Women S Studies 640: Advanced Seminar in Women S Studies

Women’s Studies 640: Advanced Seminar in Women’s Studies

Topic: New Sites of Feminist Activism: Transgressing Boundaries of the Body, Public/Private and the Nation- State

Professor: Jane Collins 11-12:15 Tues, Thurs Office: 312 Agricultural Hall 223 Ingraham Hall Email: [email protected] Office Hours: T 8:30-10:30 am

Is shopping politics? What are the consequences of keeping sexual choices private, as the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy? Should government have a say in family life? How does the food we eat connect us to others? What all these questions have in common is their questioning of the boundaries between public and private, the individual and the communal, the personal and the political. How feminists answer these questions informs the issues we adopt and the sites of our activism.

Forty years ago, second-wave feminists burst on the scene with claims that women’s liberation required making public—or political—many forms of oppression formerly held to be private or personal matters: from reproductive health, to patriarchal family laws, to domestic violence to the many faces of heteronormativity. They “publicized” sexual choices, alternative family forms, birth control and rape. More recently, in her book The Queen of America Goes to Washington City, Lauren Berlant argues that the feminist mantra ‘the personal is political’ has now been “reversed and redeployed on behalf of …the most traditional, apolitical, sentimental patriarchal family values. Today, the primary guiding maxim might be ‘the political is personal.’” Berlant and others have forged a powerful feminist critique of the emergence, since the 1980s, of a shrunken public sphere in which political participation is reduced to voting, social movements to signing internet petitions, and self-expression occurs primarily through consumer choices. During this same period, however, feminists have taken the lead in many new forms of activism that seek to trace the connections between the personal and the political, from the sexual politics of Queer Nation to consumer-based activism to new versions of unionism that emphasize community concerns.

In this seminar, we will explore these new sites of feminist activism and the ways that they challenge traditional boundaries of the person, the public and private, and the nation-state. In each case, we will consider whether these movements offer novel ways of participating in the public sphere, or whether they represent a retreat to individualism. This will lead us to a broader discussion of what feminism is contributing to contemporary debates about citizenship, power and political participation.

Accomodations: I wish to include fully any students with special needs in this course. Please let me know (the earlier the better) if you need any special accommodations in the curriculum, instruction or evaluation procedures in order to enable you to participate fully. The McBurney Resource Center will provide useful assistance and documentation.

Grade disagreements: If you have questions about a grade, speak to me first. If the question is not resolved, speak with the Chair, Julie D’Acci or Associate Chair, Mariamne Whatley. They will attempt to resolve the issue and inform you of the appeals procedure if no resolution is reached informally.

Texts (available at A Room of One’s Own; also on reserve in Social Science Reference Library on the 8th floor of the Social Science Building):

Lauren Berlant, The Queen of America Goes to Washington City: Essays on Sex and Citizenship Lisa Duggan, The Twilight of Equality: Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics and the Attack on Democracy Annelise Orleck, Storming Caesar's Palace: How Black Mothers Fought Their Own War on Poverty Deborah Barndt, ed. Women Working the NAFTA Food Chain: Women, Food and Globalization

A set of articles will also be on electronic reserve.

Participation: This course is a seminar and its success depends on your participation. Participation means keeping up with the readings and being able to discuss them thoughtfully in class. Good seminars involve lots of debate and the airing of many different points of view; in order to have productive exchanges we need to cultivate an environment of respect for one other’s views. Because this is a seminar, attendance is mandatory. If for some reason, you absolutely cannot attend class, please let me know in advance if possible, or email me the same day if you are ill. I will evaluate participation by how well you talk about your ideas, listen and respond to others’ ideas, remain sensitive to the feelings of other class members, and take responsibility for moving class discussion forward. Expressing your ideas and getting reactions from others can help you evaluate your own opinions and sharpen your thinking, and for most of you, this will be your last chance to do this in a Women’s Studies classroom. [participation is 10% of grade] Assignments

This course has been designated writing-intensive. This means that written assignments will be an integral part of the learning experience for the course. As the time for each assignment nears we will discuss specific goals related to the kind of writing we will be doing. I will also explain evaluation criteria for each assignment. I will provide you with detailed feedback on your writing for every assignment. I will review and critique a draft version of your final paper and return it to you to use in preparing the final draft.

