Bilinda Straight; 1020 & 3062 Moore Hall

Email: Bilinda.Straight@wmich.edu

Web page: http://homepages.wmich.edu~bstraigh

In Person Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:45-2:45 p.m.

Online office hours (email answered): Mon-Thurs mornings

Class Meets: Tuesdays 3-5:30 pm, 2210 Dunbar Hall

GWS 3200: Women, Global and Social Change

Catalog Description: This course pursues an interdisciplinary analysis of the status of women worldwide and their efforts to create social change in a global context. We explore similarities and differences among women, recognizing the possibilities of transnational cooperation and the limitations of the idea of a "global sisterhood." General Education: This course fulfills the requirements for Area IV: Other Cultures, Upper Division.

More Detailed Course Description: In exploring multiple cultures, and particularly by looking at the lives of women in the Global South in the context of their historical, political, and economic situations, the course decenters a Western view of women around the world. Further, the course situates the lives of women within a global and transnational paradigm where the Global North also becomes an important factor in respect to life opportunities and conditions available to women in the Global South. This aspect of the course offers students a chance to re-examine their own perspectives. Students will consider what is global citizenship?; what are the possibilities of transnational cooperation?; and what are the limitations of the idea of a “global sisterhood”?

Course Goals and Objectives: This course aims to provide a critically informed, cross-culturally and historically contextualized foundation for understanding race, class, sexuality, and gender as cultural forms of knowledge with material outcomes for human lived experience. After this course students will be able to:

· Demonstrate understanding of historical representations of gender’s intersection with race, class, and sexuality in multiple cultural contexts

· Recognize diverse conditions that shape and influence women’s lives in different parts of the world and communicate in ways that demonstrate an understanding and respect for women’s lived experiences worldwide

· Critically analyze gender as a social construct specific to specific cultural contexts and historical moments

· Students will be able to explain how gender always operates in conjunction with other aspects of identity, including race, ethnicity, nationality, class, sexuality, religion, age, and globalization.

· Students will be able to analyze systemic aspects of power as exhibited within a variety of institutions, including work, health care, religion, and politics, and as expressed by a variety of ideologies, such as colonialism, post-colonialism, and neoliberalism.

· Students will step outside of their frame of reference to understand women’s activism in global contexts; they will be able to articulate ways that diverse thought and action can transform society.

· Students will examine strategies for achieving greater opportunity and social equality with sensitivity to the unique struggles of women in different contexts, reflecting on how to improve the status of women worldwide through individual and collective action for social justice.

· Demonstrate sensitivity to diversity and inclusion

· Demonstrate effective and appropriate written communication abilities through midterm and final essay exams.

Required books: There are no required books. All readings are in D2L.

Grading (see Grading Key for quantitative equivalents of letter grades)

Attendance/Participation 20%

Presentation 20%

Midterm Essay Assignment 30%

Final Exam 30%

Attendance/Participation (20% of grade)

Your presence and participation are essential to the quality of the experience for others as well as yourself. Your attendance grade will be based on the number of days you are absent, calculated as points missed on a one-hundred percent scale. Participation will weigh in here but no one will be penalized for shyness.

Presentation (20% of grade)

Students will work in groups of 2-3 to prepare a 7- to 10-minute presentation on one day’s readings. Presentations will occur at the start of class and will set the tone for the discussion. You are encouraged to offer critical questions about the readings and supplementary information from well supported sources.

Midterm Essay (30% of grade)

This is a take-home midterm examination that responds to the course readings. Questions will be circulated the week before the exam is due and typed midterm responses will be due in Dropbox by 11:59 p.m. on the due date.

Final Exam (30% of grade)

This is a take-home final examination requiring research. Questions will be circulated on the last day of class. Students will be allowed to choose 1 question from the 3 questions circulated and will draw upon at least 5 course readings and 2 outside sources to address the question in the form of a research essay with thesis statement, supporting paragraphs, in-text citations, and bibliography. Use Chicago Manual of Style for Social Sciences, author/date (https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html).

