Sonia Kruks
Office: Rice 228
Phone: 775-8487 or 8496
Meets: Wed. 2.30-4.30 Wilder 211


SEMINAR ON CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST THEORY
This seminar introduces students to a set of interconnected debates in recent feminist theory. It does not offer a systematic or comprehensive survey of feminist theory, but should give you a general sense of the field and of some of its main questions and problematics.

Issues to be addressed include: [1] whether there is a relationship between sex (or biology) and gender (social identity); [2] whether all women share certain experiences or oppressions in common, or whether their differences are so great that we cannot talk of "women" as a social category; [3] whether women have particular kinds of knowledge of their own and, if so, whether forms of objective knowledge are still possible; [4] whether feminism, as a form of politics, still makes sense today. Although these questions can be posed separately, in practice they will often become blurred and entangled as we attempt to investigate them.

The course will begin with a reading of selections from Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949), since this still remains the classic starting point for modern feminist theory. Thereafter, readings for the course will be organized thematically around the above questions. However, they have also been selected to offer a historical span, so that you can see how the formulation of issues has shifted from the early "second wave" to the present.

REQUIRED READING
Most of the readings for this class are available in a photo-copied packet, which you are expected to buy from the instructor.

In addition, you should buy a copy of Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, available at the Coop.

REQUIREMENTS
Class participation and short discussion papers

The seminar will be run on a workshop model, mostly through student-led discussion. This means that is essential that you attend all sessions, are well prepared, and participate actively in discussion. Full attendance is required and any absences (e.g. for medical reasons) must be excused ahead of time (you can contact me by phone (X8487), campus mail, or in person). Each week two or more students will be asked to serve as discussion leaders. They will each be required to write a two-three page "discussion paper" about all or part of the week's assignment, and to copy and circulate it to all members of the seminar by noon on the Monday before the session. Other members of the seminar should carefully consider these papers and the questions they raise, as well as doing the assigned reading for the session. They should bring short written responses to the discussion papers to class each week. Discussion papers should not summarize the reading -- everyone will have read it! Instead they should record your reactions to it, briefly setting out what you take to be important, interesting, provocative, or mistaken, in what you have read -- and why. At the end of the discussion paper you must formulate between two and four questions that you think the seminar should address. You should be prepared to initiate and lead the discussion of these questions in class. You will be expected to write and present up to three discussion papers in the course of the semester.

Final paper
Requirements for this seminar also include writing an extended paper (not less than 15 or more than 25 pages) on a topic of your own choice. This paper should grow out of, but need not be limited to, the issues and materials studied in class. A title and abstract for the paper, indicating what material it will cover and what it will argue, must be handed in no later than Wednesday, April 8.
The last few sessions of the seminar will be devoted to presentations of "work in progress" reports. These reports should be between 3 and 5 pages in length. They must be copied and circulated to other members of the seminar by noon on the Monday prior to the session where they are to be presented.
Your report should present a synopsis of what you expect your final paper to argue and to indicate the main materials it will draw on. It should also indicate any problems or issues about which you would like feed-back from the seminar: the aim is to share projects and assist each other with them, not to present highly polished or finished work.
Other members of the seminar are responsible for thinking carefully about each report, and should come to class with written comments (two copies, typed) on the report to share with the seminar and give the author and instructor.

Final papers will be due on Tuesday May 12, by 4.30 p.m., Rice 228.

Grading
The final grade for the course will be determined as follows:
(1) Attendance and participation (including quality of "discussion papers," "work in progress" report, and written responses to work of other seminar members; general level of preparation; and quality of contribution to discussion): 40%
(2) Final paper: 60%

SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND REQUIRED READING ASSIGNMENTS

Feb 4  Aims and scope of the class; class requirements
           Background for reading Beauvoir

Feb 11 Simone de Beauvoir: "One is not born a woman, one becomes one": how is gender created? Is gender linked to sex? The Second Sex, Introduction and Introduction to Book II (pp. ix-xxxvi); Chs. I - III (pp. 3-60); Ch. XI (pp. 253-263); Ch. XII, first 5 pages (pp. 267-271 bottom); Ch. XXI (pp. 597-628); Ch. XXV and Conclusion (pp. 679-732). (Note: this is the minimum assignment; read more of Book Two if possible).

