In
this class we will explore the work such reconceptualizations do and how they
are the ground upon which academic feminism and other sites of feminist
knowledge-making build. Women's Studies connects us to feminist communities and
practices, within and also beyond the academy. In this course we will see
Women's Studies as braided into many movements for social justice, and into
alternative communities and visionary actions. Woven together these all
constitute feminist reconceptualizations of knowledge, in the academy and in everyday
life.
Enjoying epistemologies on the ground – that
is, seeing reconceptualizations in action – is one way to describe what we will
be doing. Intellectual "fun" is one of the goals of the course!
This
course is required for all women's studies majors, minors and certificate
students. To create our own community of scholars and activists, we want to all
get to know each other and work with each other. Ours here is an active and
ambitious learning community visioning and revisioning together our field,
women’s studies.
All students please do come to
office hours to just talk. I want to get to know each of you personally! I want to know how the
class is working for you, what touches and excites you, how your projects are
going.
Let me
know in office hours or after class when you need help, or any special
accommodations, the sooner the better.
Folks with disabilities or who need time from class to observe religious
holidays, please contact Katie ASAP to make any arrangements necessary. If you
are experiencing difficulties in keeping up with the academic demands of this
or any other course, you can also contact the Learning Assistance Service, 2202
Shoemaker Building, 301-314-7693. They have educational counselors who can help
with time management, reading, math learning skills, note-taking and exam
preparation skills. All their services are free to UMD students.
===
explore our required
readings:
· Berger. 2011. Transforming Scholarship: Why Women's and Gender Studies Students Are Changing Themselves and the World. Taylor and Francis. 9780415873284.
Available on the Kindle B004QM9OP0.
· Berger. 2009. The intersectional approach: transforming the academy through race, class, and gender. North Carolina. 9780807859810. Available on the Kindle
B003ELQ5AQ and as a Google eBook.
· Davis. 2007. Making of Our Bodies, Ourselves: How Feminism Travels Across Borders.
Duke. 9780822340669. Available on the Kindle B003DSHWT8 and as a Google eBook.
· Hewitt. 2010. No Permanent Waves: Recasting Histories of U.S. Feminism. Rutgers.
9780813547251. Available on the Kindle B003DSHWT8.
· Zandt. 2010. Share This!: How You Will Change the World with Social Networking. Berrett-Koehler.
9781605094168. Available on the Kindle B003KK5DOA and as a Google eBook. Also
available as an audiobook on Audible.com.
Notice how many of the books are
available on the Kindle, an ebook reader. You do not need the Kindle device to
read these, but can download an app for your computer/laptop or smart phone or
iPad to read them without one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sa_menu_karl3?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771
Some are available as Google eBooks. To learn how to read these on your
computer, look at:
http://books.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=185545&hl=en Usually
the price is a bit lower for each of these, many available for less than $10,
although you cannot resell such books. Please ensure access to as many of our
course books as you can, bring those you have obtained or notes about them to
the first class.
===
===
This class
is a seminar course so discussion and participation are essential! If you are a shy person who is usually
quiet, this is the class in which you will need to stretch, challenging
yourself to share your thoughts just as they happen! Prepare yourself mentally,
do whatever preparation you need to work this out well, and come to Katie
if you need a good pep talk! We are a kindly group and long to hear what you
think! Discussion will be punctuated by mini-lectures and demos from the class
website too, so you will not be on stage all the time. The website also will
give you a chance to prepare before class and to review afterward as well.
In other
words, the class will involve BOTH taking things in, absorbing them and
learning to put them in context, AS WELL AS actively using what we come to
know, sharing it others, thinking on one's feet, brainstorming and speculating,
figuring out how it all fits together. YOU MUST KEEP UP WITH THE READING TO DO
THIS WELL! Some educators call these forms passive and active learning. One can
take in and absorb more complicated stuff than one can work with and work out,
at least at first. We do both in the class, but we also realize that active
learning requires patience and imagination, a bit of courage to try things out
without knowing something for sure yet, and a willingness to play around with
being right and wrong, guessing and redoing.
The website for our
entire class is located at: http://femrethink.blogspot.com/
In this small class we will all be
class buddies together. Get to know everyone in the class, share contact information, and
support each other if in emergencies anyone must be absent with class notes and
discussion. Everyone should also have at least one class partner too. We will
choose partners early in the semester, and partners should help each other
brainstorm projects, edit each others’ work, provide feedback before
assignments are due, and help each other work in drafts, starting projects
early and completing them in good time.
Twice during the semester we will
have a week of class workshoping. During part of that time paper and poster assignments
will be presented poster conference style. That means that some people will be
presenting their work in various parts of the room, all at the same time, while
other class members wander around the room, interacting with them as they
discuss their projects. Katie will also wander around, giving folks immediate
feedback on their work. After we spend time doing this, we will move into
collective discussion and engagement all together. Tuesday of workshop week
will focus more on the first, Thursday more on the second.
