Global and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on
Women
WOMN 555-700/750, Summer 2004 (June
& July)
Dr. Jane Olmsted
Phone: 745-5787 or 745-6477
Office Hours: by appointment,
any day
Office Location: Women’s
Studies Center (1532 State Street)
Email: jane.olmsted@wku.edu
Personal Webpage: http://www.wku.edu/~jane.olmsted
Texts:
Nothing Sacred, ed. Betsy
Reed, Thunder’s Mouth Press/Nation Books
Reading Lolita in Tehran , by
Azar Nafisi; Random House Trade Paperbacks
Ecofeminism articles online
Power Politics, Arundati Roy;
South End Press; 2nd edition (February 2002)
Are Prisons Obsolete, Angela
Davis
Policing the National Body
Excerpts: chapter 5 from Cynthia Enloe’s Maneuvers; Grewal, Mohanty, Zane,
and Gunning from Ella Shohat’s Talking
Visions (please pick up if possible; if not, let me know your
snail address, so I can send you copies)
Course Description:
This is an online course. As such, we will not meet
face-to-face, except by choice. We’ll move very rapidly through the
books during the months of June and July. The readings offer feminist
perspectives on a range of national and international issues affecting
all people, with an emphasis on the realities women face. Given the
“war on terrorism” our country is engaged in, it seemed appropriate to
see what women have to say about about war and terrorism, in Nothing
Sacred. Following that book, we’ll narrow in on a particular country,
Iran, where a group of young women seek an education outside the
limitations imposed by their country’s , in Reading Lolita in
Tehran…….We’ll shift, then to Power Politics and a few online articles
on ecofeminism, for another kind of analysis on how global politics
affect women (and all people). We’ll finish the course by reading two
books that address global issues as they appear in our own country:
Policing the National Body and Are Prisons Obsolete.
About Women’s Studies: Western Kentucky University has a strong
and growing Women’s Studies Program. The online graduate certificate is
in its early stages (you’re participating in the second online course).
To accommodate students, the two core courses (545 and 555) will be
offered online and face-to-face every other year. The Women’s Studies
Program sponsors several on-campus events, including films and
speakers; attending our events is a great way for both women and men to
become part of a smaller community of interesting and intelligent
people at the university. Check out our website, at
http://www.wku.edu/womensstudies
Course Objectives:
Successful completion of this course will be demonstrated if, by
the end of the semester, you are able to
1. Explain the ways in which gender politics permeates global politics,
2. Recognize the myriad ways that “national” issues are often really
international,
3. Reflect on and respond effectively to others about the material, and
4. Integrate feminist scholarship of others with your own.
Requirements:
Participation
(See also separate document, Discussion Guidelines.)
Discussions of readings and responses to others’ comments are the
single-most important ongoing requirement of this course (see
Participation Guidelines). You absolutely must schedule your
participation in such a way that others have a chance to reply to you
and you have a chance to reply to them without concentrating our
exchanges in one or two days. This means that you get to a computer for
a serious and focused writing session at least twice and preferably
three times a week, with at least two days between sessions. My
suggestion: you get half the week’s reading finished by Wednesday and
generate a thread and respond to at least one other person (who is also
to post by Wednesday) and then finish the reading by Friday or Saturday
and generate a second thread and respond (again) to at least one other
person (who will also post by Saturday). This simply will not work if
everyone waits till Saturday or, goddess forbid, Sunday, to do any
discussion board work.
Having said that, this is summer, after all, so
everyone gets a one-week reprieve from participating on Blackboard.
I’ll ask you to schedule that week with me, so everyone knows what
weeks will “thin out,” as that means a greater responsibility will fall
on the rest of us to keep the discussion vibrant and compelling. NOTE:
this course 8 1/2 weeks, all of June and July. It is not a five-week
course. Grading: see Participation Guidelines for specifics . . . . 50%
Online Project
Due the week of July 1-July 4, this project
involves your researching feminist websites that focus on a course
topic of your choice (the ecofeminist sites are an example) and
preparing a Word or PowerPoint presentation, which will be posted and
reviewed in lieu of discussion on readings. The idea is to create a
visual and written critique and informative “online essay” about the
topic. You should probably focus on a small number of sites, about
which you have an opinion and which show a range of perspectives on the
topic. You’ll send the Word or PowerPoint presentation to me, I’ll post
it for you, and then you’ll respond to all presentations. I expect that
the presentations will include links to the sites in questions, as well
as images that you pull from them. (Copyright caution: this is only
permissible if you are student taking images from a website for a
one-time only assignment that you are not getting paid for and which
will not be reproduced or shared with a broader public than the class
for which you are doing the assignment.)
