Gender, Religions and Politics
REL 4937 C/L RLG 5937 (Hybrid Course)
Readings and Lecturesalso available in Spanish
Semester: SPRING 2018
Room: CP 103
Days: Wednesday
Times: 1 pm – 2:15 pm
Professor:Dr. Ana María Bidegain
Office: DM 305B
E-mail:
Office Hours: By appointment
INTRODUCTION
This course focuseson women’s religious experience, their social and political practiceswithin their historic and geographiccontexts: Latin America and the Caribbean. It analyzesreligious history,considering themarginalizing narratives that render women’s contributions invisible, a reflection ofcolonialism and dominance based on socioeconomic status, race and gender, inherent in religious discourse and practices. The course analyzes how,historically, religions have provided rich resourcesfor liberation and resistance to counter oppression, as well as means for the legitimation of power and domination.Itdiscusses and positstheoretical and methodological tools for an alternative reading: moving away from top-down perspectives, to perspectives grounded on lived experiences. It recasts events and narratives in which women have played significant, central roles fashioning their religions, rather than being passive, subjugated members. Itexamines both the production of women’s religious discourseandthe production of religious discourse on women that justifiesand promotes their invisibility, legitimizingwomen’s sociocultural disadvantaged status and political underrepresentation.
JUSTIFICATION
Untilthe 1970s, women’s presence and visibility in history, as well as their political practices,have been resolutely dismissed, particularly in recorded religious history and associated narratives. This course fills thisgap; aiding students with tools and concepts to better understand how Latin American and Caribbean women have beeninstrumental in actively shaping the religious and political contemporary landscape.
GOALS & STUDENT OUTCOMES
Upon successful completion of this course, students can expect:
1) To have a nuanced and critical understanding of the religious experience of Latin American and Caribbean women, by examining female-centered perspectives of gender, class and ethnicity.
2) To understand and articulate the interplay of religion, politics and economics in the gendered societies of Latin America.
3) To comprehend, from a critical gender perspective, the important roles played by the Christian churches in the colonization and acculturation processes of the southern regions of the world, and in the development of globalization; and at the same time, how women also found in Religious Institutions or organizations a space to overcome some of these difficulties.
COURSE STRUCTURE & REQUIREMENTS
This is a hybrid course that promotes an active approach to learning. The classphysically meets only once a week. However, students are expected to intensively engage course work online through Blackboard.
The professor will: Introduce the material inperson at the beginning of each learning unit; teach and steer learning activities through the discussion board; share PPPs to complete the information required for each unit; and provide guide and support toward the development of the final research paper throughout the semester.
Students must: Complete the required readings; listen to and understand the PPPs through Blackboard; biweekly present their comments and viewpoints through the discussion board;prepare and post a video or a PP presentationon the selected topic (see the list of suggested topics provided by the professor); formally present a term paper research proposal; formally present a literature review toward the term paper; write a finalresearch paper on one aspect of the material covered in class, according to a list given by the professor.
The final research paper can be written in either English or Spanish.It will consist of a 15 page, double-spaced essay in Times New Roman12 font. References and citations are expected, in a recognized format (MLA, Chicago, APA, etc.) and consistent throughout the text.
The required readings will be in English; however, those students with enough Spanish or Portuguese language skills could read and include bibliography available in those languages.
The Final Grade will be determined by a total of points scored throughout the semester. These points will be converted into percentages [that is, points scored by student/total number of points [200] x 100]. Please keep printed copies of all assignments and graded material. If you cannot produce your class material in a grade dispute, the grade recorded in the instructor's grade book will take precedence. Students are responsible for keeping up with the schedule of required readings and for all the Blackboard assignments.
Students are expected to check the Announcement and Assignment sections of Blackboard at least every other day. Students who take this course are expected to have the skills necessary to complete all assignments. Essay assignments must be posted in the Assignment drop box, not directly to the professor’s email as attachments. Otherwise, they will not begraded.
If you have computer technology questions during the semester, you should contact the FIU Computer Help Desk.
Note: The professor reserves the right to alter this syllabus if and whenever necessary.
BREAKDOWN
32% / Participation in discussion board 4% each unit (8 x 4%)12% / Video or PP Presentation
16% / Comments on the videos 2% (8x2)
5 % / Research proposal Presentation (January 20)
20 % / Literature review Presentation (March 17)
15% / Final Research Paper (April 25)
100% / Total
GRADING CRITERIA AND RANGE
A/A- / Outstanding or exceptional in terms of content (grasp of concepts, depth of analysis and comprehension) and expression.B+/B / Above average to very good.
B-/C+ / Good to above average.
C/C- / Achieving minimum standards.
D+/D / Passing, but barely meeting minimum standards.
F / Not meeting minimum or acceptable standards.
