Feminist Reconceptualizations

Everything we know and care about, now more?

2007-11-23T22:19:00.000-05:00

• Due: Learning Analysis & Portfolio; YOU MUST COME TO CLASS AND PRESENT your LA to receive your credits for this assignment

What was the argument of the course?

Where did you fit into it?

What books connected you to it?

What happens now?

See you at WorldWise on Wednesday at 4pm

2007-11-12T10:43:00.000-05:00

Hi wmst 300 folks --

I got no negatives for using our Wed class time for attending the WorldWise event, so that's where we shall be for the next class.

It starts at 4:30. You must meet me there at 4pm to sign-in, a half-hour after our usual class beginning. You should remain until at least 6pm, the time our class usually ends.

Note that the event is at the Dance Theater at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, northeast of our usual location on campus. Check campus maps if you are not familiar with that area and need parking information or walking information. BE SURE TO ALLOW ENOUGH TIME TO GET THERE AT 4PM.

Driving Directions here.

I will answer the invitation myself for the whole class, so don't do it individually. If you have already done it individually, go back to the site and remove your indiv name and leave a note to say you will be attending with wmst 300 as a class.

Here is another message from the organizers to attenders: please do check out this website before attending the event.

Message about WORLDWISE: FABLES AND FORMULAS

Hello All,

I thought you might all be interested in checking out this additional website that was developed this last week by the LBSC 752 Information Access in the Arts course taught by Kari Kraus. They have compiled a modest bibliography of resources designed to support the Fables and Formulas symposium. They've published it in wiki format at
http://fablesandformulas.wetpaint.com/
Enjoy,
Beth

Here are the details of the event in invitation form:

you're invited!
WORLDWISE: FABLES AND FORMULAS

Host: Beth Loizeaux, Associate Dean, Arts and Humanities
Location: The Dance Theatre
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park, MD
When: Wednesday, November 14, 4:30pm
Phone: 301.405.5646
I'd like to extend a special invitation to you to attend the second roundtable in the three part series titled: WorldWise: The Arts and Humanities in the 21st Century. This conversation focuses specifically on the relations of the Sciences and the Arts and Humanities. I hope you can join us. Here are the details:

"Fables and Formulas: The Sciences and the Arts & Humanities Look at Each Other"

How do the arts and the humanities matter to scientists and to their work? Where might there be common ground for collaboration?

In this roundtable conversation, Dean James Harris of the UMD College of Arts and Humanities, award-winning choreographer and Artist-In-Residence, Liz Lerman, and panelists, Eduardo Kac, a Chicago artist internationally known for his interactive net installations and his bio art, and esteemed UMD faculty, Sandra Greer, Jordan Goodman, and Matthew Kirschenbaum will explore these questions. The event will include an audience question & answer session.
Attendees are invited to a reception at 6:30 pm, immediately following the pr

Reconceptualizations and democracy, feminist observations

2007-11-06T21:47:00.000-05:00

• Duggan, Equality?
• Due: Summary paper #5 (Duggan); decide which summaries you will post to Amazon

What are the cultural politics Duggan cares about?

How does it compare to your own politics and observations?

What forms of social justice does Duggan emphasize?

How do her understandings help us consider our own desires for social justice?

What does Duggan think we should be doing? What would that take?

Where do you fit in? Where do you want to be?

Wikipedia: neoliberalism:
"Neoliberalism refers to a political movement that espouses economic liberalism as a means of promoting economic development and securing political liberty. The movement is sometimes described as an effort to revert to the economic policies of the 18th and 19th centuries classical liberalism.^[1] Strictly in the context of English-language usage the term is an abbreviation of "neoclassical liberalism", since in other languages liberalism has more or less retained its classical meaning."

Duggan, xi, xii:
Five phases of neoliberal hegemony:

1) "attacks on progressive redistributive internationalism" in 50s and 60s
2) attacks on "downwardly redistributive" social movements in 60s and 70s
3) "pro-business activism" in the 70s, organizing to to 'redistribute resources upward"
4) "culture wars" in the 80s and 90s
5) nondistributive "equality" politics for global consumption and upward distribution of resources in 21st century.

Climate for Higher Education and the Corporatization of Academe (11-07)
Spellings Report and responses: brief bibliography:

A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U. S. Higher Education. Report of the Commission Appointed by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings (Sept. 2006). http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/index.html

commission report: http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/reports.html

USDofED update: http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/plan/index.html

Carnegie response (Lee Schulman) http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/news/sub.asp?key=51&subkey=2024

AAC&U response to draft report http://www.aacu.org/About/statements/SpellingsFinalDraft.cfm

AAC&U response to report http://www.wpacouncil.org/node/486

MLA response: http://www.mla.org/comments_spellingsreport

NASULGC Voluntary System of Accountability http://www.nasulgc.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=170

STUDENTS NOTE:
I'd like you to look over your summary for today and make sure it really summarizes the WHOLE book, not just the beginning. If that is not really clear, please rewrite the summary for today. I will give permission for folks to post again tomorrow if that is the case. Also, the summary part is intended to be substantive -- about a page and half worth of discussion and description, before anything else is added. So, -- check yours out -- make sure it is substantive and thoroughly overs the whole book, and if there is any question in your mind that it does this, please rewrite it and repost it. Summaries too brief and too limited won't get credit.

Interdisciplinarity is risky and worldly practices matter

2007-10-28T20:49:00.000-04:00

• Haraway, How Like a Leaf
• Due: Summary paper #4 (Haraway); LOOK HER UP ON THE WEB

What do you learn about Haraway from looking her up on the web? How does that knowledge help you put this book in contexts that matter? What are some of those contexts?

Compare and contrast this book to the others we have read so far. What do you notice?

Why is this an interview?

What work does this book do for our better understandings of feminist theory? Where could it take us?

Funny Article

2007-10-26T15:57:00.000-04:00

Funny article that could spark interesting womens studies converstation...

Kenyan Monkeys Make Lewd Gestures at Women Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Who's a cheeky monkey? Kenyan officials are not sure how to handle a troop of rude monkeys that's been making lewd gestures at women, London's Daily Telegraph reports. "Can the [tourism] minister deploy game rangers ... to deal with the monkey menace?" pleaded local representative Paul Muite in Kenya's national parliament last month, to accompanying laughter. "These creatures have clearly shown that they have no respect for women." Gichuki Kabukuru of the Kenya Wildlife Service told the Telegraph that monkeys and baboons commonly harass women, gesturing at them and touching their own private parts. "Even in our camps," he explained, "when men are out on patrol and the monkeys see women and children, they will become very naughty and make lewd signs at them." Residents of the Kabete region south of the capital, Nairobi, say women harvesting crops have taken to dressing as men to avoid being bothered by the perverted primates.

