WOM STD 185-2: Feminist studies of science and technology
Spring 2007
Friday: 1pm-3.50pm
Bunche 2173
Gwen D’Arcangelis
E-mail: darcange@ucla.edu
Office: 2216 Rolfe
Office Phone: 310-206-3882
Office Hours: Friday 12-1pm
Course Description:
This course explores feminist interventions into science and technology. These scholars focus a
critical lens on the role of science in society with respect to gender, race, sexuality, class and
imperialism. We begin with a brief overview of key questions in the field: women in science,
gender and science, and feminist science practice. The remaining bulk of the course focuses on
how feminist scholars have analyzed sciences and technologies as practices embedded in sociopolitical context. We will examine feminist studies of science pertaining to the following topics:
the body, reproduction, social classification, security, environment, and informatics. Within
each of these topical areas, we will look at the role of scientific knowledge production, its social
applications and technologies (early history and present day), and activist critiques of these
sciences and technologies.
Course Objectives
1. To understand the historical and socio-political context in which science and technology
operate.
2. To understand how feminists have theorized the relationship of science and technology to
gender, race, sexuality, class and imperialism.
3. To think critically about the intersections between science and power, and how these
intersections shape people’s lives.
Texts (available at UCLA bookstore)
REQUIRED:
Schiebinger, Londa, Has Feminism Changed Science?, Boston: Harvard U Press, 2001.
Course Reader
OPTIONAL:
Lederman, Muriel, Gender and Science Reader, New York: Routledge, 2001.
Lupton, Deborah, Risk, New York: Routledge, 1999.
Patton, Cindy, Globalizing AIDS, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002.
Instructor Policies
Classroom ethics: Please be respectful of your fellow classmates during class
discussions. Through our learning process (dialogues, critical reflection, engagement with
course materials, etc.) we will strive for the creation of a feminist community within the
classroom, which will provide an interactive safe space that is conducive to learning.
Your voice and opinions are highly valued, but not sufficient in and of themselves.
Students will not be graded on the basis of how well they can repeat ideas in the course
material, but on the basis of their level of critical engagement with the materials. Lastly,
in order not to disrupt class, turn off and do not use cell phones and other noisy electronic
devices.
Office hours and messages: Please visit or call my office during my scheduled office
hours (since it is a shared office, do not call during times other than during my office
hours). You can also contact me with questions by e-mail if you are unable to make the
office hours (try to keep emails to me under three times a week, as otherwise my inbox
will become overwhelmed).
Course Requirements:
Attendance & Participation in class
Weekly Questions (posted on online bulletin board)
Midterm Exam
Final Paper
15%
20%
25%
40%
Participation (15%): This class is based on discussion. Attendance and active engagement
define your grade in this class. Attend every class prepared. Being prepared means that you have
completed all the reading assignments and are ready to critically engage in classroom discussions.
In-class Presentation: Each student will sign up to facilitate discussion of the reading
material at least one time during the quarter. On the given date, you will present for 10-15
minutes on the readings assigned for that week. Do not summarize. Try to connect the
readings for the week together and raise issues for discussion. Imagine you are having a
conversation and/or debate with the author(s). You may also choose to identify particular
issues or themes which emerged from your reading of the assigned materials and relate
them to other contemporary political or social issues. You should conclude the
presentation with 3-5 questions to stimulate class discussion.
Weekly Questions (20%): Based on the weekly readings assigned on the syllabus, you are
required to post on the bulletin board of our website
(http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/07S/women185-2/wwwboard/) and e-mail me (darcange@ucla.edu)
two questions by 6pm Thursday of each week. (Note that facilitators do not need to come up
with two questions in addition to the 3-5 they are already posing at the end of their presentation.)
Questions should be well thought out and interrogate the main point of the argument being put
forth by the authors. Be prepared to discuss your questions during each class.