Feb 18 Complicating Beauvoir; destabilizing "woman" Elizabeth Spelman, "Simone de Beauvoir and Women: Just Who Does She think 'We' Is?" chapter 3 of Inessential Woman.
Monique Wittig, "One is Not Born a Woman," in L.Nicholson (ed.), The Second Wave
Judith Butler, "Variations on Sex and Gender. Beauvoir, Wittig and Foucault," in S.Benhabib and D.Cornell (eds.), Feminism as Critique

Feb 25 The question of differences: do "women" have anything in common?
Combahee River Collective, "The Combahee River Collective Statement" and Bernice J. Reagon, "Coalition Politics: Turning the Century," in B. Smith (ed.)Home Girls
Audre Lorde, "Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference," in Sister Outsider
Chandra Mohanty, "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and ColonialDiscourses," in Mohanty et al. (eds.), Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism
Chela Sandoval, "U.S. Third World Feminism," Genders, No.10, Spring 1991
Ien Ang, "I'm a feminist but . . .'Other' women and postnational feminism," In B.Caine and R.Pringle (eds.), Transitions: New Australian Feminisms

Mar 4 Destabilizing "sex" as well as "gender"? Foucault andfeminism
Biddy Martin, "Feminism, Criticism, and Foucault," in I.Diamond and L. Quinby (eds.), Feminism and Foucault
Sandra Bartky, "Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power," also in Feminism and Foucault
Judith Butler, selection form Gender Trouble, in D. Meyers (ed.) Feminist Social Thought
Judith Butler, "Imitation and Gender Insubordination," in L.Nicholson (ed.) The Second Wave

Mar 11 But maybe gender does have something to do with sexed bodies?
Shulamith Firestone, selections from The Dialectic of Sex
Jean Elshtain, "Against Androgyny," in A. Phillips (ed.), Feminism and Equality
Luce Irigaray, "This Sex which Is Not One," and "When Our Lips Speak Together," in This Sex Which Is Not One
Iris Young, "Breasted Experience," in Throwing Like aGirl and Other Essays

Mar 18 Questions of knowledge: feminist standpoint and women's experience(s)
Nancy Hartsock, "The Feminist Standpoint," in S.Harding (ed.) Feminism and Methodology
Patricia Hill Collins, "The Social Construction of Black Feminist Thought," Signs, Vol. 14, 1989
Sara Ruddick, selections from Maternal Thinking
Gloria Anzaldúa, selections from Borderlands/La Frontera

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Apr 1 Complicating theories of standpoint and experience
Chandra Mohanty, "Feminist Encounters: Locating the Politics of Experience," in M.Barrett and A. Phillips (eds.), Destabilizing Theory: Contemporary Feminist Debates
Sandra Harding, "Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology: 'What Is Strong Objectivity'?" in L.M.Alcoff and E.Potter (eds.) Feminist Epistemologies
Joan Scott,"'Experience'," in J.Butler and J.Scott (eds.), Feminists Theorize the Political
Linda Martín Alcoff, "The Politics of Postmodern Feminism, Revisited," Cultural Critique, Spring1997

Apr 8 Where do we go from here? Is a politics of feminist solidarity possible? María Lugones, "Playfulness, 'World'-Travelling, and Loving Perception," in D.Meyers (ed.) Feminist Social Thought
Shane Phelan, selections from Getting Specific. Postmodern Lesbian Politics
Linda Martín Alcoff, "The Problem of Speaking for Others," in L.A.Bell and D.Blumenfeld (eds.) Overcoming Racism and Sexism

N.B. TITLES AND ABSTRACTS FOR FINAL PAPERS ARE DUE

Apr 15 Review and assessment session; no assigned reading
Gather your thoughts together on the main issues we have been examining

Apr 22 "Work in progress" reports and discussions

Apr 29 "Work in progress" reports and discussions

May 6: "Work in progress" reports and discussions

May 12 FINAL PAPERS DUE BY 4.30 P.M. -- RICE 228