Dr. Muñoz
Macmillan 310
364-3248
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Hours
Required Texts
Toward a New Psychology of Women.
1986. [1976]. J. Baker Miller.
In a Different Voice: Psychological
Theory and Women's Development. 2000. [1982]. C. Gilligan.
Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development
of Self, Voice, and Mind. 1997. [1986]. M. Belenky, B. Clinchy, N.
Goldberger, J. Tarule.
Supplemental Text (not required, but
some readings from this text will be assigned and also available on reserve
in Long Library)
Lesbian Psychologies: Explorations
and Challenges. 1987. Boston Lesbian Psychologies Collective
Selected required readings will be on reserve in the library
Catalogue Course Description (short
version of what we will do this semester)
This course uses the theories and methods
of psychology to focus on women's development, personality, and role in
society.
Detailed Course Description (long version
of what we will do this semester)
The three texts that we will be reading
in their entirety focus on how gender interacts in just about all aspects
of women's development. For example, in Women's Ways of Knowing (WWK) the
development of the mind is examined as a process of gender. The authors
explore how being a woman in a patriarchal society forms one's thinking
in specific ways distinct from men's ways of knowing. Carol Gilligan notices
that women approach moral dilemmas differently from men because women emphasize
the importance of relationships and taking care not to hurt others in the
course of decision-making. This has complex implications for making moral
decisions, for example, deciding whether or not to have an abortion. Gilligan
observes that men tend to focus more on rules and laws in decision-making
and less on the potential harm done to relationships. Baker-Miller attempts
to reconceptualize psychology in ways that take into account how women's
oppression has led to the creation of strengths born of being marginalized
and subordinate to men. Baker-Miller argues that these strengths which
tend to be seen as weaknesses, for example, caring for others, need to
be understood as valuable and essential aspects of human psychological
development.
You may find yourself in agreement with what we read or you may find that your experience is quite different. Take the time to explore your own experience in relation to the research on women we will be studying. Reflect upon how your own thinking is received, subjective, procedural, or constructivist. Reflect on how your experience as a woman or as a man has given you strengths but also vulnerabilities. How do you make decisions that are moral, just, ethical, and that make you feel like a good person? How are you becoming yourself? How are you developing your voice? How is this all psychological? What can we learn about the psychology of men as seen through the experiences of women?
We will view films and parts of films on and about women's lives and development. We will view the films with an eye toward making connections between the theories we are reading and discussing and how these are demonstrated in practice through the lives of the women in the films.
Inquiry Groups, Essay Writing, and Presentations
We will model feminist approaches to
knowledge and learning in this course. To that end, we will work
in small groups, Inquiry Groups or IG's. For each essay one person
will be the writer and the others will be research assistants. The tasks
for writing the essays will rotate so that over the semester each student
will have written an essay and also have taken on a different research
assistant role. These essays are to be collaborative projects which
represent the thinking of all group members. This does not mean that the
essays be about agreement, but rather that all points of view must be discussed
before the essay is written and conflict and disagreement must be included
in the essay when these arise. What is central is that you form a work
group which can engage with the material of the course and work together
to put forth writing which examines the material and your discussion of
it in ways which are collaborative, insightful, and thought provoking.
And, of course, good writing is important! You can also include interviews,
films, and other material to add other perspectives to your essays.
For example, when it comes time to write about Baker-Miller's work you might consider your own strengths and vulnerabilities or interview other women and see what they say; discuss these, and write them up in essay form in relation to what Baker-Miller finds. So, what do you have in common with each other? With the women that Baker-Miller discusses? What is different? Are there age differences? Generational differences? Cultural differences? Read. Explore. Dialogue. Listen. Write.
The work you do collaboratively will then be presented to the whole class. After each essay is completed each IG will take about 15 minutes to discuss your process and the content of your essay with the whole class. For this, you should prepare a PowerPoint presentation stating the central issues, how you engaged with these, and what you might do the next time. The presentation will be given by one member of the IG but will have been put together by everyone in the IG. You, as a group, have to decide what is important to tell the class about what you did and how you did it.
Every week you will turn a short (1 page) reponse write-up based on that week's reading. These will be graded as checks (not letter grades) and are meant to be journal writing; where you keep track of your own experience in relation to the readings and class discussion. I will collect these at the end of each class since you can use what you've written as a basis for discussion in class that day. No weekly responses due on the days the of Inquiry Group presentations and when essays are due.
Assignments
Total points = 150
1. Participation in Class and Reading
Discussions (15 points):
-- Your participation in the class through
discussions of the readings, films, and your own perspectives are central
to the success of this seminar. Come prepared to discuss the readings each
week.
2. Inquiry Group Essays (60 points)
-- Three essays will be due throughout
the semester. See Inquiry Group description and process (above). Each essay
will be worth 20 points. Due dates: Sept. 27, Nov. 1, Dec.
6
3. Inquiry Group Presentations (60 points)
-- After each essay is completed each
IG will take about 15 minutes to discuss their process and the content
of their essay with the whole class. See Inquiry Group description and
process (above). Each PowerPoint presentation will be worth 20 points.
Presentation dates: Sept. 27, Nov. 1, Dec. 6
4. Weekly Responses (15 points)
-- Each week you will hand in brief written
responses to the readings. One-page double-spaced. Due as noted on the
syllabus.
Attendance and Assignments:
-- Attendance is required. If you cannot attend class for medical reasons or in case of emergency, please inform me in advance. If you are absent without a documented reason your course grade will be lowered as follows: one letter grade for every absence, for example, from an A to A-, B+ to B.
-- Assignments are due in class as written in the syllabus. Assignments handed in late will be graded a letter grade lower for every late day, the day they are due will be included as the first day.
COURSE READINGS & DUE DATES FOR ASSIGNMENTS
Week 1 (Aug. 30):
Overview of course, introductions, discussion
of assignments.
Free write on gender
Introduction to Toward a New Psychology
of Women.
Week
2 (Sept 6):
Reading Assignment:
Baker-Miller, Toward a New Psychology
of Women,
-- Foreword, pp. ix - xxv
-- Part I: The Makings of the Mind, pp.
1 - 26
Form Inquiry Groups based on individual
strengths
Weekly Response due
Week
3 (Sept. 13):
Reading Assignment:
Baker- Miller, Toward a New Psychology
of Women
-- Part II: Looking in Both Directions,
pp. 27 - 80
Telling Gender Stories: Audio recording
Weekly Response due
Week
4 (Sept. 20): This week will include participation in the lecture and
workshops by Winona LaDuke and Dr. Janet Helms who will be on campus Sept.
21, 22 & 23. Please see posters for detailed information on times and
places. You can include material from this week's cultural events in your
essay, especially by looking at the intersectionality of gender, race,
class, environmental justice, hurricane Katrina. Including these will greatly
add to the essay because these perspectives are not represented in the
reading.
Reading Assignment:
Baker- Miller, Toward a New Psychology
of Women
-- Part III: Notes in a Future Key,
pp. 81 - 142
Weekly Response due
Week 5 (Sept. 27):
Reading Assignment:
Gilligan, In a Different Voice,
-- Chapter 1: Woman's Place in Man's Life
Cycle, pp. 5 - 23
ESSAY #1 DUE
-- IG Presentations of Essays
Week 7 (Oct. 11): No class -- Fall
Break
Week 8 (Oct 18): Guest
Speaker: Dr. Maria Nieto Senour, "Gender and Ethnicity"
Weekly Response due
Week
9 (Oct. 25):
Reading Assignment:
Gilligan, In a Different Voice,
Chapter 3: Concepts of Self and Morality,
pp. 64 - 105
We will focus our discussion especially
on Chapter 3 this week since we didn't get to discuss it last week.
Please be prepared to brainstorm ideas
for your next Inquiry Group Project -- due next week!
Chapter 4: Crisis and Transition, pp.
106 - 127
Chapter 5: Women's Rights and Women's
Judgment pp. 128 - 150
Weekly Response due
Week
10 (Nov 1):
Reading Assignment:
-- Chapter 6: Visions of Maturity, pp.
151 - 174
-- IG Presentations of Essays
-- ESSAY #2 DUE
Week
11 (Nov 8):
Reading Assignment:
Belenky, et. al., Women's Ways of Knowing
-- Introduction: To the Other Side of
Silence, pp. 3 - 20
-- Chapter 1: Silence, pp. 23 - 34
-- Chapter 2: Recieved Knowledge: Listening
to the Voices of Others, pp. 35 - 51
Weekly Response due
Week
12 (Nov. 15):
Reading Assignment:
Belenky, et. al., Women's Ways of Knowing
-- Chapter 3: Subjective Knowledge: The
Inner Voice, pp. 52 - 75
-- Chapter 4: Subjective Knowledge: The
Quest for Self, pp. 76 - 86
Weekly Response due
Week 13 (Nov. 22): Trip
to Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell to see exhibit, "Will Boys Be Boys?:
Questioning Adolescent Masculinity"
Reading Assignment will be discussed
next week:
Belenky, et. al., Women's Ways of Knowing
-- Chapter 5: Procedural Knowledge: The
Voice of Reason, pp. 87 - 99
-- Chapter 6: Procedural Knowledge: Separate
and Connected Knowing, pp. 100 - 130
Weekly Response due
Week
14 (Nov. 29):
Reading Assignment:
Belenky, et. al., Women's Ways of Knowing
-- Chapter 5: Procedural Knowledge: The
Voice of Reason, pp. 87 - 99
-- Chapter 6: Procedural Knowledge: Separate
and Connected Knowing, pp. 100 - 130
AND
Belenky, et. al., Women's Ways of Knowing
-- Chapter 7: Constructed Knowledge:
Integrating Voices, pp. 131 - 152
Weekly Response due
Week 15 (Dec. 6):
Reading Assignment:
Belenky, et. al., Women's Ways of Knowing
-- Chapter 9: Toward an Education for
Women, pp. 190 - 213
-- IG Presentations of Essays
ESSAY #4 DUE