Midterm Exam (25%):
Midterm exam will take place on May 11, 2007. It will consist of two parts: 1) short answer
questions testing your knowledge of the themes introduced in Part 1; 2) 3 medium-length essay
questions testing your ability to engage with the topics of Part 2.
Final Paper (40%):
Each student will complete a 10-15 page (double-spaced) final paper on one of the “optional”
readings from Parts 2 and 3 (i.e., one of the six topical areas covered by the course: the body,
reproduction, social classification, security, environment, and informatics). (Please note that
many of these optional readings are full books; you are not required to engage the whole book,
but one selected chapter, not including the introduction.) Apply the themes and theories from
class to the piece you have chosen, exploring the following: the author’s main argument, the key
evidence of the main argument, and its strengths and weaknesses. Utilize and cite at least three of
the readings from class in constructing your argument. Your analysis should present a critical
interpretation, compare and contrast ideas, raise questions, and highlight concepts from the main
line of arguments.
Graduate students will be expected to write a 20-25 (double-spaced) page final paper on a topic
which can relate to your thesis and/or dissertation. All students must choose a particular citation
form, MLA, Chicago, etc. The final paper will be due no later than noon on Friday June 15,
2007. You must turn in a hard-copy of your paper to my mailbox in the Women’s Studies Office,
Rolfe 2225. I will NOT accept papers submitted electronically.
All topics must be approved by instructor: paper topics must be emailed (and may also be
posted on class website) to instructor by Thursday, June7, at 6pm.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
Format Requirements:
All assignments should be typed, font-12 New Times Roman, double-spaced and stapled.
I do not accept hand-written assignments. Late assignments will be marked down one full grade
for each day that they are late (ex: A to B, and so forth), so PLEASE hand in your assignments
on-time. Late final papers will only be accepted in extreme emergencies.
UCLA Conduct Code
For UCLA types of academic misconduct including plagiarism refer to “UCLA Student Conduct
Code” at: http://www.deanofstudents.ucla.edu/studentconduct.htm
IMPORTANT DATES:
1) In-class Midterm: May 11, 2007
2) Final Paper topics due: June 7, 2007
3) Final Exam due: June 15, 2007
COURSE SCHEDULE
PART 1: INTRODUCTION: WOMEN, GENDER, AND THE POLITICAL ECONOMY
OF SCIENCE
Week 1: April 6, 2007
Introduction: From Women in Science to Gender and Science
Schiebinger, Londa, Has Feminism Changed Science?, “Introduction”, pp. 1-18.
Sands, Aimee, "Never Meant to Survive: A Black Woman’s Journey — An Interview with
Evelynn Hammonds," in S. Harding, The `Racial’ Economy of Science: Toward a Democratic
Future, Bloomington: Indiana U Press, 1993, pp. 239-248.
Subramaniam, Banu, "Snow Brown and the Seven Detergents: A Metanarrative on Science and
the Scientific Method”, in M.Wyer et al., Women, Science, and Technology, New York:
Routledge, 2000, pp. 36-41.
--VIDEO: Bill Moyers’ World of Ideas: “Science and Gender” – Evelyn Fox Keller
Week 2: April 13, 2007
Introduction Continued: Gender and the Political Economy of Science
Schiebinger, Londa, Has Feminism Changed Science?, Chapters 1 “Hypatia’s Heritage” and 5
“Science and Private Life”
Harding, Sandra, Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women’s Lives, Ithaca:
Cornell University, 1991, “Feminism confronts the sciences: reform and transformation”, pp. 1950.
Harding, Sandra, “Is Science Multicultural: challenges, resources, opportunities, uncertainties”,
in M. Lederman, Gender and Science Reader, New York: Routledge, 2001, pp.189-212.
Optional:
Conner, Clifford D., A People’s History of Science: Miner’s, Midwives, and ‘Low Mechaniks”,
Nation Books, 2005, “Introduction”, pp. 1-22.
Valian, Virginia, Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women in Academia, Cambridge: MIT
Press. 1999.
