. For each reading, please bring to class a written discussion question about a concept or passage from the text that you think should be complicated, explicated, or otherwise analyzed. Expect to be called on. Because I am assigning a grade for participation, please be courteous in giving your colleagues in the seminar an opportunity to make thoughtful responses. Even though this is a small class, raise your hand and wait to be called on. Your participation grade will reflect your oral responses and the quality and thoughtfulness of your questions.

Participation is 10% of final grade.

2) Short response paper (2 pp. double spaced) and leadership of the first hour of class discussion: On the first day of class, you’ll sign up to be responsible for presenting a short paper responding to the day’s readings and leading the first hour of class discussion. The paper can make connections, explore and complicate one or more issues, or make an application to a text. Email your response paper to me by 8 p.m. the night before class so I can post it on Carmen and everyone can read it before class time. In class, please sum up the main points of your paper and use them to launch discussion. Short paper and leading discussion are 20% of final grade.

3) Two short close-reading papers (2 pp. double spaced): These short papers on The Cancer Journals and a music video are exercises in doing close readings of literary and visual works, respectively, which draw on our previous readings and class discussions.

• For the book, focus on one or two passages or episodes and show how they can be interrogated, complicated, or opened through one of the theories we have been exploring.

• For the music video, draw on our readings about visual representation and self-representation of black female performers to discuss one or two elements of the video. We’ll decide in class on some videos available on YouTube that would work best for this assignment.

• You may use either Chicago or MLA for your documentation style.

• For both papers, your grade will be based on your ability to apply a theory and your ability to do this through close attention to the text.

• Bring a paper copy of the essay to class. Each paper 15% of final grade.

4) Final paper and proposal:

Your paper should draw on the theories and methods we have discussed in class in order to focus on a text or issue in visual/narrative/digital culture. On the last day of class, each of you will present a ten-minute oral version of your paper (5 pages), conference style. Think of this presentation as a draft for which you can get feedback from the class.

Your paper proposal containing 1) a one-paragraph description of your project which includes your research questions and your methodology and 2) an annotated bibliography of at least 5 items, is due April 1. The paper proposal will be graded and is 10% of your final grade.

For your research, I recommend the following databases: Academic Search Premiere, Academic Search Complete, Communication & Mass Media Complete, Gender Studies, GLBT Life With Full Text, MLA Bibliography, and the Film-Television Literature Index.

Research format: You may use either Chicago or MLA style for your papers.

Final paper is 30% of final grade.

Plagiarism: As defined in University Rule 3335-31-02, plagiarism is “the representation of another’s works or ideas as one’s own; it includes the unacknowledged word for word use and/or paraphrasing of another person’s work, and/or the inappropriate unacknowledged use of another person’s ideas.” It is the obligation of this department and its instructors to report all cases of suspected plagiarism to the Committee on Academic Misconduct. After the report is filed, a hearing takes place and if the student is found guilty, the possible punishment ranges from failing the class to suspension or expulsion from the university. Although the existence of the Internet makes it relatively easy to plagiarize, it also makes it even easier for instructors to find evidence of plagiarism. It is obvious to most teachers when a student turns in work that is not his or her own and plagiarism search engines make documenting the offense very simple. Always cite your sources’ always ask questions before you turn in an assignment if you are uncertain about what constitutes plagiarism. To preserve the integrity of OSU as an institution of higher learning, to maintain your own integrity, and to avoid jeopardizing your future, DO NOT PLAGIARIZE!

