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Contemporary Women's Spirituality

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Contemporary Women's Spirituality CONTEMPORARY WOMEN’S SPIRITUALITY PARW 6500, FALL 2011 INSTRUCTORS Arisika Razak, CNM, MPH [email protected] 415-575-6198 (office) 510-379-8722 (cell) Office hours: Wednesday 3-5 pm and by appointment Alka Arora, Ph.D. [email protected] 415-575-6139 (office) Office hours: Tuesday 10:30–1, Thursday 3:30-6:30 and by appointment COURSE DESCRIPTION This course provides an introduction to some of the leading multi-cultural and multi-denominational voices of the contemporary Women’s Spirituality movement in the USA and throughout the world. It explores the spiritual practices, ethical beliefs, cultural experiences and libratory efforts of diversely gendered multi-cultural populations through an interdisciplinary lens incorporating religious studies, women’s studies, ethnic studies, queer studies, and philosophy. It reviews the foundational worldviews and gender ideologies of those in mainstream, marginalized, and alternative religious traditions. This course values both scholarly and experiential forms of knowing, and builds a community of learning that safely explores our differences, our commonalties, and our varied cultural and spiritual lineages. Course themes include: Z Reclaiming our heritage: multicultural, trans-historic explorations of women’s contributions to myth, ritual, spirituality and religion Z Language, metaphor, and storytelling in patriarchal, matristic, and libratory traditions Z Earth-based spiritualities, indigenous wisdom, ecofeminism, and liberation Z Women’s sensualities, sexualities, and identities Z Embodied and transpersonal ways of knowing: subjectivity, interiority, spiritual experience, and connection Z Spirituality in action: womanist/feminist/mujerista ethics, culture, activism and politics Z Alliance building, multicultural awareness, resistance to cultural hegemony and appropriation, unlearning oppression COURSE GOALS • To provide an introduction to some of the leading multi-cultural and multi-denominational voices of the women’s spirituality movement in the USA and the world. • To prepare the student for more responsible, knowledgeable and empowered participation in the global culture of the 21st Century through exposure to diverse traditions of spirituality and feminism. • To ground the study of Contemporary Women’s Spirituality in creative, experiential and visionary ways of knowing, as well as in academic study and scholarship. • To provide an environment that supports and teaches tolerance for diversity, un-learning racism and tools for building multi-cultural alliances. DIVERSITY: This course addresses sexual, ethnic, spiritual and religious diversity in the global north and south. Fall 2011 1 LEVEL OF INSTRUCTION: B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (Course requirements will vary depending on the level of the student) GRADING OPTIONS: WS Students – Letter Grade Recommended Non-WS Students – Student Option REQUIRED TEXTS: Plaskow, Judith and Carol P. Christ, eds. Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1989. **STUDENT OPTION –CHOOSE ONE OF THREE • Teish, Luisah. Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1998. • Novick, Rabbi Leah. On the Wings of Shekhinah: Rediscovering Judaism’s Divine Feminism. Wheaten, IL: Quest Books, 2008. • Beck, Martha. Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found my Faith. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005. **STUDENT OPTION –CHOOSE ONE OF THREE • Adisa, Opal Palmer. It Begins With Tears. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann, 1977. • Mariechild, Diane and Marcelina Martin. Lesbian Sacred Sexuality. Oakland CA: Wingbow Press, 1995. • Andrew, Elizabeth. Swinging on the Garden Gate: A Spiritual Memoir. Boston: Skinner House Books, 2000. RECOMMENDED TEXTS: WRITING SUPPORT • Paul, Richard and Linda Elder. “The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concept and Tools.” Foundation for Critical Thinking Press, 2008. • Strunk, William and E.B. White. The Elements of Style: Fourth Edition. New York: Longman Publishers, 2000. • Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual. Boston: Bedford, 2004. ASSIGNMENTS 1. READING ASSIGNMENTS/PRESENTATIONS ONGOING Class discussions are based, in part, on student presentations of the assigned readings. Readings will be divided up, and each student will select readings that will be presented in class on the days listed for discussion. Students presenting the readings are asked to prepare an “altar” or central focus point for the class that supports their presentation. Student facilitators may choose an embodied or experiential format, a more focused didactic lecture/discussion, or a mixture of these two styles. On designated dates, the class will discuss one or more