College Social and Behavioral Sciences
Northern Arizona University
Women's Studies: Fall 2005
Instructor: Dr. Sanjam Ahluwalia
Office: LA 232
Phone # : 523-8709
E-mail: Sanjam.Ahluwalia@nau.edu
Office Hours: TTH 12.30-1.20 and by appointment
Class Meetings: LA: 234; Tuesday: 5.00 -7.30
WST 601: Sex, Politics, and Reproduction
Course Description: This course introduces graduate students to the numerous debates on sexuality, reproduction, and motherhood from explicitly interdisciplinary, cross- cultural and transnational perspectives. The readings in this course will highlight the methodological contributions made by feminist scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds to the vigorous debates about essentialism and social constructionism on sex, sexuality, reproduction, and motherhood.
In the everyday poetics sex and reproduction are normally understood as "natural" human practices that take place in the privacy of our bedrooms and as such exist beyond the realm of politics and state intervention. This dominant understanding of sex, sexuality, and reproduction is grounded in a dualistic framework- one that recognizes the private and the public realms as separate and distinct. As opposed to this reified and ahistorical understanding, the readings and class discussions in this course will highlight the overlaps and interconnections between private practices and public policies to underscore the competing constructions of sex, reproduction, and motherhood. The readings in the course will provide opportunities for historical and transnational comparative analysis to better appreciate the multiple ways in which women have historically negotiated between the demands of social reproduction, motherhood, and their sexual rights. Moreover, the readings will also demonstrate how ideals of masculine and feminine bodies and sexualities are culturally mapped through categories of race, nation, class, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, and age.
Course Texts: The following texts are required and recommended reading; they may be purchased at the Aradia Bookstore. The assigned texts will also be placed on reserve at Cline Library.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Volume 1. Vintage Books, 1990, ISBN # 0679724699
Ann Sterling, Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and Construction of Sexuality. Basic Books, 2000. ISBN # 0465077145
Judith Butler, Undoing Gender. Routledge, 2004. ISBN# 0415969239
Judith Halberstram, In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. New York University Press, 2005. ISBN # 0814735851.
Afsahen Najmabadi, Women with Moustaches and Men without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxiety in Modern Iran. University of California Press, 2005. ISBN # 0520242637
Betsy Hartmann, Reproductive Rights and Wrongs: The Global Politics of Population Control. South End Press, 1994. ISBN # 0896084914Lynn Thomas, Politics of the Womb, Women, Reproduction and State in Kenya. University of California Press. 2003. ISBN #: 0520235401.
Emily Martin, Woman in the Body: Cultural Analysis of Reproduction. revised edition. Beacan Press, 2001. ISBN # 0807046450
Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body, Race, Reproduction and Meaning of Liberty. Vintage, 1999. ISBN # 0679758690.
Andrea Smith, Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide. South End Press, 2005. ISBN # 0896087441.
Marcia Inhorn and Frank Balen eds., Infertility Around the World: New Thinking on Childlessness, Gender, and Reproductive Technologies. University of California Press. 2002. ISBN # 0520231376
Adrienne Rich, Of Women Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution. W W.Norton and Company. 1995. ISBN# 0393312844.
Cecilia Van Hollen, Birth on the Threshold: Childbirth and Modernity in South Asia. University of California Press. 2003. ISBN# 0520223594.
RECOMMENDED READINGS:
Henry Abelove, Deep Gossip. University of Minnesota Press, 2005. ISBN # 0816638276.
Margaret Jolly and Kalpana Ram, Borders of Being: Citizenship, Fertility and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific. University of Michigan Press, 2001. ISBN # 0472067559.
Jael Silliman, Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice. South End Press, 2004. ISBN # 0896087298.
Faye D. Ginsburg and Rayna Rapp, Conceiving the New World Order. University of California Press. 1995. ISBN # 0520089146.
Andrea O'Reilly, ed., From Motherhood to Mothering: The Legacy of Adrienne Rich's Of Women Born. State University of New York Press, 2004. ISBN# 0791462889.
Buchi Emecheta, The Joys of Motherhood. George Braziller, 1980. ISBN # 0807609501.
Miriama Bâ , So Long a Letter. Heinemann Reprint, 1989. ISBN# 0435905554.
Robert Nye, Sexuality Reader. Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN # 0192880195.
Requirements and Evaluation: WST 601 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 reaction papers and a major paper at the end of the semester. Participation will be evaluated. Students are encouraged to read carefully, to bring reading notes to class to facilitate seminar discussion and to incorporate when ever possible 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. Participation will be graded on the basis of content and quality rather than on quantity. I will take into account how much your interventions reveal a critical engagement with the assigned materials. Participation will count towards 20% of your course grade.
