988:201:01
Fall 2011
Professor Hawkesworth
Voorhees Chapel, 9A
mhawkes@rci.rutgers.edu
Office Hours: Wednesdays 9-12
Feminist Practices
Syllabus
The 2011 “Slutwalk” in major cities around the world, the creation of a thrift shop in the poorest
neighborhood in Hong Kong, activism against biopiracy, the rural reconstruction movement, the slow
food movement, the creation of gender quotas for public office in more than 100 nations, a demand for
inclusion at the World Social Forum, the prison abolition movement, the annual 16 Days Campaign
against Violence Against Women, Riot Grrrls, the creation of women’s police stations in Brazil, Code
Pink, Women in Black, Take-Back-the-Night rallies, the mobilization to preserve Douglass College,
transnational campaigns against femicide in Central America, the global campaign for sexual democracy,
Sister Namibia’s campaign against political homophobia, the three-year GEAR campaign to establish UN
Women, V-Day performances of Vagina Monologues, DIY ‘zines, the Women’s Caucus for Gender
Justice at the International Criminal Court….all examples of recent and continuing feminist practices.
What do these practices have in common? What exactly makes them “feminist?” What is their relation
to Women’s and Gender Studies or to knowledge production more generally? This course is designed to
explore such questions.
Feminism is a vibrant tradition that has contributed to intellectual ferment, cultural enrichment,
and social transformation in all regions of the world for at least five centuries. Feminism is also a highly
contested term—meaning very different things to those who caricature and repudiate it and to those who
embrace the label. Some define feminism as a network of practices designed to eliminate women’s
economic, political, and social subordination. But many men and women endorse those goals while
rejecting the feminist label. How do women and men who identify as feminist differ from those who do
not? What is at stake in claiming the feminist label?
Feminist practices involve social change projects inside and beyond the academy. Whether
within the university or in larger national and global contexts, feminist projects entail challenging
established relations of power (critique), envisioning alternative possibilities (theory), and activism to
change social relations. Women’s and Gender Studies is often called the “academic arm” of feminism for
it challenges what is believed to be “known” about women (and men), demonstrating that established
“knowledge” is often shaped by research that takes men’s lives as the unquestioned standard, omitting or
distorting women’s experiences. As an interdisciplinary field, Women’s and Gender Studies seeks to
correct distortions created when women are omitted from the study of the world. Taking diverse forms of
feminist practice as its focal point, the course investigates how to study the complexity of women’s and
men’s lives in ways that take race, gender-power, ethnicity, class, and nationality seriously. The course
will also show how such feminist knowledge production challenges long-established beliefs about the
world.
Learning Goals
This course strives to enable students to develop their talents in oral and written communication and in
critical analysis of words and the world. Toward that end, student presentations in class and written
assignments are designed to achieve the following learning goals.
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Enable students to identify, analyze, and critique social, political, and economic hierarchies
grounded in race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and nationality.
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Encourage students to interrogate cultural stereotypes and naturalizations of socially-created
differences.
Attune students to complexity and variety of women’s and men’s lives and livelihoods around the
globe.
Cultivate students’ ability to analyze power dynamics from the micro-level to the macro-level.
Sensitize students to the politics of issue framing.
Foster strong written and oral communication skills.
Develop students’ capacities to undertake innovative research and knowledge production.
Empower students to devise creative strategies to promote social change.
Teach students to collaborate across differences with others in course work, co-curricular
activities, and in life.
Course Requirements
The quality of any course is a direct result of the level of preparation and degree of participation
of class members. In this course, each student will be expected to:
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4)
complete all reading assignments by the dates specified on the course calendar;
use this reading as the basis for informed class participation;
complete three writing assignments, and
make two class presentations based on their writing assignments that help shape discussion of
reading assignments.
Writing Assignments
The writing assignments are designed to assist students in developing their analytical and critical
skills. Toward that end, students will draw upon readings from the course and independent research to
analyze particular feminist practices. The topic for the first assignment focuses on gendered labor and the
commercialization of women’s sexuality and reproductive capabilities. Students may choose the topics
for their second and third papers from the following course themes: love and marriage in the 21st Century;
violence against women; varieties of feminist activism, or women’s leadership and governance.
Assignment 1: The first topic explored in detail in this course involves women’s labor in
different regions of the world and the commercialization of women’s bodies. Drawing upon course
readings and at least three additional scholarly sources (book chapters or academic journals), each student
should write a paper that addresses the following questions: How is labor in the contemporary world
raced and gendered? (Be sure to give specific examples.) Are there dimensions of labor exploitation
unique to women? (Again, be sure to give specific examples.) What feminist practices have been
developed to address gendered divisions of labor and the exploitation of women’s bodies? What
obstacles have they encountered? What outcomes have they produced? The paper should be 5-8 typed,
double-spaced pages. The deadline for the first assignment is Wednesday, October 5.
