SEMESTER AT SEA COURSE SYLLABUS
Voyage: Summer 2013
Discipline: Political Science and Women’s Studies
PLCP 3500: Culture and Women’s Rights
Division: Upper
Faculty Name: Denise Walsh
Time: 2:10-3:25
Pre-requisites: At least one course in comparative politics or women’s studies.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course explores conflicts over culture and women’s rights through a series of contemporary
controversies prevalent in the Mediterranean region. Case studies include gender and the Arab
Spring, genital cutting in North Africa, “honor killings” in Turkey, women and the workplace in
Turkey and the US, the headscarf in Europe, and same sex marriage in France and Spain.
Readings are drawn from a number of disciplines, including politics, anthropology, philosophy,
and women’s studies.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the issue of competing human rights claims
and normative political theory. Students will develop skills in reading political philosophy and
gain a deeper understanding of cultural politics in the Mediterranean basin.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS
AUTHOR: Linda Hirshman
TITLE: Get to Work…And Get A Life, Before It’s Too Late
PUBLISHER: Penguin
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ISBN-10: 014303894X; ISBN-13: 978-0143038948 pbk
DATE: 2004
All other readings and film clips will be available on the intranet.
Class Policies
No computers, cell phone, ipads, etc. should ever be used during class.
Follow the honor code. If you have a question about plagiarism, ask.
For information about my research, courses, advising, and letters of recommendation, please
consult my webpage.
All students are expected to attend every class session, with the exception of illness or an
emergency. All other absences will be unexcused and detract from your participation grade. In
the event of illness, please arrange to get notes from another student in the class.
TOPICAL OUTLINE OF COURSE
Please note: readings on contemporary events are likely to be updated before we disembark and
will be announced in advance.
17 June Depart Southampton, UK
Part I: Multiculturalism, Universalism, and Women’s Rights
C1- June 19: Multiculturalism vs. Women’s Rights
Why can’t we just get along?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.
Susan Moller Okin, 1999, Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?, Princeton University Press: 924.
C2- June 20: Arab Feminisms
How have Arab feminists addressed culture and women’s rights?
Bahithat al-Badiya, 1990, “A Lecture in the Club of the Umma Party” in Margot Badran and
Miriam Cooke, eds., Opening the Gates: A Century of Arab Feminist Writing, Indiana University
Press: 228-238.
Inji Aflatun, 1990, “Inji Aflatun” and “We Egyptian Women,” in Badran and Cooke: 342-351.
Nahid Toubia, 1990, “Challenges Facing Young Women in the Twentieth Century,” in Badran
and Cooke, eds.: 366-371.
Facebook Page: The Uprising of Women in the Arab World
Required: Attend the US “North Africa, the Middle East and the Arab Spring” @ 20:00
C3- June 21: International Commitments to Women’s Rights
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Why have countries in North Africa ratified international women’s rights agreements when the
US has not?
Ann Elizabeth Mayer, 1995, “Rhetorical Strategies and Official Policies on Women’s Rights:
The Merits and Drawbacks of the New World Hypocrisy,” in Mahnaz Afkhami, ed., Faith and
Freedom: Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World, Syracuse University Press: 104-132.
For reference: Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women,
1979.
Special Visit: Ambassador Maura Harty
C4- June 22: Culture and Women’s Rights in Contemporary Morocco
What is the relationship between culture and women’s rights in Morocco today?
Homework clip: Hillary Clinton’s famous speech at the Fourth World Conference on Women in
Beijing.
For Reference: Fourth World Conference on Women Beijing Declaration, 1995.
Nouzha Guessous, 2012, “Women’s Rights in Muslim Societies: Lessons from the Moroccan
Experience,” Philosophy and Social Criticism 38 (4-5): 525-533.
Free Speech Radio News: “Moroccan Women Have Gained Some Rights”
Required: Attend the CPP “Morocco/Casablanca” @ 20:00
23 June-26 June
Casablanca, Morocco
C5- June 27: Imperial Feminism
What’s wrong with attacking sexism in Islam?
Saba Mahmood, 2011, “Religion, Feminism, and Empire: The New Ambassadors of
Islamaphobia,” in Linda Alcoff and John Caputo, 2011, Feminism, Sexuality, and the Return of
Religion, Indiana University Press: 77-102.
For Homework: “White Feminists, Do We have to Say this Again?”
