FEMINIST THEORY
WSS 565 (6009)
http://www.albany.edu/faculty/jhobson/femtheory/wss565.htm
Fall 2004
Wed. 4:15-7:05 p.m.
AS 15
Instructor: Dr. Janell Hobson
Office: Social Sciences, Room 344
Phone: 442-5575 email: jhobson@albany.edu
Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
Description:
Through interdisciplinary and intersectional frameworks, this course will explore concepts and
ideologies that articulate and define principles of feminism. We will read and view texts that challenge the
centrality of gender in feminist analyses through intersections of race, class, nationality, sexuality, and
empire. We will also reconstitute the political agenda of feminism as we apply a global perspective on
women’s lives and blur the lines between theory and practice, academia and policy, grassroots organizing
and public media.
Women’s Studies Department Goals and Learning Outcomes:
Students who graduate from our program will:
1. understand Women's Studies as an interdisciplinary field of study and research.
2. understand intersectional feminist theory at an advanced level.
3. apply feminist theory to research, scholarship, and/or creative work that engages gender, race, class,
sexuality, and nation as intersectional vectors of feminist analysis.
4. learn concepts and theories of feminist pedagogy and observe feminist pedagogy in practice.
For more information, please visit: www.albany.edu/ws/graduate.html
Course Goals and Learning Outcomes:
This course will parallel departmental goals and objectives in that students will:
1. integrate diverse studies through an interdisciplinary framework – such as connecting sciences with
philosophy or creative arts with public policy.
2. dismantle the intersecting ideologies of racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, imperialism, etc.
3. conceptualize feminist social justice beyond gender equity and toward community and human dignity.
4. fully participate in the teaching process as active learners, peer educators, and public scholars.
Required Texts (available at Mary Jane Books and the Book House at Stuyvesant Plaza):
Fraden, Rena. 2001. Imagining Medea: Rhodessa Jones & Theater for Incarcerated Women.
Koff, Clea. 2004. The Bone Woman: A Forensic Anthropologist’s Search for Truth in the Graves of
Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia, & Kosovo.
Mohanty, Chandra. 2003. Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity.
Petchesky, Rosalind. 2003. Global Prescriptions: Gendering Health & Human Rights.
Satrapi, Marjane. 2003. Persepolis: Story of a Childhood.
Trinh, T. Minh-ha. 1990. Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality & Feminism.
Young, Iris Marion. 1990. Justice and the Politics of Difference.
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Requirements:
1. ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION (15%): fully expected of every student in order for this seminar to run
successfully. You are allowed 3 unexcused absences; afterwards, 2 points will be deducted for each
additional absence.
2. CLASS PRESENTATION (15%): each student is required to lead at least one discussion over reading
assignments through the following roles: 1.) Moderator will open with an introduction of the presenters; next,
the moderator will facilitate discussion, after presenters give their response to readings, by either providing
an alternative reading and/or posing 3-4 questions for general discussion. 2.) Respondent will provide a
brief response to reading assignment(s) (roughly 2-3 pages, typed and double-spaced, or an improvisational
response with a prepared outline); 3.) Counter-respondent will provide a counter-response to the
Respondent’s views on the reading(s). Presenters should meet prior to class to prepare for this discussion.
3. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY (10%): As part of our participation in the IROW-Women’s Studiessponsored lecture by Cynthia Enloe, on Wednesday, September 29, in LC 20, you will be required to
prepare and turn in an annotated bibliography, which will feature 5 essays/articles (you are limited to
featuring only 1 online article) on the subject of Women, War, and Militarization (or the alternative, Gender
and US Imperialism). This assignment is designed to prepare you for Enloe’s lecture, as well as for
independent research and study as it relates to feminist theory. Articles may be found through the following
databases: Women’s Studies International, EBSCOE, Project Muse, Social Sciences Abstracts, MLA
Bibliography, or WorldCat. Articles in available periodicals at our library can be electronically delivered;
those that are not available can be accessed through interlibrary loan. (See UAlbany’s library page for more
information.)
4. BOOK REVIEW (20%): You will need to submit a review (5-8 pages, typed and double-spaced) of one
book on the recommended reading list (see below; a literary or biographical title not included on the list will
only be approved if recently published – earliest first publication in 2001 – and dealing with issues of gender,
race, sexuality, nationality, etc.): due October 27. Submit both a hard copy and disk/CD copy (in html
format). Only the top 3 reviews will be published on our class website.
5. REVIEW ESSAY (20%): You will be expected to submit a review essay (10-15 pages, typed and doublespaced) of 3-5 texts (book and/or film) studied in class: due November 17. Submit both a hard copy and
disk/CD copy (in html format). Only the top 2 essays will be published on our class website.
6. CLASS CONFERENCE (20%): You will be required to organize a class conference based on this
seminar. You will need to assemble panels of graduate students, accepted in our conference, who will
present to the public a paper or project-in-progress based on the conference theme. Students enrolled in
this class need not submit a paper abstract to participate in the conference (although you will be expected to
participate as panel moderators or discussants). You will have the option of submitting a paper abstract and
presenting a paper (based on this seminar or for another class). 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 the Publicity Committee, Selections Committee, and Scheduling Committee. The
conference time table is as follows:
Friday, Dec. 3 (Humanities 354)
11:30 am – 12:30 pm – Luncheon (organized by students in WSS 360).
12:30 pm – Opening Remarks.