We will meet during the final exam period for clarifying questions and discussion but typed final examinations must be uploaded to the course Dropbox by 11:59 p.m. the day of the exam.

Academic Honesty:

Students are responsible for making themselves aware of and understanding the University policies and procedures that pertain to Academic Honesty. These policies include cheating, fabrication, falsification and forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity and computer misuse. The academic policies addressing Student Rights and Responsibilities can be found in the Undergraduate Catalog at http://catalog.wmich.edu/content.php?catoid=24&navoid=974 and the Graduate Catalog at http://catalog.wmich.edu/content.php?catoid=25&navoid=1030.

If there is reason to believe you have been involved in academic dishonesty, you will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. You will be given the opportunity to review the charge(s) and if you believe you are not responsible, you will have the opportunity for a hearing. You should consult with your instructor if you are uncertain about an issue of academic honesty prior to the submission of an assignment or test.

Definition of Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s language, ideas, or other material without making the source(s) evident in situations where there is a legitimate expectation of original work. Plagiarism does not occur when efforts to promptly identify sources by making source use apparent to the audience of the submitted material are obvious. Plagiarism may not necessarily include mistakes in citation style. A legitimate expectation of original work exists for numerous circumstances, including (but not limited to): scholarly writing, technical presentations and papers, conference presentations and papers, online discussion postings, grant proposals, patents, book and other manuscripts, theses and dissertations, class assignments, artistic works, computer code, algorithms, and other creative works. This definition applies to the entire WMU community, which includes all faculty; students; staff; visiting faculty, scholars, and administrators; and any other person governed by the academic research and other policies of the university.

The Right to a Harassment-free environment:

Students and instructors are responsible for making themselves aware of and abiding by the “Western Michigan University Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment and Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, and Stalking Policy and Procedures” related to prohibited sexual misconduct under Title IX, the Clery Act and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and Campus Safe. Under this policy, responsible employees (including instructors) are required to report claims of sexual misconduct to the Title IX Coordinator or designee (located in the Office of Institutional Equity). Responsible employees are not confidential resources. For a complete list of resources and more information about the policy see www.wmich.edu/sexualmisconduct.

In addition, students are encouraged to access the Code of Conduct, as well as resources and general academic policies on such issues as diversity, religious observance, and student disabilities:

· Office of Student Conduct www.wmich.edu/conduct

· Division of Student Affairs www.wmich.edu/students/diversity

· Registrar’s Office http://www.wmich.edu/registrar/calendars/interfaith

· Disability Services for Students www.wmich.edu/disabilityservices.”

Students with Disabilities:

Both in compliance with and in the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), we would like to work with you if you have a disability that will impact the work in this course. If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss reasonable academic accommodations, please contact your instructor in a timely fashion. Accommodations are not retroactive; they begin after notification. You may also contact the Office of Disability Services for Students at 269-387-2116 (or at wmich.edu/disabilityservices).

Classroom Policies for a Productive Learning Environment:

Electronic devices: Electronic devices are not allowed in the classroom at any time – this includes phones, tablets, and laptops. You are encouraged to take notes with pen and paper. Exceptions to this policy are limited to students with accommodations allowing electronic devices for documented disabilities. Students who violate this policy will lose attendance/participation points for the day. After 2 violations, students will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct with penalties that may include removal from the class.

Course Readings by Module – see Course Schedule for Module due dates

Module 0: Introduction to Course

Part 1. Europe’s Tyranny of the Body: The Origins of Race, Gender, & Class Essentialism

Module 1: More than Skin Deep: Before Dualism – and the Importance of Dualism to Feminism

Fernando Vidal. 2002. Brains, Bodies, Selves, and Science: Anthropologies of Identity and the Resurrection of the Body. Critical Inquiry 28(4): 930-974.

Valentin Groebner. 2004. Complexio/Complexion: Categorizing Individual Natures, 1250-1600. Pp. 361-383 in The Moral Authority of Nature (Lorraine Daston and Fernando Vidal, editors). University of Chicago Press.

