Our class meets for lecture on Tuesdays and Fridays from 11:25-12:15PM in LC100. Then (also on Tuesdays and Fridays) we have section from 12:30-1:20PM in HUM118.
You must complete readings before the class session for which they are assigned. We have one required book for this course that is available at the bookstore and for loan at the library.
Additional Readings
Required readings from other sources will be posted here on The PDFs page (you will receive the password in class.)
Meeting Schedule
CLASS CANCELLED DUE TO SNOW/ICE!
Tuesday, January 22, 2019 | Course Introduction: The Promise of Feminism
Speaker: Drs. Bryant, Hewett, Devlin O’Sullivan, and Pabón
PART 1: FEMINIST FOUNDATIONS
In this section of the course, we devote class sessions to key conceptual tools and frameworks that we will draw on throughout the remainder of the semester.
Friday, January 25 | Feminist Foundations: Gender and Sex
Readings:
- TC: “The Social Construction of Gender” pages 29-51
Speaker: Dr. Karl Bryant
Tuesday, January 29 | Feminist Foundations: Gender and Sex, continued
Readings:
- TC: “The Social Construction of Gender” pages 52-78
- Online: Hall, Kim Q. 2015. “Gender,” in Keywords for Disability Studies
Speaker: Dr. Karl Bryant
Friday, February 1 | Feminist Foundations: Sexuality
Readings:
- Online: McRuer, Robert. 2015. “Sexuality,” in Keywords for Disability Studies
Speaker: Dr. Lisa Bauer
Click here–> Intro to WGSS_SP19_2.1_Bauer to download Powerpoint Slides from Lecture!
Tuesday, February 5 | Feminist Foundations: De/Colonization
Readings:
- PDF: Ramirez, Renya. 2007. “Race, Tribal Nation, and Gender: A Native Feminist Approach to Belonging,” Meridians, Vol. 7, No. 2 (2007), pp. 22-40.
Speaker: Dr. Meg Devlin O’Sullivan
Friday, February 8 | Feminist Foundations: Privilege and Oppression
Readings:
- TC: Privilege and Oppression pages 89-113
- Online: Adams et al. 2015. “Disability,” in Keywords for Disability Studies
Speaker: Dr. Heather Hewett
Tuesday, February 12 | CLASS CANCELLED DUE TO SNOW/ICE!
Friday, February 15 | Feminist Foundations: Privilege and Oppression
Readings:
- TC: Privilege and Oppression pages 113-131
- PDF: Adrienne Rich “Towards a Politics of Location”
Speaker: Dr. Karl Bryant
In Section: Review “Who Am I” Assignment
Tuesday, February 19 | NO CLASS (MONDAY SCHEDULE) BUT MAKE UP WORK FROM SNOW DAY: DUE 2/22 before class!
Feminist Platforms: Art
- Read PDF: Linda Nochlin, “Why Are There No Great Women Artists?,” ArtNews
- Watch on KANOPY: Reclaiming the Body OR
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Complete Quick Write on Essay and Film: http://bit.ly/PabonQW2
PART 2: FEMINIST PLATFORMS
In this section of the course, we address specific topical areas and issues that have been the subject of feminist thought and action.
Friday, February 22 | Feminist Foundations: Intersectionality
Readings:
- TC: Intersectionality pages 141-179
Speaker: Dr. Jessica N. Pabón
Tuesday, February 26 | Feminist Platforms: Environment
Readings:
- PDF: Gaard, Greta. “Ecofeminist Revisited”
Speaker: Dr. Kate McCoy
Assignment Due: “Who Am I?” Presentations in section
Friday, March 1 | Feminist Platforms: Family
Readings:
- PDF: Dewi Oka,Cynthia. “Mothering as Revolutionary Praxis” in Revolutionary Mothering pages 51-57
- Online (interactive): “Redefining Families: The role of chosen families and peer support networks in communities of youth experiencing homelessness”
Speaker: Dr. Heather Hewett
Assignment Due: “Who Am I?” Presentations in section
Tuesday, March 5 | Feminist Platforms: Education and Pedagogy
Readings:
- PDF: Teaching to Transgress Excerpt
- PDF: Yoas, “I went to College”
- PDF: Joni L. Jones, “Sistadocta: Performance as Critique of the Academy”
Speaker: Dr. Robyn Sheridan
Friday, March 8 [International Women’s Day]| Feminist Platforms: Beauty
Readings:
- PDF: Selections from WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly special issue on Beauty (2018):
- Pérez-Rosario, Vanessa. “On Beauty and Protest” pp. 279-285.
- White, Michele. “Beauty as an ‘Act of Political Warfare’” pp. 139-156.
- Gentles-Peart, Kamille. “Controlling Beauty Ideals: Caribbean Women, Thick Bodies, and White Supremacist Discourse” pp. 199-214.
Speaker: Dr. Jackie Berry
Tuesday, March 12 | Feminist Platforms: Economy
Readings:
Speaker: Dr. Leigh Dodson
Friday, March 15 | Feminist Platforms: Health
Readings:
- PDF: Chinyere Oparah Bonaparte. 2015. “Introduction,” in Birthing Justice: Black Women, Pregnancy and Childbirth, pages 1-15.