Assignments 2 and 3: The second and third paper assignments are similar to the first, but each
student is free to pick themes from the course on which to write. The options include love and marriage,
violence against women, feminist activism, or women’s leadership. We will talk in class about how to
frame questions to structure your papers. Again the task is to use course readings as well as at least three
additional scholarly sources to help you to analyze the issue. Each paper should be 5-8 typed, doublespaced pages. The deadline for each of these writing assignments coincides with the day the class
discusses the topic. Students will share their research findings with the class. Once each student has
decided on the topics for papers 2 and 3, we will develop a class schedule of presentations. If you would
like guidance in choosing a topic or in finding research resources, please feel free to stop by my office to
discuss the possibilities.
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Grading Policy
In calculating grades for the course, student performance will be assessed according to the
following weighting scheme:
Class participation and reading quizzes
20%
3 Writing Assignments
60%
Class Presentations
20%
Required Readings
Reading assignments for the course are drawn from leading feminist journals such as Signs:
Journal of Women in Culture and Society, which are available in hard copy and online (at no charge)
through Rutgers University Libraries.
Electronic Access:
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/
Log-in using your Rutgers net ID if you are using a computer off campus.
Iris Quick Search
Type in: Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
In second field, click on: Periodical Title begins with
Click: Search
Select: Signs online
Highlight journal volume and issue [for example, 35 (3) for the first assignment]
Download the article (e.g., Wayne A.Wiegand and SarahWadsworth, “By Invitation Only: The American
Library Association and the Woman’s Building Library of the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago,
1893,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 35(3): 699-722
Missed Classes
Students are expected to attend all classes; if you expect to miss one or two classes, please use the
University absence reporting website https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/ to indicate the date and reason for your
absence. An email is automatically sent to me. In cases of serious illness, we can make arrangement for
late submission of course assignments.
Course Calendar
Sept. 7
Feminist Knowledge Practices: The World According to Women
Sept. 8
Which Women? Which Practices? Challenging the Boundaries of Feminist Knowledge
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Madeline Anderson’s I Am Somebody
Sept. 12
Locating Knowledge in Time and Space
Reading: Wayne A.Wiegand and SarahWadsworth, “By Invitation Only: The American Library
Association and the Woman’s Building Library of the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago,
1893,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 35(3): 699-722 [Spring 2010].
Women’s Labor and the Politics of Race, Class, and Ethnicity
Sept 14
Reading: Marina de Regt, “ Preferences and Prejudices: Employers’ Views on Domestic Workers
in the Republic of Yemen,” Signs 34(3): 559-582 [Spring 2009].
Women’s Labor and the Politics of Race, Class, and Ethnicity
Sept 19
Reading: John R. Bowman and Alyson M. Cole, “Do Working Mothers Oppress Other Women?
The Swedish ‘Maid Debate’ and the Welfare State Politics of Gender Equality,” Signs: 35(1):
157-184 [Fall 2009].
Sept. 21
Women’s Labor and the Politics of Race, Class, and Ethnicity
Reading: Comparative Perspectives Symposium on Women's Labor Activism, Signs 33(3)
[Spring 2008]: Piya Chatterjee, “Hungering for Power: Borders and Contradictions in Indian Tea
Plantation Women’s Organizing,” pp. 497-505; Josefa (Gigi) Francisco and Gina dela Cruz,
“Interventions from the Philippines,” pp. 505-510; Michele Ford, “Women’s Labor Activism in
Indonesia,” pp. 510-515; Tong Xin, “Women’s Labor Activism in China,” pp. 515-519; Masako
Yuki, “The Women’s Movement within Trade Unions in Germany,” pp. 519-527; Richard
Sullivan and Kimi Lee, “Organizing Immigrant Women in America’s Sweatshops: Lessons from
the Los Angeles Garment Worker Center,” pp 527-532; Monisha Das Gupta, “Housework,
Feminism, and Labor Activism: Lessons from Domestic Workers in New York,” pp. 533-537.
Sept. 26
Commercializing Women’s Sexuality and Reproduction
Reading: Sheila Jeffreys, “Keeping Women Down and Out: The Strip Club Boom and the
Reinforcement of Male Dominance,” Signs 34(1): 151-174 [Fall 2008].
Sept. 28
Commercializing Women’s Sexuality and Reproduction
Reading: Lisa C. Ikemoto, “Eggs as Capital: Human Egg Procurement in the Fertility Industry
and the Stem Cell Research Enterprise,” Signs 34(4): 763-782 [Summer 2009].
Oct. 3
Commercializing Women’s Sexuality and Reproduction
Reading: Amrita Pande, “Commercial Surrogacy in India: Manufacturing a Perfect
Mother‐Worker,” Signs 35(4): 969-992 [Summer 2010].
Oct. 5
Love and Marriage in the 21st Century
Reading: Meena Khandelwal, “Arranging Love: Interrogating the Vantage Point in Cross‐Border
Feminism,” Signs 34(3): 583-610 [Spring 2009].
First writing assignment due at the beginning of class.
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Oct. 10
Love and Marriage in the 21st Century
Reading: Pei‐Chia Lan, “Migrant Women’s Bodies as Boundary Markers: Reproductive Crisis
and Sexual Control in the Ethnic Frontiers of Taiwan,” Signs 33(4): 833-862 [Summer 2008].