===
graded assignments:
paper, poster, learning analysis, logbook
Four kinds
of assignments are required in this class: • a paper (and a handout), • a
poster, • a final learning analysis, and • a logbook. The first three require
you to practice analysis and reconceptualization. In each of these you will
need to examine two class texts simultaneously, do extra research on the web,
and be reflexive in your thinking. The conference is a special opportunity to
see our field of women’s studies in professional action. The logbook will help
you organize your projects: when you started them, how many drafts you
completed, who you worked with, where you are in what you have done, and what
still needs to be done. It will be turned in four times during the semester,
and you won’t get credit for any assignments until the final version is turned
in on the last day of class with the final version of the learning analysis.
The paper and poster each count for 1/3 of your grade, and the learning
analysis and logbook together count for the final 1/3.
Posters
and papers (with handouts) are shared in one or the other of two class
workshops. In each workshop you will do either a paper or a poster. Which one
you will do when will be determined by lot. You cannot get full credit for
either assignment until after you also
present them on the first day of the workshop week, and participate in workshop follow-ups on the second day of the
workshop week. In other words, just the written paper or the poster does not in
itself complete the assignment. If an emergency or illness kept you from
participation either or both days that week, to get full credit you will have
to meet with three other students to share your work and their work outside
class, and write up the experience and what you learned from it to complete the
participation portion of that grade. SO DO NOT MAKE OTHER PLANS FOR THOSE DAYS:
BUILD THEM CAREFULLY INTO YOUR SCHEDULE FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE TERM! Put
them into your logbook from the beginning so that attending them will always be
at the forefront of your term plans. This is also true of the final day of
class, when you discuss your learning analysis with everyone else. Full credit
for the learning analysis also requires attendance and participation on that
last day.
workshop themes for
analysis: • power, movements, worlds & • dynamics in our field
· Workshop 1: Power, Movements, Worlds
For our
first workshop you will create either a paper (with enough handouts for each
member of the class) or poster (which one determined by lot) in order to
explore how feminists analyze how power structures our worlds. You will explore
two class texts carefully, and chose EITHER • to analyze Zandt’s book through the
analysis (eyes, lens) of Davis’ The
Making of Our Bodies, Our Selves; OR • to analyze Davis’ book through the
analysis (eyes, lens) of Zandt’s Share
This! • Davis’ book explores power in transnational and
transdisciplinary frames. NOTICE what it demonstrates and assumes about what
counts as power, which social movements matter, and how worlds are connected
across differences. Zandt’s book explores accessibility and the currency of
social media today. NOTICE who is addressed in this book, and why? No matter
which of these approaches you take, also NOTICE
that you will need to do some additional research. You will need to find
out more about the various editions of the book Our Bodies, Our Selves, and you will need to play around with
social media yourself, and do some web research checking out both Our Bodies, Our Selves and also how
feminists today are using social media, as well as how social media and
marketing are interconnected. Always make a point of connecting projects to
class readings and lectures.
· Workshop 2: Dynamics in Our Field of Women’s Studies
For our
second workshop you will create either a paper or poster (which determined by
lot) in order to explore how feminists remember, participate in, and analyze
the dynamics in our field of women’s studies. What is its history? What ways of
analyzing power are best? How do particular disciplines locate the central
concerns of women’s studies? How do feminist scholars share the work they do?
You will explore two class texts carefully, and chose EITHER • to analyze
Hewitt’s book through the analysis (eyes, lens) of Berger’s The Intersectional Approach OR • to
analyze Berger’s book through the analysis (eyes, lens) of Hewitt’s No Permanent Waves • Berger’s
collection demonstrates paradigm shifts in our field. NOTICE that it explores
how to think THROUGH feminisms ABOUT feminisms. Hewitt’s book demonstrates that
history doesn’t stand still. NOTICE and ask, why do we keep remaking our
feminist pasts? No matter which of these approaches you take, also NOTICE that you will need to do some
additional research. You will need to use the web to follow-up or look in
greater detail at the kinds of feminisms displayed here, other ways of thinking
about histories of feminism, and ways all of these are promoted in popular and
scholarly media. Always make a point of connecting projects to class readings
and lectures.
Presenting
and discussing in workshop mode means that by attending and listening we will
all benefit from the hard work of everyone. Notice
that both sorts of projects in both workshops should be begun several weeks
ahead of their due dates. Not only do you need this time to do the additional
research required, but to get good grades you need to • write papers in at
least three drafts, and • plan out posters carefully to demonstrate both the
results of your research and also how you got to those results.
