Joshua Miller
Dept. of Political Science
Hamilton Hall, 451 millerjp@email.unc.edu
Tuesdays and Thursdays
12:30pm-1:45pm
Office hours to be announced
Course: http: //sakai.unc.edu/femtheory
Course Description (From the 2012 Undergraduate Bulletin): Introduction to feminist theory and its implications for the study and practice of political theory. Topics include women in feminist critiques of the
Western political tradition, schools of feminist political theory.
Course Goals
This course examines various developments in feminist political thought and its critical contributions to the
Western political tradition from the late 1700s to the present. Tracing modern feminist political thinkers’ work through time will allow students to examine various ebbs and flows, or “waves,” in feminist movements. Students will discover how feminists have sought to define the political by developing arguments that value personal experience, question canonical conceptions of rationality, and erode the boundaries of the public/private distinction as well as the theory/practice dichotomy. In the process, students will examine concepts like justice, equality, nationalism, and citizenship which are central to Western political thought. We will ground these conceptual studies in primary sources that illustrate feminists’ direct influence on the state and public, showing how “the personal is political” for feminist activists making demands on the state. Discussing how each theorist re-imagines political theory this way will require students to articulate their own conceptions of these contested categories. As such, this course not only provides a survey of feminist contributions to political thought but also prepares students for a life of critical engagement with their broader society and its values.
Due to time constraints, this course will heavily emphasize democratic liberal feminism, multicultural feminism, womanism, transnational feminism, and ecofeminism, while touching on radical feminism, difference feminism, socialist feminism, anarchic feminism, and queer theory. A natural end point to the course will be the examination of postcolonial theory and feminism to better understand if and when various schools of feminist theory are relevant outside the Western context.
Participation
Participating in this course begins before the student comes to class. In addition to regular attendance (see description below), students are required to complete weekly reading assignments and take brief quizzes on
Sakai . Reading quizzes are designed to be helpful: the material on the quiz is the especially important information you will need for class discussion. Quizzes will constitute 10% of your final grade.

You must bring texts to class in order to receive full participation credit . In addition to completing the reading, I expect everyone to offer thoughtful contributions to our class discussions. A “thoughtful contribution” can take many forms: asking informed questions; raising problems with the author’s arguments; or drawing connections between the assigned readings and other texts/problems. Classroom contributions will count for 10% of your participation grade.
We will tackle some difficult questions which have perplexed very smart people for a very long time. We will each be offering tentative arguments which stake out positions in controversial debates. As such, I remind everyone that we might emphasize listening over speaking . A single, thoughtful contribution to the discussion is frequently more valuable than a series of careless remarks or reactionary rebuttals, and will be assessed accordingly. Remember that we are interrogating arguments and not people : dismissive or disrespectful comments are not welcome here.
Required Texts
Click here for full citation information
1.
Reader: Feminism and Philosophy: Essential Readings in Theory, Reinterpretation, and Application [F&P]
2.
Primary Source Text: The Essential Feminist Reader , Estelle Freedman [EFR]
3.
MacKinnon, C., Toward a Feminist Theory of the State .
4.
Pateman, C., The Sexual Contract
5.
Young, I., Justice and the Politics of Difference
6.
Gilligan, C., In a Different Voice
7.
Mohanty, C., Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity
(All other required and supplementary texts/articles will be posted under the “Resources” tab on Sakai )
See the reading schedule for class readings, assignments, and due dates.
Attendance
Class will begin promptly. If you are running more than 5 minutes late you will be counted as absent regardless of whether you attend the remainder of the class. Students are allowed 2 unexcused absences from class.
Each subsequent absence will result in a 5% deduction from the student’s attendance grade, as well as a 0 for the missed day’s participation. Do not email the TA if you don’t plan to attend class.
Reading Quizzes
As noted above, students are required to complete weekly reading quizzes. The quizzes will be posted under the “Tests & Quizzes” tab on the course Sakai page . Quiz performance accounts for 10% of the participation grade.
Exams
There will be two exams in this course, each worth 15% of your final grade.
 Take-home exam due on Thursday, March 1 st
 Final Examination on Thursday, May 3 rd at 12:00pm
Discussion Forum Posts

Students will be asked to sign up to write two sets of discussion posts on Sakai that directly engage the day’s readings ahead of the class discussion. The purpose of this activity is to provide an alternative means of participation, while creating a jumping off point for class discussion. Students might decide to bring up a point in the readings that they found helpful for understanding a particular theorist’s work or a theme that we had mentioned previously during class discussion. Students should review the assignment sheet before formulating their post(s). Discussion posts constitute 10% of your final grade.
Knol Project
Students will choose among a variety of topics listed on Sakai and will be challenged to create a knol entry with other members of an assigned group on the topic of interest. The goal of the knol is for the group to independently research and write a concise summary of a particular topics’ relevance to feminist political thought. Students will be expected to identify major works written on the topic, feminist thinkers associated with the topic, and historical examples of feminist groups uniting (or dividing) around the topic. See the assignment sheet for a list of possible topics and in-depth instructions. This project will constitute 30% of your grade.
Grading
Assignments will be weighted according to the following:

Classroom contributions= 10%

Attendance = 10%

Exams = 30%

Wiki = 30%

Discussion posts=10%

Reading quizzes=10%
All work should accord with the University Honor Code, which can be found here: honor.unc.edu
University Registrar Procedures Memo No. 8 provides the following (abbreviated) definitions of undergraduate grades:
A: Highest level of attainment. The A grade states clearly that the student has shown outstanding promise in the aspect of the discipline under study.
B: Strong performance demonstrating a high level of attainment. The B grade states that the student has shown solid promise in the aspect of the discipline under study.
C: A totally acceptable performance demonstrating an adequate level of attainment. The C grade states that, while not yet showing unusual promise, the student may continue to study in the discipline with reasonable hope of intellectual development.
D: A marginal performance in the required exercises demonstrating a minimal passing level of attainment.