Davidson College

ANT 343--Fall 2017

Dr. Laurian Bowles

ANTHROPOLOGY 343 Dr. Laurian Bowles

Feminist Anthropology Department of Anthropology

CRN # 14862 Office: Chambers B006

Meeting Times: Friday 1.30- 4.20 Office Hours: Tues 3-4.30

Location: Chambers 1096by appointment

Email: Phone: 704-894-2190

Feminist education—the feminist classroom—is and should be a place where there is a sense of struggle, where this is visible acknowledgement of the union of theory and practice, where we work together as teachers and as students to overcome the estrangement and alienation that have become so much the norm of contemporary universities.

– bell hooks

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This seminar examines feministknowledge(s) in anthropological research in three ways. The first part of the course situates feminist discourse within transnational women’s movements through the assessment of critical readings that are foundational to the emergence of feminist anthropology as a sub-discipline in cultural anthropology. The second part of the course considers decolonization as a case study to explore critical issues of knowledge production in ethnography. The third part of the course requires students to create a podcast that draws on theories and methodologies in feminist anthropology to analyze the role of marginalized groups in social justice.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course students, will be able to:

  1. Explain the key texts that informed the development of feminist anthropology.
  2. Demonstrate how feminist frameworks can be used to engage and understand inequity.
  3. Describe methodological approaches to feminist ethnography.
  4. Critique androcentric fieldwork and knowledge production in anthropology.
  5. Use feminist theories and methods in anthropology to create digital work.

Inclusion Objectives

Your success in this class is important to me. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you to better understand course materials and I will try to do what I can. Having trouble with the readings? Come talk to me. Not sure about the common themes of diverse readings? Come talk to me. Unsure of the most efficient note taking practices? Come talk to me! Let’s brainstorm and collaborate on strategies to maximize your learning potential.If there are circumstances that may affect your performance in this class— be they personal, health, family, or other concerns--please let me know as soon as possible so that we can work together to figure out how out how to navigate the situation.

Davidson College values the diversity of its community and is an equal access institution that admits otherwise qualified applicants without regard to disability. The college seeks to accommodate requests for accommodations related to disability that are determined to be reasonable and do not compromise the integrity of a program or curriculum. To make such a request or to begin a conversation about a possible request, please contact Beth Bleil, Director of Academic Access and Disability Resources, in the Center for Teaching and Learning by visiting her office in the E.H. Little Library, by emailing her , or by calling 704-894-2129. It is best to submit accommodation requests within the drop/add period; however, requests can be made at any time in the semester. Please keep in mind that accommodations are not retroactive.

Honor Code

Every Davidson student is expected to uphold the Honor Code: Every student shall be honor bound to refrain from cheating (including plagiarism). Every student shall be honor bound to refrain from stealing. Every student shall be honor bound to refrain from lying about College business. Every student shall be honor bound to report immediately all violations of the Honor Code of which the student has first-hand knowledge; failure to do so shall be a violation of the Honor Code. If you have concerns about plagiarism, and what constitutes plagiarism, please speak with me about them. The Dean of Students will be contacted regarding all Honor Code violations.

Course Texts

The following texts are required for this course.

  1. Davis, Dana-Ain and Craven Crista. 2016. Feminist Ethnography: Thinking Through Methodologies, Challenges and Possibilities. Rowan and Littlefield Publisher.
  2. Ulysse, Gina Athena. 2007.Downtown Ladies: Informal Commercial Importers, a Haitian Anthropologist and Self-Making in Jamaica. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  3. Valentine, David. 2007. Imagining Transgender: an Ethnography of a Category. Durham: Duke University Press.
  4. Wekker, Gloria. 2006. ThePoliticsofPassion:Women'sSexualCultureintheAfro-SurinameseDiaspora. ColumbiaUniversityPress.
  5. Additional articles will be posted to moodle or sent via email.

Recommended Background Reading (as needed)

  • Brodkin, Karen. Towards a Unified Theory of Class, Race and Gender. In Lewin, 129-146.
  • Brown, Nina and Thomas McIlwraith and Laura Tubelle de Gonzalez, eds. 2017. Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology.
  • Katz, Jonathan. 2005. The Invention of Heterosexuality. In,The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality. Pp. 150-161. (M)
  • Weston, Kath. 1998. “The Bubble, the Burn and the Simmer: Locating Sexuality in Social Science”. In, Kath Weston Long Slow Burn: Sexuality and Social Science London: Routledge 7-24.
  • Snyder, R. Claire. 2008 “What is Third Wave Feminism? New Directions Essay”. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 1: 175-196.

Course Assignments

Class Participation: 15%

Discussion Lead: 15%

Midterm Review: 20%

Short Reading Essays (2): 30%

Digital Project: 20%

Class Participation

Class participation is graded on the frequency of relevant discussion on course materials, attendance and group activities that occur during class. Class participation also includes unannounced oral quizzes based on the reading.

Attendance is expected and calculated as part of the participation grade. Any absence in excess of one class for non-College sponsored activities will incur a five- point deduction in the participation grade for each absence beyond one-class periods. Please see me to discuss foreseeable exceptions or immediately following any emergencies. College policy is that anyone who misses 25% or more of class will earn an F in the course.

Discussion Lead

During the semester, each student will give one structured presentations based on a theme in the week’s reading. Each presentation should begin with a thesis that situates your topic within a theory, concept or methodology from the course. You will then offer a coherent and sustainable analysis (in other words, do not summarize the articles!) about how ethnography engages with theories/concepts and/or methodologies of feminist anthropology (15- minutes). You should then ask questions during your discussion lead in order to facilitate dialogue with the class. I encourage the use of media (e.g. images & short videos) and/or class activities to supplement your presentation, but they are neither essential nor mandatory. The presentation schedule will be divided during our second class.

Midterm Review

The take home midterm review will assess your critical understanding of the concepts that frame feminism in anthropology as a theoretical and methodological sub-discipline of cultural anthropology.As a collective, we will collaborate on the format and due-date for the review but it cannot be more than one week after fall break.

Reading Essays

Students will write two short essays (due September 22ndand November 10th)that draw on the “Thinking Through…” sections of Davis and Craven. In the first essay, students will address the prompt on page 27 of the text and in the second essay, consider the “Thinking Through…” prompts of Chapter 4 (page 95) or Chapter 5 (page 118)

Final Project

For your final project, students will either prepare a vlog entry about a major theory or scholar in feminist anthropology or a podcast episode that uses feminist ethnography to examine a current event. With thefinal product, students must also include a brief artist’s statement that explains the goals of your work as well as transcripts and relevant support materials. There will be ongoing discussions about the project throughout the semester.

N.b.

Communication (n)etiquette

We are all in search of respect in the public sphere to validate our identities. However, disruptive, dishonest, and/or rude behavior will not be tolerated. Safe space has been touted as a dialogic place where everyone is entitled to an opinion. While this is true for many ‘safe spaces’, we also have to accept that someone else is entitled to point out that they find your opinion problematic and even offensive. Safe space pedagogy can selective erase that responsibility and accountability for one’s words. However, in this class, we are all tasked with being accountable for our wordsand actions. We must also endeavor towards dialogue that fosters numerous voices andperspectives to be heard and thoughtfully considered. In consideration of this, everyone in thisclassroom is expected to act responsibility. To behave responsibility means that we affordourselves, and others, the permission to make mistakes, screw up and be challenged. Actingresponsibility also includes active listening, apologies, critical reflection, and changes in behavior.

  • Please use only your Davidson email address to communicate with me to ensure messages are delivered to my inbox and not spam.
  • Please be courteous and include in a subject in the subject line of your email.
  • Lengthy correspondence (in excess of 2 paragraphs) usually warrants a conversation. Please visit during office hours or schedule an appointment to meet with me.
  • I check email Monday to Friday, between 10 am and 4.30 pm so please allow 24-48 hours for a response to your email queries.
  • I love technology just as much as you do. A student found using technology for anything besides note taking is marked absent. You cannot be fully engaged “here” if you are having conversations or engagements elsewhere.
  • There is no “extra credit” in this course but there are numerous ways to integrate dynamic and interesting events and experiences into your written work.
  • I abide by a three-email rule. Once we’ve exchanged three emails, we need to meet and speak in person.