Note: This course may fulfill the critical inquiry requirement of the FIU core curriculum if the student earns a grade of “C” or higher. A “C-” or lower grade will not satisfy the critical inquiry requirement.
GRADE RANGE
GRADE / RANGE / GRADE / RANGE / GRADE / RANGEA / 94-100 / B- / 80-81 / D+ / 68-69
A- / 90-93 / C+ / 78-79 / D / 63-67
B+ / 88-89 / C / 73-77 / D- / 60-62
B / 83-87 / C- / 70-72 / F / 0-59
ADDITIONAL HYBRID COURSE STANDARDS
This is a hybrid course. A major part of the course work will be conducted online, although the class will alsomeet physically every week, seven times throughout the semester. Expectations for performance in this hybrid courses are the same as for online courses. This course format requires degrees of self-motivation, self-discipline, and technology skills that can make it more demanding for some students. You must be very active on the discussion board each week.
All students are expected to interact both online and in person with the professor and fellow students, to complete assignments, to meet deadlines, and to develop and present a research paper. In the course content portion of Blackboard, power-point notes on some of the topics are posted. Also, some required readings are posted in this portion of Blackboard. Power points are not substitutes for readings. The readings and the Power Points are mutually complementing. Students need to be familiar with the materials from both sources if they expect to do well in this course and contribute to the weekly discussion board.
TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THIS COURSE
Regular attendance is very important for the success and enjoyment of this course. Staying on schedule with reading assignments is also key to achieve its academic goals. Finally, it is essential that students contribute through their activeparticipation on the discussion board, as well as during the in person seminar meetings.
INTELLECTUAL AND ACADEMIC CONDUCT
As members of the academic community, students are expected to recognize and uphold high standards of intellectual and academy integrity. Plagiarism is presenting another person’s work as one’s own. Plagiarism includes submitting another student’s work as one’s own.
REQUIRED READINGS IN ENGLISH
Navarro, Marysa & Sanchez Korrol, Virginia. Women in Latin America and the Caribbean: Restoring Women to History. Indiana University Press, 1999. (128 pages)
Miller, Francesca. Latin American Women and the Search for Social Justice. University Press of New England, 1991. (324 pages)
REQUIRED READINGS IN SPANIH
Navarro, Marysa & Sanchez Korrol, VirginiaMujeresenAmérica Latina y el Caribe. Ed. Narcea, Madrid 2004. (208 Pages) ISBN 9788427714595
Guardia, Beatriz (Edit). Historia de las mujeresen America Latina Univ. de Murcia
Additional bibliography and suggested readings will be posted on Blackboard.
RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING
Aquino, Maria Pilar, et al. A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology: Religion and Justice. University of Texas Press, 2002.
Aquino, Maria Pilar, and Maria Jose Rosado Nunes. Feminist Intercultural Theology: Latina Explorations for a Just world.Orbis Books, 2007.
Drogus, Carol Ann. Women, Religion and Social Change in Brazil’s Popular Church. University of Notre Dame Press, 1997.
Lavrin, Asunción. Latin American Women. Greenwood Press, 1978.
Socolow, Susan Migden. The Women of Colonial Latin America. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Schwaller, John Frederick. The History of the Catholic Church in Latin America: From Conquest to Revolution and Beyond. New York University Press, 2011.
Bidegain, Ana María. Participación y protagonismo de las mujeres en la historia del catolicismo latinoamericano. Editorial San Benito, 2009. (
SCHEDULE
UNIT 1 – Concepts and Seminar Foundations
Week 1(January 8-13) and Week 2 (January 15-20)
Subject: Gender, Class and Race: Necessary Categories to Understand the Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Hidden History.
Goals:Understanding the meaning and interplay of genders, social classes, race, ethnicity with religion throughout the Latin American and Caribbean History.
Activities and Tasks
1)Meeting in person: Wednesdays, (01/10) and (01/17) Room CP 103
1:00pm to 2:15
2) Online Tasks
- Post personal Introduction video.
- Review PPP presentation on Blackboard.
- Participate and respond questions through the discussion board.
- Select research topic and seminar presentation from the list proposed by the professor.
3) Research Tasks
- Preparing First Paper – Selecting research topic from the list proposed (2-3 pages) Due on January 20.
READINGS
Scott, J.W. “Gender: A useful Category in the Study of History.” American Historical Review, vol. 91, no. 5, Dec. 1986, pp. 1053-1175. (Posted on Blackboard).
Juschka, Darlene M. “Gender.” The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion, edited by J. R. Hinnels. Routledge, 2005. (Chapter 12, pp. 229-242, posted on Blackboard).
Mena López, Maricel. “Globalization and Gender Inequality: A contribution from a Latino Afro–Feminist Perspective.” The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theology, edited by M. M. