WS 310 Feminist Methodologies: Intersectionalities
Thursdays 5:00 - 8:00 pm
Cleveland Hall 105
Spring 2007
I owe a great deal of thanks to Professor Ednie Garrison for her generosity in the construction of this syllabus. Parts of the course have been changed/adapted but parts have been kept just as she had them and I would like to acknowledge all her work and thank her first of all.
Dr. Muñoz
310 Macmillan Hall
Tel: 315 - 364 - 3248
vmunoz@wells.edu
Office Hours
Course Description
(from Wells College catalogue)

Exploration of the complexities of race/class/gender/sexuality/ability/nation in the social construction of identities as they impact multiple inequalities. Examines methodologies and theoretical frameworks developed to understand how differing methods of classification and oppression operate as interactive and interdependent systems.  
Required Texts with Related Info Links (please add to these)

Methodology of the Oppressed. Chela Sandoval. 2000. Minnesota.
Related info:
 http://www.stumptuous.com/comps/sandoval.html

Decolonizing Methodologies. Linda Tuhiwai Smith. 2002. Zed Books.
Related info:
International Research Institute for Mäori and Indigenous Education
Native Feminisms Without Apology
Ayaan Hirsi Ali interview, New York Times

Research as Resistance. Leslie Brown & Susan Strega (Editors). 2005. Canadian Scholars Press.
Related info:
 Paper presented at York University by Deborah Barndt

Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Paulo Freire. 2003. Continuum.
Related info:
Wikipedia's take on Paulo Freire

Getting Smart. Patti Lather. 1991. Routledge.
Related info:
Patti Lather Faculty Webpage

Feminist Perspectives on Social Research. Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Michelle L. Yaiser (Editors). 2003. Oxford University Press.
Related info:
Joan Korenman's list of WS Programs & Research Centers Worldwide
Required Events & Road Trips
We will attend several events as a class and these are required for the course. On the weeks that we have Road Trips or on-campus events, for example, Activism Symposium, we will not hold a formal class meeting that week. I will try to schedule as much as possible off-campus events during our regular class meeting time to reduce logistical conflicts, but that won't always be possible.  Costs to events (tickets, transportation) will be covered by WS.
Road Trip #1: Feb. 15, Leave from Cleveland Hall at 3:30pm.  Had to cancel due to bad weather :(
Professor Amy Villarejo, "Television Time, or Thoughts on TV," Cornell University, Professor Villarejo is in the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance and Director, Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program. Please go to the following link and listen to Professor Villarejo's interview on "Queer Film" as preparation for our visit to listen to her talk: http://www.cornell.edu/humanities/features/interviews.cfm

Road Trip #2: April 7 Exhibit at George Eastman House in Rochester, Witness/KNOwWar/KNOwGenocide,
Leave from Main Building 1PM and return around 6PM.

Future Events/Road Trip

Play at Geva Theater in Rochester, Nine Parts of Desire, date TBA

We might also attend talks/conferences at Cornell and Syracuse University during the semester
Course Assignments

1. Personal Narrative of a Scholar (10 % of grade)
This essay is an autobiography of your development as a critical thinker/intellectual, student, and writer, including some reflection on how your gender, race, class, sexuality, culture, etc. has influenced your personal history in these areas. You may also articulate the kinds of questions, ideas, and subjects about which you are intellectually and politically passionate, but this is not a requirement of the assignment. In addition, you are welcome to include some exploration of yourself as a “feminist scholar,” if you do identify with the political-ideology of feminism; however, this is an invitation only. It should be about 4 - 5 pages in length.

Due: Beginning of class on March 1. Please note; date changed from Feb. 22

2. Weeklies: Weekly Discussion Papers (40 % of total grade)
Each week, students must hand in a well-written and clearly organized analysis based on the the week's reading. The paper should be 3 pages minimum, 5 pages maximum and should comprise a list of discussion points and questions that synthesize all the readings for that week as well as your theorizing/critique of and passionate engagement/indifference to the material. It is expected that students will be attentive to attempts to define new/troubling terminology and reflections on the ways the readings discuss and/or incorporate intersectional methodologies. Develop your points and questions thoroughly. Each week we will use these papers as starting off points for our dialogue. These papers are an invitation to everyone in the class to sit around the kitchen table and engage with the material in collective and indepth ways. During the weeks we attend events instead of having class, the discussion papers should also include your responses to the events.

Due: Beginning of class every week

3. Research Project (50 % of total grade)
Each student should select a topic to research throughout the semester. It is recommended that you select a topic you are considering for your senior project. Choose a topic you are passionate about and/or very intrigued by but of which you know little or just want to know more. Topics should be selected no later than week three of the semester, as your short proposal will be due around that time. Please be mindful that this project is concerned with research process and methodological development. You will not be writing a formal research paper, but rather preparing a formal prospectus for a research project you will potentially undertake. All assignments are designed to help you become informed about your topic so that you can design your own study. This project can take many forms and should be interdisciplinary to reflect the possibilities of feminist methodologies. For example, you could write your research prospectus as a grant proposal to produce a film or to develop curriculum; you could write up your research proposal as a pedagogical or activist project that you will carry out next semester; if you will be doing your senior project next year, take this as an opportunity to begin conceptualizing your thesis.
Attendance and Participation
The course is designed so that your attendance -- which is necessary for participation -- is required and expected each week. You are also expected to arrive on time. Please turn off cellphones and other electronic devices. If you cannot attend because of medical or family emergency, please email me and let me know. Documented absences will be excused. All other absences or being late to class will lower your grade by one letter grade.
Weekly Reading Assignments
This schedule is a work-in-progress. After a few weeks of selected readings by me, we will decide each week what would work best for the following week. You'll see this in the reading assignments below as TBA. This will allow each of us to take the class in directions we are interested in exploring further. Everyone will have equal chance to choose readings and, if you would like, to bring in supplemental readings that are not in our required texts. The required readings take interdisciplinary approaches but you are especially encouraged to bring in readings in areas which you might find are not well represented in our texts.
Reading Assignments

Week 1: Feb. 2
Overview of course, discussion of Kitchen Table pedagogy, collective goals and interests, what we want to work towards.

Week 2: Feb. 8
Readings:
Decolonizing Methodologies. Linda Tuhiwai Smith.
Chapter 1. Imperialism, History, Writing and Theory, pp. 19 - 37

Research as Resistance. Leslie Brown & Susan Strega (Editors)
Introduction, Transgressive Possibilities, pp. 1 - 18

Feminist Perspectives on Social Research. Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Michelle L. Yaiser (Editors)
Chapter 1. Feminist Approaches to Research as Process, pp. 3 - 26

Week 3: Feb. 15
Road trip #1: Cornell University, Professor Amy Villarejo's lecture, "Television Time, or Thoughts on TV." Professor Villarejo is in the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance and Director, Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program. Leave from in front of Main Building at 3:45pm.
Canceled due to weather :(. But excellent discussion of ideas and plans for research projects at The Fargo!

Readings:

Getting Smart. Patti Lather.
Chapter 1. Framing the Issues, pp. 1 - 18

Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Paulo Freire
Chapter 1. 43 - 70

Methodology of the Oppressed. Chela Sandoval
Chapter 2. U.S. Third World Feminism: Differential Social Movement, pp. 40 - 62

Week 4: Feb. 22
Today we will also catch up on last week's readings. Please write up your weeklies to include last week and this week's readings. Also, bring an draft outline of your research project ideas; typed up and organized.
Readings:
Decolonizing Methodologies. Linda Tuhiwai Smith.
Chapter 2. Research Through Imperial Eyes, pp. 42 - 53

Research as Resistance. Leslie Brown & Susan Strega (Editors)
Chapter 5. Interrupting Positions: Critical Thresholds and Queer Pro/Positions, pp. 127 - 152

Feminist Perspectives on Social Research. Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Michelle L. Yaiser (Editors)
Chapter 3. Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology: What Is "Strong Objectivity"?, pp. 39 - 64

Week 5: March 1
Readings:
Getting Smart. Patti Lather.
Chapter 3. Research as Praxis, pp. 50 - 69

Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Paulo Freire
Chapter 2. pp, 71 - 86

Methodology of the Oppressed. Chela Sandoval
Chapter 3. On Cultural Studies: An Apartheid of Theoretical Domains, pp. 66 - 78
Personal Narrative of a Scholar essay due in class; we will discuss what you have written in class.

March 2: Attend/Participate ENGAGE CONFLICT, Wells College Activist Syposium

Week 6: March 8
Decolonizing Methodologies. Linda Tuhiwai Smith.
TBA

Research as Resistance. Leslie Brown & Susan Strega (Editors)
TBA

Feminist Perspectives on Social Research. Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Michelle L. Yaiser (Editors)
TBA

Week 7: March 15
Weeklies on: Diversity & Strategic Plan events; derogatory words/vocabulary/discourse as resistance; film as a feminist methodology; responses to the film, Emperor Jones, and documentary of Paul Robeson. Due March 29.

Week 8: March 22 -- Spring Break

Week 9: March 29
Readings from Freire: Chapter 3
Readings from Sandoval: Chapter 6
To do in class: Choose readings for April 12 & April 19.

Short proposal due.

Week 10: Saturday, April 7: Road Trip
Exhibit at George Eastman House in Rochester, Witness/KnowWar/KnowGenocide,
Leave from Main Building 1PM and return around 6PM.
No weeklies due.

Week 11: April 12 No class this week. Dr. Muñoz will be participating in
the American Educational Research Association annual conference, April 9 - 13, Chicago.
To do: Weekly on "Witness/KnowWar/KnowGenocide";
photography and multimedia as feminist methods of inquiry; standpoint theory and positionality; viewing the "other."


Week 12: April 19

Weeklies on exhibit (see April 12 above) and today's readings due.

Getting Smart. Patti Lather.
Chapter 7

Decolonizing Methodologies. Linda Tuhiwai Smith.
Chapter 8

Research as Resistance. Leslie Brown & Susan Strega (Editors)
Chapter 8

Choose readings for April 26


Week 13: April 26

Readings for this week;

1. Gregg will make copies from bell hooks?

2. Freire, Chapter 4

3. In Naggy-Hesse, Chapters 15 & 16



Week 14: May 3

4:30 - 6:00 PM WS Senior Project Presentations in Faculty Parlors

Dinner Break 6:00 - 6:30PM

Class meets 6:30 - 8PM



Week 15: May 10
Research Proposal presentations

Paper due Friday, May 18 at 10pm in my office.