Obligations to Identity

2007-10-25T13:24:00.000-04:00

This Bridge We Call Home, Section V.
"Shouldering more identity than we can bear"...seeking allies in academe
Mehrnoush Karimian and Sarah Sample

“By being one of the few recognizable faces in a sea of white academics, we, whether we want to or not, represent our raza. This is not necessarily a good thing. We are just who we are- individuals. We are not representatives of countries, gender, ethnicity, or sexuality. Yet, because there are so few of us, we often end up shouldering more identity than we can bear.” (p.364)

Does being part of a specific marginalized group automatically make you a representative or teacher for that identity?
Do we have a responsibility to our group to educate others?

“Transformation requires new strategic approaches… I argue for a politics of shredding the fabric of institutional regiment through refusal, sabotage, thievery, defecation. In doing so I acknowledge the necessary connectedness of subcultural resistance to other resistances, especially that of unlikely coalition- building.” (p.379-380)

What are appropriate sites of change? (i.e. the work place)
While reconceptualizing and critiquing your own identity, at what point do you cross the line between being collegial and being true to yourself, no matter how disloyal that may be?
At what point are you allowed to take action against the academic institution without risking your job?
What are some strategies that you use/feel could be used to build a union between subcultures and/or create a more inviting environment for people to learn more through asking questions? (i.e. the Cry-Smile mask-p.397)
Once you do get a coalition built and running, what is the next step to reaching out to people who are not as willing or open to learning about different subcultures and identities?
What is the incentive for a majority group to be pro-active?
Do you look at tokenism as a first step to diversity or as a hindrance to it?

“After a number of similarly uncomfortable encounters, I begin to understand that I have to be careful, and that perhaps it isn’t wise to be open about my life.” (p.392)

If your lifestyle reflects a certain groups’ identity, but you don’t actively proclaim that you are a part of that group, are you hindering that specific groups’ movements?
If you don’t identify with a social group, how can you claim to support the issues that they deal with?
How do you incite change in what you feel to be an unsafe environment, one that you specifically feel is unwelcoming to someone of your group?

* What is our individual responsibility to bringing about diversity to our sites of change?

Presentation: Section 7- “i am the pivot for transformation”... enacting the vision

2007-10-24T12:48:00.001-04:00

Section 7

“i am the pivot for transformation”... enacting the vision

73. “Thawing Hearts, Opening a Path in the Woods, Founding a New Lineage” -Helena Shulman Lorenz

Lorenz discusses how and why we are taught to conform to the majority culture subconsciously and consciously. She asserts that women’s studies academia is frozen in its current methodologies and suggests a new social theory for change, “…I began to dream of a new social change movement in which instead of a fixed platform or party line, we could accept the necessity for the community rituals of dialogue, evolution, and restoration. The starting point would not be obedience to a master narrative describing a single hierarchal and linear process, which always leads to scapegoating those with different and creative impulses. Rather, we might start the with recognition that every formulation was provisional and open to reframing; we would always need the ritual of community dialogue and storytelling to periodically restore the energy of our projects.” (p. 499)

75. "And Revolution is Possible": Re-Membering the Vision of This Bridge -Randy P.L. Connor and David Hatfield Sparks

Randy P.L. Conner and David Hatfield Sparks reflect on This Bridge Called My Back. They describe the feelings of community they shared with Gloria (editor of both editions of This Bridge), as well as the resentment they felt at being asked to vacate their home when lesbian separatists visited. They assert that they "recognized the need for women-only space, as [they] recognized the need for gay male space at events like Radical Faerie fatherings," but nevertheless resented being dismissed from their own home (p. 511).

77. "Forging El Mundo Zurdo: Changing Ourselves, Changing the World" - AnaLouise Keating

Keating asserts that we have been trained to define differences oppositionally, and that This Bridge authors expose stereotypes, split open labels, challenge false assumptions, and demonstrate that "it's not our differences that divide us but rather our refusal to openly discuss the differences among us" (p. 520). Keating is drawn to Gloria Anzaldua's vision of El Mundo Zurdo (the 'Left Handed World', a visionary place in which diverse people co-exist and work together to bring about revolutionary change).

She believes that we need a two-way movement to change the world. In other words, by changing ourselves, we can change the world. She says “I cannot offer pronouncements on how we can transform the world, or even how you can transform yourself. But I can tell you about my own efforts to engage in this two-way movement” (p. 522).

80. “now let us shift...the path of conocimiento…inner work, public acts” –Gloria E. Anzaldùa

Anzaldùa concentrates on the concept conocimiento, which is the journey to finding ourselves, through using all of our senses. She asserts that there are seven stages of conocimiento where, “Bits of your self die and a reborn in each step.” (p. 546) She also discusses Coyolxauhqui, which is a part of conocimiento and it is defined as personifying “…the wish to repair and heal, as well as to rewrite the stories of loss and recovery, exile and homecoming…stories that lead out of passivity and into agency, out of the devalued in our lives.” (p. 563) Anzaldùa presents this paradox that comes with conocimiento, “ …the knowledge that exposes your fears can also remove them. Seeing through the cracks makes you uncomfortable because it reveals aspects of yourself (shadow-beasts) you don’t want to own. Admitting your darker aspects allows you to break out of your self-imposed prison.” (p. 552)

Discussion Questions:

· Connor and Sparks claim that they recognize the need for women only space, just as they recognize the need for gay male space. When are exclusionary spaces helpful, and to who? When are they not appropriate?

· Keating gives examples of premises that guide her in her life in the home, written word, and classroom that she believes help her promote transformation. What do you think of her premise that “out of all the categories we today employ, “race” the most destructive”? (p. 523).

· What kinds of premises do you embody to promote transformation? If Keating is right that “by changing ourselves we change the world,” what things can we do in our daily lives to change ourselves and by extension the world?

· Lorenz’s article discusses subconscious conformity to a majority culture. Can you think of instances in your life were this occurred, why, and how it could be changed?

· Anzaldùa asserts that conciemiento will lead to meaning in things that are “devalued” in our lives. What are things that are “devalued” that would if valued would lead to positive social change in our lives and transnationally?

