COURSE OBJECTIVES

“Intersections Of Gender, Race, Class And Sexuality” examines race, class, gender as social constructions that are negotiated within specific historical and material locations. We will study the connections between images in popular culture, history, and social practices in our daily lives. From this perspective we will explore how the social roles we perform and consume every day produce and sustain uneven social relations between and among differently situated people and groups. Of particular interest is the way in which gender intersects with other social categories such as race, class, sexuality, and national origin in our daily lives and popular images. By studying these intersections from the perspective of women living them, we move marginalized women from their typically marginal position to the center of the curriculum.

The central aim of the course is to understand gender not as a singular category, but to see the ways in which gender intersects with other axes of power within specific historical contexts to interrogate the complexities of the social forces that shape our lives in contradictory ways. For instance, how does class privilege relate to gender oppression? How does gender privilege intersect with racial oppression? Upon which axes of power are you privileged and/or marginalized? How are we empowered and/or marginalized by social systems that go beyond our immediate lives and yet influence them so deeply? These considerations take place within the material and historical contexts that shape the possibilities of experience that social groups may have.

The course is designed to enable students to become critically reflexive about the cultural representations that we consume and daily practices we perform in which gender, race, class, sexuality, and nation are constituted. Readings, class activities, and homework assignments aim to enable students to analyze and write about gendered identity formation and the political significance of social categories. One desired outcome of the course is to increase students’ sensitivity towards societal issues relating to discrimination, exploitation, and domination.

We will have a special focus on the “War on Terrorism” and the Anti-War movement… particularly as it relates to intersections of gender, race, class & sexuality.

ASSIGNMENTS

ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION: This portion of your grade will come from your attendance and participation in the online classroom chats we will have on a weekly basis. Please login on time and be prepared to participate having read the material assigned. It is important to make meaningful contributions that demonstrate your engagement with the material, rather than making comments that are not based on the readings. If you have more than one unexplained/unexcused absence online, your grade will be affected adversely.

DISCUSSION BOARDS [DB's]: The content of this course is not “merely” theoretical or political, but rather, it involves our personal lives—our relationships, our careers, our families. Readings should be done well in advance to class. You should be prepared to contribute well thought-out and relevant content to the discussion questions posted online. You will be expected to demonstrate your preparation by posting to discussions and responding to classmates posts online to have a dialogue about the readings in ways that are different from in-class discussions.

On days we do not meet online, you will do discussion posts to questions that I have put up on the Discussion Boards within WebCT. I would have listed 3-5 questions. You will pick 2 of those questions to respond to with "original posts" (which should be 2-3 paragraphs in length). Then, you'll do "response posts" to the original posts that your classmates have put up on the other questions (these response posts should be about 1 paragraph in length).

QUESTION LINKS [QL's]: There are different class times when we have readings assigned and are meeting online. For 5 of these times, there is a "Questions Link" that you have to access in WebCT, and post one well formulated question each on three different readings for that day (before we meet for the online chats).

In order to get points for the questions, they must be thoughtful and insightful, designed to evoke discussion of the reading. You will not be given any points for questions that ask for factual, superficial information, or questions that invite “yes/no” type of answers. Designing a good question entails taking time to do the reading, and to reflect on the issues brought up in that reading. We will often use your questions to guide online chats for the readings, so dedicate some time to designing good discussion-oriented questions. For a question to be accepted for points, it MUST be turned in on the day that the reading is due.

BOTH Discussion Boards (DB's) and Question Links (QL's) can be found on WebCT.

AUTO-ETHNOGRAPHY (FOCUS ON RACE): this project asks you to think about the ways in which your everyday life is personally affected by race and privilege (you may bring in other aspects like gender, class and sexuality... but the focus of this paper should center on race). You will write one short paper (4-5 pages double-spaced, list of references). There are three components to the paper that I will be evaluating: description, definition, and application.

1) Write one to three paragraphs describing an event in your life that was a pivotal in your identity formation with regard to race and privilege. Perhaps it was especially confusing at the time, but now you have a better sense of it through the readings in this class.
2) Write a few paragraphs in which you outline, clarify, and define one or two concepts from the readings that you will later apply to the event. You should draw directly on the reading for this portion of the paper, citing specific texts including the author’s name and page number
3) Write a few paragraphs in which you analyze the event for the ways in which race maybe read on the body and how it shapes our lives. Your analysis of what happened, your negotiations with whiteness/white privilege/racism/etc. will be key in determining your score for your paper. So go beyond description to an in-depth analysis.

RESPONSE PAPER ON WAR: You will do one response paper for this class on the Anti-War section of the course. For this papers, choose two of the readings from that section to focus on and write a response paper in which you: 1) identify a key concept that links the authors 2) analyze the authors' arguments theoretically and in-depth; and 3) try to develop further the argument you are making in your response. 3-4 pages, double-spaced, and please include list of references.

TESTS: the tests will be based on all the readings assigned for this class as well as on all in-class discussions and materials presented. The exam will be in varied format: multiple choice, short answer questions and long essays.