WOMEN’S STUDIES 380
GENDER, RACE & CLASS
Fall 2004
Tu Th 9:15-10:30
Instructor: Dr. Karen Leong
Office: ECA 206 Office
Hours: Tuesday 2-3:30; Wed 8-9, and by appointment
Phone: 965-6936 E-mail:
karen.leong@asu.edu
* Lisa Heldke and Peg O’Connor Oppression, Privilege, & Resistance. Theoretical Perspectives on Racism, Sexism, and Heterosexism (McGraw Hill, 2004)
* Anne Moody,
Coming of Age in
* Katherine
Newman, No Shame in My Game: the working poor in the inner city
These books are on 4-hour reserve at Hayden Library.
Gender, Race, and Class is designed for students who have
already taken an introductory course in Women’s Studies. We will explore the social, historical and
cultural constructions of gender, race, class, and sexuality in the
Because your active participation is required for this class to be a success, I will call on students throughout the semester. Please come to class having read and thought about the readings for the day. We regularly will talk about the readings and topics in small groups and as a class. I expect that each student will listen respectfully to each others’ point of view, even if s/he should disagree, and to respond to other’s ideas in a thoughtful and mature way. Productive class participation is required for you to do well in this class.
Finally, please be aware that this course includes topics that are controversial and may be uncomfortable. If you choose to take this class, you are responsible for completing all of the reading and written assignments. Remember that you do not have to agree with all of the material presented in this class, but you are required to read, listen, think, and write about the views presented. If you are uncomfortable with certain topics, I encourage you to discuss this with me as soon as possible so that we can determine how you will complete the assignments.
If you would like to take this course as a footnote 18,
please talk to me in office hours within the first week of classes about the
additional project that you will complete for footnote 18 credit. Most students write a longer final paper, and
set up deadlines throughout the semester when they will submit a prospectus,
bibliography, outline, and rough draft as part of the project. If you have a learning disability, please let
me know and be sure to have the Learning Disability Resources Center to send me
a letter during the first week of classes outlining the accommodations you will
require for the course. If you have a
physical disability that requires accommodation in the classroom, please let me
know and be sure to have the
All written assignments are due at the beginning of the class on the due date. They must be typed, double-spaced, and have your name on it. All late assignments will automatically lose 5 points if turned in after class, and 5 points for each additional calendar day they are late. If you are unable to complete assignments or attend due to a family emergency or serious illness, please contact the Student Advocates Office directly (965-6547) and ask them to send all of your professors a letter verifying your absences and/or inability to meet the deadline.
Midterm and Final:
These exams will include identifications, short answers, and essays asking you to discuss and analyze particular texts or issues. The midterm and final will include material from the readings as well as the lectures and videos shown during lecture. Part of the final exam will be cumulative.
Written Assignments: This course fulfills the L requirement. There are five written assignments for this class. You may elect to rewrite a total of two of the three-page essays. In order to get credit for a rewrite, you must either meet with the professor to go over the paper or provide evidence that you have worked on the paper with someone from the writing center; you must turn the rewrite within two weeks after the original assignment is returned. The paper must actually be re-written, and rewrites cannot make up points deducted due to turning in the paper late. The rewrite grades will replace the original grade, and can be either graded higher or lower (for example, if there is little to no revision). Written assignments will be graded on the quality of writing, analysis, and use of concepts from class readings and lectures.
Three-page essays (3):
You will be asked to write three three-page essays during the semester about class readings.
Essay No. 1.
We have been learning about the ways in which hierarchies based on gender, race, and class, interact to benefit some people and disadvantage others. Choose a specific incident from Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, that illustrates this concept. Using this particular example, demonstrate how gender, race, class, and/or other hierarchies interact and impact the lives of those involved. Your essay should clearly incorporate readings from class. Please be sure to note whose definition or idea you are using.
Essay No. 2
Katherine Newman studies the urban working poor in No Shame in My Game. What role do intersecting systems of oppression and privilege play in shaping the opportunities, socioeconomic status, and experiences of these individuals? Be sure to use specific examples from Newman and our other course readings to support your argument.
Current Events
Analysis Essay (2-3 pages)
For this assignment, please bring in a current newspaper article that relates to the topics we are discussing in class. Write a two to three page analysis that demonstrates how the article demonstrates the intersections of gender, race, and class, drawing upon appropriate readings and themes from class. Be sure to address how these factors intersect with other relevant factors (ie, religion, sexuality, nationalism).
You
may also write a 2-3 page analysis of one of the presentations by Michael
Kimmel or Dolores Huerta; I may add additional speakers as they come up.
Literature Review OR National Debates Review (5-7 pages
plus bibliography)
A. Students will prepare reports (5-7 pages) on topics that the instructor selects. The reviews will require the use of library resources to develop a bibliography of at least one monograph and five scholarly articles. Students will assess the literature relating to a specific organization or individual according to class concepts.
B. Students may write a report about the national topics debated this semester on campus through the ASU Women’s Collective (see attached schedule) and the Presidential Debate on October 13. This report will require students to attend at least one of the campus debates, watch the Presidential Debate, and do additional research about the topics. Students will prepare a bibliography of at least five scholarly articles and one newspaper/magazine article. Students will discuss the issues, the different political perspectives (it will probably be more than two) and will draw upon class readings and concepts in their analysis.