This Bridge We Call Home

2007-10-24T12:06:00.000-04:00

This Bridge We Call Home

“This Bridge We Call Home” is a more in depth expansion to the earlier piece “This Bridge Called My Back” that aimed to take it one step further by adopting a transnational feminist perspective on how feminism(s) have affected the lives of women and men around the world. It attempts to express how the experiences of these women and women are shaping feminist theory today. Keating and Anzaldua use to idea “the bridge” as something that can both separate us and connect us to one another. It incorporates building upon what we already have and drawing connections to others we may have believed we could not relate. The “bridge” is viewed as a threshold or opening to spaces both uncomfortable and foreign to us. It draws upon multiple experiences to create a universal story that transcends societal barriers that connect us collectively to one another. Keating compares spiritual activism with new age spirituality in that: New age focuses almost exclusively on the personal, but spiritual activism begins with the personal yet moves outward, acknowledging our radical interconnectedness. While identity politics requires holding onto specific categories of identity, spiritual activism demands that we let them go (Keating, pg 18).

Questions

Do you feel as though this book did/can lead to change/transformation on multiple levels (p.10)? How did this book transform you?

When reading this book did many of you identify with the experiences with these people? How relatable were their experiences to the experiences of your own?

Has feminism truly progressed and how multicultural have we really become?

The term “women of color” is bandied about and yes, employed in empowering ways, but when used does it indicate a radically altered consciousness (Keating, pg 6)? Or have the promises of this potentially radical term become enmeshed in restrictive forms of identity politics?

Keating later expresses that 20yrs after the original Bridge was written that she still felt there was much work to be done. Do you think that this book aimed to accomplish what Keating expressed (Keating pg 8)? Is this an efficient form of activism? Who is the intended audience and what is the expected reaction?

There is an assumption that labels even the self chosen one are imprisoning and dangerous (p11). Do you believe that it is in fact possible to have a society free of any form of labeling? In reference to holding on to labels do you agree that labels can be something that separates us or are they highly needed?

Keating mentions that there were a lot of essays that were not incorporated to this anthology because of size restraint. Do you think that their choices in essay may have silenced other voices?

Section 6: 'yo soy tu otro yo - i am your other i"...forging common ground

2007-10-23T17:30:00.000-04:00

The Biggest Challenge: Gaining Understanding of Difference and Constructing a Way to Sameness
By Charlie Mercer & Jean Chung

Intro: Identity Exercise
Question 1: Identify yourself in three words.
Question 2: Name two privileges that you have as a result of these identifiers.

Summaries

62. My Tears are Wings by Chrystos
Art piece expressing her soul

63. The Color Beneath Our Skin by Carmen Morones
Short story of Odilia analyzing her employer’s layers of personality resulting in self-discovery
64. Connection: The Bridge Finds Its Voice by Maria Priotsaki
Empowering poem of suffering that leads to the discovery of personal voice

65. The Body Politic - Mediations on Identity by Elana Dykewomon
Short essay challenging all identities to unite with humanity
66. Speaking of Privilege by Diana Courvant
Brief essay on hierarchy of knowledge and utilization of privileges to speak out
67. The Latin American & Caribbean Feminist/Lesbian Encuentros: Crossing the Bridge of Our Diverse Identities by Migdalia Reyes
History and analysis of the importance of creating safe space and welcoming conflict for the creation of knowledge
68. Sitting in the Waiting Room of Adult & Family Services at SE 122nd in Portland, Oregon, with My Sister and My Mother Two House Before I Return to School (April 1995) by Ednie Kaeh Garrison
Stream of consciousness of a woman locating oneself within multiple, possibly contradicting, identities
69. Tenuous Alliance by Arlene (Ari) Istar Lev
Personal story of a Lesbian Jewish mom working with oppressions that are invisible and advocating effective alliances for her multi-racial children
70. Chamizal by Alicia Gaspar de Alba
Poem about breaking through social identity to find oneself with help of love and partnership

Summary and Analysis
Section 6 of This Bridge We Call Home focuses on ways to better understand identities and build community in the face of difference. We all have unique life experiences and layers of self. It is important to understand and celebrate ourselves before we are able to understand the whole. With a more complete awareness of sameness and difference we are better equipped to voice for our collective and form alliances in and amongst different communities.

Discussion Questions
1. How did you describe yourself?
2. What privileges do you think you have as a result of your identifiers?
3. How do you deconstruct yourself?
4. How do we understand our differences and consequently a way into sameness?
5. What are ways to bridge ourselves within our classroom community?

"Looking For My Own Bridge To Get Over"...Exploring the Impact: Section One

2007-10-17T12:53:00.000-04:00

“A Bridge Called My Back” is the inspiration of “This Bridge We Call Home.” The writers speak of the level of influence that the first “Bridge” had on each of their lives. “Bridge” represents liberation from the self and the expectations of others from a gender perspective. Each individual writer expresses their discontent through life acting out roles for others to approve. They build bridges to ease the pain and express joy, pride and acceptance of oneself. It is the longing for identity that eventually bridges everyone to self -acceptance. The bridge represents reaching out to others, while going the process of healing and liberation. The importance of pride and self- esteem is what the bridge makes possible.

Self-acceptance is a central theme for all of the stories in section one. Self-discovery is a secondary theme for the stories. The writers all have experienced discrimination in some form or fashion. These writers argue that self-acceptance and self- discovery is achieved through a set of negative and positive experiences and obstacles in the lives of individual. It is propelled by acts of discrimination from others and the feeling of being marginalized from everyone else in society or in their particular culture.

