Instructor: Dr. Sanjam Ahluwalia 

Office: LA 232

Phone # : 523-8709 

E-mail: Sanjam.Ahluwalia@nau.edu

Office Hours: MWF 11.40 - 12.20 and by appointment

Class Meetings: LA: 200M: 4.00-6.30pm

Course Description: WST 600 is a graduate-level introductory course in feminist theories. We will focus on theories, conceptual developments, debates, and epistemological and methodological issues that chart the evolution of feminist theories. The course will critically interrogate the different intellectual traditions that have shaped debates and issues within feminist politics and theories. Important feminist theories examined during this semester include: liberal feminism; radical feminism; marxist feminism/socialist feminism; postmodern feminism; and postcolonial feminism. The course will examine these traditions from an explicitly interdisciplinary perspective, highlighting the methodological contributions made by feminist scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds. 
 

One of the significant contributions of feminist scholarship and politics since the 18^th century has been to critically investigate how structures of power have been constructed in order to marginalize, devalue, and undermine women's position in the world. However, this simple position of "women" as "victim" is increasingly difficult to sustain - especially in the light of recent critiques from within the feminist tradition. Through the assigned readings and class discussions, we hope to explore more deeply the implications of deploying feminist tools from different traditions to understand women and men's varied locations within society, economy, politics, and culture. The course hopes to foster a more complex and sophisticated understanding of the interactive workings of different variables such as gender, race, class, sexuality, ethnicity, community, and nation, with attention to specific variations over time and space.
 

The course has several objectives: 1) to provide an overview of contemporary feminist theories and the authors associated with them; 2) to examine competing foundations, arguments, and positions within feminisms and their theories; 3) to develop the analytical skills needed to critically evaluate the assumptions, arguments, and debates among contemporary theorists; 4) to understand the research methodologies associated with different theoretical traditions; and 5) to apply knowledge and skills to the definition of a research problem for a seminar paper.
 

Course Texts: The following texts are required and recommended reading; they may be purchased at the Arcadia Bookstore. Set of essays will also be placed on electronic-reserve at Cline Library.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

• Chandra Mohanty, Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Duke University Press, 2003.
• Nancy Naples, Feminism and Method: Ethnography, Discourse, and Activist Research. Routledge, 2003.
• Patricia Hill-Collins, Black Sexual Politics: African-Americans, Gender and New Racism. Routledge, 2004.
• bell hooks, From Margin to Center, South End Press, 2000.
• Gloria Anzaldua, This Bridge we Call Home. Routledge, 2002.
• Lee Edelman, Queer Theory and Death Drive. Duke University Press, 2004.
• Kamran Ali, Planning the Family in Egypt: New Bodies, New Selves. University of Texas Press, 2002.
• Betty Joseph, Reading the East India Company, 1720-1840. University of Chicago Press, 2004.

• Antoinette Burton, Dwelling in the Archives: Women Writing House, Home, and History in Late Colonial India. Oxford University Press, 2003.

 
• Sarah Gamble, ed. The Companion to Feminism and Postfeminism. Routledge, 2002.

• Reina Lewis and Sara Mills, eds., Feminist Postcolonial Theory: A Reader. Routledge, 2003.

 
• bell hooks, We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity. Routledge, 2003.

• bell hooks, Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. Routledge, 2003.

 
• Michael Foucault, History of Sexuality, Volume 1.

 
• Jael Silliman, Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Rights. South End Press, 2004.

Requirements and Evaluation: WST 600 will be conducted as a graduate seminar, with emphasis on timely reading of all assigned materials and informed discussion of ideas and issues. Written assignments include weekly position papers. Participation will be evaluated. Students are encouraged to read carefully, to bring reading notes to class to facilitate seminar discussion (in addition to the position papers), and to incorporate previous weeks work into seminar discussions.

Evaluation is based on:

-Participation. Evidence of preparation and active participation in class discussions will be considered in evaluating student performance. Worth 20% of your course grade.
 

-Weekly position papers. These short papers (1-2 pages, typewritten) should address the assigned readings for our class session, presenting your position on issues raised by the various authors. You may summarize concepts, arguments, or debates, although the objective of your writing should be to raise questions, respond to issues you identify, and otherwise provide a critical positioning with relation to the readings. Please pay attention to staying within the stipulated word limit. These papers are due in class on day of the discussion. Please note, NO late OR e-mail submissions will be accepted! Together worth 40% of your course grade.
 