SCHEDULE: (essays are on Carmen except for book or book chapters as noted)

I. Self-representation

Jan. 7 Feminist readings/textual study; in-class exercise

Jan. 14 Theories of autobiography

Scott, “Evidence of Experience”

McKay, “The Narrative Self”

Perreault, “Autobiography/Transformation”

Gilmore, “Autobiographics”

Jan. 21 Assigned outside screening: I’m the One that I Want

Kaplan, “Resisting Autobiography”

Smith, “Autobiographical Manifestos”

Benstock, “Authorizing the Autobiographical”

Martínez, “Cho’s Faggot Pageantry”

Jan. 28 Paper I due: Lorde, Cancer Journals

Feb. 4 Gender and Visual Culture

Guest speaker, Prof. Guisela LaTorre

LaTorre, “Gender, Indigenism”

Crow, Visible Signs,10-174

Feb. 11 Feminist narratology

Bechdel, Fun House

Warhol, “A Feminist Approach” and “The Space Between”

II. Media Representations

Feb. 18 Feminist Film Theory I

Assigned outside screening: Sirk, Imitation of Life (1959)

Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” Carmen

Heung, “What’s the Matter With Sara Jane?” Carmen

hooks, “The Oppositional Gaze,” Carmen

Feb. 25 Feminist Film Theory II

Assigned outside screening: Chalsom, Shall We Dance (2004)

Ovalle, “Mobilizing the Latina Myth” and

“Jennifer Lopez and Racial Mobility” (from Ovalle’s book online)

March 4 Black Female Sexuality and the Politics of Respectability

Guest speaker: Prof. Treva Lindsey

Lindsey, “Complicated Crossroads” (Carmen)

Springer, “Policing Black Women’s Sexual Expression” (Carmen)

Emerson, “Where My Girls At?” (Carmen)

SPRING BREAK

March 18 Paper II due: presentations on music videos

March 25 Disability

Thomson, Chapters One, Two, Three

In-class screening: Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 (2001) in preparation for Itagaki class (76 minutes)

April 1 Textual/Cultural Analysis

Guest speaker: Prof. Lynn Itagaki

Lynn Itagaki, “Witnessing and Performances of Proximity" (Carmen)

Paper proposal due

April 8 Body Politics

Weber, Makeover Nation, pp. 1-170

April 15 In-class conference: ten-minute versions of your final paper

April 22 Final papers due at noon

Events of interest:

• Friday, January 17, 1:00-3:00, PAES 105, Rebecca Wanzo, “Identity and the Study of Popular Culture in the United States: A Workshop.”

• Monday, January 27, 4:00-5:30, 311 Denney: Tanya Saunders, “Transnational Black Lesbian Politics and Hip Hop.” Through a comparison of three feminist lesbian hip hop groups (one from Cuba, two from Brazil), this presentation explores hip hop’s place as a site of contemporary transnational feminist and LGBT activism.

• Monday, January 27, 4:00-5:30, 311 Denney: Tanya Saunders, “Transnational Black Lesbian Politics and Hip Hop.” Through a comparison of three feminist lesbian hip hop groups (one from Cuba, two from Brazil), this presentation explores hip hop’s place as a site of contemporary transnational feminist and LGBT activism.

• Feb. 3-4: Hip Hop Literacies Conference. This year the working conference will feature a series of half-day workshops that provide experiences and information to help educators and youth workers to engage students in academic excellence and social action projects.The half-day workshops will explore hip-hop based pedagogical and activist strategies for approaching topics such as STEM education, religion, gender, sexualities, disability, race, class and diversity.

• Wednesday, March 19, 4:30pm - 6:30pm Ana Castillo Lecture & Book Signing, Ohio Union, Great Hall Meeting Rooms. Ana Castillo is a Mexican-American Chicana novelist, poet, short-story writer, essayist, editor, playwright, translator and independent scolar. Considered one of the leading voices in the Chicana experience, known for her daring and experimental style as a Latino novelist.

• Thursday, April 3, 4:00 -6:00, Alison Kafer, author of Feminist, Queer, Crip; Public Lecture, 207 Koffolt Laboratory

• Thursday, April 17, 12:00 - 5:30; Latinos and Narrative Media: Participation and Portrayal: Sam Saldivar, Chris Gonzalez, Theresa Rojas, Torsa Ghosal; OSU Multicultural Center

• Monday and Tuesday, May 5 and 6, Annual Conference on Diversity, Race, and Learning, Office of Diversity and Inclusion

• Friday, May 16- Saturday, May 17, 2014 Queer Places, Practices and Lives Symposium

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