Note: You’ll need PowerPoint viewer to view any
presentation done in PowerPoint. It’s downloadable free. You may want
to use Word, however, as it will allow you to insert links and images
and won’t restrict you with the outline format that PP insists on.
Grading: 10% is based on depth of written analysis and 10% on quality
of visual presentation; 5% goes to your response to others’
presentations . . . . 25%
Seminar Paper
Due the week of July 28-30, this research paper
should further explore either a topic that we’ve addressed or another
that demonstrates a clear and compelling relation to the subject matter
of the course. Papers written for other classes are not likely to
translate well.
Grading: papers must adhere to scholarly conventions in terms of
documentation (APA or MLA), clarity (it makes sense and is
logically compelling), relevance (the topic is relevant to the
class and demonstrates knowledge of course material) and accuracy (free
of typos, mechanical, and syntax errors). . . . 25%
Note: Students with disabilities who require accommodations (academic
adjustments and/or auxiliary aids or services) for this course must
contact the Office for Student Disability Services, Room 101, Garrett
Hall. The OFSDS telephone number is (270) 745-5004.
Schedule of Readings and Assignments
(Note: we hit the road running!)
June 1-June 6 First week of classes; introductions; Nothing Sacred
June 1-3: the first thing we need to do is to
introduce ourselves! There will be a thread set up for introductions,
but I’d also like everyone to create their own web page as a way to
introduce yourselves. 1) Go to Tools and select Edit Homepage; 2) Fill
it out and attach a digital picture of yourself (or something that
symbolizes you). Tell us who you are, what you like, your experience
with online courses, your summer vacation plans—the sort of thing we’d
learn in a f2f class.
June 4-6: Nothing
Sacred: let’s begin discussion by focusing on the first two
sections of the anthology. Read
“The War on Women,” p. 3
“World Culture War,” p. 23
“The War Against Feminism,” p. 45
“Muslim Women and Fundamentalism,” p. 141
Note: since this is our first week, my request that
comments on readings be separated by two days can be ignored! Get the
reading done and your reactions posted (twice) by Sunday.
June 7-June 13 Nothing
Sacred, read
“Hindu Women’s Activism in India,” p. 189
“Religion, Culture, and Sex Equality,” p. 215
“After the Taliban,” p. 329
“Returning from Kabul,” p. 343
“Unholy Wars, p. 397
“Women’s Human Rights and Security,” p. 413
Note: This week, read and respond to half of this by
Wednesday and the second half by Friday/Saturday (leaving time for
responses to each other’s posts by Sunday)
June 14-June 20 Reading
Lolita in Tehran, read to p. 238
(I’ll be in Milwaukee at a conference this week, but
will set aside two days to get online, probably Thursday and
Saturday.)
Note: Begin browsing the internet for your online
presentation.
June 21-June 27 June 21-23: closing comments on RL
June 24-27: Power Politics
& Ecofeminism
Note: read the four or the five essays, your
choice. Decide what your online presentation will be on and begin
putting it together.
June 28-July 4 June 28-29: respond to Ecofeminism
websites:
What is Ecofeminism? http://www.ecofem.org/
Ecofeminism -- Rosemary Radford Reuther
http://www.spunk.org/library/pubs/openeye/sp000943.txt
Ecofeminism Webring
http://x.webring.com/hub?ring=ecofem
June 30-July 4: Packet: Enloe, Grewal, Mohanty, Zane, and Gunning
Note: This week has a lot going on, especially with the 4th of July
weekend. Try to get at least three of the five essays from the packet
read. I’ll need you to forward your presentation to me by Sunday, if
possible, Monday morning at the latest!
July 5-July 11 July 5-7: online presentations due and
feedback due (I must receive all presentations by Monday a.m.)
Read/view the presentations of all your classmates and respond to two
(we’ll divvy this up).
July 8-11: Policing the National Body,
read
“Private Fists and Public Force,” p. 1
“Killing the Black Community,” p. 55
July 12-July 18 Policing
the National Body, read
“Abortion in the United States,” p. 103
“Better Dead than Pregnant,” p. 123
“The Gendered Assault on Immigrants,” p. 175
“The Changing Faces of Population Control,” p. 259
July 19-July 25 Are
Prisons Obsolete
See what websites you can find on the topic—either
pro-prison or anti-prison, and share one or two sites sometime this
week.
July 26-July 31 July 26-27: closing comments on APO
July 28-30: Seminar papers due (attachment or hand-delivered to WSC);
if everyone is willing and able, we’ll meet to share final project ftf