Instructor assigns groups for C7 & C8, and C9 activities.
C6- June 28: Culture and Universal Rights
What’s wrong with respecting culture? Are universal rights better than cultural relativism?
Uma Narayan, 2000, “Essence of Culture and a Sense of History: A Feminist Critique of
Cultural Essentialism,” in Uma Narayan and Sandra Harding, eds., Decentering the Center:
Philosophy for a Multicultural, Postcolonial, and Feminist World, Indiana
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University Press: 80-100.
Meghana Nyak, 2013, “The False Choice between Universalism and Religion/Culture,” Politics &
Gender 9 (10): 120-125.
Discussion of Group Presentations for C7 and C8, debate for C9.
Required: Attend the US “Turkey -- History and Civilizations” @ 20:00
C7- June 29: Culture, Women’s Rights, and the Arab Spring, I
How was the Arab Spring gendered?
Everyone reads:
Maya Mikdasi, “The Uprisings Will be Gendered,” Jadaliyya (Feb 28 2012).
Group A: Tunisia
“Women’s Rights in Post Arab Spring Tunisia,” Cimorene, November 20, 2012.
Kristing Goulding, “Tunisia: Arab Spring, Islamist Summer,” October 25, 2011.
Mohamed-Salah Omri, “The Harlem Shake Tunisia-Style: Rocking the Body Politic,” Think Africa
Press, March 6, 2013.
The Harlem Shake--Tunisia
“Femen Stages a ‘Topless Jihad’” The Atlantic, April 4, 2013.
Victoria Taylor, “Muslim Women Organize Online Counterprotest to Femen’s Topless Jihad
Day,” New York Daily News, April 6, 2013.
Kat Stoeffel, “Femen’s Tunisian Activist Amina Tyler Ran Away,” The Cut, April 16, 2013.
Group B: Egypt
Asmaa Mahfouz—The video that fueled the Egyptian Revolution
Nadine Naber, 2012 “Women and the Arab Spring: Human Rights from the Ground Up,” II
Journal Fall: 11-13.
Ahdaf Soueif, “Image of Unknown Woman Beaten by Egypt’s Military Echoes Around World,”
December 18, 2011.
Mona Eltahawy, “Bruised but Defiant: Monda Eltahawy on Her Assault by Egyptian Security
Forces,” The Guardian, December 23, 2011.
Naira Antoun, “Women, Honour and Egypt’s Revolution,” December 26, 2011.
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C8- July 1: Culture, Women’s Rights, and the Arab Spring, II
Is there a “war against women” in the Middle East?
Everyone reads:
Foreign Affairs, “The Sex Issue: An FP Special Report, ” December 16, 2012.
Mona Eltahawy, “Why Do They Hate Us? The Real War on Women is in the Middle East,”
Foreign Policy, December 16, 2012.
Group A:
“Debating the War on Women,” Foreign Policy April 24, 2012 (read all 6 responses).
Samia Errazzouik, “Dear Mona Eltahawy, You Do Not Represent ‘Us,’” Almonitor: The Pulse of
the Middle East, April 24, 2012.
Group B:
Maya Mikdashi, “The Uprisings Will be Gendered,” Jadaliyya, February 28, 2012.
Sheren Seikalay and Maya Mikdashi, “Let’s Talk About Sex,” Jadaliyya, April 25, 2012.
Charli Carpenter, ‘Seriously, Guys!’: How (Not) to Write About Gender and Foreign Affairs,”
The Duck of Minerva, April 26, 2012.
Part II: Case Studies from the Mediterranean, Europe, and the US
C9- July 2: Female Genital Cutting
When are body modifications rights and when are they violations of bodily integrity?
Students will be assigned one reading from the following list to debate:
Group A:
1. Martha Nussbaum, 1999, Judging Other Cultures: The Case of Genital Mutilation,” Sex and
Social Justice, Oxford University Press: 118-129.
2. Richard Shweder, 2000, “What About ‘Female Genital Mutilation’? And Why Understanding
Culture Matters in the First Place,” Daedalus, Vol. 129, No. 4: 209-232.
Resolved: Female Genital Mutilation should be outlawed and eradicated.
Group B:
3. Leslye Amede Obiora, 2000,“Bridges and Barricades: Rethinking Polemics and Intransigence
in the Campaign Against Female Circumcision,” in Adrien Katherine Wing, Global Critical
Race Feminism: An International Reader, New York University Press: 260-274.