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you feel that women of color have now been more incorporated and accepted into the women's movement?
2. Should feminists focus more on women's issues worldwide that may be much more pressing than women's issues in the United States?
3. Is racism a white woman's problem as much as a black women or hispanic woman's problem? How can white women more actively fight against racism instead of simply being politically correct in saying that they are not racist?
4. Should feminist theory be written in academic language, "real-life" language, or both?
5. Do you feel that the so-called third wave feminist movement is actually taking place?
6. How can American feminists create bridges or international coalitions with women who have possibly not even heard of feminism?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcapO8EsKM8&session=IE6n3bUquR7-uXaaNovfCk5yeLQl_k27DXsO67W8slVe_W2FTRh_k3yCzKZbTrlyDkWfco9q2uwLB84YFECPWMG2eDNPo92ulf9m3mrOkd9qeiwZCkeP6Nl069u-_mX_ApEc0VVB_orvZ22KUZiqln_zc4CxtxXNxH1w4PyHDYFc1VMJY_p0JSBs6iH9F-7Aq7PQm1ZakvTC6hQqXBMNTZIv3TNxc5xt7WtigTnstvVXKkGSz8SOwW_A2Ctwbya0WYV9BOYBvLipjHqc27-uiPVEX5DPyTu_

"still struggling with the boxes people try to put me in"... resisting the labels

2007-10-17T10:02:00.000-04:00

"still struggling with the boxes people try to put me in"... resisting the labels

The second section of this bridge we call home edited by Gloria E. Anzaldua and Analouise Keating discuss themes such as race identity and sexual identity. The section is broken in to thirteen parts. The parts consist of short stories, poems, and art created by women and men of color. The underlying connection between all works is a desire to find a place in the world where you are not questioned for what you look like and others do not assume anything of you due to your outward appearance. This section questions the function of race and indicates that accuracy was never its intended purpose. Many of the authors found that they felt the need to move through public space as if they were putting on a public performance, masking their true identity to live within a developed standard of how to act. These people feel as if their face is marked with instructions of how to be. All the while these individuals often receive contradictory messages from family and culture. In the thirteenth work a woman describes her struggle with continually being asked, “Where do you come from” due to her dark skin. She is of Arab and Cuban decent and finds answering questions tricky because she is never able to satisfy the listener to “what” she is. The fourteenth work again discusses the frustration of being racially labeled. The author finds that labeling “invites assumptions and conclusions” and feels self doubt due to her constant stress of how her race fits. The author becomes ill, unable to escape her feelings of powerlessness. The sixteenth work is written by a woman who wishes to be authentic. She is from German and Indian decent and wants to fit in and to be accepted where she was born, Germany. The nineteenth work deals with sexual identity and discusses the trauma that “queer” individuals face leading to high rates of suicide in queer teens. The author suggests we build a community and not to place people in categories of boy, girl, or other. The twentieth work also deals with sexuality but is from the perspective of a transgender individual. The author comments on how while gay is now more represented in the media, transgender does not exist in mass media. We are challenged to seek activism and social justice. The twenty-first work is a poem written by a woman who is telling you she will do whatever she needs to survive and will not feel guilty for it. The author has a take no prisoner attitude which is very empowering but throughout the piece she is defining herself with many different labels. The twenty-fourth work is a letter written by a daughter to her mother whom abandoned her. The daughter is Vietnamese and grew up in America. She is searching for answers, clinging to her Vietnamese history and her American identity hoping for her mother’s approval. This section of the book is written by individuals seeking change and equality for all. Third world feminism is brought up in this section and is defined as self-reliance while upholding traditional values of family, community, and marriage. Many of the authors struggle with this when trying to incorporate western feminism with their culture. Third world feminism allows these women to make their situations work for them. Through this section the authors had the same underlying theme that one can not leave an identity behind but one must investigate and embrace them all and the public must be willing to embrace that individual for their decisions.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1.DESCRIBE PEOPLE’S FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF YOU?

2.HOW IMPORTANT IS POLITICAL CORRECTNESS?

3.WHY DO WE FEEL THE NEED TO LABEL OURSELVES AND OTHERS?

4.IF YOU CHECKED OTHER HOW DID THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?

5.DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU BRIDGE ANY TWO CULTURES?

6.DO YOU FEEL INDIVIDUALLY REPONSIBLE TO REPESENT YOUR
CULTURE?

7. WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS PICTURE IS TRYING TO SAY ABOUT
IDENTITY?

http://www.reflectorart.com/jane/new_work/self_revealed.html

"Self-revealed" (1999) By Jane Orleman.
Orleman's focus of painting process is the exploration of psychological reality through symbolic narrative imagery

iv. "a place at the table"...surviving the battles, shaping our worlds

2007-10-17T02:27:00.000-04:00

What does the art at the beginning of the section represent? To what or whom does the title refer? Who is at the "table" and who is missing? How can personal experience promote activism?

This section of chapters focuses on how weaving together stories and experiences of struggle and triumph act as a binding force for feminists throughout the world. Women of many different cultures, classes, races, abilities, et cetera share their experiences of oppression and the challenges that they have faced in order to deal with the situation and overcome their struggles. The title regards the past, present, and future of women's struggles nationally and internationally, and strives to be inclusive to reader, writer, and contributor alike. The art, "Puente del Fuego" that introduces this section represents the diversity of these struggles, and how learning and growing from these experiences unites women and feminists. This sections serves as a call for empowerment through shared experience, and for activism as far as making safe space for each other and for ourselves (i.e., 'shaping our worlds'). Within this idea is a discussion of intersectionality, demonstrated in the stories or personal experience as well as in the structure of the section by itself and in the context of the book as a whole. Recognizing this gives the reader an appreciation for the individual representation as well as the lessons and strategies learned by reading and simultaneously interacting with the authors. This "connection" includes the reader on a more broad scale, and therefore works along the guidelines of the section as is is constructed and intended.

"This Bridge we Call Home Section 3 "locking arms in the master's house"...omissions, revisions, new issues "

2007-10-16T19:23:00.000-04:00

Liliana Wilson Grez is a profound artist who was born in Valparaiso, Chile. She earned a law degree in Chile, and studied art at Southwest Texas State University. Her many works depict a symbolic meaning in which they convey a message of many political, and societal issues. Her images concentrate on the struggles for integrity and the ideas of her images come from her dreams and the subconscious.

"As a Latin American woman who lived through a dictatorship in Chile, I use art to give meaning to a life history that is at once hard to confront and important to remember."

On Page 131, a picture drawn by Liliana Wilson Grez is titled "Burning House."
From the image, what are your first impressions?
What is Grez trying to convey through her image?
As you look closely, the burning house is floating on water, what does this symbolize?

Titles of Section 3: "locking arms in the amster's house"...omissions, revisions, new issues"
26. Burning House
27. "What's Wrong with a Little fantasy?" Storytelling from the (Still) Ivory Tower
28. Footnoting Heresy: E-mail Dialogues
29. Memory and the New-Born: The Maternal Imigination in Diaspora
30. The "White" Sheep of the Family: But Bleaching is like Starvation
31. Lesbianism, 2000
32. "Now That You're a White Man": Changing Sex in a Postmodern World-Being, Becoming, and Borders
33. Poets, Lovers, and the Master's Tools: A Conversation with Audre Lorde
34. "All I Can Cook Is Crack on a Spoon": A Sign for a New Generation of Feminist
35. DON'T TOUCH: RECUERDOS (SELF DESTRUCTION)
36. Premature
37. The Reckoning

bridge: impact, labels, new issues; First group Presentations

2007-10-11T13:54:00.000-04:00

• this bridge, from #1-#37, choose 10; grps do sections 1, 2, 3

• Due: partner presentations for sections 1, 2, 3

Today half of you will present your materials and lead discussion on sections from Anzaldua and Keating. What impact did the original "this bridge" book have? What did it contribute to "inclusion" in women's studies and feminist activisms? How does it connect with intersectionality? What issues do these authors see rising today and how do they suggest we take them up?

How to do it:

"You and a partner will do a presentation on this bridge we call home on one of two days. You need to find a partner right away so you can begin your planning. Each pair will be assigned by lot one section of the book to be responsible for working on. You may use a format similar to the one for summarizing if you like, or you two may come up with an alternative format you think would work even better for presenting these materials to the class. One of you will contribute a Post focusing on discussion questions to the blog, the other will contribute a Comment to that Post, suggesting interesting ways to put everything in context. The two of you will develop a handout for the class and bring copies for everyone on the day of the presentation. You will present for about 10 mins and lead discussion for another 15 mins. We will have as many as 4 presentations on a day."

A Global Economy now, Modern Pasts and Memory

2007-10-08T16:54:00.000-04:00

• Weston, Real Time. chaps. 4, 5; psych it out and examine footnotes carefully

How does Weston's book help us think about who we are, who we were, who we are becoming?

What tools does she give us for such explorations? Why does this matter in a women's studies curriculum?

How does this connect us to other fields of study, other activisms?

What does Weston's book do for us when we consider transnational feminisms and intersectional methods and identities?

Kath Weston on"time claims": "There can be no time claim without a time frame: history, infinity, chronology, generation, era, future/past. Implicit in these claims are modes of temporality (regressing, moving ahead, modern traditions, coming back around) and morality (stolen futures, lost generation, better days). In relativizing fashion, time claims tether me, you, and our brother's keeper to our respective timespots .... Time claims can even naturalize or denaturalize the very modes of reckoning embedded within them."

time discipline

Fordism

queer time

trans time

Gender in Real Time

2007-09-29T09:47:00.000-04:00

Changes in Gender Studies Today?

• Weston, Real Time. Preface, chaps. 1, 2, 3
• Due: Summary paper #3 (Weston)

Why does Weston use the idea of "Starship Gender"? What sort of "time machine" is this book?

Some of the key concepts are "time claims" and "a zero concept of gender." What do terms like this make you think about? Why is she using them? Zero1, Zero2, Zero3, Zero4,

What do we do when we encounter unfamiliar knowledge? How do we cultivate curiosity rather than be intimidated?

What resources do we bring to understanding feminist conversations we suddenly find ourselves in the middle of?

And what about the cover? Who is this artist? Why does her work, and this image in particular, add to the intellectual issues Weston raises?

Why UNSEXED? p25

0 = meta-sign: a sign about signs, a sign for absence of other signs p39
call of the third? binary => multiples p41
zero origins of ordering p48
global enumeration's specific sites p54

Called OUT of Classification p57

butch/femme denaturalizations? p74
are you in control of your gender performance? p76
interval between as one determinism loosens before another takes hold? p83
zeroing effects forever passing from the scene p89

Bridges

2007-09-23T14:05:00.000-04:00

Is feminism "radical"? Does this matter to you?

What range of meanings does "radical" have and for whom?

Why does this matter generally, or does it?

What is the history behind this collection of writings?

What are the histories of U.S. feminism and women of color that it includes? What other histories are missing?

How does the idea of "inclusion" matter in this collection? in women's studies? in the activisms assumed here?

How do you find this sort of thing out? Where are feminist histories and inclusions to be found?

How will you and your partner present this material on our presentation days?

WHAT ABOUT SUMMARIZING A WHOLE BOOK YOU HAVEN'T READ YET?

A student just asked:

I was confused on what we do our next summary on. It's not the whole book of Bridge right?
Then what section of we summarizing? and basing our Violated Assumptions on?

Number 1: did you talk to your class buddies about this? That's the first thing to do, even before emailing me.

Then: what does the syllabus say?
Note that we will take more than one class period to discuss a number of these books. You should be able to summarize the whole book on the first day, psyching it out, and reread sections for the other days. We will talk about how to do this more specifically in class.

Did we talk about this in class? Well, we did exercises psyching out a whole book with all the books. We did How to Read exercises in class. Everyone will be doing presentations over time. So you have some ideas about how to learn about a whole book even if you are specifically responsible for just one part.

Now: think it through. Be imaginative. Consider the *spirit* of the assignment. How do you do this?

Well, you need to read more than just the bit assigned for class discussion (hint: this is why this is an assignment). But first do that reading: all the introductions.

Then read the conclusion. Then read the Table of Contents carefully and come up with some ideas about the organization of the whole book. Use How to Read exercises. Find out the history of this book online. Look around online for some info about the editors, the press, the earlier book This Bridge Called My Back.

Back to the book. Sample a range of essays -- yes, just like a music "sample" -- read bits from lots of essays.

Then, summarize everything you've learned from doing this. Use that as the MAP for reading in this book as we go on with it.

Being able to do this will make all your reading for the rest of your life, in virtually every situation, clearer, more focused, broader, able to be put into context, and so on.

Think about what you learn doing this.

See you on Wednesday! Katie

What does Free Love have to do with Same Sex Marriage? and why have feminists engaged both?

2007-09-09T11:05:00.000-04:00

Same-sex marriage gets the vote in South Africa

Estelle Freedman puts gay marriage into various feminist histories, as does George Chauncey. Which historical moments do they tell stories about and why? Compare Chauncey's Why Marriage argument to Freedman's in "Boston Marriage, Free Love, and Fictive Kin." Be ready to talk about the historical investments feminists have had in reframing marriage. Goggle "free love" and check out "Queer Loving" on ResearchPort. Check out the link captioning the picture above for links to African women blogs and consider what transnational feminisms have at stake.

Create some research webs linking spots on the internet and bring them in to class to share.

This is the place to contribute Chauncey inspired materials: violated assumptions lists, summaries, and other ideas and associations.

Unleash your Curiosity!

2007-08-30T11:40:00.000-04:00

This is the place to investigate what you and others take for granted.