of the “student option” books listed above. Please note: Not all readings will be presented. Students are expected to participate in class discussions on an ongoing basis; missing more than two classes may adversely affect one’s grade. Fall 2011 2 2. GIFTS AND CHALLENGES OF MY MOTHERLINE DUE: SATURDAY, OCT 23 The Motherline Presentation is a creative, embodied presentation of research into your own maternal lineage. These presentations will be made on Saturday, October 23; students unable to attend this class must schedule a make-up date with the instructor. After discussion with, and approval by the instructor, students may substitute an alternative lineage, if their maternal lineage is inaccessible (i.e. adoption) or inappropriate. 3. MOTHERLINE PAPER (Pages: 5-7 BA; 8-12 MA, 12-15 PhD) DUE: FRIDAY, OCT 29 The Motherline Paper is a research paper utilizing informants in the student’s own family as sources of primary research. Please incorporate perspectives from the assigned texts, recommended readings, and research texts to situate the events discussed within their appropriate historic, socio-cultural and spiritual frameworks. For examples, students are encouraged to review course texts that integrate personal voice and experience with research and scholarship, e.g. Jambalaya and On the Wings of Shekhinah. 4. FINAL PAPER OUTLINE – 1 page DUE: WEDNESDAY, NOV 9 Research paper outlines should indicate the paper topic, thesis statement, and main sub- arguments.Students should also identify at least half of the sources that will be used in final paper (see below for final research paper guidelines). 5. FINAL PRESENTATION DUE: WEDNESDAY, DEC 1 Using themes drawn from the readings, class discussions and personal interests in Women’s Spirituality, students will present a series of original, creative, embodied presentations representing their personal interests in Women’s Spirituality. These presentations may focus on topics arising from the final research paper. 6. FINAL RESEARCH PAPER (Pages: 5-7 BA; 10-15 MA, 15-20 PhD) DUE: WEDNESDAY, DEC 8 FINAL PAPER OVERVIEW (BA, MA AND PHD): This paper weaves together the student’s own personal reflections with critical analysis of course material. It has two parts: reflective and research-based. The paper should identify the student’s socio- cultural, spiritual, and philosophical lineage, along with some of the themes that emerge from significant or transformative life experiences, and/or their search for spiritual or existential meaning, healing, or transformation. If the student identifies with a particular spiritual lineage, this lineage should be situated within a socio-cultural and historic framework. In the research portion of their paper, students should compare and contrast their own socio-cultural/ ethnic/spiritual and/or philosophical lineage to the socio-cultural/spiritual/ethical/philosophical lineage of a group that was discussed in the readings. Themes of healing, transformation and change along with themes of restriction and limitation should be explored in both lineages. While readings drawn from outside the class in the areas of women’s spirituality, women’s studies, queer studies, ethnic studies or philosophy and religion may be included, the paper requires that students demonstrate familiarity with the themes, populations, and spiritualities discussed in the required texts. For example, students might indicate how the fundamental assumptions found in earth-based feminist spiritual traditions support or critique foundational assumptions found in their own spiritual/religious traditions or lineages. They might discuss the use of embodied knowledge and inquiry in their own or others’ religious traditions. They might compare the assumptions about gender, sexuality, or gender identity in two or more traditions. These topics are provided only as examples; students are encouraged to develop their own, original ideas for their final papers. One possible model for weaving together the personal and the scholarly is to begin the paper with personal reflection (about 1/3 of the paper) and then segue into a critical analysis/exploration of the course readings and themes. As a Women’s Spirituality program, we challenge the traditional academic ethos of scholarly detachment and value integrated, embodied knowledge. However, there is an art to effectively incorporating personal and scholarly writing, one that takes time and practice to develop. Fall 2011 3 Therefore, we encourage students to carefully read examples of well-integrated texts (e.g. Jambalaya or On the Wings of Shekhinah) and to seek additional feedback and guidance from the course instructors as needed. FINAL PAPER GUIDELINES Writing assignments for a semester’s three units of work comprise a minimum of 10 pages for BA students, 20 pages for MA students, and 30 pages for PhD students,
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