4. Isabelle R. Gunning, 2000,“Uneasy Alliances and Solid Sisterhood: A Response to Professor
Obiora’s ‘Bridges and Barricades,” in Wing: 275-284.
Resolved: Female Circumcision should be medicalized.
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Group C:
5. Wairimu Ngaruiya Njambi, 2004, “Dualisms and Female Bodies in Representations of African
Female Circumcision,” Feminist Theory Vol. 5, No. 3: 281-303.
6. Cheryl Chase, 2002,“’Cultural Practice’ or ‘Reconstructive Surgery?’ U. S. Genital Cutting,
the Intersex Movement, and Medical Double Standards,” in Stanlie M. James and Claire C.
Robertson, eds., Genital Cutting and Transnational Sisterhood: Disputing U.S. Polemics,
University of Illinois Press: 126-151.
Resolved: “Natural” bodies can be bodies that are circumcised.
3 July-5 July
Antalya, Turkey
C10- July 6: “Honor Killings” in Turkey (4 homework entries due by today)
What is the relationship between modernization and women’s oppression in Turkey?
Hilal Onur Ince, Aysun Yarali and Dogancan Ozsel, 2009, “Customary Killings in Turkey and
Turkish Modernization,” Middle Eastern Studies, 45 (4): 537-551.
In-class Film Clip: “Hacker Group ‘Anonymous’ Leaks Chilling Video” (0:00-2:37)
Required: Attend the CCP Turkey/Istanbul @ 20:00
C11- July 7: Culture and Work in Turkey
Why and how do Turkish women bargain with patriarchy?
F. Umut Bespinar, 2010, “Questioning Agency and Empowerment: Women’s Work-Related
Strategies and Social Class in Urban Turkey,” Women’s Studies International Forum 3: 523-532.
Instructor will discuss field lab assignment and assign groups.
8 July-11 July
Istanbul, Turkey
C12- July 12: Field Lab Debriefing and Group Work
Students will work together in their groups to discuss the materials from their field lab and put
together a powerpoint or imovie to present to the class July 13.
C13- July 13: Student Field Lab Presentations
14 July-17 July
Piraeus (Athens), Greece
C14- July 18: Culture and Work in the US, I
Why and how do women in the US bargain with patriarchy?
Linda Hirshman, 2007, Get to Work…And Get A Life, Before It’s Too Late: 1-38.
Homework Infographic: Equal Education, Unequal Pay
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C15- July 19: Culture and Work in the US, II
How can women in the US resist patriarchy?
Linda Hirshman, 2007, Get to Work…And Get A Life, Before It’s Too Late: 39-92.
C16- July 20: Culture, Sexism, and Race in Italy
How does racism reinforce sexism in Italy?
Shannon Woodcock, 2010, “Gender as Catalyst for Violence against Roma in Contemporary
Italy,” Patterns of Prejudice 44 (5): 469-488.
In-Class Film Clip: “The Life of Roma Women”
21 July-23 July
24 July-26 July
Livorno (Italy)
Civitavecchia, Italy
C17- July 27: What Not to Wear in Europe
How and why is freedom of expression gendered in Europe?
Linda Duits and Liesbet van Zoonen, 2006,“Headscarves and Porno-Chic,” European Journal of
Women’s Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2: 103-117
In-class Film Clip: KGOY: Kids Getting Older Younger
C18- July 28: Culture as Choice?
What constrains individual choice? Do these constraints negate individual agency? Why or why
not?
Rosalind C. Gil, 2007, “Critical Respect: The Difficulties and Dilemmas of Agency and ‘Choice’
for Feminism,” European Journal of Women’s Studies 14, 1: 69-80.
Linda Duits and Liesbet van Zoonen, 2007, “Who’s Afraid of Female Agency?” European
Journal of Women’s Studies 14, 2: 161-170.
In-class Film Clip: France Bans Burqas and Niqabs
29 July-31 July
Malta
C19- August 1: Culture, Marriage, and the State
Who has the right to marry? Why? Should marriage even be a right?
Students will be assigned one reading from the following list to debate:
Group A:
1. Mary Lyndon Shanley, 2004, “Just Marriage: On the Public Importance of Private Unions,” in
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Mary Lyndon Shanley, Just Marriage, Oxford University Press: 3-28.