- PDF: Ehrenreich, Barbara, and Deirdre English. 2010. “Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers” pp. 1-24.
Speaker: Sascha Conterelli and Maria Mendoza of the New York State Association of Licensed Midwives (http://nysalm.org/)
March 18 – March 22 SPRING BREAK
Tuesday, March 26 | Feminist Platforms: Science
Readings:
- Angela Johnson et. al., “Common Challenges Faced by Women of Color in Physics, and Actions Faculty Can Take to Minimize Those Challenges,” The Physics Teacher 55, 356 (2017).
Speaker: Dr. Catherine Herne
Friday, March 29 | Feminist Platforms: Reproductive Justice
Readings:
- PDF: Ross, Loretta, et al, “Introduction” Radical Reproductive Justice
Prepare for Section: Bring the highlighted/annotated/underlined reading printed out to class. We will work on reverse outlining!
Speaker: Dr. Meg Devlin O’Sullivan
Tuesday, April 2 | Feminist Platforms: Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence
Readings:
- Online: Tillet and Tillet. 2019. “After the ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ Documentary, #MeToo Has Finally Returned to Black Girls”
- Online: Brodsky, Alexandra, “Can Restorative Justice Change the Way Schools Handle Sexual Assault?”
Prepare for Section: Bring an idea for your platforms essay.
Speaker: Emma Morcone, Deputy Title IX Coordinator SUNY New Paltz
PART 3: FEMINIST ACTIONS
In this section of the course, we examine a number of specific sites and movements where feminists have worked to create individual and collective change.
Friday, April 5 | Feminist Actions: Doing Feminism
Readings:
- TC: “Feminist Praxis” pages 191-225
- Online: Audre Lorde “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” You can also listen to her give the speech and the audience reaction. Lorde’s remarks start at about 41 min on the bottom recording, and continue (w/ a small gap in recording) on the top tape.
Prepare for Section: Bring a 3-page draft to section for peer review.
Speaker: Dr. Jessica N. Pabón
Tuesday, April 9 | Feminist Actions: Electoral Politics
Readings:
- Watch: Mykki Blanco recites ‘I Want A Dyke For President’ – A film by Adinah Dancyger Poem originally by Zoe Leonard
- Online: Pollitt, Katha. 2018. “The End of Likability Politics”
- PDF: Girls Just Wanna Not Run: “The Gender Gap in Young Americans’ Political Ambition”
- Recommended PDF (we will use this in section): The #WomensWave Agenda
Speaker: Dr. KT Tobin
Assignment Due: Feminist Platform Essay in section
Friday, April 12 | Feminist Actions: The Movement for Black Lives, #BlackLivesMatter, & #SayHerName
Readings:
- PDF: Combahee River Collective, “A Black Feminist Statement” (United States, 1977), pgs. 325-330.
- PDF: Garza, Alicia. Interview with Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor in How We Get Free, pgs. 145-175.
- Suggested: http://www.blacklivesmattersyllabus.com/
Speaker: Hudson Valley BLM Representative
Tuesday, April 16 | Feminist Actions: Majoring in WGSS & Student Activism
Readings:
- PDF: Michele Tracy Berger and Cheryl Radeloff, “Women’s and Gender Studies Graduates as Change Agents: Six Profiles”
Speakers: Student Speakers moderated by Dr. Karl Bryant
Friday, April 19 | Feminist Actions: Writing for Change
Readings:
- Online: Rachel Somerstein, “2018 was dubbed the year of the woman. You wouldn’t know it from the pictures.”
- Online: Stacey Abrams “concession” speech
Speaker: Dr. Heather Hewett
Tuesday, April 23 | Feminist Actions: Transnational Feminism
Readings:
- PDF: United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women Speeches (1995), pp. 402-414
- Online: Patricia Valoy, “Transnational Feminism,” Everyday Feminism
Speaker: Dr. Heather Hewett
Friday, April 26 | Feminist Actions: Living a Feminist Life
Readings:
- PDF: Ahmed_Feminist Killjoy Toolkit and Manifesto
Speaker: Drs. Bryant, Hewett, Devlin O’Sullivan, and Pabón
Tuesday, April 30| Feminist Action: Respectability and Rage
Readings:
- Online: Read 4 essays of your choice from the “The Future is Furious” Series https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/the-future-is-furious
Speaker: Dr. Jessica N. Pabón
Friday, May 3 | Feminist Action: Radical Love
Readings:
- PDF Excerpts from hooks, bell All About Love: New Visions pages xv-14.
Speaker: Dr. Meg Devlin O’Sullivan
Tuesday, May 7 | Course Wrap-up
Friday, May 17, 2019 | Final Exam Day
12:30 PM – 2:30 PM in section room
Assignment Due: Liberating Action Presentations
Twitter:
- How am I implicated in today’s lecture? How can I apply, and/or how do I relate, to today’s topic?