Political Science 590-01
Professor Hawkesworth
Office Hours: Mon. 3 – 4:30
(and by appointment)
3rd floor, Eagleton Institute
932-9384, ext. 223
Gender and Political Theory
This course will explore how gender is used by feminist theorists as an analytical
category both to re-read and critique the Western canon in political philosophy and to
develop new substantive political theories. It will begin with a discussion of the
complexities of efforts to use gender as an analytic category that encompasses sex,
sexuality, sexual identification, gender roles, gender stereotypes, gender consciousness,
gender identification, gender symbolism, reifications of difference, modes of social
organization, and power distributions. Then the course will proceed by examining some
of the earliest efforts of feminist theorists to unmask androcentrism in philosophical
works. The second half of the course will take up more recent feminist efforts to theorize
political works and political life. At the end of the term, we will consider arguments
raised by postcolonial and postmodern thinkers that political theory is an inherently
hegemonic project incompatible with global feminist principles.
Course Requirements
The quality of any seminar is a direct result of the level of preparation and degree of
participation of class members. In this seminar, each student will be expected to:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
complete all reading assignments by the dates specified below;
use the reading as the basis for informed class participation;
write and present one seminar paper;
complete a semester research paper;
complete a final exam.
The Seminar Paper
One objective of the course is to help students develop their analytical abilities. The
seminar paper is a means to this end. A good seminar paper involves exposition, analysis, and
critique of a central theme in the assigned reading. A great seminar paper adds to the exposition,
analysis, and critique, a consideration of the author’s likely response to the critique and a
rejoinder that demonstrates the validity of the original criticism despite the author’s predicted
objections.
Each student will be expected to write one seminar paper (10-12 pages) and to present
and defend it in class. Students must commit to a seminar topic during the second week of class.
The seminar paper is due on the day that the class discusses the topic that the student has chosen.
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The Research Paper
Feminist political theory is a burgeoning field, which challenges us to reassess much that
has been taken for granted in traditional political theory. The purpose of the research paper is to
encourage each student to investigate a topic of interest, explore gendered presuppositions that
inform political theorists’ treatment of the topic, thereby making an original contribution to the
field of feminist political theory. Each student should discuss his/her chosen topic with me prior
to spring break.
Grading
In calculating grades for the course, student performance will be assessed according to
the following weighting scheme:
Class participation
Seminar paper and presentation
Research paper
Final Exam
15%
25%
35%
25%
Required Reading
The following works are required reading for the course. The books are available at the
Douglass College Bookstore.
Jean B. Elshtain, Public Man, Private Woman
Wendy Brown, Manhood and Politics
Christine Di Stefano, Configurations of Masculinity
Linda Zerilli, Signifying Woman
Iris Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference
Andrea Nye, Philosophia
Bonnie Honig, Political Theory and the Displacement of Politics
Jana Sawicki, Disciplining Foucault: Feminism, Power, and the Body
Timothy Kaufman-Osborn, Creatures of Prometheus: Gender and the Politics of Technology
Jacqui Stevens, Reproducing the State
Patricia Hill Collins, Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice
Mary E. John, Discrepant Locations: Feminism, Theory and Postcolonial Histories
Semester Calendar
January 16
Is Political Theory Gendered?
January 23
On the Use of Gender as an Analytical Category
Joan Scott, “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis,” The American
Historical Review 91(5):1053-1074
Sandra Harding, “Gender: Individual, Structural, Symbolic—and Always Asymmetric”
in The Science Question in Feminism, pp. 52-57.
Donna Haraway, “‘Gender’ for a Marxist Dictionary: The Sexual Politics of a Word,” in
Simians, Cyborgs, and Women, pp. 127-148.
Mary Hawkesworth, “Confounding Gender,” Signs 22(3): 649-685.
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I.
Critiques of the Canon
January 30
Jean Elshtain, Public Man, Private Woman
February 6
Wendy Brown, Manhood and Politics
February 13
Christine Di Stefano, Configurations of Masculinity
February 20
Linda Zerilli, Signifying Woman
II.