Nothing like laughing -- or not! to put things in perspective!

See what happens!

If you have any trouble finding the book, explore as many Alison Bechdel related websites as you can find and do the assumptions exercise with that material! Always come up with a good alternative if you have trouble with the letter of some assignment. Get into the spirit of it all!

Here is the Official Dykes to Watch Out For website:

http://www.dykestowatchoutfor.com/

See what else you can come up with!

Who We Are & Practicing Curiosity

2007-08-25T11:23:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the class!

I am your teacher, Katie King, and I will begin this post with an introduction of myself. Next, it will be your turn!

Add an introduction of yourself as a comment to this Post as soon as possible. Then, add another comment here again when we shift the blog from public to private. That doesn't mean you have to add private details, although you should be savvy about what you want to be public in any web venue; instead this is an opportunity to take into account having met others and having read their introductions as you add to your introduction, making it more interactive and companionable.

Practicing Feminist Curiosities

Some of you know me already or have met me socially, and others I look forward to meeting for the first time!

Interdisciplinary feminist theory is always humbling. I always come right up against the edges of my knowledge and understanding, usually sooner than later!

I imagine you will too. Still, remember that each of us in the class has great expertise of many kinds, and I hope the class will be a place to generously share what YOU know about with others. Such work also requires great friendships! Yes! How could we know it all? We have to rely upon and help each other out. I hope this class will be a place for you to make new friends and for us to create intellectual community.

When you read the syllabus you will see that the course has an argument to it. It won't become totally clear until the end probably, but you will get different glimpses of it at points in the semester. Try to figure out what it looks like now, at the very beginning. Charting how we experience the course over time gives us insight into how things, people, ideas move and change over time across communities of practice.

In the early 70s when I came to college a particular mobilization of so-called "interdisciplinarity" was occurring historically. All my undergraduate education was under this rubric, and I got degrees in literature and anthropology, studying classical Greek and medieval literature and culture, and southeast asia, especially Thailand. But I was also absorbed by math, biology and cybernetics as well as languages. I wrote my
undergraduate thesis on Beowulf (and read it in Old English).

At the same time I was an activist in the women's movement, the anti-war movement, the gay liberation movement, the children's liberation movement and the mental patient's liberation movement. Yes! These were all intertwined for the gay young people's communities I belonged to thirty odd years ago.

I grew up as an Army brat: I was born at Ft. Benning, Ga. I lived in Japan shortly after the end of the post-WWII U.S. occupation, in Ankara, Turkey at the height of the Cold War as the Berlin Wall went up, and in Thailand just as the Vietnam war was "winding down." My undergraduate years were full of transgression against my upbringing, but strangely also coextensive with it in a million ways.

I got my Ph.D. at my undergrad institution, UC-Santa Cruz, in the History of Consciousness Program where I studied with Donna Haraway. You will see her name throughout my books and even in our syllabus and class! I've always been playing with what she now calls technoscience, or what in my undergrad days we studied as cybernetics or systems theory, putting these ideas about thinking together with interests in culture and cultural products. I started putting everything I liked together in one great interdisciplinary amalgam I called "feminism and writing technologies." And that's what I've been working on in various ways ever since.

But that's an idiosyncratic "interdiscipline." Others I have worked in that have more collective status are Lesbian and Gay Studies, Women's Studies, Cultural Studies and now Cyberculture Studies and the History of the Book. These are all relatively recognized "interdisciplines" with virtually the status of disciplines today. They differ sharply from "Feminism and Writing Technologies" in this.

So how can we talk about such crazy intellectual patterns? That's a little bit of what this class is about. I've found vocabularies like "communities of practice," "boundary objects," "flexible knowledges" to be useful in thinking about where we find ourselves in 2007, making knowledge as feminists, inside and outside of the academy.

Part of the point of the class is to reflect upon and maybe change what Lucy Suchman calls the "working relations" of the academy, maybe of women's studies itself. So consider this question as a piece of such a process:

How do we come to be curious about each other's projects, languages, politics and practices? And what will doing this mean for our own class community specifically?

Rethinking knowledge and our Syllabus (in progress)

2007-08-13T13:02:00.000-04:00

What worlds do you imagine? How does your feminism shape these worlds? How have feminists altered the world in which you find yourself today? Which feminist reconceptualizations have made these changes possible? What feminist reconceptualizations will you work to create?

In this class we will explore the work such reconceptualizations do and how they are the ground upon which academic feminism and other sites of feminist knowledge making build. Women's Studies connects us to feminist communities and practices, within and also beyond the academy. In this course we will see Women's Studies as braided into many movements for social justice, and into alternative communities and visionary actions. Woven together these all constitute feminist reconceptualizations of knowledge, in the academy and in everyday life.

Enjoying epistemologies on the ground – that is, seeing reconceptualizations in action – is one way to describe what we will be doing. Intellectual "fun" is one of the goals of the course! And the topic in the news we will be playing around with are these interesting many debates on gay marriage. We will begin our having fun with making knowledge by starting off with Bechdel's comics, to savor many flavors of feminist communities.

Required Readings (available at Vertigo Books and on reserve at McKeldin):
These are required READINGS. You do have to read them. You do not have to BUY them. I will put them on reserve at McKeldin. Borrow and share with each other. However, do not wait until the last minute (the night before) to discover one is not available on reserve, etc. Be sure you have secured access LONG before we are going to read it in class. You can find out which books are on reserve from the library's web catalog. I have supplied ISBN numbers for you to order books from any source you like.

I have ordered all from Vertigo Books because I want to support the bookstore and help it to survive in College Park! It is on the corner between HW 1 and Knox Rd, across the street from the Cornerstone restaurant: 7346 Baltimore Avenue. The telephone number there is: 301.779.9300. But you need to note that Vertigo is a small independent bookstore and thus cannot issue refunds or accept returns. Their small staff and limited resources simply will not allow them to do so. Supporting them, however, works to counter the large economic consolidations of the publishing industry. They do not buy back books or make refunds. Returns will receive store credit. Any returns must be made within 15 days of purchase. Returned books must be in saleable condition with proof of purchase.

