Political Science 260/Women’s Studies 260: Critical Gender Studies (Spring 2010) PPHAC 201, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:10 - 2:20 p.m. Instructor: K. Haddad, Comenius 112, (610) 861-1559, [email protected]. Office hours: 2:45 to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, and by appointment. Let’s think about how we think about gender. Objectives Knowledge of both classic and new critical gender theories and studies Ability to differentiate among a variety of concepts of gender Critical reading, discussion, and writing skills Exposure to spatial and phenomenological approaches to gender Texts available for purchase at the Moravian College Bookstore Sara Ahmed, Queer Phenomenology: Objects, Orientations, Others (Duke, 2006) Judith Butler, Gender Trouble (Routledge, 1990) Judith Butler, Undoing Gender (Routledge, 2004) Anne Cranny-Francis et al., Gender Studies: Terms and Debates (Palgrave MacMillan, 2003) Daphne Patai and Noretta Koertge, Professing Feminism: Education and Indoctrination in Women’s Studies (Lexington, 2003) Susan Pinker, The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women, and the Real Gender Gap (Scribner, 2008) Our work together Tuesday, January 19 Introduction Thursday, January 21 Daphne Patai and Noretta Koertge, Professing Feminism: Education and Indoctrination in Women’s Studies, prologue, chapter 1: “Introduction to the World of Women’s Studies,” and chapter 2: “Cautionary Tales from Women Who Walked Away”Tuesday, January 26 Patai and Koertge, chapter 3: “Ideology and Identity: Playing the Oppression Sweepstakes” Thursday, January 28 Patai and Koertge, chapter 4: “Proselytizing and policing in the Feminist Classroom” Tuesday, February 2 Anne Cranny-Francis, Wendy Waring, Pam Stavropoulos, and Joan Kirkby, Gender Studies: Terms and Debates, chapter 1: “Ways of Talking” Thursday, February 4 Patai and Koertge, chapter 5: “Semantic Sorcery: Rhetoric Overtakes Reality” Tuesday, February 9 Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, chapter 1: “Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire” Thursday, February 11 Butler, chapter 1 continued Patai and Koertge, chapter 6: “BIODENIAL and Other Subversive Stratagems” Tuesday, February 16 Butler, chapter 2: “Prohibition, and the Production of the Heterosexual Matrix” Thursday, February 18 Butler, chapter 2 continued Cranny-Francis, et al., chapter 2: “Ways of Thinking” Tuesday, February 23 Butler, chapter 3: “Subversive Bodily Acts” Thursday, February 25 Butler, chapter 3 continuedCranny-Francis, et al., chapter 4: “Ways of Seeing” Tuesday, March 2 Judith Butler, Undoing Gender, Introduction: “Acting in Concert” and chapter 1: “Beside Oneself: On the Limits of Sexual Autonomy” Thursday, March 4 Field trip to the Museum of Sex in New York City SPRING RECESS Tuesday, March 16 Butler, chapters chosen by the group Thursday, March 18 Butler, chapters chosen by the group Tuesday, March 23 Susan Pinker, The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women, and the Real Gender Gap, introduction: “Female Puppets and Eunuchs” and chapter 1: “Are Males the More Fragile Sex?” Thursday, March 25 Pinker, chapter 4: “The Empathy Advantage” Tuesday, March 30 Pinker, chapters chosen by group Thursday, April 1 Pinker, chapter 10: “Things Are Not What They Seem” and epilogueEASTER RECESS Tuesday, April 6 Sara Ahmed, Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others, introduction: “Find Your Way” Thursday, April 8 Ahmed, chapter 1: “Orientations Toward Objects” Tuesday, April 13 Ahmed, chapter 2: “Sexual Orientation” Thursday, April 15 Ahmed, chapters chosen by group Tuesday, April 20 Lynda Johnston and Robyn Longhurst, Space, Place and Sex: Geographies of Gender, introduction: “Geography, bodies, sex, and gender” and chapter 1: “The geography closest in: the body” Thursday, April 22 Johnston and Longhurst, chapters chosen by group Tuesday, April 27 Johnston and Longhurst, chapters chosen by group Thursday, April 29 Johnston and Longhurst, chapter 7: “Global intimacies” and conclusion Teaching evaluations Final oral examination During the final examination week, we will meet for your individually scheduled oral examination. Please contact me, if you do not have an oral examination date and time. Date___________ Time___________ Place______________________________________Evaluation Engagement 30% ongoing and includes daily notes (see below) Short paper 20% due on Friday, February 19 by 4 p.m. to Mrs. Ortiz in Comenius 206 Draft ungraded due on Friday, March 26 by 4 p.m. to Mrs. Ortiz in Comenius 206 Final paper 30% due on Friday, April 30 by 4 p.m. to Mrs. Ortiz in Comenius 206 Oral examination 20% to be scheduled individually during final examination week Daily notes: You will need to prepare two passages and two questions based on your independent reading of the text. Please bring one copy for yourself and one copy for me. Note that these texts are demanding and may require multiple readings. Engagement Rubric (25%) Student engagement in class discussions will be graded according to the following rubric: A. Critical, innovative and careful reading of all assignments; substantial notes or written preparation for discussion; frequent text-based contributions; contribution of discussion-shaping questions; careful engagement of the arguments of others; support of positive discussion dynamics. B. Complete and careful readings; consistent notes or written preparation for discussion; lively, substantial, and argumentative text-based contributions; contribution of independent questions; engagement of the arguments of others. C. Incomplete or superficial readings; minimal notes or written preparation for discussion; regular (at least once per meeting) discussion participation. D. Incomplete or missing readings; lack of notes or written preparation for discussion; mostly passive presence. F. Persistent, vegetative state; low-level trance; slightly elevated body temperature.General Housekeeping I invite you to visit my office hours. Please be in touch with any questions and thoughts you may have about our work together. I am happy to help you with difficulties relating to your reading of our texts as well as challenges that may arise with regard to assignments. If you are having trouble participating in