Revisioning the Political
February 27
Iris Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference
March 6
Andrea Nye, Philosophia
March 13
Spring Break
March 20
Bonnie Honig, Political Theory and the Displacement of Politics
March 27
Jana Sawicki, Disciplining Foucault: Feminism, Power, and the Body
April 3
Timothy Kaufman-Osborn, Creatures of Prometheus: Gender and the Politics of
Technology
April 10
Jacqui Stevens, Reproducing the State
April 17
Patricia Hill Collins, Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice
III.
April 24
Can the Project be Sustained?: Postmodern Challenges
Mary E. John, Discrepant Locations: Feminism, Theory and Postcolonial Histories
Suggestions for further reading:
Ackerly, Brooke A. 2000. Political theory and feminist social criticism. Cambridge, U.K.; New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Ahmed, Sara. 1998. Differences that matter : feminist theory and postmodernism. Cambridge, UK; New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Allen, Amy. 1999. The power of feminist theory: domination, resistance, solidarity. Boulder, Colo.;
Oxford: Westview Press.
Bar-on, Bat-Ami. 1994. Engendering origins : critical feminist readings in Plato and Aristotle. Albany:
State University of New York Press.
Bar-on, Bat-Ami. 1994. Modern engendering : critical feminist readings in modern Western philosophy.
Albany : State University of New York Press.
Barrett, Michelle and Anne Phillips. (eds.) 1992. Destabilizing theory : contemporary feminist debates.
Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press.
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Barrett, Michelle. 1980. Women’s Oppression Today: Problems in Marxist Feminist Analysis. London:
Verso.
Beauvoir, Simone de. 1961. The Second Sex. New York:Bantom Books.
Bergoffen, Debra B. 1997. The philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir : gendered phenomenologies, erotic
generosities. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Bianchi, Emanuela. 1999. Is feminist philosophy philosophy? Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University
Press.
Bordo, Susan. 1999. Feminist interpretations of René Descartes. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State
University Press.
Braidotti, Rosi. 1991. Patterns of dissonance : a study of women in contemporary philosophy. New York :
Routledge.
Brown, Wendy. 1995. States of Injury : power and freedom in late modernity. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton
University Press.
Buker, Eloise. 1999. Talking feminist politics : conversations on law, science, and the postmodern.
Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Burke, Carolyn. Naomi Schor, and Margaret Whitford 1994. Engaging with Irigaray : feminist philosophy
and modern European thought. New York : Columbia University Press.
Butler, Judith and Joan Scott. (eds.) 1992. Feminists theorize the political. New York : Routledge, 1992.
Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble. New York: Routledge.
Butler, Judith. 1993. Bodies that Matter. New York:Routledge.
Connell, Robert. 1987. Gender and Power. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Cornell, Drucilla. 1998. At the Heart of Freedom. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Cornell, Drucilla. 1995. The Imaginary Domain: Abortion, Pornography, and Sexual Harassment. New
York: Routledge.
Cornell, Drucilla. 1991. Beyond Accommodation: Ethical Feminism, Deconstruction, and the Law. New
York: Routledge.
Dean, Jodi. 1996. Solidarity of strangers : feminism after identity politics. Berkeley : University of
California Press.
Dean, Jodi. (ed.). 1997. Feminism and the new democracy: re-siting the political. London; Thousand
Oaks, Calif.: Sage.
Delphy, Christine. 1984. Close to Home: A Materialist Analysis of Women’s Oppression. Amherst.:
University of Massachusetts Press.
Deutscher, Penelope. 1997. Yielding gender: feminism, deconstruction, and the history of philosophy.
London; New York: Routledge.
Disch, Lisa Jane. 1994. Hannah Arendt and the limits of philosophy. Ithaca : Cornell University Press.
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Di Stefano, Christine and Nancy Hirschman. 1996. Revisioning the political : feminist reconstructions of
traditional concepts in western political theory. Boulder, CO : Westview Press.
Donovan, Josephine. Feminist theory : the intellectual traditions. 3rd Ed. New York: Continuum.
Eisenstein, Zillah. 1979. Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism. New York: Monthly
Review Press.
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University Press.
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question of woman. New York : Routledge.
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of California Press.
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Press of New England.
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West. Berkeley : University of California Press.
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University Press.
Gatens, Moira. 1996. Imaginary bodies : ethics, power, and corporeality. London; New York: Routledge.
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Hartsock, Nancy. 1984. Money, Sex, and Power. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
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Continuum.
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