Feminist Theory Professor Janet Jacobs
Sociology 50206 WS Cottage 200 ext 2-3202
Tuesday 7:00-10:00 Office Hours: T 2:00-3:15
And by appointment
Course Description
This course is designed to explore the emergence and expression of diverse feminist theories. Beginning with the foundational work of Engels in the nineteenth century, the course will examine the evolution of feminist thought from the 1960s to the more contemporary post colonial perspectives of the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries. The goal of the class will be to interrogate the ideas and suppositions of feminist ideologies and to examine the relationship between social and historical forces in the construction of theories of gender, race and sexuality. Throughout the semester, we will consider how various and diverse theoretical frameworks explain the social relations of power and the political and psychological implications of gender and race subordination.
Required Texts
Daly, The Church and the Second Sex
Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
Gilman, Difference and Pathology
Hill Collins, Black Sexual Politics
hooks, Ain’t I A Woman
Memmi, The Colonizer and the Colonized
Mohanty, Feminism Without Borders
Nicholson, The SecondWave
Salih and Butler, The Judith Butler Reader
Schedule of Topics and Assigned Readings
I Historical Materialism and the Nineteenth Century Origins of Feminist Theory
January 17 Introduction
January 24 Engels, 7-66; 69-146; 251-264
II Mid-Twentieth Century Feminisms: Marxism and Sexual Politics
January 31 Nicholson
DeBeauvoir, “Intro to the Second Sex”
Firestone, “The Dialectics of Sex”
Rubin, “The Traffic in Women”
Nicholson, “Feminism and Marxism”
February 7 Nicholson
Hartsock, “The Feminist Standpoint”
Hartmann, “The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism”
Barrett, “Capitalism and Women’s Liberation”
Radicalesbians, “Woman Identified Woman”
Wittig, “One is Not Born a Woman”
III Early Writings in Critical Race Theory
February 14
Hooks, Ain’ I A Woman
IV Theories of Religion and Gender Subordination
February 21
Daly The Church and The Sex
February 28
Starhawk, Dreaming the Dark
V The Origins of Post Colonial Theory
March 7
Memmi, The Colonizer and the Colonized
VI Third World Feminisms and Post Colonial Theory
March 14
Mohanty, Parts One and Two
March 21
Mohanty, Part 3; Nicholson, chaps 21 and 23
VII Late Twentieth and Early Twenty-first Century Perspectives on Gender, Sexuality
and Race
April 4
Salih and Butler, Part 1: Chaps. 1, 3-5
April 11
Gilman, pp. 15-162
April 18
Collins, Parts I and II
April 25
Nicholson, chap. 10
Collins, Part III and Afterword
Jacobs, “Reading Auschwitz: Women and Embodied Memory” on reserve
VIII Wrap-up
May 2
Course Requirements
The requirements for this course include class participation, leading class discussion, thought papers and a final research paper. Each student is required to lead one class discussion and all students are expected to participate in class discussions on a regular basis. To facilitate this process, a total of 7 thought papers are due throughout the semester. Six of these may be on any of the weekly readings that the student chooses throughout the semester. The thought paper is due on the day of the reading assignments and may not be turned in after class. The goal of the papers is to ensure that, in addition to the discussion leader, some number of you will have done a close reading of the text for that week. The last thought paper, required of all students, is due on the final day of class and will be used to bring your thoughts and ideas from the semester together. Finally, the bulk of your grade is based on a research paper that should be 12-15 pages in length. The following is the point distribution for the course:
Discussion Leader: 100 points
Thought Papers: 140 points (20 points each)
Class Participation: 60 points
Research Paper: 700 points
Total 1000 points
Research Paper
The majority of your grade is based on a research paper that should address some aspect of feminist theory that is of most interest to you. Students will be required to turn in a paper proposal and a tentative bibliography at various points throughout the semester. Students may also want to schedule at least one appointment with me, either during my office hours or at another time, to discuss their research ideas and or the progress of their paper. The fixed due dates for the proposal, bibliography and research paper are:
Paper proposal: March 7
Tentative Bibliography: April 4
Paper Due: April 27
Guidelines for Leading Class Discussion and Writing Thought Papers
The responsibility of the discussion leader is to guide the students through a discussion of the material assigned for that day. Although it is expected that all students will have read the material prior to class, it might be useful to summarize the main points of the readings as you understand them and to pose questions and ideas to critique, challenge and further interrogate the ideas and theoretical concepts presented in the texts. Similarly, the thought papers, which should be no more than 2 pages in length, should not summarize
the readings but be a response to the theories and ideas that the texts put forward. Your thought paper should address what you think are the most significant and meaningful aspects of the theoretical work and how the scholarship does or does not help us to understand theories of the gender, power, race and sexuality.
I look forward to an exciting and dynamic semester together.