12:45-2:15 pm –Concurrent Sessions I (alternate Rooms – HUM 260 and HUM B39)
2:15-2:30 pm – Break.
2:30-4:00 pm –Concurrent Sessions II
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4:00-4:15 – Break.
4:15-5:45 pm – Concurrent Sessions III “
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5:45 pm – Closing Remarks
7:30 pm – Evening Event (performance by students in WSS 360) – HUM B39.
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Committee Tasks:
- Publicity Committee: will be expected to issue a “call-for-papers” by September 29, over email and/or
through letters to professors teaching graduate seminars, flyers, or an original web page, soliciting a variety
of topics and themes relating to our class conference. The conference title – “Doing Justice, Living
Feminism: Practicing What We Preach” – based on our seminar, should solicit papers from other graduate
seminars in the women’s studies department or through other related departments, such as Africana
Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, English, History, Political Science, etc. Please submit callfor-papers in class on September 22 before making it public. This “CFP” should explain the concept of the
conference and request full name, paper titles, 200-word paper or project abstracts, and email addresses.
Deadline for submissions: October 31. By November 19, you will be expected to further publicity with
flyers and other announcements, including the distribution of conference programs the day of conference.
- Selections Committee: will be expected to review paper abstract submissions and select 18-24 of the best
descriptions (if we receive less than this number, select 6-12 of the best descriptions). You will need to
make final decisions of your selections by November 10. You will also be responsible for emailing to
contributors acceptance/rejection letters by November 12. Full papers (6-8 pages, typed/ds) will need to be
turned in by November 30, which will later be distributed to assigned panel discussants.
- Scheduling Committee: will be expected to organize panels of 2 or 3 presenters (limited to 20 minutes
each) and seek members in our class to serve as moderator (introducing presenters to the audience and
transitioning from presentations to question/answer or discussion) and discussant (responding in 15 minutes
to key themes and arguments presented by each panelist) on each panel. The committee will also create
panel titles and arrange speaker orders, different panels scheduled to different rooms during the concurrent
sessions, and any multimedia equipment requested by presenters. Conference schedule should be
completed before November 24. It should also be emailed to conference participants by this date.
Scheduling of multimedia equipment (contact Audio-Visual Services at 442-3417) must be completed by
November 30.
*All emails distributed, which pertain to the class conference, must be blind-carbon-copied to my email
address: jhobson@albany.edu.
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. In addition, plagiarism is a violation of university policy, and any
errors in citations and use of work that is not your own will result in a failing grade.
Course Expectations and Format:
- Prelude to each session: I will introduce a creative work (art piece or music selection) at the beginning of
class (5-10 minutes), during which you will take the time to write on the subject (creatively, personally, or
analytically if you wish). The creative selection will connect to the reading assignments for that day.
Exceptions to this format will occur when we have a film screening (see October 27 and November 17).
- Following this prelude, students designated as class presenters for that session will lead discussion.
- Interlude to each session: after a 5-10 minute break midway through our class sessions, we will briefly
discuss committees’ class conference plans before continuing with our discussion of seminar assignments.
- This course will be structured primarily around discussions. We will implement a style of discussion called
“Rotating Chair.” Hence, whoever is the last to contribute to discussion is responsible for calling on the next
speaker. You will be expected to maintain respect towards others in class and refrain from insulting
remarks and disruptive behavior!
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Course Schedule
Introduction
Sept. 1
Course overview; Film: Flag Wars.
Unit One: Theorizing across Differences, Organizing across Cultures
Sept. 8
Justice and the Politics of Difference.
Sept. 15
holiday – no class.
Sept. 22
Feminism without Borders.
Call-for-Papers Due (publicity committee)
Sept. 29
Making Feminist Sense of the War in Iraq: Cynthia Enloe, 5:30 pm, LC 20.
Annotated Bibliography Due
Unit Two: No Longer Silent … But Who Gets to Speak?
Oct. 6
Persepolis.
Oct. 13
Woman, Native, Other.
Handouts: “The Race for Theory”; “‘Lupe’s Song’.”
Oct. 20
Imagining Medea.
Handout: “Can the Subaltern Speak?”
Oct. 27
Film: Señorita Extraviada.
Book Review Due
Unit Three: Human Rights – A Feminist Issue
Nov. 3
The Bone Woman.
Nov. 10
Global Prescriptions.
Conference Paper Selections Due (selections committee)
Nov. 17
Film: Closet Land.
Review Essay Due
Conclusion
Nov. 24
holiday – Conference Schedule Due (scheduling committee) before Nov. 24.
Dec. 1
Class conference planning; full papers given to discussants.
Dec. 8
Conference reflections and course review.
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RECOMMENDED READING LIST
Marjorie Agosn and Emma Seplveda, AMIGAS: LETTERS OF FRIENDSHIP AND EXILE.
Edwidge Danticat, THE DEW BREAKER.
Doris Pilkington and Nugi Garimara, FOLLOW THE RABBIT-PROOF FENCE.
Suheir Hammad, DROPS IN THIS BUCKET.
Toni Morrison, LOVE.
Patricia Powell, THE PAGODA.
Arundhati Roy, THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS.
Marjane Satrapi, PERSEPOLIS: THE STORY OF A RETURN.
Zadie Smith, WHITE TEETH.
Nelly Rosario, SONG OF THE WATER SAINTS.
Ruthanne Lum McCunn, THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD.
Jeanette Wintersen, ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT.