Theorizing Gender Fall 2003

Theorizing Gender
English 5454 (crn 92223)/ WS 5914 (crn 96092)
(Fall 2003)

Bernice L. Hausman

2-3:15, Shanks 352 (graduate classroom)

For this course: readings, assignments & evaluation, general expectations, final exam

For all Prof. Hausman's courses:

statement of feminist pedagogy | handing in papers

expectations for written work | self-evaluation | plagiarism | grading guidelines

formatting guidelines | tips for paper-writing | homepage | contact info

Course Description:

This course will concentrate on gender theory developed within feminist studies from the mid-1970s to the present. Gender theory is here defined as that subset of feminist theory that attempts to define and analyze "gender" as an analytic concept. As such, gender theory challenges previous feminist emphases on "women" and "sexual difference" as categories of analysis proper to feminism. To prepare for our readings in gender theory, we'll sample some founding work in psychoanalysis, marxist, and poststructuralist theory, but our primary purpose throughout the semester will be to understand how "gender" as a concept operates in feminist analyses and debates. We will be particularly interested in understanding how the relegation of "sex" to biology and the supposedly fixed materiality of body has made"gender" into a category of seemingly protean mallability, and we will consider the extent to which both sex and gender are rhetorical constructs that organize embodied experiences through the well-known duality of nature and culture. In addition, we will examine the implications of different metaphorical understandings of how gender operates to circumscribe and define the lives of women and men--gender as "drag," as "force-field," etc. Finally, we will consider how race, gender, and sexuality are related, both as analytical concepts and as social structures. This course is interdisciplinary and involves readings from anthropology, philosophy, film studies, literary/textual studies, science studies, sociology, history, and legal studies. This course is primarily a readings course and as such emphasizes mastery of a large body of written scholarship.

Reading Schedule:

How to get the readings: Books will available at the University Bookstore (and, presumably at the Tech bookstore); they are supposed to arrive Thursday Sept. 28. Books are also on reserve at the Carol Newman Library circulation desk. Article availability is indicated on syllabus: most articles are on reserve at Newman Library, in their publication source; most are also available on e-reserve. Some are available through library databases: all this information is spelled out below.

Aug. 26: Introductions.

UNIT I: FOUNDING STATEMENTS

Aug. 28: Sigmund Freud, "Some Psychological Consequences of the anatomical Distinction Between the Sexes," "Female Sexuality," and "Femininity." (Readings made available by professor.)

Sept. 2: Jacques Lacan, "The Meaning of the Phallus"; explanatory essays by Juliet Mitchell and Jacqueline Rose. (Readings made available by professor.)

Sept. 4: Gayle Rubin, "The Traffic in Women." (On reserve in Toward an Anthropology of Women, ed. Rayna Reiter; also on e-reserve)

Sept. 9: Suzanne Kessler and Wendy McKenna, Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach

Sept. 11: Kessler and McKenna.

Sept. 16: Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, vol. 1. Click here for reading notes for Foucault.

Sept. 18: Foucault.

Sept. 23: R. W. Connell, Gender and Power, excerpts.

Sept. 25: Joan W. Scott, "Women's History" and "Gender: A Useful Category for Historical Analysis" (both available on reserve in Gender and the Politics of History, by Joan Scott; "Gender" is also availabe online through J-Stor--American Historical Review 91, no. 5).

Sept.30: Teresa de Lauretis, "The Technology of Gender" (on reserve in Technologies of Gender, by Teresa de Lauretis; also on e-reserve); Louis Althusser, "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses" (on reserve in Lenin and Philosophy, by Louis Althusser; also on e-reserve). Click here for reading notes for Althusser.

Oct. 2: Viewing of Paris is Burning (video). Please read Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, pp. 1-34, 128-149 (on reserve in Gender Trouble). We'll talk about all Butler materials on Oct. 7.

Oct. 3: Midterm exam click here.

Oct. 7: Judith Butler, "Gender is Burning" (on reserve in Bodies that Matter, Judith Butler; also on e-reserve).

UNIT II: BODIES

Oct. 9: Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex.

Oct. 10 (FRIDAY): Midterm due, time TBA.

Oct. 14: Laqueur.

Oct. 16: BerniceHausman, Changing Sex: Transsexualism, Technology, and the Idea of Gender.

Oct. 21: Hausman, Changing Sex.

Oct. 23: See Sex: Unknown. (Hausman out of town.)

Oct. 28: Bernice Hausman, "Do Boys Have to Be Boys?" (available through GenderWatch database).

Oct. 30: Toril Moi's visit. "What Is a Woman?" (on reserve in What is a Woman? and Other Essays, by Toril Moi).

Nov. 4: Suzanne Kessler, Lessons from the Intersexed.

UNIT III: SEXUALITY, RACE, GENDER

Nov. 6: Gayle Rubin, "Thinking Sex" (on reserve in Pleasure and Danger, ed. Carole Vance; also on e-reserve); Gayle Rubin and Judith Butler, "Interview" (on reserve in Feminism Meets Queer Theory, eds. Elizabeth Weed and Naomi Schor).