How to
practice reframing as a kind of analysis will emerge out of mini-lectures and
their resources, so attending class faithfully and taking good notes will make
this work a lot easier. Lecture materials are displayed on the class website,
to be reviewed at any time. In college
courses ALWAYS use your projects to demonstrate how you uniquely put together,
or synthesize, class readings, mini-lectures and discussion. Make a point of
displaying that you are doing all the reading and attending all the classes.
Doing this clearly and carefully will demonstrate that this is your own work,
and ensure your credit for honesty and for real engagement with the course.
Wondering how grades
are determined? What they mean on your paper?
= A
work is excellent, unusually creative and/or analytically striking
= B
is fine work of high quality, though not as skilled, ambitious, or carefully
edited as A
= C
is average work fulfilling the assignment; may be hasty, drafted once, showing
difficulties with grammar, spelling, word choice
= D
work is below average or incomplete; shows many difficulties or cannot follow
instructions
= F
work is not sufficient to pass; unwillingness to do the work, or so many
difficulties unable to complete
See this handout on google docs for more
discussion of each grade. Remember, you can always talk to Katie about grades
and your evaluation concerns during office hours anytime.
===
what to do when you must
unavoidably miss class, for emergency or perhaps for illness:
· TALK TO AT LEAST TWO
CLASS BUDDIES IMMEDIATELY. Before you even come back to class, call them up or
email them and find out if any special assignments are due the day you return,
and make sure that you know about any changes in the syllabus. Try to have done
the reading and be as prepared as possible to participate in class when you
return.
· MAKE A DATE TO MEET
WITH CLASS BUDDY TO GET NOTES AND DISCUSS WHAT WENT ON IN CLASS WHILE YOU WERE
GONE. You are responsible for what
happened in class while you were gone. As soon as possible, get caught up
with notes, with discussions with buddies and finally with all the readings and
assignments. Always talk with class buddies first. This is the most important way to know what went on when you were gone
and what you should do.
· AFTER YOU HAVE GOTTEN
CLASS NOTES AND TALKED ABOUT WHAT WENT ON IN CLASS WITH BUDDIES, THEN MAKE
APPOINTMENT TO SEE KATIE. If you just miss one class, getting the notes and
such should be enough. But if you've been absent for more than a week, be sure
you make an appointment with Katie, and come in and discuss what is going on.
She wants to know how you are doing and how she can help. Or, while you are
out, if it's as long as a week, send Katie email at katking@umd.edu and let her
know what is happening with you, so she can figure out what sort of help is
needed.
· IF YOU ARE OUT FOR ANY
EXTENDED TIME be sure you contact Katie. Keep her up to date on what is
happening, so that any arrangements necessary can be made. If you miss too much
class you will have to retake the course at another time. But if you keep in
contact, depending on the situation, perhaps accommodations can be made. Since
attendance is crucial for all assignments and thus for your final grade, don't
leave this until the end. LET KATIE KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING so that she can help
as much and as soon as possible.
· THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
AN EXCUSED ABSENCE AND ANYTHING ELSE: generally speaking you are only allowed
to make up work you missed if you have an excused absence. That the absence is
excused does not mean you are excused from doing the work you missed, but that
you allowed to make it up. I usually permit people to make up any work they
miss, and do not generally require documentation for absences. Be sure to give
explanations in your logbook and do make
up all work you have missed.
===
Daily/Weekly outline
of class assignments & activities: think Scholarship & Practice!
YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO
BRING LAPTOPS TO CLASS! Of course, all uses of electronic media during class
should be class related. You may be asked during class to
search for materials on the web and share them during seminar, or otherwise
participate in class activities using your electronic media. Be prepared to
respond quickly and appropriately, and to demonstrate that your use of
electronic media is for class and even allows you to attend more intensively
and creatively.
Handouts
are downloadable at the class website from Google Docs.
Reading is very tricky in this
class! You must read ahead constantly in order to begin work on the assignments at the right
time. We have portions assigned on particular days to discuss, but often this
is properly a REREADING, as you sometimes you should have read that a first
time already. Notice that some days you have a choice of several readings to
focus upon, say, 3 chapters out of 5 in a section of one book. This is to give
us all the chance to hear about readings we may not have time to do ourselves
by that point. That means you need to be able to tell others about the
readings, making note taking and preparation even more important. However, by
the end of class you should have read the entirety of each of our books. So you
can see that keeping up with the reading, discussed on the day on which it is
named, is essential, as is attendance on both days! And that doing all this
carefully will make your graded assignments so very much easier!
Notice that you are assigned web
research as well as readings. Put as much time into this as you do for reading
and take it quite as seriously. Web reading and analysis is as important today as book
reading is and should be done as carefully and with as much thought, not as a
easy substitute for harder work: it IS the harder work! Similarly, everyone
should spend time in McKeldin library, finding on the bookshelves stuff not
available on computer databases. Schedule
time on campus to do research in the library in person and to meet, face to
face, with your partner or with other class buddies. In this class we think
carefully about how to do all this as well as doing it! Learn to cite your
sources, web and print, carefully and conscientiously. This means keeping good
records of them all.
