Women Studies 4504- Feminist Theory and Methods



Women’s and Gender Studies 5300: Interdisciplinary Feminist Theories and Methods (CRN 18923)

Sociology 5341- Special Graduate Topics:

Research, Practice and Engagement in the U.S.-Mexico Border (CRN 18920)

ANTH 4303: Studies in Anthropology (CRN 18921)

SOC 3341 Special Undergraduate Topics (CRN 18922)

WS 4310: Feminist Theory (19249)

Interdisciplinary Feminist Theory and Methods

Fall 2017

August 29th to Dec.5th,

Final papers Due Dec. 12th

Course Information

Professor: Dr. Guillermina Gina Nunez-Mchiri

Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Texas at El Paso

Classroom: Old Main 110 6 pm to 8:50 pm

Office: Liberal Arts 233, 915-747-6132 main line, 747-5200 (office)

Office Hours: T/Th 12 noon to 1:15 pm, TH 3:30 to 4:30 pm, and by appointment

Email ggnunez@utep.edu

Readings

Required Texts:

Davis, D. A. & Craven, C. 2016. Feminist Ethnography: Thinking Through Methodologies, and Possibilities. Boulder: Rowman and Littlefield.

• bell hooks, PDF readings of Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (hooks in syllabus)

• PDF Readings (PDF readings available via Blackboard)

Recommended Texts:

• Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. 2014. “They Say/I Say”: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. 3rd ed. (see PDF Appendix)

• Shore, Zachary. 2016. Grad School Essentials: A Crash Course in Scholarly Skills.

Course Description

Expectations:

This course is comprised of undergraduate and graduate students and will operate as a seminar, based mostly on class discussion and student presentations. I will be providing methodological workshops in ethnographic research methods to include active listening, interviewing, taking field notes, transcription, coding, memoing, autoethnography, life charting, focus group interviewing, Rapid Assessment Procedures (RAP), and manuscript preparation. Occasionally, we will also be hosting visiting scholars who will be addressing feminist theories and methods in their research and in their written materials. This requires that you come prepared to think critically, articulate ideas coherently, listen attentively and respect the diversity of experiences and perspectives of your classmates. I ask each of you to take responsibility for building a classroom environment based on trust, respect, and community while at the same time challenging each other in intellectually rigorous discussions. The success of this course depends on your preparation and participation. Therefore, regular attendance and meaningful participation is critical. You should read all materials, complete all assignments, and prepare your remarks and questions to share with the class before each class meeting. Some outside readings suggested by visiting scholars will also be introduced throughout the semester. I recommend writing in the margins of your texts and keeping notes in your notebook from your readings. For those of you writing MA theses, I suggest you begin an annotated bibliography of the sources relevant to your research interests.

Learning Outcomes:

After taking this course you should be able to:

• Provide a critical framework for thinking about feminist theories and methods and apply this framework to your own research projects and discipline;

• Gain knowledge and skills in specific methods of conducting feminist research, including participant observation, ethnography, interviewing, oral history, surveys, etc.;

• Engage with feminist concerns regarding ethics, representation and the politics of feminist inquiry;

• Utilize multiple feminist lenses to analyze and critique women’s roles in society

• Articulate and utilize feminist theories, methods, and practice;

• Engage in graduate level discourse on theory and research methods;

• Conduct original research using feminist theories and methodologies;

• Present your own research in a professional conference format;

• Create a supportive learning environment and intellectual community that empowers you and others to take action on the things you care about.

Assignments:

Weekly Summaries/Presentations: Each week, each student will turn in Weekly Summaries of each of their assigned readings. Students Presenting an assigned reading need not submit a weekly summary.

Guidelines for Writing your Weekly Summaries

(adapted from )

A summary is condensed version of a larger reading.   To write a summary, use your own words to express briefly the main idea and relevant details of the piece you have read in about 200 words.   Your purpose in writing the summary is to give the main ideas of the original reading.  What was the article or chapter about? What is the argument? What did the author want to communicate? Why is this reading relevant? How is the key argument supported? 

While reading the original work, take note of what or who is the focus and ask the usual questions that reporters use: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?  Using these questions to examine what you are reading can help you to write the summary.