Regardless of which option you choose, please let the instructor know
what your specific topic will be.
In addition to my office hours, you
may meet with
Attendance/Reading quizzes:
I will take attendance randomly throughout the semester. Occasionally there will be quizzes at the beginning of class and cannot be made up if you are late or absent. They will consist of questions about the assigned reading for that day.
Grade
Distribution: Course
Grade
Participation,
attendance quizzes and effort: 100
points A 94-100 %
Midterm: 100 points A- 90-93 %
Two 3-page essays (25 pts each): 50 points B+ 87-89 %
Current events analysis 25 points B 84-87 %
Literature Review Annotated Bibliography 15 points B- 80-83 %
Literature Review Outline 20 points C+ 77-79 %
Literature Review Paper 50 points C 70-76 %
Final: 100 points D 60-69 % E <60 %
Please read the attached academic honesty
policy. Any instances of plagiarism may
result in the student failing the assignment, the course, and possibly being
reported to the University Office of Student Conduct. Please cite all sources, and use proper
citation (quotation marks, and citing the source) in all your work.
Schedule of Topics & Readings
(subject to change at the discretion of instructor)
Note:
Its’s
all about Power
Civil Rights, Social Movements, Racial
Hierarchies, Interlocking Systems of Oppression, Internalized Oppression,
Privilege
August 24 Introduction
to the course and syllabus. Defining
oppression, privilege, and resistance.
August 26 Text,
5-37 Theoretical
frameworks for understanding intersectionality
June Jordan essay, Text, 520-528
Race
Matters
August 31 Text
64-92 What is racism?
Are there multiple forms?
Anne Moody Part I
Event: Michael Kimmel
(we’re reading his article for Sept 16) “Mars and Venus, or Planet Earth? Women
& Men in a New Millenium.”
September 2 Text,
93-114 How has
racism been institutionalized in US history and society?
Anne Moody Part II
Choose
Literature Review topic from instructor’s list
Event: Activist and phenomenal woman
Dolores Huerta speaks at Get
Our Her Vote 2004
Hayden Lawn,
September 7 Text,
115-142 Viewing:
Jefferson’s Blood Racial
formations and their legacy
Gender,
Sex, Sexuality, and Inequality
September 9 Text
143-192 How are systems
of inequality perpetuated?
Anne Moody Part III
September 14 Text
193-248 How have gender, sex, and sexuality been mutually
constructed in our
Anne Moody,
217-285 society ? What do these assumptions tell us about power
relations?
September
16 Text
259-285 How do systems of gender,
race, and sexuality reinforce each other?
Rosh
Hashanah Anne Moody, 286-end
Essay
no. 1 due
How
do we talk about class in a classless society? Why does the text leave out
class?
Restructuring the
immigration, and labor patterns and the
impact on gender roles, family structure, and social policy.
September 21 Katherine Newman, No Shame in My Game, ch 1and 2
What
does it mean to have class privilege in the
September 23 Katherine
Newman, ch 3-4
Why
is the culture of work so important in our society? What paradox exists for the
employees of Burger Barn in terms of social status?
September 28 Katherine
Newman, chapters 5-6
How
do social institutions and attitudes affect opportunities for socioeconomic
mobility?
September 30 Katherine
Newman, No Shame in My Game, chapter
7
How does Newman’s study
challenge assumptions made about working class families?
October 5 Katherine Newman, No Shame in My Game, chapter 8
How does Newman’s study relate
to current debates about the
Making
sense of social location
October 7 Katherine
Newman, No Shame in My Game, chapter
9, Text 502-514
October 12
Midterm
Please bring a blue book and pen!
October 13 Please watch the Presidential Debates (held at ASU
Gammage)
October 14
No class today
Ramadan
October 19 Text, 317-332; 349-358; 395-419; White privilege; heterosexual privilege &
male privilege
Why
is the concept of privilege useful? Important?
Discussion about whether and how
national politics address the intersections of gender, race, and class
Newman essay due
Intersectional analysis
October 21 Text, 457-475 Ethnicity &
whiteness: At what point do p
October 26 Text, 476-482 At what point do p
Annotated Bibliography due
October 28 Text, 529-560 Restoring difference without distortion and building connections
November 2 Text, 583-593 The politics of self-reflection and
critical thought
Current Event Analysis due
422-456 Chicana feminism and
resistance.
Enacting
resistance : Decolonizing one’s mind: Colonization,
Appropriation, and Resistance, the power of self-definition; art as activism.
November 9 No reading Indigenous
resistance and the context of decolonization
Outline and bibliography due
November 11 No class
U.S. Veteran’s Day
November 16 Text, 605-625 Subverting structures of power
November 18 Text, 689-694 Developing an oppositional consciousness
Current Event Analysis due
November 23 No reading Creativity and the arts: Creating a space of resistance
November 25 No class
November 30 Text, 717-738 According to these authors, how do p
December 2 Text, 739-751 The power of a mestiza consciousness
December 7 Wrapping up.
Last day of class Final Research
Paper Due
FINAL EXAM: Thursday,
December 9,