===
AN INTRODUCTION TO READING AND RESEARCHING IN WOMEN’S STUDIES
Thursday 30 Aug – Welcome to Our Course!
• HANDED OUT: Syllabus, Intellectual Friendships, How to Read (it’s not so obvious!), and Good Advice (all on website for download as well, look on right hand side for links)
• CLASS BUDDIES, CLASS WEBSITE
• Zandt, Share: bring to this first class if at all possible. In fact bring all the books you have so far!
How our portal course is intended to help you conscientiously practice feminist scholarship and its related actions. Helping each other and practicing solidarity. Reading ahead, reading to discuss, reading for research, rereading for further work and to grasp complexity, reading in libraries, on the web, with electronic devices, with other people. Our workshops and planning assignments ahead of time. Inspection exercises with Zandt.
Tuesday 4 Sept – Scholarship and Practice: portals in the plural
• Zandt, preface, chaps 1-3
• MORE CLASS BUDDIES, RESEARCH ACTIONS IN BOOKS AND ON THE WEB
Have you used the Wikipedia? How and why? Have you ever been told NOT to use the Wikipedia? Why was that? What is crowdsourcing, and what are the limitations and powers of the Wikipedia? How does Zandt’s book help us think about the Wikipedia in a social media landscape? Why does that matter?
Thursday 6 Sept – Starting slow then getting intense: how to share the difficulties
• Bring all our books so we can inspect them together
• Zandt & Davis: read each book’s conclusion (note for Th: Zandt, ch 4; Davis ackn., intro, ch 1; read all of it for this class and you will be ahead for the whole week)
• MORE BUDDIES, READING SIMULTANEOUSLY, KEEPING RECORDS
This portal course will be intense! We will start somewhat slowly, offering lots of “how to do” important things. But as we get closer to each workshop date, the readings and the projects will start to pile up. So planning ahead will be crucial! And you will need to be reading, reReading, and reading ahead, all at the same time! Keeping records of what needs to be done, and what you have done, and where you got what sort of information, all these are part of good scholarly practice. Fie on cutting and pasting last minute off the Web! Let’s learn to DO IT RIGHT! and enjoy it! Helping each other will make it a lot more fun.
Tuesday 11 Sept – This is the book I always wanted to write: how to care about it all
• Zandt, ch 4; • Davis ackn., intro, ch 1 (note that it is a lot better to read everything for the whole week together if possible, and then focus on each day for discussion preparation)
• WHO WILL YOU PARTNER WITH FOR THE SEMESTER?
Some feminist philosophers talk about what they call “personal care-abouts” in knowledge making. What are Zandt’s and Davis’ personal care-abouts as they reveal them to us? How can you use this class for your personal care-abouts? How can you make the class projects fit into those care-abouts? How will you partner with others to support each other’s care-abouts? Begin project #1 today with your partner: freewriting, brainstorming, googling, scheduling time together.
Tuesday 18 Sept – Sharing is Daring: when knowledge travels what happens?
• Zandt, ch 5 and the rest of it; • Davis, ch 2 (Notice what you need to do for Thursday. Maybe do it now?)
• HOW TO MAKE LOGBOOK AND KEEP YOUR SCHOLARLY RECORDS
Global feminism? one or many? what are the goals of feminist practice? Who is going to share what, where and how? And how does web research itself figure into all of this? What does web research add to what we can know ABOUT Zandt and Davis themselves? To what we can know about their projects as we see them in these book objects? To what we can know about HOW they think as well as WHAT they think?
Thursday 20 Sept – Transform yourself and transform others!
• WMST (Berger & Radeloff), pref., intro., chs 3 & 4
• HOW TO MAKE POSTERS, DIGITAL PICTURES, AND USE AND MAKE DATA VISUALIZATIONS
What elevator speeches do you already have on hand? Which ones would you like to develop? How do you see feminist transformation on the web, where, by whom? What brought you into women’s studies? Notice that the class will continue to discuss this book next time you meet on your own!
Tuesday 25 Sept – NO CLASS: EREV YOM KIPPUR
Thursday 27 Sept – CLASS ON ITS OWN: KATIE AT SLSA CONFERENCE
• WMST (Berger & Radeloff), chs 5 & 6
• [note for the next class (when Katie gets back): read ahead in Berger, and pick 2 things to do serious web research about. Be sure you spend at least as much time doing all this as you ordinarily do reading for class.]
Today as a class you get to run the show: decide what in WMST (Berger & Radeloff) helps you think through where you are in women’s studies now. What are your plans? How does women’s studies help you as you reflect on your life and your future? What will you be doing next?