2. Joan C. Tronto, “Marriage Love or Care?” in Shanley: 37-40; Tamara Metz, “Why We Should
Disestablish Marriage,” in Shanley: 99-104 and Mary Shanley, “Afterward,” in Shanley: 109116.
Resolved: The state should legalize marriage as an equal partnership between two consenting
adults.
Group B:
3. M. V. Lee Badgett, 2009, When Gay People Get Married: What Happens When Societies
Legalize Same-Sex Marriage, New York: New York University Press: Ch. 5.
4. Elizabeth Emens, “Just Monogamy?” in Shanley: 75-80; Martha Fineman, “Why Marriage?”
in Shanley: 46-51; Brenda Cossman, “Beyond Marriage,” in Shanley: 93-98; and Wendy Brown,
“After Marriage,” in Shanley: 87-92.
Resolved: Gay marriage does not change marriage so it should be legalized.
Group C:
5. Mark Strasser, “A Little Older, A Little Wiser, Still Committed” Rutgers Law Review 61 (3):
507-527.
6. Paula Ettelbrick, 1999, “Legal Marriage is not the Answer,” The Gay and Lesbian Review 19
(6); and selections by Yasmin Nair, Kate Bornstein, Eric Stanley, Dean Spade and Craig Willse
in Against Equality: Queer Critiques of Gay Marriage, Lewiston: Against Equality Publishing
Collective: 1-20.
Resolved: The LGBT community should endorse the right to same-sex marriage.
Required: Attend the CPP “France/Spain/Marseilles/Barcelona” @ 20:00
C20- August 2: Gay Paris?
Why has same-sex marriage been so controversial in libertine France?
Wendy Michallat, 2006, “Marion-nous! Gay Rites: the Campaign for Gay Marriage in France,”
Modern & Contemporary France 14 (3): 305-316.
Max Fisher and the Washington Post Foreign Staff, “Why did it take France this Long to Allow
Gay Marriage?” The Washington Post, February 12, 2013.
Phillippe Coste, “Gay Rights in France: How Even the U.S. Leads the Way,” CNN Opinion,
February 1, 2013.
“In French Gay Marriage Debate, a Political Star is Born,” International News 24/7, February 2,
2013 (includes 3 minute video to watch for homework).
International Progress Toward the Freedom to Marry
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Instructor circulates Final Short Essay questions and discusses Mock Conferences.
3 August-5 August
6 August-8 August
Marseilles, France
Barcelona, Spain
C21- August 9: Intimate Citizenship in Spain (4 more homework entries due by today)
Can law transform culture? Or is legal reform in Spain ultimately conservative?
Raquel Platero, 2008, “Outstanding Challenges in a Post-Equality Era: The Same-Sex Marriage
and Gender Identity Laws in Spain,” International Journal of Iberian Studies 21 (1): 41-49.
In-Class Film Clip: “’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’: Transgender Officers on Secretly Serving in the
US Military”
C22– August 10: Mock Conference I
Half the class will present their short essay question, claim, and evidence in a powerpoint
presentation, which will be followed by a short Q&A from the class.
Presenters will send the instructor a two-sentence summary of their topic by 8:00 am August 10.
Five percent of the essay grade for presenters will be based on the Mock Conference.
Bonus points will be awarded to the two students with the best questions and feedback to the
presenters.
11 August-13 August Cadiz, Spain
14 August-16 August Lisbon, Spain
C23- August 17: Mock Conference II
The second half of the class will present their short essay question, claim, and evidence in a
powerpoint presentation, which will be followed by a short Q&A from the class.
Presenters will send the instructor a two-sentence summary of their topic by 8:00 am August 17.
Five percent of the essay grade for presenters will be based on the Mock Conference.
Bonus points will be awarded to the two students with the best questions and feedback to the
presenters.
August 18: Study Day
C24-August 19: Essays Due at the end of scheduled class time.
August 20: Reflection/Reentry
August 21: Convocation/Packing
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August 22: Southampton, UK
FIELD WORK
FIELD LAB (At least 20 percent of the contact hours for each course, to be led by the instructor.)
*Participation is mandatory.
