Course Syllabus

Readings

Readings and Assignment Sheets are available through the links below or, if marked "CR," through the Canvas Course Reserves link at left. Please bring HARD COPY of all readings to class.  Assignments are due in class unless otherwise noted. 

Unit One: Introduction

24 Aug: Week One-- Introductions

• Friedman, (Inter)disciplinarity and the Question of the Women's Studies Phd (1998)
• Buker, Is Women's Studies a Disciplinary or Interdisciplinary Field of Inquiry? (2003)
• Due: Writing Sample and Cover Letter

31 Aug: Week Two-- Practice Writing/Writing Practice

• Silvia, How to Write a Lot
• Booth, "Thinking In Print" (CR)
• Lamott, "Shitty First Drafts" (CR)
• Due: Weekly Assignment #1: Writing Practice Paper & Completed Writing Calendar, 25-31 Aug (click on "Weekly Writing Work Plan Calendar)
• TT's Calendar
• Grotesque and Classical Bodies
• Rockquemore, "The Sunday Meeting"

7 Sept: Week Three—No Class—Labor Day

Unit Two: Histories and Theories

14 Sept, Week Four:  Feminist Thought: the Big Picture I

• Mann, Doing Feminist Theory, Introduction and chpts. 1-5
• Due: Weekly Assignment #2: Create Reading Questions
• 12:50- 2:30, class discussion
• chapter 2 outline
• 2:45-3:50, MA students-- bibliographic workshop with library subject specialist Paul McDonough; Phd students meet with TT to discuss research agendas

21 Sept, Week Five: Feminist Thought: the Big Picture II

• Mann, Doing Feminist Theory, chpts. 6-7 and 8,9, or 10
• Due: Weekly Assignment #3, Report on Local Resources
• 12:50-2:20, class discussion
• 2:30-3:50, Refworks workshop with library specialist Cindy Craig, Library West room 211

28 Sept, Week Six: Historicizing Women's Studies I

• Messer-Davidow, Disciplining Feminism, Intro and Chpts 1-4
• Due: Weekly Assignment #4: Comparative Note-Taking
• Generic Note-Taking Form
• Slaugher, "A Toxic Work World"

5 Oct, Week Seven: Women’s Studies and Feminist Pedagogy

• Henderson, Feminist Pedagogies (this is a nice overview with bibliography)
• Belenky, "Toward an Education for Women" from Women's Ways of Knowing (1986)
• hooks, "Building a Teaching Community" (1994)
• Broad, "FemiQueer PedagogieS" (2001)
• Ludlow, "From Safe Space to Contested Space" (2004)
• Due: Weekly Assignment #5: Journal Report

12 Oct., Week Eight: Women's Studies in Practice at UF Today

• Booth, sections on "Planning" from The Craft of Research
• Abbott, "Introduction," and “Preliminary Phase,” from Digital Paper: A Manual
• Panel discussion by CWSGR advanced graduate students/alums
• Robert Baez, 2nd year MA student

• “Country Queers: Youth Navigating the Rural Environment” 

• Amy Brown, Phd Candidate, Religion (Women's Studies Certificate)
• “With Child: Mother-Fetus Relationships and the Balance of Dependence and Autonomy"
• Yukai Chen, 2nd year MA student
• "The Othered Gender: a quantitative study on representations of Asian/Asian Americans men in recent American television"
• Jessica Lancia, Phd History (Women's Studies Certificate), 2015
• "Gloria Steinem: The Transnational Life of an American Feminist"
• Michelle Harris-Heeg, MA, Women's Studies, 2012
  • "Feminist Thought-Experiments: Geek Feminism, Open Access, and Speculative Feminist Theory Trajectories"

• Weekly Assignment #6: Mid-Term Self-Assessment & Final Project Proposal
• Example "Pitch" Letter

Unit Three: Disciplines and Methods

19 Oct, Week Nine: The Pre-Problematized World

• Background on Readings
• Arnold, from Culture and Anarchy (1867-8)
• Bierstedt, "Sociology and General Education" (1970)
• Appelby et al, "The Heroic Model of Science" (1995)
• Worthen, "Lecture Me. Really" (2015)

26 Oct, Week Ten: Work Week

• Meet individually with instructor to submit Work Plan for final project and discuss/ troubleshoot final projects
• Due: Final Project Work Plan

2 Nov, Week Eleven: Feminist Social Science and the Revolt Against Positivism

• Smith, "Women's Perspectives as a Radical Critique of Sociology" (1974)
• Harraway, "Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective" (1988)
• Collins, "The Social Construction of Black Feminist Thought" (1989)
  • Due: Weekly Assignments #7: Numbered Paragraph List
    

9 Nov, Week Twelve: Cancelled Due to Mental Health Challenges!

 16 Nov: Week Thirteen: "Standpoint" in the Humanities

 Welter, "The Cult of True Womanhood" (1966)

• Smith-Rosenberg, "The Female World of Love and Ritual" (1975)
• Carby, "Slave and Mistress: Ideologies of Women under Slavery" (1987)
• Due: Weekly Assignment #8: Reverse Outline
• Reverse Outline

Unit Four: The Present State of the Field

23 Nov: Week Fourteen: Work Week

• Meet individually with instructor to discuss and troubleshoot final projects
• Due: Final Project Status Report

30 Nov: Week Fifteen- Guest Speakers; Feminist Digital Humanities

• Fitzpatrick, DH Definition in Scholarly Communication Interview
• Kircschenbaum, "What is Digital Humanities and..."
• Wernimont, "Introduction to Feminisms and DHQ Special Issue"
• (Browse the journal and look at a few articles that spark your interest)
• Guest Speakers
• Dhanashree Thorat, PhD Candidate, English Dept.
• Women Writers Project
• Tim Kavaklian-D'Annecy, MA Women's Studies, 2015
• Florida NOW Digital Archive

7 Dec: Week Sixteen--  Conclusions

• Research Presentations
• A How-to Guide

Final Projects Due via Canvas by Noon, Friday, 11 December

15 Dec: PARTY!

• 1429 NW 20th Street
• GPS directions not reliable! Heading West on NW 16th Ave (from, say, 13th St.), turn LEFT on NW 18th St.  Make the first RIGHT on NW 14th Ave, then RIGHT onto NW 20th St., a small cul de sac. House is at the end, on the right.
• TT will provide vegetarian, gluten-free chili and "fixins."