Nov. 11: Eve Sedgwick, "Gender Criticism: What Isn't Gender," available online at http://www.duke.edu/~sedgwic/WRITING/gender.htm.

Nov. 13: Karen Brodkin, How Jews Became White Folks.

Nov. 18: Brodkin.

Nov. 20: Henry Louis Gates, Jr., "Writing, 'Race,' and the Difference it Makes" (on reserve in "Race," Writing, and Difference, by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; also on e-reserve); "The Invention of Africa, " in Anthony Appiah's In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture (on reserve); "Visualizing the Body: Western Theories and African Subjects," in Oyeronke Oyewumi's The Invention of Women (on reserve and e-reserve).

UNIT IV: RECENT COMMENTS

Dec. 2: NO CLASS.

Dec. 4: Joan Williams, Unbending Gender.

Dec. 9: Williams, Unbending Gender.

Assignments and evaluation:

There are seven graded assignments in this class:

Gender Diary: Students will keep a running gender diary during the course. Entries in the gender diary will comment on the readings, the class discussions, or ways in which the readings or discussions illuminate aspects of gender in the students' everyday lives. Diary entries will be due by 12 noon each Friday of the semester; they can be placed in my mailbox, #43 on the 3rd floor of Shanks Hall. Each entry should be at least 1 page. I will respond briefly to your discussion. My sense of your engagement with course readings will come, in part, from reading your gender diary. Handwritten entries will not be accepted. Each entry is worth 1 pt: entries will not be graded on content, but merely on whether or not they are handed in. Late gender diaries will not be accepted. 15 points

Midterm exam: There will be a take-home midterm exam, due Friday October 10, time TBA. The mid-term exam will ask you to answer one or two questions, in essay form, using the readings for class. 15 points

Final exam: There will be a take-home final exam, due during the Final Exam period for this class. The final exam will ask you to synthesize material read for this class, in one or two essays. 25 points

Presentation: Each student will do a presentation once during the semester. Presentations will focus on the reading for the day. Students will not be expected to summarize the entire reading. Instead, students will highlight an important passage or argument in the text and take 10 minutes at the beginning of class to explicate the passage or argument and discuss its significance in relation to the other readings. 10 points

Participation: Students will be evaluated on their participation in class discussion and class projects. Discussion of the readings is perhaps the most important aspect of this course; it is where students are expected to do most of their learning. Thus, active participation in the class is expected. Students who tend to be quiet are encouraged to speak up at least one time per class period. See the self-evaluation guidelines for information about communicating specific learning styles to the professor. 10 points

Gender Project: Each student will engage in a public display of gender performance, determining for him or herself the extent of the gendered persona he or she displays. Students will choose one day in which they dress and comport themselves in a manner either more masculine or more feminine than they would normally. The extent of the change can be subtle or dramatic, depending on the student's decision. Click here for an in-depth discussion of this assignment. 10 points

Revision: Students will revise either their midterm exam into an essay or revise the gender diaries into a more formal annotated bibliography of the readings for class. Students are required to meet with the professor to discuss which revision they will do, and to discuss their purposes and goals for this assignment. 15 points

Expectations:

Classroom conduct:

This course emphasizes reading and writing. The course readings are demanding, and students are expected to come to class prepared to participate in the collegial exchange of ideas that constitutes a graduate seminar. During each class period I will ask each student to comment on a passage in the text he or she felt was particularly insightful, troubling, or otherwise noteworthy. A small portion of your grade (10%) will reflect my sense of your overall preparedness for class, which I will measure through your textual commentary, participation in the discussion, and engagement with course ideas in the gender diary. Students are encouraged to raise questions about texts they find difficult, rather than remaining silent through a sense that they lack sufficient understanding to speak up. Please see instructions for the student self-evaluation for a discussion of participation.

Collegiality:

Students are expected to engage in classroom activities with energy, respect for other students' views, and honesty. There will be many opportunities to interact with other students, and these interactions are opportunities for you to learn to disagree, argue, and analyze problems in a civil and productive manner. Intolerance will not be tolerated in this course, regardless of its basis. Students will never be required to hold a specific view, but they will be required to consider the merits and the pitfalls of all views discussed in class. Realize that you should never try to criticize a view that you do not fully understand and cannot describe adequately. In this course, you will be required to know what you are arguing against, as well as what you are arguing for.

Attendance:

Students are expected to attend class. This class meets twice a week, and is primarily oriented to discussion. Consequently, attendance at each appointed class period is very important.
Students are allocated two cuts for the semester (one week of classes). More than two absences will result in a decrease in the student's overall grade.
Students should inform the instructor of circumstances outside of their control affect their attendance. However, students should count on the possibility of illness and thus use their cuts wisely.
No absences are "excused," regardless of the circumstances. Please don't ask to be excused. Rather, you may inform me of an upcoming (or, less preferably, a past) absence. The significance of the absence for your grade will depend on any prior absences and the precipitating situation.
See the instructions for the self evaluation for further information.