· Bechdel, A. (2005) Invasion of the Dykes to Watch Out For. Alyson. 1555838332

· Chauncey, G. (2004) Why marriage? The history shaping today's debate over gay equality. Basic. 0465009581

· Anzaldua, G. and Keating, A. (2002) This Bridge We Call Home. Routledge. 0415936829

· Weston, K. (2002) Gender in Real Time. Routledge. 0415934532

· Haraway, D. and Goodeve, T. (2000) How Like a Leaf. Routledge. 0415924030

· Duggan, L. (2003) The Twilight of Equality? Beacon. 0807079553

Summary of Assignments

Since this class meets only once a week, the assumption is that you will spend MORE time than usual reading, writing and preparing for class. Ordinarily you should budget 3 hrs of prep time for each hour of class time, so think approximately 9 hrs prep time each week. (Some of which goes into graded assignments. The more you work on these consistently each week too the better you'll be able to budget your time conveniently.)

If you have a laptop feel free to bring it to class. We do have wireless access in the building. (Obviously you don't use cell phones in class, IM on laptops, or anything else that interferes with participation.)

Each assignment is created to provide a specific learning experience. Grades necessarily matter but not as much as the experience does, and won't be emphasized. But you may come to office hours at any time to discuss grades, papers and how you are doing in the class in detail. Also note that you don't get credit for any assignment until it has been contributed on the class blog as either a Post or Comment.

There are three general sorts of learning experiences that you will participate in this semester.

(1) Summarizings:

Throughout the semester you will be working on summarizing exercises for each book. All these need to be printed out and handed in class, and also contributed to the class blog site. The site will start off as public, but soon become private as everyone accepts the Blogger invitation to become an author. You must become an author to get credit for your assignments. Some assignments will be created as Posts, some will be created as Comments. You need to be able to both Post and Comment. This means you must register ASAP at Blogger and accept the invitation to become an author when it arrives in your email. It will be sent to the same address listed for course mail, so check that too.

These summarizing exercises are not graded, but you do get points for them, and points will be deducted if they are late, even with a good excuse. They should be contributed to the blog by 2 p.m. on Wednesdays, before class begins. They won't be handed back; instead come to Katie's office hours (TWTh 11-noon) if you want to discuss them with her individually in addition to talking about them in class. The point of these assignments is to keep folks doing the work week by week, coming faithfully to class, and preparing well. Most every week you will be turning in one or two of these. Bring each of the five 2-page summary papers to class on the day we begin discussion of the book. They should be contributed to the blog by then too and you won't get credit for the assignment until they are up there.

What you do each time: In rotation several people will Post their summaries for each book and the others will post their summaries as Comments. Everyone will have a chance to do both. Sign up for your turn Posting asap. (Posting and commenting are really the same thing in this case. It's just the way it looks on the blog that's different. But you have to be an author to Post.)

Normally, a summary paper will include 3 elements:

(1) a summary of the contents of the book–approximately 3/4-1 page.
(2) insights you gathered about the book from doing specific "How to Read" exercises (from the How to Read handout. (It is also linked to the blog where you can download it in PDF). Tell us which exercises you focused on and what happened as a result.
(3) a list of topics you would like the class to discuss. Among these might be issues that were unclear, opinionated statements about what you liked and didn’t like about the book, and new information/understandings/insights gained from the book. Items 2-3 together should be about a page and need not be written in complete sentences.

Note that we will take more than one class period to discuss a number of these books. You should be able to summarize the whole book on the first day, psyching it out, and reread sections for the other days. We will talk about how to do this more specifically in class.

You will choose two of these summaries to post on Amazon.com as a review of two of our class texts, and document this in your Portfolio.

• Summaries are due: 9/19, 9/26, 10/3, 10/31, 11/5
[All together doing these exercises faithfully and well, and posting them on Amazon, will account for 1/3 of your grade]

(2) Introductions, Violated Assumptions, Group Presentations, Portfolio and Extra Credit:

• You start off the semester with the introduction of yourself. This will be contributed as a comment to the Post marked Introductions. I will start it off with an introduction of myself. You will contribute your comment ASAP. When we shift from public to private you will be asked to add to your introduction. That doesn't mean it has to have private information, it just needs to be more you want to share after meeting everyone and reading their contributions.

• For the first two books, Bechdel and Chauncey, you will formally turn in notes on violated assumptions. We will discuss how to do this in class. They will be added as comments to the Violated Assumptions Post on the blog. From then on you will be expected to add more comments with some violated assumptions for each book as they occur to you. Keep track of what you have done, you will have to turn in tallies at the end in your Portfolio.

• You and a partner will do a presentation on this bridge we call home on one of two days. You need to find a partner right away so you can begin your planning. Each pair will be assigned by lot one section of the book to be responsible for working on. You may use a format similar to the one for summarizing if you like, or you two may come up with an alternative format you think would work even better for presenting these materials to the class. One of you will contribute a Post focusing on discussion questions to the blog, the other will contribute a Comment to that Post, suggesting interesting ways to put everything in context. The two of you will develop a handout for the class and bring copies for everyone on the day of the presentation. You will present for about 10 mins and lead discussion for another 15 mins. We will have as many as 4 presentations on a day.

• You can receive extra credit (2 pts) if you create a blog for yourself when you register on Blogger; and more extra credit (8 pts) if you regularly post on it, link it to our class blog, and document it in your Portfolio.

• As you can see there are lots of different exercises, commenting and posting and presenting and handouts and so on. You will be responsible for keeping track of what needs to be done, what you have done and where it is posted, when it was turned in, presented or whatever. You will turn in this tally and any documentation in a Portfolio at the end of the class along with your Learning Analysis.

• Presentations are due either: 17 October or 24 October
[All together doing these exercises faithfully and well will account for 1/3 of your grade. Add to that any extra credit.]

(3) Learning Analysis:

This is a synthetic assignment, bringing all the learning experiences of the class together. It requires you to describe the argument of the course, report your experience of the course week by week within that argument, compare this class to other women's studies courses, analyze how this class fits into a women's studies curriculum, and to analyze the materials of the course that mattered most to you. The assignment also allows you to give feedback about how well the course worked for you and ways it didn't. / 6-8 pgs.

• The Learning Analysis is due 5 November
[This analysis accounts for 1/3 of your grade]

Wondering how grades are determined? What they mean in relation to your work?

• A work is excellent, unusually creative and/or analytically striking
• B is fine work of high quality, although not as ambitious or skilled, or, if written, as carefully edited as A work is
• C is average work fulfilling the assignment; may be hasty, if written it was probably only drafted once, showing difficulties with grammar, spelling, word choice
• D work is below average or incomplete; shows many difficulties or can't follow instructions
• F work is not sufficient to pass; unwillingness to do the work, or so many difficulties unable to complete

See http://www.womensstudies.umd.edu/wmstfac/kking/teaching/250/grades.html
for more discussion of each grade.