Rosser, Sue, The Science Glass Ceiling: Academic Women Scientists and the Struggle to Succeed,
New York: Routledge, 2004.
Salmun, Haydee, “From Teaching to Learning: A Course on women, gender, and science”, in
Feminist Science Studies: A New Generation, M. Mayberry et al., New York: Routledge, 2001.
Mayberry, Maralee, “Reproductive and Resistance Pedagogies: The Comparative Roles of
Collaborative Learning and Feminist Pedagogy in Science Education”, in Feminist Science
Studies: A New Generation, M. Mayberry et al., New York: Routledge, 2001.
Weasel, Lisa, et al. “The Forgotten Few: Developing Curricula on Women in the Physical
Science and Engineering”, in Feminist Science Studies: A New Generation, M. Mayberry et al.,
New York: Routledge, 2001.
PART 2: FEMINIST INTERVENTIONS: OLD TOPICS
Week 3: April 20 2007
The Body: Medicine, Sex difference, Physiology, and Feminist Biomedicine
Schiebinger, Londa, Has Feminism Changed Science?, Chapter 6 “Medicine”
Birke, Lynda, “In Pursuit of Difference: Scientific Studies of Women and Men”, in M. Lederman,
Gender and Science Reader, New York: Routledge, 2001, pp. 309-322.
Fausto-Sterling, Anne, Myths of Gender, Basic Books, 1985, “Hormonal Hurricanes:
Menstruation, Menopause, and Female Behavior”, pp. 90-122. (90-110)
Spanier, Bonnie, “Your Silence Will Not Protect You: Feminist Science Studies, Breast Cancer,
and Activism” in M. Mayberry, Feminist Science Studies, New York: Routledge, 2001, pp. 258274.
*Optional:
Patton, Cindy, Globalizing AIDS
Week 4: April 27, 2007
Reproduction: (Cell) Biology, Sexuality, New Reproductive Technologies, and Challenging
“Population Control”
Schiebinger, Londa, Has Feminism Changed Science?, Chapter 8 “Biology”
Martin, Emily, “The sperm and the egg: How Science Constructed a Romance Based on
Stereotypical Male-Female Roles,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 16 (1991).
Roberts, Dorothy, Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty,
Vintage, 1999, “The Dark Side of Birth Control”, pp. 56-70.
Browner, Carole, “Norms of Prenatal diagnostic screening” in R. Rapp, Conceiving the New
World Order: Global Politics of Reproduction, Berkeley: U of California Press, 1995, pp. 307322.
Hartmann, Betsy, Reproductive Rights and Wrongs: Global Politics of Population Control &
Contraceptive Choice, Harper & Row, edition 2, 1995, “The Population Framework: Inside or
Outside?”, pp. 305-310.
-- VIDEO: The Pill (1999)
Optional:
Briggs, Laura, Race, Sex, Science, and U.S. Imperialism in Puerto Rico, Berkeley: U of
California Press, 2002.
Week 5: May 4, 2007
Social Classification: Anthropological sciences, Comparative anatomy, AIDS epidemiology,
and “Reverse ethnography”
Schiebinger, Londa, Has Feminism Changed Science?, Chapter 7 “Primatology, Archaeology,
and Human Origins”
Fausto-Sterling, Anne, “Gender, Race, and Nation: The Comparative Anatomy of ‘Hottentot’
Women in Europe, 1815-1817”, in M. Lederman, Gender and Science Reader, New York:
Routledge, 2001, pp. 343-366.
Waldby, Catherine, “Epidemiological knowledge and discriminatory practice: AIDS and the
social relations of biomedicine”, Journal of Sociology, Vol. 31, No. 1 (1995), pp. 1-14.
Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gomez-Peña, Undiscovered Amerindians, 1992. Available online at
http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/UndiscAmerind.html
--VIDEO: “The Couple in the Cage”
Optional:
Haraway, Donna, “The Biopolitics of a Multicultural Field”, in M. Lederman, Gender and
Science Reader, New York: Routledge, 2001, pp. 252-271.