Tuesday 2 Oct – Social media web research: beyond google and the Wikipedia, where do you go? How to do this seriously?
• HOW TO WRITE PAPERS, CREATE HANDOUTS, USE CITATIONS, AND FIND CITATION STYLES ON THE WEB
• (Notice what you need to do for Thursday too – plan out how to get it all done for the week)
What did you choose in Berger to research on the web and why? what were your results? bring in the results of your serious web research, and be prepared to talk with each other about why this information is on the web, who made it, what it is for, who is using it and why, and what that all means. How did you get your web research results? what records did you need to keep to demonstrate both the results and the methods for us? Did you come across pictures that mattered in this research? What are data visualizations and did you come across any in this research?
Thursday 4 Oct – Feminist Successes and Success Stories?
• find out everything you can about the different editions of Our Bodies, Our Selves. Look BOTH on the web and GO TO THE LIBRARY TOO!
• LOGBOOK #1 DUE
Okay! You now have many tools for projects for our class! Make sure your plans to accomplish it all are in order! Show them off in logbook #1. Be sure you and your partner have ways of helping each other stay on track and work with care. What have Davis and Zandt already taught you about feminist reading and research? What does each one teach you about the other? What does the web add to it all? What does working and being physically present in the library add? Let’s get onto moving feminisms!
POWER, MOVEMENTS, WORLDS: FEMINISMS IN THE PLURAL, FEMINISTS IN MOVEMENT
Tuesday 9 Oct – Feminist Myths in a Feminist Politics of Knowledge
• Davis Part II, read all of it (chs 3, 4, 5)
Why does Davis connect “empowerment” and “bewitchment”? What’s her point here? And why might a “colonialist trope” be contrasted with something called a “critical epistemology?” What are feminist subjects and why do they need to be created? How does Davis make us aware of the time periods involved?
Thursday 11 Oct – Intersectionality’s Foundations
• Berger Part I: Dill’s essay
• WMST (Berger & Radeloff), chs 1 & 2
Why would Dill start off with the notion of sisterhood? “All-inclusive”? What does that mean? What can you learn about feminism in 1983 on the web that will help you understand why she is approaching these issues the way she does? Bring in web research to share.
Tuesday 16 Oct – Transnational Body/Politics
• Davis Part III, read all of it (ch 6, reread 7); also read Davis’ essay on intersectionality (link for pdf online)
How is Davis’ analysis of OBOS similar to her analysis of intersectionality? (Don’t get sidetracked by the term “buzzword” in her title for the intersectionality article, or at least not at first. Consider it AFTER you have made your comparisons, and think about what other terms might have been better?)
Thursday 18 Oct – Making Intersectionality Transnational?
• Foundations Intersectionality, Berger Part I: Yuval-Davis’ essay
Why does Yuval-Davis start off with a little history of intersectionality? “All-inclusive”? What can you learn about feminism in 2006 on the web that will help you understand why she is approaching these issues the way she does? Bring in web research to share.
Tuesday 23 Oct – WORKSHOP #1 – Power, Movements, Worlds
Today we will share our work poster session style: divide in two groups, and all move around talking to each other about work during the class time.
Thursday 25 Oct – WORKSHOP #1 – Talking about it all
• LOGBOOK 2 DUE along with either paper and handout or digital picture of poster, after presentations
Today we will have a conversation about what we learned, noticed, thought about, and draw from the last class presentations.
DYNAMICS IN OUR FIELD OF WOMEN’S STUDIES: NOTHING STAYS STILL
Tuesday 30 Oct – Make it all alive! These are people! How do you come to care about them?
• Hewitt: Part I: pick 3 of the 5 chapters in this section to read, be prepared to discuss why you chose the ones you did
How does Hewitt talk about traveling knowledges? How does travel across time compare to travel across space and geopolitical location? How can you compare what Hewitt does with what Davis does? With what Berger and Guidroz do? How are these epistemological projects similar and different?
Thursday 1 Nov – Not just words on a page! People live in worlds! Connect yours here too!
• Berger: Part II: pick 2 of the 4 chapters in this section to read, be prepared to discuss why you chose the ones you did
Although you pick only 2 of these, look at all of them enough to compare the approaches they take, and to consider the disciplines they come from. How might that matter?
Tuesday 6 Oct – Coming together and pulling apart, which is which? Why care?
• Hewitt: Part II: pick 4 of 7
Coalitions happen on the ground with activists, how do activists work with other activisms? What are the difficulties involved?
Thursday 8 Oct – What is connected and how? Think complexly about people and our worlds
• Berger: Part III: pick 2 of 5 from the section on methodological innovations
Come with ideas and questions that look ahead to our workshop.
