Gender, Sexuality, and History (321-0-21)

Topic

Making Sense of the 2nd Wave of Feminism 1950-1980

Instructors

Amy Partridge
847.491.5872

Meeting Info

Harris Hall L05: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

As we grapple with the urgencies of the present, what are the politics (and promise) of telling more complex and nuanced stories of activism and social change? In recent years, the "second wave" of feminism (1968-1980) has increasingly been conflated with "white, middle-class feminism" and critiqued as an exclusionary form of feminist politics in contrast to the more intersectional feminist politics of the "third" and "fourth" waves of feminism. Numerous historians of the period have challenged us to reconsider this claim, which elides "feminism's deeply questioning, queer, coalitional and anti-imperialist past" and risks missing "some ways that feminist, lesbian, and queer of color and trans activists grappled hard to develop critical insights and knowledges that move us today" (Enke 2018). In this course, we will begin by exploring which projects, groups, and concerns have come to define the "second wave" of feminism in the United States in our collective memory. We then turn to recent histories of the "second wave" that challenge us to reconsider what counts as "feminist politics" during this period. For example, histories that focus on the formation of broad-based coalitions across and between liberation movements around issues of economic justice, reproductive rights, and the right to "self-defense" against both interpersonal and state violence during this period, challenge us to expand our conception of feminist activism. In the process, they require us to incorporate the "critical insights and knowledges" of labor and welfare rights activists, sex workers and gay liberationists, Black, Chicana, Puerto Rican and Indigenous liberation movement members as central to the feminist politics of the period. Guest speakers and guided student research into current/ongoing feminist projects aid us in identifying some of the legacies of this historical period in 2026

Teaching Method

- seminar discussion
- presentations
- guest visitors

Evaluation Method

- Attendance
- 2 short papers
- guided research project and presentation
- final paper/project

Class Materials (Required)

Will be provided in Canvas.

Class Attributes

Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
SoC Individual and Social Behavior Distro