Essay 1: Due September 25 th Both Duggan and Berlant write about the growth of individualism and the decline of the public sphere in the contemporary U.S., but they attribute this decline to slightly different causes. Write a 3-page paper comparing their accounts of how this situation arose. What solutions flow from each of their analyses? [15% of grade]

Essay 2: Due October 16 th Bodies would seem to be the ultimate private space—the haven of individualism. Yet they have been the focus of much feminist and queer activism and, in the case of torture, they have become a site for the enactment of state power. Write a 3-page essay using feminist theory, from this or other classes, to explain why this should be so. [15% of grade]

Essay 3: Due November 4 th Using examples from our readings, make a case for why acts of consumption are political, or why they are not, (or when they are and when they are not). Is consumption a particularly feminist issue? (3 pages) [15% of grade]

Essay 4: Due November 25 th In an era when dual wage-earner families have become the norm, and single-parent families have become commonplace, the distinction between a male public sphere and female domesticity appears to have broken down. Yet, in the U.S., the state has provided little support for domestic labor such as child and elder care. How have these dilemmas of “social reproduction” shaped women’s activism (particularly poor women’s) activism? (3 pages) [15% of grade]

Final Paper: Draft due December 4 th ; Final version due December 18th Choose a new form of feminist activism and document its emergence and its practices. Formulate a constructive critique of the movement that characterizes its goals and activities in relationship to boundaries between public and private, to public sphere visibility, and to the kinds of reconfigurations of citizenship that we have discussed in class. (8-10 pages) [30% of grade] Course Schedule

Sep 2: Introductions—to the course and to each other.

Part I. Feminist Critique: Re-imagining the Public Sphere

Sep 4: Fraser, Rethinking the Public Sphere Sep 9: Berlant, The Face of America and the State of Emergency Sep 11: Duggan, Downsizing Democracy and the Incredibly Shrinking Public Sep 16: Duggan, Equality, Inc., and Love & Money Sep 18: Berlant, The Theory of Infantile Citizenship and Outtakes from the Citizenship Museum Sep 23: two views of citizenship: the Simpson’s “Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington” and Satrapi’s “Persepolis” (excerpts)

Part II. Transgressing Boundaries of the Body

Sep 25: Williams, On Being the Object of Property; Pratt, Spatialising the Subject of Feminism. First essay due

Case 1: Sexuality Sep 30: Berlant, Live Sex Acts/Parental Advisory Oct 2: Berlant & Freeman, Queer Nationality; Berlant, Diva Citizenship Oct 7: meet with Women’s Studies librarian

Case 2: Feminist Responses to Torture Oct 9: Ehrenreich, Feminist Assumptions…; Brittain, Guantanamo Oct 14: Rivera-Fuentes, Talking with/in Pain: Reflections on Bodies under Torture; Richter-Montpetit, Empire, Desire and Violence

Part III. Transgressing Public and Private

Oct 16: Life after Graduation discussion Second essay due.

Case 1: Politics of Consumption Oct 21 Cohen, The Landscape of Mass Consumption Oct 23: Frank, Gender, Consumer Organizing and the Seattle Labor Movement, Sklar, Two Political Cultures Oct 28: Klein, selections from No Logo; Featherstone, Attention Shoppers Oct 30: Brooks, Children, Schools and Labored Questions Case 2: Community-Based Unionism and Anti-Poverty Activism Nov 4: Louie, Just-in-Time Guerilla Warriors; Collins, Redefining the Boundaries of Work. Third essay due. Nov 6: Orleck, Storming Caesar’s Palace, chaps. 1-3 Nov 11: Orleck, Storming Caesar’s Palace, chaps. 4-6 Nov 13: Orleck, Storming Caesar’s Palace, chaps. 7-9

Part IV. Transgressing Boundaries of the Nation-State

Case 1: Gendered Human Rights Nov 18: Kumar, South Wind Nov 20: Guest speaker

Case 2: Tracing Global Economic Ties Nov 25: Barndt, Intro and ch. 1. Fourth essay due. Nov 27 Thanksgiving Holiday Dec 2: Barndt, chaps. 2-5 Dec 4: Barndt, chaps 6-9. Draft of final paper due. Dec 9: Barndt, chaps. 10-14

Dec 11: Wrap-up: “roots and routes” pot-luck lunch?

Final paper due December 18th. Please leave it in my WS mailbox.