Tuesday 13 Oct – Agendas, Activisms, Relocations
• Hewitt: Part III: pick 3 of 5
Look through all of these enough to compare them all somewhat, then become an expert on the ones you choose. How do these projects each in their own specific way contribute to the epistemological project of the whole book? How can you tell? Why does it matter TO YOU?
Thursday 15 Oct – Comparing epistemological projects
• Berger: Part IV: choose 2 of the 5 and everyone should read the epilogue
How might each of these chapters work to help us envision the future of intersectionality and to see what is at stake?
Tuesday 20 Oct – NO CLASS: FINALIZING YOUR PROJECT DAY
Thursday 22 Oct – NO CLASS: HAPPY THANKGIVING
Tuesday 27 Oct – WORKSHOP #2 – Dynamics in Our Field of Women’s Studies
Today we will share our work poster session style: divide in two groups, and all move around talking to each other about work during the class time.
Thursday 29 Oct – WORKSHOP #2 – Talking about it all
• LOGBOOK 3 DUE along with either paper and handout or digital picture of poster, after presentations
Today we will have a conversation about what we learned, noticed, thought about, and draw from the last class presentations.
REFLEXIVITY IN WOMEN’S STUDIES: SOLIDARITY IN RESISTANCE, FLEXIBILITY IN BUILDING
Tuesday 4 Dec – Share Feminism/s, how? with whom? with what care? how to use the notion of an epistemological project
• rereading Davis as lens on all the other books
• rereading Zandt as lens on all the other books
• HOW TO DO LEARNING ANALYSIS
What does Zandt have to teach us about the issues raised in the other books that we might have missed if we hadn’t read her work? So how well does Davis’ notion of epistemological project travel? Can we use it to think about these books, ideas, activisms, methods, disciplines, feminisms?
Thursday 6 Dec – Time Machines & Boundary Objects: experiencing what’s alive!
• finishing up and rereading Berger as lens on all the other books
• finishing up and rereading Hewitt as lens on all the other books
How do different feminisms use intersectionality to share their urgent projects and their hopes for feminism? Read stuff you missed or reread the stuff that has become a touchstone for you; be able to say why and how. Why do feminists want to be able to historicize? How is that a kind of sharing? a kind of traveling in space and time?
Tuesday 11 Dec – LAST DAY! Learning, sharing, making, doing, thinking, acting
• LEARNING ANALYSIS DUE & PRESENTED; LOGBOOK 4 DUE
On our last day we will share with each other our thoughts on how what we know has changed during our time toge
 |
| from UCRiverside |
Thursday 30 Aug – Welcome to Our Course!
• HANDED OUT: Syllabus, Intellectual Friendships, How to Read (it’s not so obvious!), and Good Advice (all on website for download as well, look on right hand side for links)
• CLASS BUDDIES, CLASS WEBSITE
• Zandt, Share: bring to this first class if at all possible. In fact bring all the books you have so far!
How our portal course is intended to help you conscientiously practice feminist scholarship and its related actions. Helping each other and practicing solidarity. Reading ahead, reading to discuss, reading for research, rereading for further work and to grasp complexity, reading in libraries, on the web, with electronic devices, with other people. Our workshops and planning assignments ahead of time. Inspection exercises with Zandt.
Tuesday 4 Sept – Scholarship and Practice: portals in the plural
• Zandt, preface, chaps 1-3
• MORE CLASS BUDDIES, RESEARCH ACTIONS IN BOOKS AND ON THE WEB
Have you used the Wikipedia? How and why? Have you ever been told NOT to use the Wikipedia? Why was that? What is crowdsourcing, and what are the limitations and powers of the Wikipedia? How does Zandt’s book help us think about the Wikipedia in a social media landscape? Why does that matter?
Thursday 6 Sept – Starting slow then getting intense: how to share the difficulties
• Bring all our books so we can inspect them together
• Zandt & Davis: read each book’s conclusion (note for Th: Zandt, ch 4; Davis ackn., intro, ch 1; read all of it for this class and you will be ahead for the whole week)
• MORE BUDDIES, READING SIMULTANEOUSLY, KEEPING RECORDS
This portal course will be intense! We will start somewhat slowly, offering lots of “how to do” important things. But as we get closer to each workshop date, the readings and the projects will start to pile up. So planning ahead will be crucial! And you will need to be reading, reReading, and reading ahead, all at the same time! Keeping records of what needs to be done, and what you have done, and where you got what sort of information, all these are part of good scholarly practice. Fie on cutting and pasting last minute off the Web! Let’s learn to DO IT RIGHT! and enjoy it! Helping each other will make it a lot more fun.
Tuesday 11 Sept – This is the book I always wanted to write: how to care about it all
• Zandt, ch 4; • Davis ackn., intro, ch 1 (note that it is a lot better to read everything for the whole week together if possible, and then focus on each day for discussion preparation)
• WHO WILL YOU PARTNER WITH FOR THE SEMESTER?