Sometimes, the central idea of the piece is stated in the introduction or first paragraph, and the supporting ideas of this central idea are presented one by one in the following paragraphs.

Always read the introductory paragraph thoughtfully and look for a thesis statement.  Finding the thesis statement is like finding a key to a locked door.  Frequently, however, the thesis, or central idea, is implied or suggested.  Thus, you will have to work harder to figure out what the author wants readers to understand. Use any hints that may shed light on the meaning of the piece: pay attention to the title and any headings and to the opening and closing lines of paragraphs.

In writing the summary, let your reader know the piece that you are summarizing. Identify the title, author and source of the piece. You may want to use this formula:

In "Title of the Piece" (source and date of piece), author shows that: central idea of the piece.  The author supports the main idea by using _____________________ and showing that ______________________________________________________.

Remember:

Do not rewrite the original piece.

Keep your summary short.

Use your own wording.

Refer to the central and main ideas of the original piece.

Read with who, what, when, where, why and how questions in mind.

Do not put in your opinion of the issue or topic discussed in the original piece. Often, instructors ask students to put their opinions in a paragraph separate from the summary.

Critical Analysis and Reflections: Follow your summary with your own critical analysis and reflection of this reading in approximately 100-150 words. 

What did you find refreshing, novel, stimulating, infuriating, and/or stimulating?

What does this reading address that you had not thought about?

What did it not address?

 

What did this reading make you think about?

What thoughts, emotions, or memories did this reading stimulate in you?

Three Student Presentations will be assigned in class and each student will supply a brief biographical sketch of a particular author and the key contributions, arguments, and key points of an assigned reading to present to the class. Therefore, you have an assignment due each week.

There are three potential grades for weekly assignment and presentations: √+, √, √- (5, 4, 3 points)

Summaries and Presentations should be turned by Sunday 11:59 pm each week via Blackboard. Late papers lose a grade each day. The size of this class requires that I have at least one full day of grading.

Final Paper: Students will write a theory/method paper or a research article on your current research using feminist theories and methods. You will have an opportunity to select a journal in your field to use as a writing template. If you are writing a MA thesis, you can submit a theory or method chapter for your final paper. If you are writing a thesis project or have other plans, consider working on a publishable article instead.

Grading:

Weekly Papers and Presentations (11 X 5): 55 points

Research Paragraph: 10 points

Research Design: 20 points

Research Progress Report: 20 points

Final Paper and Presentation: 90 points + 10 points

Attendance and Participation: (11 X 5) 55 points

Guest Speaker Reflections (3 X 5) 15 points

Total points = 275 points

275-247 points = A

246- 220 points = B

219-192 points = C

191-165 points = D

165 and below = F

Attendance: After two absences, you will lose two points per absence.

Participation: Your participation in this course is important. I welcome your contributions to the class via respectful dialogue and engagement throughout the semester and through your presentations.

Internal Deadlines for Final Research Paper

Research Paragraph (1/2 page) due Week 3 Friday, 15th 11:59 pm

Research Design (4-5 pp) by Friday October 6th 11:59 pm

Submit Research Data Report: (4-5 pp.by Friday 11/17 11:59pm)

Final Papers due Tuesday, Dec 12th 4:00 pm – 6:45 pm

COURSE SCHEDULE*

Week One Introductions

August 29th – Overview of the Syllabus

___In Class Writing Prompt: What is Theory? What are research methods? What does feminism mean to you? How do you usually introduce or define yourself? When I think about the power of story, I think about…

___Feminism: Treichler and Kramarae (handout)

___Introduction Interviews: Personal Interest, Research Interests, and Commitments

___Turn in Writing Prompt and Personal Interest forms

___Review Writing Weekly Syntheses and Critical Reflections

___ The Sunday Meeting: Strategic Planning, Weekly Planning, and Time Management

___Assign Reading Presentations: 3 students per class (15 min X 3 = 45 min)

___What does a feminist seminar look like?

Week Two Overview of Feminist Theories and Methods

Sept. 5th Overview of Feminism Theories and Methods

Presenter 1: ______________ Presenter 2:_______________ Presenter 3:________________

Chapter 2: “Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression: (hooks PDF), Chapter One: What is the Feminist in Feminist Ethnography (Davis & Craven PDF), Oppression by Marilyn Frye (PDF)

Readings for Graduate Students: Theory as Liberatory Practice (bell hooks)

Turn in Weekly Syntheses by Sunday by 11:59 pm

Week Three Feminist Methods, Epistemologies and Research Standpoints

Sept. 12- Overview of Feminist Methods, etc.