This field lab will explore how and why Ataturk created the Turkish Republic and the methods
that he used to secularize Turkish society so that students might better understand the
contemporary backlash against secularism and women’s rights in Turkey. Many countries,
including the United States, embrace a national identity that is highly gendered. Women are
symbols of the nation and tasked with raising the next generation of citizens. Men are not
symbols; they are individual actors tasked with protecting and leading the nation.
This gendering is more complex in post-colonial states or defeated empires. In these countries
women are symbols, but they also are tasked with upholding traditions that distinguish the new
nation from the West, and they are expected to pass these national traditions on to the next
generation. Men not only are tasked with protecting and leading the new nation, but also with
being modern. Some political leaders in the Mediterranean chose a third path. During the first
half of the 20th century they insisted that women and men both modernize and they forcefully
rejected “backward” cultural traditions. In Turkey, Ataturk led this revolution, forever altering
women’s role and status.
Students will visit 4 museums and a public square related to the development of Turkish
nationalism, modernity, and women, to see how the nation presents these themes to the public.
First, for homework, they will view the Women’s Museum online, to learn about the history of
women in Istanbul (the museum does not yet have a physical location). We will discuss the
online museum the day of the field lab. That morning we will meet briefly on the ship as a group
before disembarking. Our physical visits will begin at the Pera Museum, which houses the most
revered paintings in Turkish history, to view images of Istanbul before the founding of the
Turkish Republic in 1922. Next, we will visit Ataturk Museum, a small private home where
Ataturk lived prior to the national revolution. After lunch we will visit The Military Museum,
which has a room devoted to Ataturk and an afternoon concert by the world’s first military band.
We will wrap up with a walking tour of Taksim Square to view contemporary art devoted to the
Turkish nation: the Republic Monument, the public art in the Taksim metro station, and the
Ataturk Cultural Center.
Dress and Conduct: Standard tourist clothing is fine. Be sure to bring a camera, notebook for
taking notes throughout the lab, and a modest sized bag to retain museum pamphlets and other
materials that you can use for your presentation. A field lab is an extension of class, meaning
conduct and classroom rules apply, including use of cell phones, headphones, and other
electronics. Active participation during the lab is expected and will be part of student assessment.
Only serious student illnesses will be marked as excused. All other student absences will result in
a zero for the field lab assignment.
FIELD ASSIGNMENTS
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Before the field lab students will be divided into groups. Each group will have the task of creating
a multimedia presentation on the relationship between Turkish nationalism, culture, and women’s
rights with one of the following themes: the body, the streets, the nation, the private sphere, the
backlash. During the field lab students will take notes, pictures, make video and audio recordings,
obtain pamphlets, postcards and other media related to the group’s assigned theme. Students will
then work in their groups to discuss the materials and field lab, and create a powerpoint or imovie
to present to the class.
METHODS OF EVALUATION / GRADING RUBRIC
Daily Participation (10%).
All students are expected to come to every class, to have done the reading with care, and to
participate in class discussions. The instructor will keep a daily attendance and participation log
that includes the required US and PPCs indicated on the syllabus.
Teaching Presentations (10%).
For two class sessions, students will present material on either Egypt or Tunisia, as assigned by
the instructor. One grade for each group will be based on how well each group communicates the
key ideas from the readings, relates them to previous readings in the course, and the group’s
integration of creative components and activities in the presentation (e.g., powerpoint, music,
class activity, debate).
Homework (20%).
Students will write a question or a comment about the readings for one session (which may
include how her/his experiences in port directly related to the assigned course reading) for a total
of 8 class sessions. No more than 3 sentences (for questions) and one paragraph (for comments).
Quality matters more than quantity. Homework submissions will be collected at the beginning of
each class session and retained by the instructor. Each student’s file will be graded twice during
the trip: 4 entries are due by C11 July 7; 4 additional entries are due by C21 August 9.
Final take-home Essays (35%).
Students will write two essays of their choice in response to three questions posed by the
instructor.
Field Lab (25%)
See above under “Field Lab Assignment”
HONOR CODE
Semester at Sea students enroll in an academic program administered by the University of
Virginia, and thus bind themselves to the University’s honor code. The code prohibits all acts of
lying, cheating, and stealing. Please consult the Voyager’s Handbook for further explanation of
what constitutes an honor offense.
Each written assignment for this course must be pledged by the student as follows: “On my honor
as a student, I pledge that I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment.” The pledge
must be signed, or, in the case of an electronic file, signed “[signed].”
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