Feminism in an International Context
Women Studies 305, Winter 2007

Th Jan 4: Introduction--Reassemblage
Q: How do representations of women, especially "other" women, influence our understanding of them? What does this film take apart and reassemble?

FILM: Trinh T. Minh-Ha. 1982. Reassemblage. (40 min.)

PART I: Whose Feminism: Cartographies of Conflict & Collaboration

T Jan 9: Imagining Feminism Differently
Q: What is feminism? For whom? Where? When?

Audre Lorde. "An Open Letter to Mary Daly" & "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," in This Bridge Called My Back. R

Rebecca Hurdis. "Heartbroken: Women of Color Feminism and the Third Wave," in Colonize This! R

Susan Muaddi Darraj. "It's Not an Oxymoron: The Search for an Arab Feminism," in Colonize This! R

Th Jan 11: International Politics & Feminisms
Q: What does a feminist analytic reveal about international political discourse? What are the struggles between feminist movements grounded in different histories and experiences?

Cynthia Enloe. "Gender Makes the World Go Round" & "On The Beach: Sexism and Tourism," in Banana, Beaches, and Bases.

Chandra Talpade Mohanty. "Cartographies of Struggle: Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism," in Feminism without Borders. R

T Jan 16: Cross-Cultural Connections & Border-Crossings
Q: How are feminist movements culturally and historically situated? What problems can cross-cultural representations raise?

Uma Narayan. "Cross-Cultural Connections, Border-Crossings, and ‘Death by Culture': Thinking about Dowry-Murders in India and Domestic-Violence Murders in the United States," in Dislocating Cultures. R

DUE: CLASS FACILITATION I

Group 1 - Andrea Carcamo (andreacc), Kiera Senst (khs4)

Group 2 - Naomi Mueller (naomi07), Irina Braginskaya (rainne), Jennifer Lee (jennlee)

PART II: Culture, Agency, and Representation

Th Jan 18: Beyond West and the Rest
Q: What is "writing against culture"? Why and how does Abu-Lughod attempt this writing praxis?

Lila Abu-Lughod. Writing Women's Worlds: Bedouin Stories. Preface (xi-xviii); Introduction (1-42).

T Jan 23: Culture and Agency
Q: What is agency? How do women (and men) in these stories exert it? Does how women are represented affect their agency?

Writing Women's Worlds: Bedouin Stories. Chapters 1-2.

EXAM: IN-CLASS MIDTERM (FIRST 45 MINUTES OF CLASS)

Th Jan 25: Culture and Agency (cont.)
Q: When and how does gender change?

Writing Women's Worlds: Bedouin Stories. Chapters 3-4.

DUE: CLASS FACILITATION II

Group 1 - Aleksandra Weil (alek), Eloïse Govedare (eloiseg), Hazelruth Adams (adamsh)

Group 2 - Molly Matthews (mollym3), Shayla Miles (shayshay), Yuki Ohashi (yuki6), Jesika Kiesel (kiesel)

PART III: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Feminism

T Jan 30: Critiquing "Save the Women" Discourse
Q: What do neat cultural icons used to represent "other" women repress? What are the implications of such icons for transnational feminist praxis?

Writing Women's Worlds: Bedouin Stories. Chapter 5.

Lila Abu-Lughod. "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others." American Anthropologist 104(3): 783-790. R

DUE: CLASS FACILITATION II

Group 3 - Erin Vaughn (emvaughn), Maddy Shaw(mcs6), Crystal Goodman (goodmc), Katie Maher (maherk)

HANDOUTS: READING QUESTIONS FOR EPOST ASSIGNMENT & WEBSITE ANALYSIS GUIDE

Th Feb 1: **Website Research Workshop**
Cass Hartnett (Women Studies Librarian) and Dave Maack (International Documents Librarian) will hold a special workshop on website research skills on this day from 1:30-3:00 in the GovPubs Instruction Lab (Ground Floor Suzzallo Library). Please go directly there for class on Thursday, February 1.

Colonialism and Gender
Tsitsi Dangaremba, Nervous Conditions. Chapters 1-3.

DUE: EPOST ASSIGNMENT BY MIDNIGHT

T Feb 6: Colonialism and Gender
Q: What are the "nervous conditions" of colonialism? How does colonialism affect gender relations?

Tsitsi Dangaremba, Nervous Conditions. Chapters 4-6.

DUE: CLASS FACILITATION III

Group 1 - Sarah Gombos (sarjeany), Stina Pederson (wwcpd), Stephanie Doyel (stephd2), Erica Turner (ejturner)

Th Feb 8 : Colonialism and Gender (cont.)
Q: What is liberation? Liberation from what? Liberation for men and women?

Tsitsi Dangaremba, Nervous Conditions. Chapters 7-10.