-Lead class discussion. Each student will be responsible for leading one class discussion on a week of their choice. In the week you lead discussion you will be required to report on both the required and recommended readings assigned for that week. I would strongly urge students to meet with me ahead of class to go over their class plan and organization of class period for the week they choose to lead the discussion of our assigned readings. This will count 10% towards the final grade.
 

-Final paper. This paper should be 12-15 pages, typewritten. You will select a topic in consultation with the Instructor. Your paper can either be a survey of literature on any one of the many feminist theoretical positions we will discuss in class, a comparative analysis of two or more feminist intellectual traditions, or an application of feminist theory to any disciplinary or thematic topic. You can also choose to write an analytical paper on any one feminist theorist or write a comparative paper on two or more feminist theorists. You are expected to conduct independent research for this paper which will go substantially beyond the readings covered in this course. A preliminary bibliography for your paper needs to be submitted in the first class meeting after the Spring break. For this final paper you are expected to familiarize yourselves with prevailing citation styles. This paper will count 30% towards the final grade.
 

Grades will be awarded on the following basis:

90-100% = A

80-89% = B

70-79% = C

60-69% = D

59% and below = F.
 

Course policy. Students are expected to: attend all class sessions; to observe norms of courtesy and respect for others that will facilitate serious discussion of sometimes controversial matters of policy and politics; to submit work on the dates listed in the Course Calendar; and to observe university and professional standards of academic integrity. Please see the additional university policies that are attached to the syllabus. Plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in any of the assignments, and will result in failing the course. Please consult the section on "Academic Integrity" in the Student Handbook for further details. IT IS THE STUDENTS' RESPONSIBILITY TO FAMILIARIZE THEMSELVES WITH THESE MATTERS AS DEFINED BY THE UNIVERSITY. 
 

Week Date Topic/Readings/Assignments
 

Week 1 January 24 Introduction to Course
 

Week 2 January 31 Liberal Feminism

1. Mary Wollstoncraft, Vindication of the Rights of Women. (Selections-Chapters 1, 2, 13) Web reading: http://www.bartleby.com/144/ .

2. John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women. (Selections-Chapters 1-3) Web reading: http://www.la.utexas.edu/research/poltheory/mill/sw/sw.c01.html

3.Nancy Naples, "Feminism and Method," in Feminism and Method, PP 3-12.

4. Rosemarie Tong, "Liberal Feminism," in Tong Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction, Second Edition. Pp 10-44 and 282-286. (E-Reserve).

Recommended Reading: 1. Joan Scott, "The Uses of Imagination: Olympe de Gouges in the French Revolution," in Scott, Only Paradoxes to Offer: French Feminists and the Rights of Man.

Pp19-56 and 181-203. (E-Reserve).

2. Susan Okin, "Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?"

3. Bhiku Parekh, " A Varied Moral World." Both these articles are from Joshua Cohen ed., Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women. PP.7-26;69-75. (Reserve).
 

Week 3 February 7 Radical Feminism

1. Rosemarie Tong, "Radical Feminism," in Feminist Thought: A Comprehensive Introduction. PP. 45-93 and 286-291. (E-Reserve).
 

Recommended Reading: 1.Andrea Dworkin, "Pornography's Exquisite Volunteers MS., March 1981, Pp 65-66,94-96.

2."Redstocking Manifesto," in Robin Morgan, ed., Sisterhood is Powerful. (E-Reserve).

3. Ann Ferguson,"Sex War: The Debate Between Radical and Liberation Feminists," in Sign: Journal Of Women in Culture and Society Volume 10, # 1 (Autumn 1984): 106-135. (E-Reserve).

Week 4 February 14 Marxist Feminism and Feminist Standpoint

1.Barbara Ehrenreich, "What is Socialist Feminism?"

2. Hazel Carby, "White Women Listen! Black Feminism and the Boundaries of Sisterhood." These two articles are in Rosemary Hennessey and Chrys Ingrahm ed., Material Feminism: A Reader in Class, Difference, and Women's Lives. Pp65-70; 110-128- (E-Reserve)

3. Nancy Naples, "Standpoint Epistemologies, Reflective Practice, and Feminist Ethnography,"in Feminism and Method. Pp37-85.

4. Nancy Hartsock, "The Feminist Standpoint Revisited," in Hartsock, The Feminist Standpoint Revisited and Other Essays. Pp 227-248.(E-Reserve).
 