Presenter 1: ______________ Presenter 2:_______________ Presenter 3:________________

Readings for All: Ch 2: Historicizing Feminist Ethnography (Davis & Craven); Patricia Zavella Feminist Insider Dilemmas (PDF file)

Readings for Graduate Students: Privileged thinking: Sex, Gender, and Sexuality (Halley & Eshleman PDF)

Turn in Weekly Syntheses by Sunday by 11:59 pm

*Research Paragraph due Week 3 Friday, 15th 11:59 pm - What will you be doing your research on this semester?

Week Four Economics/Work, Marxist and Socialist Feminism

Sept. 19th – Overview of Marxist and Socialist Feminist Theories

Presenter 1: ______________ Presenter 2:_______________ Presenter 3:________________

Readings: Ch 3: Debates and Interventions in Feminist Ethnography (Davis & Craven), Marxist and Socialist Feminism (PDF);  Rethinking the Nature of Work (hooks)

Turn in Weekly Syntheses by Sunday by 11:59 pm

Week Five Feminist Research Praxis

Sept. 29th-

Presenter 1: ______________ Presenter 2:_______________ Presenter 3:________________

Readings: Ch 4 How does One Do Feminist Ethnography? (Davis & Craven), The Ethnographic Interview (Spradley PDF)

Graduate Students: Feminist Methods in Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology by Christine Ward Gailey (PDF)

Turn in Weekly Syntheses by Sunday by 11:59 pm

Week Six Marriage/Family

October 3rd

Presenter 1: ______________ Presenter 2:_______________ Presenter 3:________________

Readings: Ch 5“Men: Comrades in Struggle” and Ch 10 “Revolutionary Parenting” (hooks); Ending Female Sexual Oppression” (hooks); The Ancient Roots of Machismo In Massacre of the Dreamers (Ana Castillo PDF) Supreme Court Legislation see (See embedded document)

Graduate Students:

Turn in Weekly Syntheses by Sunday by 11:59 pm

*Turn in your Research Design (4-5 pp) by Friday October 6th 11:59 pm. Discuss how you plan on doing your research this semester. Provide your questions, cite your theory/methods sources, and develop a plan to do your work.

Week Seven Postmodern Feminism

October 10th –Overview of Postmodernism and Feminism

Presenter 1: ______________ Presenter 2:_______________ Presenter 3:________________

Readings: Ch 5: Challenges for Feminist Ethnographers (Davis & Craven), Ch 6 “Women of Color Feminism”“(FT), Knowing a Society from Within: A Woman’s Standpoint (Dorothy Smith PDF)

Graduate Students: Ch 5” Existentialist and Postmodern Feminism” (In Tong’s Feminist Theory PDF),

Turn in Weekly Syntheses by Sunday by 11:59 pm

Week Eight Identity Across Age, Race, Class, and Sexuality:

October 17th

Presenter 1: ______________ Presenter 2:_______________ Presenter 3:________________

All Students: “Difference Matters: Studying Across Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality” (PDF); The Development of Chicana Feminist Discourse (Garcia PDF), Age, Race, Class, and Sex” (Audre Lorde PDF), En Rapport, In Opposition (Gloria Anzaldua PDF)

Week Nine Activism, Narrative, and Empowerment

October 24th – Overview of Everyday Life and Policy

Presenter 1: ______________ Presenter 2:_______________ Presenter 3:________________

Readings: Intersectionality: A Transformative Paradigm in Feminist Theory and Social Justice (PDF); Testimonios (PDFs); Life Charts (PDFs), Patricia Zavella, “Intersectional Praxis in the Movement for Reproductive Justice” (PDF), CH 6: Feminist Activist Ethnography (Davis & Craven)

Graduate Students: Ch 6: Producing Feminist Ethnography (Davis & Craven)