Some feminist philosophers talk about what they call “personal care-abouts” in knowledge making. What are Zandt’s and Davis’ personal care-abouts as they reveal them to us? How can you use this class for your personal care-abouts? How can you make the class projects fit into those care-abouts? How will you partner with others to support each other’s care-abouts? Begin project #1 today with your partner: freewriting, brainstorming, googling, scheduling time together.
Tuesday 18 Sept – Sharing is Daring: when knowledge travels what happens?
• Zandt, ch 5 and the rest of it; • Davis, ch 2 (Notice what you need to do for Thursday. Maybe do it now?)
• HOW TO MAKE LOGBOOK AND KEEP YOUR SCHOLARLY RECORDS
Global feminism? one or many? what are the goals of feminist practice? Who is going to share what, where and how? And how does web research itself figure into all of this? What does web research add to what we can know ABOUT Zandt and Davis themselves? To what we can know about their projects as we see them in these book objects? To what we can know about HOW they think as well as WHAT they think?
Thursday 20 Sept – Transform yourself and transform others!
• WMST (Berger & Radeloff), pref., intro., chs 3 & 4
• HOW TO MAKE POSTERS, DIGITAL PICTURES, AND USE AND MAKE DATA VISUALIZATIONS
What elevator speeches do you already have on hand? Which ones would you like to develop? How do you see feminist transformation on the web, where, by whom? What brought you into women’s studies? Notice that the class will continue to discuss this book next time you meet on your own!
Tuesday 25 Sept – NO CLASS: EREV YOM KIPPUR
Thursday 27 Sept – CLASS ON ITS OWN: KATIE AT SLSA CONFERENCE
• WMST (Berger & Radeloff), chs 5 & 6
• [note for the next class (when Katie gets back): read ahead in Berger, and pick 2 things to do serious web research about. Be sure you spend at least as much time doing all this as you ordinarily do reading for class.]
Today as a class you get to run the show: decide what in WMST (Berger & Radeloff) helps you think through where you are in women’s studies now. What are your plans? How does women’s studies help you as you reflect on your life and your future? What will you be doing next?
Tuesday 2 Oct – Social media web research: beyond google and the Wikipedia, where do you go? How to do this seriously?
• HOW TO WRITE PAPERS, CREATE HANDOUTS, USE CITATIONS, AND FIND CITATION STYLES ON THE WEB
• (Notice what you need to do for Thursday too – plan out how to get it all done for the week)
What did you choose in Berger to research on the web and why? what were your results? bring in the results of your serious web research, and be prepared to talk with each other about why this information is on the web, who made it, what it is for, who is using it and why, and what that all means. How did you get your web research results? what records did you need to keep to demonstrate both the results and the methods for us? Did you come across pictures that mattered in this research? What are data visualizations and did you come across any in this research?
Thursday 4 Oct – Feminist Successes and Success Stories?
• find out everything you can about the different editions of Our Bodies, Our Selves. Look BOTH on the web and GO TO THE LIBRARY TOO!
• LOGBOOK #1 DUE
Okay! You now have many tools for projects for our class! Make sure your plans to accomplish it all are in order! Show them off in logbook #1. Be sure you and your partner have ways of helping each other stay on track and work with care. What have Davis and Zandt already taught you about feminist reading and research? What does each one teach you about the other? What does the web add to it all? What does working and being physically present in the library add? Let’s get onto moving feminisms!
POWER, MOVEMENTS, WORLDS: FEMINISMS IN THE PLURAL, FEMINISTS IN MOVEMENT
Tuesday 9 Oct – Feminist Myths in a Feminist Politics of Knowledge
• Davis Part II, read all of it (chs 3, 4, 5)
Why does Davis connect “empowerment” and “bewitchment”? What’s her point here? And why might a “colonialist trope” be contrasted with something called a “critical epistemology?” What are feminist subjects and why do they need to be created? How does Davis make us aware of the time periods involved?
Thursday 11 Oct – Intersectionality’s Foundations
• Berger Part I: Dill’s essay
• WMST (Berger & Radeloff), chs 1 & 2
Why would Dill start off with the notion of sisterhood? “All-inclusive”? What does that mean? What can you learn about feminism in 1983 on the web that will help you understand why she is approaching these issues the way she does? Bring in web research to share.
Tuesday 16 Oct – Transnational Body/Politics
• Davis Part III, read all of it (ch 6, reread 7); also read Davis’ essay on intersectionality (link for pdf online)
How is Davis’ analysis of OBOS similar to her analysis of intersectionality? (Don’t get sidetracked by the term “buzzword” in her title for the intersectionality article, or at least not at first. Consider it AFTER you have made your comparisons, and think about what other terms might have been better?)