Cynthia B. Bryson. 1998. Mary Astell: Defender of the “Disembodied Mind.” Hypatia 13(4): 40-62.

Module 2: Race and Colonial Boundaries

Jennifer L. Morgan. 1997. “Some Could Suckle over Their Shoulder”: Male Travelers, Female Bodies, and the Gendering of Racial Ideology, 1500-1770. The William and Mary Quarterly 54(1): 167-192.

Londa Schiebinger. 2013. Medical Experimentation and Race in the Eighteenth-century Atlantic World. Social History of Medicine 26(3): 364-382.

Anne McClintock. 1995. Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest. Pp. 1-36.

Stoler, Ann Laura. 2001. Tense and Tender Ties: The Politics of Comparison in North American History and (Post) Colonial Studies. The Journal of American History 88(3): 829-865.

Module 3: Incommensurate Feminisms

Elizabeth A. Bohls. 2005. A Long Way from Home: Slavery, Travel, and Imperial Geography in The History of Mary Prince. Pp. 46-69 In Women on the Verge of Home (Bilinda Straight, editor). SUNY Press.

Sojourner Truth. 1851. ‘Ain’t I a Woman’/’I am a Woman’s Rights’ Speech. Sojourner Truth Project. https://www.thesojournertruthproject.com/compare-the-speeches/

Oyèrónké Oyēwùmí. 1999. Multiculturalism or Multibodism: On the Impossible Intersections of Race and Gender in American White Feminist and Black Nationalist Discourses. The Western Journal of Black Studies 23(3): 182-189.

Chandra Talpade Mohanty. 1988. Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses. Feminist Review 30: 61-88.

Part 2: Your Truths are Not my Truths

Module 4: Critiquing White Salvation, Part 1

Oyèrónké Oyēwùmí (editor). 2003. Alice in Motherland: Reading Alice Walker on Africa and Screening the Color Black. Pp. 159-185 in African Women and Feminism: Reflecting on the Politics of Sisterhood. Africa World Press.

Oyēwùmí context piece: Mary Daly. 1978. Chapter 5: African Genital Mutilation: The Unspeakable Atrocities. Pp. 153-177. in Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism. Beacon Press.

European Historical Context piece for Clitoridectomy: Elizabeth Sheehan. 1981. Victorian Clitoridectomy: Isaac Baker Brown and His Harmless Operative Procedure. Medical Anthropology Newsletter 12(4): 9-15.

Module 5: Critiquing White Salvation, Part 2

Gayatri Spivak. 1985 (reprinted 2010). Can the Subaltern Speak? [Originally printed in the journal Wedge, 1985] Pp. 23-64 Reprinted in Can the Subaltern Speak? Reflections on the History of an Idea (Rosalind C. Morris, editor). Columbia University Press.

Spivak context piece: Mary Daly. 1978. Chapter 3: Indian SUTTEE: The Ultimate Consummation of Marriage. Pp. 113-133 in Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism. Beacon Press.

Lila Abu-Lughod. 2013. Do Muslim Women (Still) Need Saving? Pp. 27-53 in Do Muslim Women Need Saving? Harvard University Press.

Module 6: Class and Race Imperialism: Stealing Motherhood

Michelle Murphy. 2003. Liberation through Control in the Body Politics of U.S. Radical Feminism. Pp. 331-355 in The Moral Authority of Nature (Lorraine Daston and Fernando Vidal, editors). University of Chicago Press.

Asha Nadkarni. 2014. Introduction: Eugenic Feminism and the Problem of National Development. Pp. 1-32 in Eugenic Feminism: Reproductive Nationalism in the United States and India. University of Minnesota Press.

Margaret King. 2017. Margaret Sanger in Translation: Gender, Class, and Birth Control in 1920s China. Journal of Women’s History 29(3): 61-83.

Alexis Pauline Gumbs. 2010. We Can Learn to Mother Ourselves: The Queer Survival of Black Feminism 1968-1996. Chapter 2: The Ante-Essence of Black Mothering: Authority and Queer Danger.