Turn in Weekly Syntheses by Sunday by 11:59 pm

Week Ten Queer Theory, Gender, Sexuality, and Fieldwork

October 31st-Overview of Queer Theories

Presenter 1: ______________ Presenter 2:_______________ Presenter 3:________________

Readings: Transgender, Transsexualism; and the Queering of Gender Identities: Debates for Feminist Research (PDF); “The Traffic in Women” Gayle Rubin (PDF); “Sexuality” Catharine MacKinnon (PDF); “Possession” from Intercourse Andrea Dworkin (PDF)

Turn in Weekly Syntheses by Sunday by 11:59 pm

Week Eleven The Second Sex, the Psychoanalytical Point of View, and Gendered Rerpesentations in the Media

November 7th

Presenter 1: ______________ Presenter 2:_______________ Presenter 3:________________

Introduction to the Second Sex: Simone de Beauvoir (PDF), Chapter 2: “The Psychoanalytical Point of View” In the Second Sex (Simone de Beauvoir PDF), National Geographic Issue on Gender (PDF), Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis (Joan Scott PDF)

Graduate Students: Pick an article on a topic you are researching on to read, write, and present

Turn in Weekly Syntheses by Sunday by 11:59 pm

Week Twelve Third World and Post-colonial Feminisms

November 14th

Presenter 1: ______________ Presenter 2:_______________ Presenter 3:________________

Chapters One and Two from Feminism Without Borders, (PDF) Between Colonizer and Colonized by (Aime Cesaire PDF)

Divide these readings among graduate Students: Chandra Mohanty; “In a Word: Interview” Gayatri Spivak and Ellen Rooney (PDFs); “Contesting Cultures: Westernization, Respect for Cultures, and Third-World Feminists” Uma Narayan (PDF).

Turn in Weekly Syntheses by Sunday by 11:59 pm

*Submit Research Data Report: (4-5 pp.by Friday 11/17 11:59pm) Describe your data collected so far, how you are coding key themes, selected quotes, and what research/literature is relevant to your work.

Week Thirteen Third Wave

November 21st -Overview of Third Wave Theories

Presenter 1: ______________ Presenter 2:_______________ Presenter 3:________________

Readings: “Becoming the Third Wave” Rebecca Walker (PDF); “Introduction to Third Wave Agenda” Heywood and Drake (PDF); “Sisterhood: Political Solidarity Among Women” (hooks Ch 8: Thinking through the Future of Feminist Ethnography: conversations with feminist ethnographers

Turn in Weekly Syntheses by Sunday by 11:59 pm

Week Fourteen Feminist Research/Writing and Transforming the Academy

November 28th- Feminist Writings

Presenter 1: ______________ Presenter 2:_______________ Presenter 3:________________

Readings: “Skirting a Pleated Text: De-Disciplining an Academic Life” Laurel Richardson (PDF); “The Writing of Canicula: Breaking Boundaries, Finding Forms” Norma Cantu (PDF); “This Ethnography Called My Back: Writings of the Exotic Gaze, “Othering” Latina, and Recuperating Xicanisma” “Feminist Futures” Sara Ahmed (reader); “Toward an Endarkened Theory….” Aida Hurtado (PDF)

Turn in Weekly Syntheses by Sunday by 11:59 pm

Weeks 15 and 16: Students’ Final Class Presentations. Turn in Final Paper December

| Class Presentations of Final |Finals Week: Class Presentations of Final |

| |Final Papers due Tuesday, Dec 12th 4:00 pm – 6:45 pm |

|15 min 6pm |4 pm to 4:20 pm |

|15 min 6:20 to 6:40 pm |4:20 to 4:40 pm |

|15 min 5:40 to 6 pm |4:40 to 5 pm |

|15 min 6 pm to 6:20 pm |5: to 5:20 pm |

|15 min 6:20 to 6:40 pm |5:20 to 5:40 pm |

|15 min 6:40 pm to 7 pm |end |

|Break 7 pm to 7:20 pm | |

|15 min 7:20 to 7:40 pm | |

|15 min 7:40 to 8 pm | |

|15 min 8 to 8:20 pm | |

*A note to graduate students and students studying the U.S.-Mexico border,

Please set up an appointment to identify specific readings relevant to your MA theses and dissertations, if this list of readings needs to be expanded or modified for your projects.

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