Reading, Writing and Presenting Assignments

Wednesday, 29 August—Introduction to the Class: active reading, feminist politics
• "How to Read" (on the blog, sent by coursemail, handed out in class)
• All the course texts as objects
• Due: contribute Introduction to blog as Comment; accept Author invitation asap
On the first day of class we will discuss all of our class texts as feminist objects circulating in the world. I will have sent out the essay "How to Read" before the first class, and we will try out these active reading suggestions as feminist practices that we will continue throughout the semester.

Wednesday, 5 September—Invasion, invasive, evading: feminist communities
• Bechdel, Invasion
• Due: violated assumptions list #1; Intro done? Author invite? FIND HER WEB SITE!
• FIND PARTNER for presentations
Alison Bechdel is an artist whose medium is comics, or, graphic novels. Her new graphic novel autobiography Fun Home is recently out. We will be reading this latest in her series Dykes to Watch Out For, in which she teases feminists and lesbians and allies of all sorts about how we interact with each other. What should a portal course in a women's studies major do with this kind of feminist art activism? How does Bechdel help us reconceptualize our own feminisms?

Wednesday, 12 September—NO CLASS, Rosh Hashanah Eve.

Wednesday, 19 September—Is Gay Marriage a Feminist Issue? How do you know?
• Chauncey, Why Marriage?
• Due: Summary paper #1 (Chauncey) and violated assumptions list #2
• FINALIZE PARTNER choices; day and section lots drawn
Chauncey is a gay male feminist scholar. This book is an unabashed work of advocacy for gay marriage. He positions gay marriage inside histories of feminism and sexuality. Bechdel clued us into the fact that not all lesbians or feminists or progressive political people are for gay marriage. What motivates differences on this issue? How is Chauncey trying to persuade these folks? What does it take to do so? What new histories did you learn reading this book? What work do you think it does well? What reconceptualizations are produced here?

Wednesday, 26 September—What does "radical" mean? What does "transformation" mean?
• Anzaldua and Keating, this bridge. Preface, Intro, Foreword, #77, #80; Psych it out
• Due: Summary paper #2 (Bridge); from now on just add violated assumptions too
Is feminism "radical"? Does this matter to you? What range of meanings does "radical" have and for whom? Why does this matter generally, or does it? What is the history behind this collection of writings? What are the histories of U.S. feminism and women of color that it includes? What other histories are missing? How does the idea of "inclusion" matter in this collection? in women's studies? in the activisms assumed here? How do you find this sort of thing out? Where are feminist histories and inclusions to be found? How will you and your partner present this material?

Wednesday, 3 October—Gender in Real Time, changes in Gender Studies Today?
• Weston, Real Time. Preface, chaps. 1, 2, 3
• Due: Summary paper #3 (Weston)
Why does Weston use the idea of "Starship Gender"? What sort of "time machine" is this book? Some of the key concepts are "time claims" and "a zero concept of gender." What does terms like this make you think about? Why is she using them? What do we do when we encounter unfamiliar knowledge? How do we cultivate curiosity rather than be intimidated? What resources do we bring to understanding feminist conversations we suddenly find ourselves in the middle of?

Wednesday, 10 October—A Global Economy now, Modern Pasts and Memory
• Weston, Real Time. chaps. 4, 5; psych it out and examine footnotes carefully
How does Weston's book help us think about who we are, who we were, who we are becoming? What tools does she give us for such explorations? Why does this matter in a women's studies curriculum? How does this connect us to other fields of study, other activisms? What does Weston's book do for us when we consider transnational feminisms and intersectional methods and identities?

Wednesday, 17 October—bridge: impact, labels, new issues; First group Presentations
• this bridge, from #1-#37, choose 10; grps do sections 1, 2, 3
• Due: partner presentations for sections 1, 2, 3
Today half of you will present your materials and lead discussion on sections from Anzaldua and Keating. What impact did the original "this bridge" book have? What did it contribute to "inclusion" in women's studies and feminist activisms? How does it connect with intersectionality? What issues do these authors see rising today and how do they suggest we take them up?

Wednesday, 24 October—i am the pivot for transformation; Second group Presentations
• this bridge, from #38-#61, choose 10; grps do sections 4, 5, 6, 7
• Due: partner presentations for sections 4, 5, 6, 7
How do we take up a call to be a pivot for transformation? What roles do women's studies majors play in these visions? How are you a agent for change yourself? What areas of change do you care about the most? What kinds of power do you have to mobilize? With whom do you make alliances for change? What theories, understandings, spiritual resources and intelligences help you?

Wednesday, 31 October—Interdisciplinarity is risky and worldly practices matter
• Haraway, How Like a Leaf
• Due: Summary paper #4 (Haraway); LOOK HER UP ON THE WEB
What do you learn about Haraway from looking her up on the web? How does that knowledge help you put this book in contexts that matter? What are some of those contexts? Compare and contrast this book to the others we have read so far. What do you notice? Why is this an interview? What workk does this book do for our better understandings of feminist theory? Where could it take us?

Wednesday, 7 November—Reconceptualizations and democracy, feminist observations
• Duggan, Equality?
• Due: Summary paper #5 (Duggan); decide which summaries you will post to Amazon
What are the cultural politics Duggan cares about? How does it compare to your own politics and observations? What forms of social justice does Duggan emphasize? How do her understandings help us consider our own desires for social justice? What does Duggan think we should be doing? What would that take? Where do you fit in? Where do you want to be?

Wednesday, 14 November—Portals: opening doors and practicing feminisms
• this bridge, from #62-#80, choose 10; psych it out for an overview; think about LA
How does this collection help us put everything we've read into perspective? What range of politics, theories, political observations, feminist interventions, and women's studies have we encountered in the class? How do we map them all? Where are we on the map? Where are you on your own maps? What analysis of our learning processes and our reconceptualizations are we creating?

Wednesday, 21 November—NO CLASS, THANKSGIVING WEEK

Wednesday, 28 November—LAST CLASS—Everything we know and care about, now more?
• Due: Learning Analysis & Portfolio; YOU MUST COME TO CLASS AND PRESENT your LA to receive your credits for this assignment
What was the argument of the course? Where did you fit into it? What books connected you to it? What happens now?

Wednesday, 5 December—NO CLASS, Hanukkah