DUE: CLASS FACILITATION III

Groups 2 - Lauren Anderson (laurena), Audrey Batchelder (baddie13), Lindsey Bull (bulll), Catherine Quinn (cquinn83)

Group 3 - Siri Linz (linzs), Lindsey Parker (parker00), Lindsey Brockish (lindsb6)

T Feb 13: Women and National Liberation
Q: What are the tensions between gender and national liberation?

Cynthia Enloe. "Nationalism and Masculinity," in Banana, Beaches, and Bases.

FILM: Ingrid Sinclair. 1996. Flame. (90 min.)

PART IV: Gendered Subjects

Th Feb 15: Producing Gender--Modernity & Labor Politics
Q: What is modernity? What are "other modernities"? How are gender categories (and gendered yearnings) produced through various narratives of modernity? Through various labor relations?

Lisa Rofel. Other Modernities: Gendered Yearnings in China after Socialism. Preface & Introduction.

DUE: WEBSITE ANALYSIS PAPER

T Feb 20: Producing Gender--Liberation Cohort
Q: What does labor represent for the women of this cohort? What is the importance to their identity as women of speaking or narrating the past?

Other Modernities. Part I: Chapter 1-3.

DUE: CLASS FACILITATION IV

Group 1 - Andie Erhart (erhart06), Aimee Fitzgerald (afitz4), Mina O'Brien (minao2), Jen Iovanne (jen.iovanne@gmail.com)

Th Feb 22: Producing Gender--Cultural Revolution Cohort
Q: How do different cohorts (or generations) of women interpret their form of marginalization or oppression? With what types of politics do their interpretations intersect?

Other Modernities. Part II: Interlude & Chapters 4-6.

DUE: CLASS FACILITATION IV

Group 2 - Mandy Carson (acarson), Sam Karrell (sbkarell@yahoo.com), Laura Shaw (lhs), Stephanie Wade (stephyw)

T Feb 27: Producing Gender--Postsocialist Cohort
Q: What are allegories of postsocialism? Of modernity? How do they shape gendered expressions of femininity and masculinity?

Other Modernities. Part III: Chapters 7-8 & Coda.

DUE: CLASS FACILITATION IV

Group 3 - Sarra Yamin (syamin), Nora Velazco (norav), Emily Scannell (escannel)

PART V: Feminist Connections & Possibilities

Th Mar 1: Reproducing Gender--Body & Labor Politics
Q: How are gendered (classed & raced) bodies constructed, performed, disciplined?

Cynthia Enloe. "Carmen Miranda on my Mind: International Politics of the Banana" & "Blue Jeans and Bankers," in Banana, Beaches, and Bases.

T Mar 6: The Labor of Love and Family
Q: How do transnational political economics shape aspects of our lives as intimate as family and love? How do we make feminist sense of these intimate economies?

Cynthia Enloe, "‘Just Like One of the Family': Domestic Servants in World Politics," in Banana, Beaches, and Bases.

Rhacel Salazar Parreñas. "Transgressing the Nation-State: The Partial Citizenship and ‘Imagined (Global) Community' of Migrant Filipina Domestic Workers." R

FILM: Marije Meerman. 2001. Chain of Love. (50 min.)

Th Mar 8: Conclusion--Feminist Bridgings
Q: What are dilemmas, possibilities, and strategies of feminism in an international arena, or of feminism as a transnational practice?

Cynthia Enloe, "Conclusion: The Personal Is International," in Banana, Beaches, and Bases.

Inderpal Grewal. "On the New Global Feminism and the Family of Nations: Dilemmas of Transnational Feminist Practice," in Talking Visions. R

Chandra Talpade Mohanty. "Sisterhood, Coalition, and the Politics of Experience," in Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. R

HANDOUT: FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS

T Mar 13: Finals Week

DUE: FINAL EXAM by 4:30 p.m. to the Women Studies main office (Padelford B110)

Midterm Postponed by one class meeting to T 1/23.

Check to see who is in your class facilitation group by scrolling through the schedule. If you have not signed up yet, please see me at the beginning of our next class.

Th Feb 1: Website Research Workshop Confirmed
Please note special location for this class meeting!
Cass Hartnett (Women Studies Librarian) and Dave Maack (International Documents Librarian) will hold a special workshop on website research skills on this day, 1:30-3:00 in the Suzzallo Library Instruction Lab, Room 102.

DIRECTIONS TO SUZZALLO 102

If you enter Suzzallo Library from Red Square, the room is immediately to your left as you enter. The lab is through a door at the far back of this large room (the Exhibit/Donor Hall).

If you enter from the Allen/HUB lawn side: enter the lobby and go upstairs to the 1st Floor. Walk down the hallway heading towards the Red Square exit; room is to your right just before the exit. The lab is through a door at the far back of this large room (the Exhibit/Donor Hall). [Suzzallo-First Floor Map]