Thursday 18 Oct – Making Intersectionality Transnational?
• Foundations Intersectionality, Berger Part I: Yuval-Davis’ essay
Why does Yuval-Davis start off with a little history of intersectionality? “All-inclusive”? What can you learn about feminism in 2006 on the web that will help you understand why she is approaching these issues the way she does? Bring in web research to share.
Tuesday 23 Oct – WORKSHOP #1 – Power, Movements, Worlds
Today we will share our work poster session style: divide in two groups, and all move around talking to each other about work during the class time.
Thursday 25 Oct – WORKSHOP #1 – Talking about it all
• LOGBOOK 2 DUE along with either paper and handout or digital picture of poster, after presentations
Today we will have a conversation about what we learned, noticed, thought about, and draw from the last class presentations.
DYNAMICS IN OUR FIELD OF WOMEN’S STUDIES: NOTHING STAYS STILL
Tuesday 30 Oct – Make it all alive! These are people! How do you come to care about them?
• Hewitt: Part I: pick 3 of the 5 chapters in this section to read, be prepared to discuss why you chose the ones you did
How does Hewitt talk about traveling knowledges? How does travel across time compare to travel across space and geopolitical location? How can you compare what Hewitt does with what Davis does? With what Berger and Guidroz do? How are these epistemological projects similar and different?
Thursday 1 Nov – Not just words on a page! People live in worlds! Connect yours here too!
• Berger: Part II: pick 2 of the 4 chapters in this section to read, be prepared to discuss why you chose the ones you did
Although you pick only 2 of these, look at all of them enough to compare the approaches they take, and to consider the disciplines they come from. How might that matter?
Tuesday 6 Oct – Coming together and pulling apart, which is which? Why care?
• Hewitt: Part II: pick 4 of 7
Coalitions happen on the ground with activists, how do activists work with other activisms? What are the difficulties involved?
Thursday 8 Oct – What is connected and how? Think complexly about people and our worlds
• Berger: Part III: pick 2 of 5 from the section on methodological innovations
Come with ideas and questions that look ahead to our workshop.
Tuesday 13 Oct – Agendas, Activisms, Relocations
• Hewitt: Part III: pick 3 of 5
Look through all of these enough to compare them all somewhat, then become an expert on the ones you choose. How do these projects each in their own specific way contribute to the epistemological project of the whole book? How can you tell? Why does it matter TO YOU?
Thursday 15 Oct – Comparing epistemological projects
• Berger: Part IV: choose 2 of the 5 and everyone should read the epilogue
How might each of these chapters work to help us envision the future of intersectionality and to see what is at stake?
Tuesday 20 Oct – NO CLASS: FINALIZING YOUR PROJECT DAY
Thursday 22 Oct – NO CLASS: HAPPY THANKGIVING
Tuesday 27 Oct – WORKSHOP #2 – Dynamics in Our Field of Women’s Studies
Today we will share our work poster session style: divide in two groups, and all move around talking to each other about work during the class time.
Thursday 29 Oct – WORKSHOP #2 – Talking about it all
• LOGBOOK 3 DUE along with either paper and handout or digital picture of poster, after presentations
Today we will have a conversation about what we learned, noticed, thought about, and draw from the last class presentations.
REFLEXIVITY IN WOMEN’S STUDIES: SOLIDARITY IN RESISTANCE, FLEXIBILITY IN BUILDING
Tuesday 4 Dec – Share Feminism/s, how? with whom? with what care? how to use the notion of an epistemological project
• rereading Davis as lens on all the other books
• rereading Zandt as lens on all the other books
• HOW TO DO LEARNING ANALYSIS
What does Zandt have to teach us about the issues raised in the other books that we might have missed if we hadn’t read her work? So how well does Davis’ notion of epistemological project travel? Can we use it to think about these books, ideas, activisms, methods, disciplines, feminisms?
Thursday 6 Dec – Time Machines & Boundary Objects: experiencing what’s alive!
• finishing up and rereading Berger as lens on all the other books
• finishing up and rereading Hewitt as lens on all the other books
How do different feminisms use intersectionality to share their urgent projects and their hopes for feminism? Read stuff you missed or reread the stuff that has become a touchstone for you; be able to say why and how. Why do feminists want to be able to historicize? How is that a kind of sharing? a kind of traveling in space and time?
Tuesday 11 Dec – LAST DAY! Learning, sharing, making, doing, thinking, acting
• LEARNING ANALYSIS DUE & PRESENTED; LOGBOOK 4 DUE
On our last day we will share with each other our thoughts on how what we know has changed during our time toge
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are welcome from all, although not required (for students)! Anyone can comment, but all comments are moderated to keep away spambots! So there may be a lag between when you wrote your comment and when it gets posted. Thanks for contributing!