ANTH 262H/WS 262H
Cultural Images of Women
Professor:
Dr. Alma Gottlieb
**This Course Fulfills the "Social Perspectives" Requirement
for General Education**
The Course
Why isn't Miss America ever fat? Is menstruation everywhere viewed as a curse or handicap? Why are
some girls eager to undergo "circumcision," and why do some women insist on the operation for their
daughters, over their husbands' protests? Is childbirth seen universally as an illness to be medicated?
Are mothers by definition heterosexual? This course will explore these and related questions,
investigating how women in the U.S. and around the world experience their bodies through the life cycle.
Throughout the semester we’ll inquire how social roles, images, uses and meanings of the bodies that all
women inhabit are shaped in deep, though often invisible, ways by culture. Through a variety of readings,
films, and hands-on research/fieldwork exercises, the course will introduce you to critical approaches to
the gendered experience of the body offered by cultural anthropology.
Texts
Books--on sale at IUB and on reserve in the Undergrad Library (listed in order we’ll be reading them):
Karen Houppert, The Curse: Confronting the Last Unmentionable Taboo: Menstruation
Susan Bordo, Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body
Colleen Ballerino Cohen, Richard Wilk, and Beverly Stoeltje, eds., Beauty Queens on the Global Stage
Robbie Davis-Floyd and Carolyn Sargent, eds., Childbirth and Authoritative Knowledge
Bettina Shell-Duncan and Ylva Hernlund, eds., Female “Circumcision”: Culture, Controversy, and Change
Ellen Lewin, Lesbian Mothers
ANTH 262H/WS 262H—Spring 2005
UIUC/Prof. A. Gottlieb
Articles: We’ll read some articles and book chapters that will be on e-reserve through the
Undergraduate Library (marked as ER on the Weekly Readings Schedule). You can read e-reserve
material from any of the university's computers or from home, provided that your computer is
connected to the university's network. You'll need Adobe Acrobat to view the files--this is a free
program that can be downloaded from the library's website if the computer you're working on doesn't
already have it. You can print the material out from the e-reserve copy (usually cheaper than making
photocopies). You can find a list of all reserve material for the course (e- and print) through the library
online catalog reserve module at: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/catalog/. The e-reserve portion of the
reserve materials can also be accessed at: http://web.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/querycourse.asp.
For e-reserve articles that are chapters in books (not articles in journals), the original books from
which the chapters are taken are also on old-fashioned 2-hr. reserve in the Undergrad Library.
Your Job
Attendance, Reading, and Participation: Attendance matters! Please plan to come to every class
unless you're really sick or have a crisis. If you miss more than two sessions for some other reason,
your final grade will be lowered a full letter grade.
Out of respect to all of us, please plan to come to class on time and remain until class ends.
Untimely comings and goings in a seminar are very disruptive!
Class discussion by YOU is a critical part of this course! To participate meaningfully in our
discussions, you’ll need to read the assigned readings carefully before they’re due. Think about the
issues raised, write down questions or concerns you may have. Think about how the reading relates to
issues raised in previous readings, to your own life, and to the lives of other people you know or have
read about, and come prepared to discuss these in class! In this seminar, much learning will occur
through our conversations--you'll learn much from each other as well as from me. This is not a class in
which you should allow yourself to be shy. I'll do what I can to encourage you to participate, but
ultimately it's your responsibility to be an active member of the discussion. If you choose never to
participate in class discussion, your final grade will be a full letter grade lower than what it would have
been had you participated actively.
Written and other work: You'll do a variety of work for the class, including the following:
1. Film Reaction Paper—about one of our class films. Choose 1 of the following 5 options:
a. Write a paper about “Dear Lisa”—due Feb. 1.
b. Write a paper about “Period Piece“--due Feb. 17.
c. Write a paper about either “Slim Hopes” or “Barbie Nation”—due March 15.
d. Write a paper about either “Nyamakuta” or “Hope Reborn“—due April 21.
e. Write a paper about “Out in Suburbia”—due April 28.