Bleier, Ruth, “Sociobiology, Biological Determinism, and Human Behavior”, in M. Wyer et al.,
Women, Science, and Technology, New York: Routledge, 2000, pp.175-193.
Week 6: May 11, 2007
Midterm in class
PART 3: FEMINIST INTERVENTIONS: NEW TOPICS
Week 7: May 18, 2007
Security: Invasion biology, Demographics, Defense industry, and Anti-nuclear war
activism
Subramaniam, Banu, “The Aliens Have Landed! Reflections on the Rhetoric of Biological
Invasions”, in B. Hartmann et al., Making Threats: Biofears and Environmental Anxieties,
Rowman & Littlefield, 2005, pp. 135-148.
Hartmann, Betsy and A. Hendrixson, “Pernicious Peasants and Angry Young Men: The Strategic
Demography of Threats”, in B. Hartmann et al., Making Threats: Biofears and Environmental
Anxieties, Rowman & Littlefield, 2005, pp. 217-236.
Cohn, Carol, “Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals”, in M. Wyer et al.,
Women, Science, and Technology, New York: Routledge, 2000, pp. 99-116.
Caldicott, Helen, The New Nuclear Danger: George W. Bush’s Military-Industrial Complex,
New York: New Press, 2002, “The reality of Nuclear War”, pp. 7-12.
*Optional:
Lupton, Deborah, Risk
Week 8: May 25, 2007
Environment: Natural science, Domestic space, Wetlands, and Big dam activism
Merchant, Carolyn, “Dominion over Nature”, in M. Lederman, Gender and Science Reader,
New York: Routledge, 2001, pp. 68-81.
Wajcman, Judy, “The Built Environment: Women’s Place, Gendered Space”, in M. Wyer et al.,
Women, Science, and Technology, New York: Routledge, 2000, pp. 194-208.
Carney, Judith, “Gender Conflict in Gambian Wetlands”, in R. Peet, Richard and M.Watts,
Liberation Ecologies: Environment, Development, Social Movements, Second edition, New York:
Routledge, 1996, pp. 316-335.
Arundhati Roy, “The Greater Common Good”, 24, March 1999. Available online at
http://www.narmada.org/gcg/gcg.html
Optional:
Cowan, Ruth More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open
Heart to the Microwave, Basic Books, 1983.
Larabee, Ann, Decade of Disaster, U of Illinois, 2000.
Week 9: June 1, 2007
Informatics: Taxonomy, Intellectual property, Authorship, and the Democratization of
knowledge
Haraway, Donna, Modest Witness@Second Millenium.Female Man Meets OncoMouse:
Feminism and Technoscience, New York: Routledge, 1997, “FemaleMan meets Oncomouse.
Mice into Wormholes: A Technoscience Fugue in Two Parts”: Part 1, pp. 49-101. (52-90)
Philip, Kavita, “What is a technological author? The pirate function and intellectual property”
Postcolonial Studies, Volume 8, Number 2, 2005, pp. 199-218.
Shiva, Vandana, “Democratizing Biology: Reinventing Biology from a Feminist, Ecological, and
Third World Perspective”, in M. Lederman, Gender and Science Reader, New York: Routledge,
2001, pp. 447-465.
--VIDEO: The Secret of Life: The mouse that laid the golden egg
Optional:
Nelson, Diane M., The End/s of War: Reckoning and Assumptions of Identity in Post-Genocide
Guatemala, Durham: Duke University Press, December, 2006.
Schiebinger, Londa, Has Feminism Changed Science?, Chapter 9 “Physics and Math”
Wertheim, Margaret, Pythagoras’ Trousers: God, Physics, and the Gender Wars, W.W. Norton
& Company, 1997.
Week 10: June 8, 2007
Topic TBA, news media analysis of current topic chosen by students (I will post news media
articles on website, and we will do a feminist analysis of the article during class based on course
themes.)