-Reaction papers. These papers (1-2 pages, typewritten) should address the assigned readings for each of our class session. 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 position with relation to the readings. Also make sure your papers present a clear and coherent argument. 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 there papers are worth 30% 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 the readings assigned for that week. In your presentation provide a brief summary of the work, highlight its contributions, and outline its limitations and weaknesses. Also try to make some intellectual connections with previous readings when possible. Handouts are encouraged. Oral presentation selections will be made on the first day of class based on a voluntary first come first served basis. You are not required to turn in a reaction paper on the day of your in-class presentation. This will count 10% towards the final grade.
-Final paper. This paper should be 12-15 pages, typewritten. You will select a topic related to the themes covered in class, in consultation with the Instructor. Your paper can either be a survey of literature on any one of topics discussed in class, or a theoretical essay on a course topic. 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 class on October 25. For this final paper you are expected to familiarize yourselves with prevailing citation styles. This paper will count 40% 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. 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.
COURSE SCHEDULE: SUBJECT TO MODIFICATION
Week 1 August 30 Introduction to Course
Week 2 September 6 Mapping Sexual Histories
Required Readings:
Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Volume 1.
Recommended Reading:
Robert Nye, Sexuality Reader. Selections
Week 3 September 13 Sex and "Truth" about Selves
Required Reading:
Ann Sterling, Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and Construction of Sexuality.
Recommended Reading:
Robert Nye, Sexuality Reader. Selections
Week 4 September 20 Undoing the Norm
Required Reading:
Judith Butler, Undoing Gender.
Recommended Reading:
Judith Butler, "Changing the Subject: Judith Butler's Politics of Radical Resignification." Butler article is in Sara Salih with Judith Butler, The Judith Butler Reader. 90-118; 325-356. (E-Reserve)
Week 5 September 27 Subaltern Sexualities: I
Required Reading:
Judith Halberstram, In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives.
Recommended Reading:
Lisa Duggan, "Making it Perfectly Queer," Socialist Review 22, NO,1 (Jan-Mar, 1992): 11-31.
Henry Abelove, Deep Gossip.
Lee Edelman, Queer Theory and Death Drive. Duke University Press, 2004
Week 6 October 4 Subaltern Sexualities-II
Required Reading:
Afsaneh Najmabadi, Women with Moustaches and Men without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxiety in Modern Iran.
Recommended Reading:
Miriama Bâ , So Long a Letter.
Charu Gupta, Sexuality, Obscenity, Community: Women, Muslims, and the Hindu Public in Colonial India. New Delhi: Permanent Black Press, 2001.
Week 7 October 11 Women as Procreative Bodies?
Required Reading
Emily Martin, Woman in the Body: Cultural Analysis of Reproduction.
Recommended Reading:
Faye D. Ginsburg and Rayna Rapp, Conceiving the New World Order. Selections.
Rima D. Apple, and Janet Golden, Mothers and Motherhood: Readings in American History. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1997. Selections.
Week 8 October 18 Global Procreative Imperatives
Required Reading:
Betsy Hartmann, Reproductive Rights and Wrongs: The Global Politics of Population Control.
Recommended Reading:
Jael Silliman, Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice.
Week 9 October 25 Erotic and Fecund Bodies
Required Reading
Lynn Thomas, Politics of the Womb, Women, Reproduction and State in Kenya.
OR
Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body, Race, Reproduction and Meaning of Liberty.
Recommended Readings:
Angela Davis, "Racism, Birth Control, and Reproductive Rights," in Merlene Gerber Fried, eds., From Abortion to Reproductive Freedom: Transforming a Movement. Boston: South End Press, 1990: 15-25.
Week 10 November 1 Race and Sexual Violence
Andrea Smith, Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide.
Recommended Reading:
Kimberley Crenshaw, "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics and Violence against Women of Color," in Linda Alcoff and Eduardo Mendieta eds., Identities. New York: Blackwell Publishers, 2002: 175-200.
Week 11 November 8 Reproductive Technologies and Anxieties
Required Reading:
Marcia Inhorn and Frank Balen eds., Infertility Around the World: New Thinking on Childlessness, Gender and Reproductive Technologies.
Recommended Reading:
Selections from Faye D. Ginsburg and Rayna Rupp, Conceiving the New World Order.
Selections from Margaret Jolly and Kalpana Ram, Borders of Being: Citizenship, Fertility and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific.
Week 12 November 15 Babies and Women's "Choices"
Required Reading:
Adrienne Rich, Of Women Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution.
Recommended Reading:
Buchi Emecheta, The Joys of Motherhood.
Andrea O'Reilly, ed., From Motherhood to Mothering: The Legacy of Adrienne Rich's Of Women Born.
Week 13 November 22 Politics and History of Birthing on the Margins
Required Reading:
Cecilia Van Hollen, Birth on the Threshold: Childbirth and Modernity in South Asia.
Recommended Reading:
Vicki Lukere and Margaret Jolly eds., Birthing in the Pacific: Beyond Tradition and Modernity.
Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 2001.
Week 14 November 29--NO CLASS! Work on the final paper!
WEEK 15: December 13 Final paper due !