Part 3: Global Intimacies

Module 7: Foundations

Anne Sisson Runyan. 2018. Introduction: Gender and Global Politics. Pp. 1-26 In Global Gender Politics. Routledge.

Alison Mountz and Jennifer Hyndman. 2006. Feminist Approaches to the Global Intimate. Women’s Studies Quarterly 34(1/2): 446-463.

Module 8: Love and Desire

Gloria Wekker. 2006. No Tide, No Tamara/Not Today, Not Tomorrow: Misi Juliette Cummings’s Life History. Pp. 13-49 in The Politics of Passion: Women’s Sexual Culture in the Afro-Surinamese Diaspora. Columbia University Press.

Deborah L. Tolman. 2012. Female Adolescents, Sexual Empowerment and Desire: A Missing Discourse of Gender Inequity. Sex Roles 66: 746-757.

Corinne P. Hayden. 1995. Gender, Genetics, and Generation: Reformulating Biology in Lesbian Kinship. Cultural Anthropology 10(1): 41-63.

Module 9: Policing Gender

Laurel Westbrook. 2014. Doing Gender, Determining Gender: Transgender People, Gender Panics, and the Maintenance of the Sex/Gender/Sexuality System. Gender & Society 28(1): 32-57.

Steven Gregory. 2014. Sex Tourism and the Political Economy of Masculinity. Pp. 100-134 In The Devil Behind the Mirror: Globalization and Politics in the Dominican Republic.

Shilpa Phadke. 2013. Unfriendly Bodies, Hostile Cities: Reflections on Loitering and Gendered Public Space. Economic and Political Weekly 48(39): 50-59.

Part 4: War & Women

Module 10: War and Discourses of Rape

Veena Das. 2007. Chapter Two: The Figure of the Abducted Woman. Pp. 18-37 in Life and Words: Violence and the Descent into the Ordinary.

Jolle Demmers. 2014. Neoliberal Discourses on Violence: Monstrosity and Rape in Borderland War. Pp. 28-45 in (Sandra Ponzanesi, editor) Gender, Globalization, and Violence: Postcolonial Conflict Zones. Routledge.

Pratiksha Baxi, 2014. Sexual Violence and Its Discontents. Annual Review of Anthropology 43: 139-154.

Module 11: Women’s Roles in Warfare

Bilinda Straight. Forthcoming 2019. What Do (Pastoralist) Women Want? Warfare, Cowardice and Sexuality in Northern Kenya. Forthcoming in Essays in Honor of Günther Schlee (Markus Hoehne, Echi Gabbert, and John Eidson, editors). Berghahn Press.

Sandra Ponzanesi 2014. Female Suicide Bombers and the Politics of Gendered Militancy. Pp. 82-107 in (Sandra Ponzanesi, editor) Gender, Globalization, and Violence: Postcolonial Conflict Zones. Routledge.

Francesca Merlan. 2016. Women, warfare, and the life of agency: Papua New Guinea and beyond. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 22: 392-411.

PART 5: Global Imperialism and the Anthropocene

Module 12: Reconsidering Third Worlding

Chandra Talpade Mohanty. 2003. Under Western Eyes Revisited: Feminist Solidarity through Anticapitalist Struggles. SIGNS 28(2): 499-535.

Talal Asad. 2015. Reflections on Violence, Law, and Humanitarianism. Critical Inquiry 41(2): 390-427.

Arturo Escobar. 2004. Beyond the Third World: Imperial Globality, Global Coloniality and Anti-Globalisation Social Movements. Third World Quarterly 25(1): 207-230.

Module 13: The Anthropocene

Sylvia Wynter. 2003. Unsettling the Coloniality of Being/Power/Truth/Freedom: Towards the Human, After Man, Its Overrepresentation – An Argument. The New Centennial Review 3(3): 257-337.

Paulla Ebron and Anna Tsing. 2017. Feminism and the Anthropocene: Assessing the Field through Recent Books. Feminist Studies 43(3): 658-683.

Janisse Ray. 1999. Ecology of a Cracker Childhood. Milkweed Editions. Pp. 3-12.