Your paper should be primarily scholarly and analytical, but you are also welcome to include personal
reactions based on your life experience. I'll supply guidelines for these Film Reactions, and a
sample evaluation form on which I'll note comments and grades.
Suggested length: 4-5 pages each, typed double-spaced in 10 or 12-point font, plus references.
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ANTH 262H/WS 262H—Spring 2005
UIUC/Prof. A. Gottlieb
2. Personal Ethnography (“Mirror Essay”): Conduct ethnographic fieldwork in your own life by
going for 24 hours without looking in a mirror, and write a short analytic piece about the experience,
relating to issues & perspectives covered in the course readings. I'll supply guidelines for this
project, and a sample evaluation form on which I'll note comments and grades.
Due: March 17.
Suggested length: 5-6 pages typed double-spaced in 10 or 12-point font, plus references.
3. Participate in an in-class scholarly debate and turn in debate notes, or write a debate
essay, about the growing global controversy over female genital operations. I'll supply guidelines
for this project, and a sample evaluation form on which I'll note comments and grades.
Due: March 31.
Suggested length: 5-7 pages typed double-spaced in 10 or 12-point font, plus references.
4. Conduct ethnographic interviews with a woman of an older generation—preferably a relative-about some aspect(s) of her bodily experiences, and write a paper based on these interviews and
relating to issues & perspectives covered in the course readings. I'll supply guidelines for this
project, and a sample evaluation form on which I'll note comments and grades.
Due: May 3.
Suggested length: 8-10 pages typed double-spaced in 10 or 12-point font, plus references.
5. Extra Credit Option--Campus lecture/seminar/event reaction paper (worth up to 3 points
extra credit): Throughout the semester, I'll announce special events, lectures, workshops, films,
etc. being held on campus that deal with themes addressed in this class. I encourage you to attend
these! If you write a short summary and analytic evaluation of one of these events, you'll receive
up to 3 points of extra credit for the course. I'll pass out guidelines for your paper, and a sample
evaluation form on which I'll note comments and grades.
Due: Your extra credit paper would be due at the beginning of the Tuesday class period
following the event you saw (for a Sunday or Monday event, due TWO Tuesdays later).
Suggested length: 3-4 pages typed double-spaced in 10 or 12-point font, plus references.
Basis for Class Grade
Film reaction paper: 15%
Personal ethnography essay (“Mirror”): 20%
Paper, or participation in class debate, about female genital operations: 20%
Body history interview-based paper: 30%
Class participation: 15%
Extra credit campus lecture/special event reaction: up to 3 points extra credit
N.B. Your grade will be lowered if you have attendance problems.
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ANTH 262H/WS 262H—Spring 2005
UIUC/Prof. A. Gottlieb
My Job
In class: You should expect me to treat you with respect and create a class atmosphere that
encourages you to do the same for one another. This is a course that deals with issues that will engage
your mind, body and soul, and you will care deeply and passionately about many topics we read and talk
about. I will work hard to create a “safe” atmosphere in which all of you feel comfortable sharing your
thoughts with others on intimate topics.
Out of class: You should expect me to share with you the best I have to offer about the subject
at hand. I will give you the best critiques and suggestions I can concerning your written work.
Office Hours and E-Mail
Please feel free to come by to talk about ideas you may have about course readings, or issues that
interest you from the class, or other issues in anthropology or women’s studies that you’re thinking about, as
well as any problems you may be having in successfully completing the course, or any concerns you might have
about any aspect of the course at any time in the semester. Remember: I hold office hours for YOU!
Office hrs.: Wed., 9 am – 12 noon
Office: 386 Davenport Hall
Office tel.: 244-3515
Sec’y: 244-3515
E-mail: ajgottli@uiuc.edu
If my regular office hours won’t work for you, we’ll work to find another time convenient for both of us.
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