FEMINIST THEORY
WSS 565
http://www.albany.edu/faculty/jhobson/wss565/femtheory2004.htm
Fall 2003
Tue. 4:15-7:05 p.m.
West Seminar Room, New Library
Instructor: Dr. Janell Hobson
Office: Social Science, Room 344
Phone: 442-5575 email: jhobson@albany.edu
Office Hours: Mondays, 4:00-5:30 p.m.; Tuesdays & Thursdays, 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Description:
This interdisciplinary seminar will examine key changes in feminist theories and practices of the
21st century. From the ways that feminist thought has shaped approaches to history and colonization to
the ways that theories have reflected upon such current trends as globalization and transnationalism, this
course will draw upon a variety of studies—including sociology, anthropology, politics, literature, arts,
and popular culture—and explore intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality, and nation.
Required Texts:
Cliff, Michelle. 1994. Free Enterprise. NY: Dutton/Plume.
Dicker, Rory and Alison Peipmeier, eds. 2003. Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the 21st
Century. Boston: Northeastern UP.
Hunt, Tamara and Micheline R. Lessard, eds. 2002. Women and the Colonial Gaze. NY: NYU Press.
Meskimmon, Marsha. 2003. Women Making Art: History, Subjectivity, Aesthetics. NY: Taylor and
Francis.
Mohanty, Chandra. 2003. Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity.
Durham: Duke UP.
Ong, Aihwa. 1998. Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logics of Transnationality. Durham: Duke UP.
Shohat, Ella, and Robert Stam. 1994. Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media. NY:
Routledge.
These texts are available for purchase at Mary Jane Books and the Book House in Stuyvesant Plaza. Also
at the plaza is Shipmates, where a course packet (abbreviated in the course schedule as CP) with
additional readings can be purchased.
Requirements:
1. ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION (20%): fully expected of every student in order for this seminar
to run successfully. Your class participation performance will determine the outcome of your final grade,
whether you are graded up or down accordingly.
2. READER-RESPONSE (20%): each week, students must prepare a 200-word abstract in response to
reading assignments and 1-3 questions for class discussion (both posted on webct and brought to class).
3. CLASS PRESENTATION (20%): each student is required to deliver a 15-20 minute presentation on
research relating to course materials. Prepare a 250-word abstract analyzing a primary source, an
annotated bibliography of 1-3 secondary sources that relate to the primary source, and 1-3 questions for
discussion. This abstract and bibliography must be posted on webct and brought to class. All students
must print this information from webct and write comments to give back to the presenter in class.
(Presenters must avoid choosing websites as a secondary source for research, unless specifically assigned
to do so.)
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4. CLASS CONFERENCE (20%): You will be required to organize a graduate student conference based
on this seminar, in conjunction with another class of mine, the undergraduate course, Feminist Social and
Political Thought. You will need to assemble panels of graduate students who will present to the public a
paper-in-progress based on the conference theme. You will be given a time-table around which you will
schedule panel presentations. You will also divide into smaller committees to work on this conference,
such as forming a Selections Committee (selecting papers for panels), Scheduling Committee, and
Publicity Committee. As a class, you can choose a location for this conference (which must take place
Dec. 5-6), and a possible budget for funding this conference (if interested in expenditures for publicity
and food). The conference time table is as follows:
Friday:
12:00-1:30 pm – PANEL I (WSS 565 students)
1:45-3:15 pm – PANEL II (WSS 565 students)
3:30-5:00 pm – PANEL III (WSS 565 students)
7:00 pm – Performance (WSS 360 students)
Saturday:
8:30 am – Opening Remarks (WSS 565 webmaster/copyeditor)
8:45-10:15 am – PANEL IV (WSS 565 students)
10:30 -12 pm – Debate (WSS 360 students)
Luncheon – 12 noon
1:00-2:30 pm – PANEL V (WSS 565 students)
2:45-4:15 pm – Film Screening(s) and Discussion (WSS 360 students)
4:30-6:00 pm – Roundtable Forum (WSS 360 students)
You will need to sign up for conference groups by Tuesday, October 28.
** WEBSITE: will be designed and published by a selected webmaster and copy editor to promote and
feature this student conference and papers. The copy editor will be responsible for editing paper
abstracts, which the webmaster will post on our website. The copy editor will also be responsible for
proofreading and editing final papers, which will also be published on this site. Because of the heavy
duties of mounting a website, in terms of design and content, those students who fulfill these positions
will be exempt from the conference paper presentation and final paper. However, they will both be
required to give opening and closing remarks at the conference and will also need to collaborate on a
written introduction to the essays (min. 5 pp, max. 10 pp).
5. PAPER-IN-PROGRESS (20%): Since you will be expected to present a paper at this conference, you
will be working on it in phases:
A.) Phase One - 200-word Paper Abstract.
B.) Phase Two - Conference Paper (6-8 pages).
C.) Phase Three – Article for Publication (15-25 pages).
Your paper abstract will be due October 28, and your conference paper must be presented at the time of
the conference (in a 15-20 minute presentation). The final phase is the article for publication (on our
class website). This final paper is due Fri., December 12 (please submit hard copy in my mailbox, SS
341, by 5 p.m., and computer file in an email attachment to assigned copy editor same day, who will edit
these and then forward them to the webmaster). The website must be completed by Wed., December 17.
All related disks must be turned into me that day by 5 p.m.
Late assignments will result in a 25% reduction from your grade for each day late; no extensions will be
granted with the exception of emergencies.
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Course Schedule
Sept. 2
Course overview.
Screen: “The Life and Times of Sara Baartman, the Hottentot Venus.”
Sept. 9
CP:
1. “Some Could Suckle Over their Shoulder.”
2. Black Bodies, White Bodies.
3. Gender, Race, and Nation.
4. Images of Sara Baartman.
5. Which Bodies Matter?
6. The “Batty” Politic.
Sept. 16
Women and the Colonial Gaze (WCG): chapters 1-2, 4-7.
Sept. 23
WCG: chapters 9-11, 13-15.
Sept. 30
Free Enterprise.
Oct. 7
Women Making Art.
CP: Warrior Women: Art as Resistance.
Oct. 14
Unthinking Eurocentrism.
Screen: “Nice Coloured Girls” & “Coffee Colored Children.”
Oct. 21
Screen: “Song of the Exile.”
Conference paper abstracts due.
Oct. 28
Flexible Citizenship.
Nov. 4
Screening: “Performing the Border” & “Señorita Extraviada.”
CP: At your service: Latin women in the Global Information Network.
Nov. 11
Feminism without Borders.
Nov. 18
Catching a Wave.
Nov. 25
no class – prepare for conference.
Dec. 2
Conference planning for weekend event.
Dec. 9
Conference reflections and course review.
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