Traditions in Feminist Thought (230-0-20)

Instructors

Paola Zamperini
847/467-4593
1880 Campus Drive, Kresge Hall, Office 4-431
Office Hours: Varies quarter to quarter, please check with instructor.

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-415: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

This course is a rigorous introduction to feminism's multiple intellectual and political traditions and genealogies within and outside the US, at different historical junctures. The course emphasizes the rich debates that have been staged within feminism as feminists have labored to imagine other worlds in a variety of media and contexts. Our task is to understand how these varied feminist traditions have interrogated the same sites -- marriage and family, sexuality,

reproduction, the nation and the state, work, liberation, and feminism itself - in radically different ways. Why are these the key areas that feminist theorists have focused on across time and cultural divides? How have feminists around the world imagined these spaces as both sites of oppression and potential venues for freedom?

Our approaches will center the keywords central to 21st century conversations and debates around feminism as an analytic, a field of study, and a space of identity-building, practice, and activism.

Learning Objectives

1) To introduce major ideas in the study of feminism over time, from the perspective of a variety of disciplines
2) To think critically about the standpoints, methods, omissions, and possible uses of each study
3) To foster detailed, persuasive writing and conversation about these complicated topics
4) To introduce you to a variety of disciplinary methodologies to think about and study feminism, its genealogies, and history across time and space
5) To create individual and communal spaces of dialogue and conversation around the course topics

Teaching Method

Lecture; discussion; presentations

Evaluation Method

Attendance; class participation; discussion sections; final project; short writing assignments; et al.

Class Materials (Required)

All will be provided in Canvas

Class Attributes

Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
U.S. Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Pre-registration is reserved for Gender & Sexuality Studies students

Associated Classes

DIS - University Library 4722: Fri 10:00AM - 10:50AM

DIS - Kresge Centennial Hall 3-410: Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM

DIS - Kresge Centennial Hall 2-319: Fri 12:00PM - 12:50PM

DIS - University Library 5746: Fri 1:00PM - 1:50PM