Feminist Social Thought (PH 380) Spring 2005
Dr.
SUNY Cortland, class held in Dowd 236
Office: 138 Old
Hours: W
Phone 607-753-2013 or email nagelm@cortland.edu
Course Description:
What is feminism?
What are some of the important feminist currents in the Second Wave of
Feminism and in the post-Beijing Women’s Conference area? We will study Liberal, Marxist, Radical,
Socialist, Multicultural and Global feminist theories. A great deal of theory, research and
scholarship in Feminist or Women’s Studies makes direct or indirect references
to some major feminist works. In this
course we will critically read and study significant selections from a number
of classic and novel texts.
Evaluation:
This class is discussion centered. This means that everyone is expected to actively listen and speak to the issues before us. Since we only meet once a week, we will participate on a regular basis in email discussions outside class. We will bring “motivated” questions, i.e. questions and critiques we have about the text(s) and we will attempt to answer our question as well (e.g. ‘what the author could mean is the following:...’). The purpose of this exercise is to “have a stake” in the interpretations of a text and perspective and importantly that we invite other class participants to offer their view points.
Your grade will be computed on a contract evaluation basis.
Contract 1:
To fulfill the requirements satisfactorily, in addition to regular attendance, you will give one class presentation (50 minutes), and write 6 papers (averaging 3 double-spaced, 12pt font, typed pages) on the assignments. The papers could vary in style; they could be thought of as journals (e.g. reaction papers) or as textual analysis where you summarize the main points and give a critique. You might want to utilize the lead questions on the syllabus when you write your response/reaction.
Papers are due *before* the class in which we discuss the topic/text you wrote about. Late papers will not be accepted.
Contract 2:
To explore a major theme in feminist theory, you will write a 7page paper (a draft due by midterm) and a 12-15 page paper elaborating on the draft by the end of the semester.
March is Women's History Month and presents a great
opportunity to learn about women's lives and activism. Write a 2 papers on
a social-political event and hand it in within one week of the event. You are strongly encouraged to attend the
screening and discussion of the film In the Time of the Butterflies (we
are also reading this book), on March 24 (Thursday), at
More than 1 absence will adversely affect your grade. It is important that you come to all class sessions and to keep yourself informed in case you will have to miss a class. Incompletes are strongly discouraged.
Instances of plagiarism will be treated in accordance with SUNY Cortland's policies.
Evaluation
Summary:
6 papers (3 pages each): 60 pts (or: a 12-15 page paper)
Group presentation: 10 pts
Participation 15 pts
2 Women's Event papers 10 pts
Required Books:
Valerie Bryson, Feminist Political Theory (VB)
Julia Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies
Mariama Ba, So Long a Letter
Nancy Holmstron, The Socialist Feminist Reader (NH)
Optional:
Alison Jaggar, Feminist Politics and Human Nature
Syllabus:
Jan.19: Introduction to the Course
Introducing feminist
political theory and its four major strands (liberal, marxist, radical and socialist feminisms)
Jan.26 Liberal Feminism: Wollstonecraft.
Read: VB chap. 1-2, Wollstonecraft (handout)
Issues: Vindication of
the Rights of Woman, Enlightenment and bourgeois revolutions, rationality,
authority and patriarchy,
Question: What is the
role of education in Wollstonecraft's feminist theory? In what ways do liberal
feminists fail to understand and theorize women's role in the household?
Feb.2 Contemporary Liberal Feminism
Read: VB chap. 8-9
Issues: The Second
Sex, Second Wave of feminism, The Feminine Mystique, NOW, ERA, role of the
state, ethics of care and maternal thinking
Questions: What is the
meaning of 'She is the Other?' What criticisms can be raised against the
liberal idea of equality and 'sex-blind' legislation?
Feb.9 Marxist Feminism (Origins)
Read: VB chap. 3-4
Issues: Class
struggle, alienation, theory of human nature, use value and surplus value,
production and reproduction, suffrage and revolutionary struggle,
Questions: How can
feminist theory benefit from Marx and Engels'
conceptions of ideology? Why are Marxist
feminists opposed to both equal rights feminism and to 'welfare feminism?'
Feb 10, Film Screening of Eyes of the
Rainbow, Film on Assata Shakur,
Feb.16 Marxist Feminism (anarchism, communism)
Read: VB chap. 5-7; NH, Foremothers/fathers, pp.13
Issues: 'woman
question,' professionalisation of housework, free
love and sexuality under communism, domestic co-ops, meaning of gender+class oppression and women's suffrage,
Question: How do Bebel, Zetkin, and Braun deal
with the question of solidarity with bourgeois women? What are Kollontai's
views on marriage, childcare and 'one great love?'
Feb 23 Contemporary Marxist Feminism
Read: VB chap 13; NH Hennessey pp.83; Coontz
pp.125;
Issues: materialist
feminism
Questions: Are Marxist
women simply Marxist men in drag? What
is the relationship of domestic, sex-affective work and surplus labor?
March 2 Radical Feminism
Read: VB chap.10-12
Issues: Political
lesbianism and separatism, women's liberation, the personal is political,
public patriarchy, sexual exploitation, sexual division of labor, sex class
Question: What is the
promise of a socialist revolution for radical feminists?
March 9 Spring break
March 16 Contemporary Socialist Feminism
Read: VB chap. 13; NH Introduction; Hartsock, Holmstrom; pp. 350-376
Issues: Dual systems approach, 'private' alienation,
Freud +Marx; feminist standpoint
Questions: How does the priority of struggle get
re-defined by Socialist feminists?
March 23 Global Feminism with special regard to the
Read: Julia Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies
Issues: machismo and gender issues at all levels of society
March 24: Screening of film: In the time of the
butterflies,
March 30 Socialist Feminism, ctd
Read: NH Part 5: Politics and Social Change
Issues: Feminist Movement politics; intersectional
identities; identity politics
Questions: What are some of the challenges of nationalist
feminism? What are the lessons learnt from the 2nd wave and Civil
Rights movements in the
Ap 6 Muslim Feminism
Mariama Ba, So Long a Letter ; also on the web by Dr. Siga Jagne: “Djotaayi Dieguenye: The Gathering of Women in Mariama Ba’s Fictional World”
http://web.cortland.edu/wagadu/issue1/mariama.html
Ap13 Scholars’ Day
Ap 20 Multicultural Feminism
Read: NH Part 2: Family: Love, Labor and Power
Issues: family violence; gender-ethnic divide within families; critique of universalist notion of patriarchy
Question: Explain the power inequalities within families
and how race/ethnicity intersects with gender.
Ap 27 Global Feminisms
Read: NH Part 3: Wage Labor and Struggles; and Meera Nanda, pp. 396
Issues: women’s work/women’s worth; human rights/
cultural rights; meaning of transnational solidarity
Question: what are some of the pitfalls of eco-feminist
thinking? explain the theoretical debates of the
practice of sex work.