Reading Schedule

This schedule is subject to changes that will be announced in class and via email.

Aug 25Introductions and Course Overview

Sept 1Genealogies of Feminist Anthropology

  • Davis and Craven, Preface, Introduction and Chapter 1
  • Visweswaran, Kamala. 1997. Histories of Feminist Ethnography Annual Review of Anthropology 26: 591-621.

Sept 8Reclaiming Ancestors #Throwbacks

  • Davis and Craven, Chapter 2-3
  • Bolles, Lynn. Seeking the Ancestors: Forging a Black Feminist Tradition in Anthropology In, McLaurin pp. 1-23.
  • Hernandez, Graciela. 1995. Multiple Subjectivities and Strategic Positionality: Zora Neale Hurston’s Experimental Ethnographies.

Sept 15A Pause for the “Classics”

Beyond Biological Determinism

  • Ortner, Sherry Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture? In Woman, Culture and Society, Michelle Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere (eds) 67-87
  • Martin, Emily (1991) The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles. Signs 16(3): 485-501.
  • Haraway, Donna. 1988. Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies 14(3): 575-599.

First Wave Ethnography (choose one—all on moodle)

  • Hurston, Mules and Men
  • Parsons, Elsie Clews 1967 [1922]. Waivautitsa of Zuni, New Mexico. American Indian Lives. Eds. Parsons 157-173. (M)
  • Mead, Margaret [1928] Coming of Age in Samoa pp. 17-25, 144-179.

Sept22Immersive Fields/work(s) and Methodologies

  • Davis and Craven, Chapter 4
  • Wekker, Preface and Chapter 1
  • Valentine, Part I
  • Ulysse, Foreword, Introduction, Chapter 1

READING ESSAY I DUE

Sept 29Intersectionality and Ethnography

  • Crenshaw, Kimberley. 1991. Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics and Violence Against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review 43:6 pp.1241-1299
  • Accapadi, Matma. When White Women Cry: How White Women’s Tears Oppress Women of Color (M)
  • Davis and Craven, Chapter 5
  • Ulysse, Ch. 2 & 4

Oct 6 Positionality and Fields of Power

  • Davis and Craven, Chapter 6
  • Ulysse, Chapters 5, 6, 7
  • Ulysse, TEDx “Untapped Fierceness” (watch)

Oct 13 Activist Ethnography --(Dr. Dana-Ain Davis Class Visit)

  • Davis and Craven, Chapter 7 & 8
  • Davis, What Did You Do Today? (m)
  • Valentine, Part II

Oct 20Gendered Sexual Politics: Encounters and Countering the State

  • Wekker, Ch. 2, 4
  • Ulysse, Chapter 5-6

Oct 27 Narrating Self

  • Ulysse, Ch. 3
  • Narayan, Kirin. 1993. How ‘Native’ is a Native Anthropologist? American Anthropologist, New Series. 95 (3): 671-686.
  • Zavella, Patricia. Feminist Insider Dilemmas: Constructing Ethnic Identity with Chicana Informants in Lewin pp. 186-202
  • Wekker, Chapter 3, 5

Nov 3 Fluidity and Consequence

  • Valentine Part III
  • Wekker, Ch. 6

Nov 10 Centering There: Transnationalism, Feminism and Anthropology

  • Rosaldo, Michelle. 1980. The Uses and Abuses of Anthropology: Reflections on Feminism and Cross-Cultural Understanding. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 5 (3): 389-419.
  • Ress,MaryJudith.“RememberingWhoWeAre:ReflectionsonLatinAmericanEcofeministTheology”inFeministTheology.16(3):383-396.2008.
  • Shaw, Disciplining the Black Female Body: Learning Feminism in Africa and the US In, McClaurin 102-125.
  • Salami, A Brief History of African Feminism.

READING ESSAY II DUE

Nov 17 Online/Moodle Discussion of Readings

Nov 24 THANKGIVING BREAK

Dec 1Peer Collaborations Day. Students meet in-class to discuss their vlogs and podcasts.

Self-Scheduled Period is from December 8th-14th. There is no final examination/review for this course.

Creative Projects due December 14thby 5 pm.

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