Recommended Reading:1. Kum-Kum Bhavnani and Margaret Coulson, "Transforming Socialist Feminism: The Challenge of Racism," Feminist Review 23 (1986). (E-Reserve).

2. Nancy Hartsock,"The Feminist Standpoint: Developing the Ground for a Specifically Feminist Historical Materialism," in Hartsock, The Feminist Standpoint Revisited and Other Essays. Pp. 105-132. (E-Reserve)

Week 5 February 21 Postmodern Feminism

1. Judith Butler, "Bodily Inscriptions, Perfomative Subversions." (E-Reserve)

2. Judith Butler, "Changing the Subject: Judith Butler's Politics of Radical Resignification." Both the Butler articles are in Sara Salih with Judith Butler, The Judith Butler Reader. 90-118; 325-356. (E-Reserve)

3.Beatrice Hanssen, "Whatever Happened to Feminist Theory,"in Elisabeth Bronfen and Misha Kavka eds., Feminist Consequences: Theory for the New Century.58-98. (E-Reserve)
 

Recommended Reading:1. Linda Nicholson, ed., Feminism/Postmodernism. (Selections)(Reserve)

Week 6 February 28 Some Early Theoretical Interventions by Women of Color

bell hooks, From Margin to Center, South End Press, 2000.
 

Recommended Reading: 1. Valerie Amos and Pratibha Parmar, "Challenging Imperial Feminism." In Kum-Kum Bhavnani ed., Oxford Readings in Feminism: Feminism and 'Race.' (Reserve)

2. Audre Lorde, "The Master's Tools will Never Dismantle the Master's House." In Lewis and Mills, Feminist Postcolonial Theory: A Reader. Pp25-28.

Week 7 March 7 Theorizing Sexualities/Embodying Theory

Lee Edelman, Queer Theory and Death Drive. Duke University Press, 2004. Selections TBA.

Recommended Reading: Michael Foucault, History of Sexuality, Volume 1.

Week 8 March 14 Masculinity and Women of Color

Patricia Hill-Collins, Black Sexual Politics: African-Americans, Gender and New Racism. Routledge, 2004.

Recommended Reading: bell hooks, We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity. Routledge, 2003.

Week 9-10 Spring Break! March 21-28

Week 11 April 4 Postcolonial Feminism

Chandra Mohanty, Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity.

Recommended Reading: bell hooks, Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. Routledge, 2003.

Week 12 April 11 Postcolonial Feminist Turn in Disciplines I

Kamran Ali, Planning the Family in Egypt: New Bodies, New Selves. University of Texas Press, 2002.

Recommended Reading: 1. Kirin Narayan, "How Native Is a 'Native' Anthropologist," in Lewis and Mills ed, Feminist Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader. Pp285-305.

2. Jane M. Jacobs, " Earth Honoring: Western Desires and Indigenous Knowledges," in Feminist Postcolonial Theory: A Reader. Pp667-691.

Week 13 April 18 Postcolonial Feminist Turn in Disciplines II

Betty Joseph, Reading the East India Company, 1720-1840. University of Chicago Press, 2004.

Recommended Reading: Antoinette Burton, Dwelling in the Archives: Women Writing House, Home, and History in Late Colonial India.

Week 14 April 25 Building Feminist Communities

Gloria Anzaldua, This Bridge we Call Home. Routledge, 2002.

Recommended Reading: Jael Silliman, Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Rights. South End Press, 2004. (Selections); Daniel Horowitz, "Rethinking Betty Friedan and the Feminine Mystique: Labor Union Radicalism and Feminism in Cold War America" American Quarterly 48:1 (March 1996): 1-42

OR

Jane Gerhard, Desiring Revolution: Second Wave Feminism and the Rewriting of American Sexual Thought.

OR

Alice Echoles, Daring to be Bad; Radical Feminism in America

Week 15 May 2 Contemplating Future Feminist Theoretical Projects!

1. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, "Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory," NSWA Journal 14:3 (Fall 2002). (E-Reserve).

2. Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, "What Is Feminism?," in Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Girous, 2000. (E-Reserve).

3. Nancy Naples, "Negotiating the Politics of Methods,"in Feminism and Method. Pp197-202.

Recommended Reading: 1. Avtar Brah, "Diaspora, Border and Transnational Identities." in Feminist Postcolonial Theory: A Reader.

2. Joanna Kadi, "Stupidity 'Deconstructed', 327-346. (E-Reserve).

WEEK 15: MAY 9 Final paper due !