Oct. 12
Love and Marriage in the 21st Century
Reading: Juliet A. Williams, “Unholy Matrimony? Feminism, Orientalism, and the Possibility of
Double Critique,” Signs 34(3): 611-632 [Spring 2009].
Oct 17
Love and Marriage in the 21st Century
Reading: Lois Harder, “The State and the Friendships of the Nation: The Case of Nonconjugal
Relationships in the United States and Canada,” Signs 34(3): 633-658 [Spring 2009].
Oct. 19
Love and Marriage in the 21st Century
Reading: Natalie Oswin, “Producing Homonormativity in Neoliberal South Africa: Recognition,
Redistribution, and the Equality Project,” Signs 32(3): 649-670 [Spring 2007].
Oct. 21
Violence Against Women
Reading: Rosemary Marangoly George, “(Extra)Ordinary Violence: National Literatures,
Diasporic Aesthetics, and the Politics of Gender in South Asian Partition Fiction,” Signs 33(1):
135-158 [Fall 2007].
Oct. 24
Violence Against Women
Reading: Myriam Denov and Christine Gervais, “Negotiating (In)Security: Agency, Resistance,
and Resourcefulness among Girls Formerly Associated with Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United
Front,” Signs 32(4):885-910 [Summer 2007].
Oct. 26
Violence Against Women
Reading: Cawo Mohamed Abdi, “Convergence of Civil War and the Religious Right:
Reimagining Somali Women,” Signs 33(1): 183-208 [Fall 2007].
Oct. 31
Violence Against Women
Reading: Melissa Wright, “Necropolitics, Narcopolitics, and Femicide: Gendered Violence on
the Mexico-U.S. Border, Signs 36(3): 707-732 [Spring 2011].
Nov. 2
Varieties of Feminist Activism
Reading: 727 Christine M. Cooper, “Worrying about Vaginas: Feminism and Eve Ensler’s The
Vagina Monologues,” Signs: 32(3): 727-758 [Spring 2007].
Nov. 7
Varieties of Feminist Activism
Reading: Laura Mamo and Jennifer Ruth Fosket, “Scripting the Body: Pharmaceuticals and the
(Re)Making of Menstruation,” Signs 34(4): 925-950 [Summer 2009].
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Nov. 9
Varieties of Feminist Activism
Reading: Carrie Lambert Beatty, “Twelve Miles: Boundaries of the New Art/Activism,” Signs
33(2): 309-328 [Winter 2008].
Nov. 14
Varieties of Feminist Activism
Reading: Hagar Kotef and Merav Amir, “(En)Gendering Checkpoints: Checkpoint Watch and the
Repercussions of Intervention,” Signs 32(4): 973-996 [Summer 2007].
Nov. 16
Varieties of Feminist Activism
Reading Reading: Josée Johnston and Judith Taylor, “Feminist Consumerism and Fat Activists:
A Comparative Study of Grassroots Activism and the Dove Real Beauty Campaign,” Signs 33(4):
941-966 [Summer 2008].
Nov. 21
Varieties of Feminist Activism
Reading Reading: Seema Arora‐Jonsson, “Discordant Connections: Discourses on Gender and
Grassroots Activism in Two Forest Communities in India and Sweden,” Signs: 35(1):213- [Fall
2009].
Nov. 23 Thanksgiving Break
Nov. 28
Women’s Leadership and Governance
Reading: Susan Carroll, “Reflections on Gender and Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign: The
Good, the Bad, and the Misogynic,” Politics & Gender 5(1): 1-20 [2009]; Victor Garcia, “Silvia
Tlaseca and the Kaolin Mushroom Workers Union: Women’s Leadership in the Mexican
Diaspora,” Signs 34(1):42-48 [Fall 2008].
Nov. 30
Women’s Leadership and Governance
Reading: Monique Leyenaar, “Challenges to Women’s Political Representation in Europe,”
Signs 34(1): 1-8 [Fall 2008]; Gunnel Gustafsson and Kerstin Kolam, “Political Women’s
Leadership in Sweden: Developments and Challenges,” Signs 34(1):27-32 [Fall 2008].
Dec. 5
Women’s Leadership and Governance
Reading: Najma Chowdhury, “Lessons on Women’s Political Leadership from Bangladesh,”
Signs 34(1): 8-16 [Fall 2008]; Truong Thi Thuy Hang, “Women’s Leadership in Vietnam:
Opportunities and Challenges,” Signs 34(1): 16-21 [Fall 2008].
Dec. 7
Women’s Leadership and Governance
Reading: 21 Amanda Gouws, “Obstacles for Women in Leadership Positions: The Case of South
Africa,” Signs 34(1): 21-27 [Fall 2008]; Marian Simms, “Women’s Politics and Leadership in
Australia and New Zealand,” Signs 34(1): 32-37 [Fall 2008]; Laura Gonzalez and Jane Bayes,
“New Transnational Opportunities and Challenges for Women’s Leadership: The Consejo
Consultivo del Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (CC‐IME),” Signs 34(1):37-42 [Fall
2008].
Dec. 12
Feminist Knowledge: Recapping the Issues
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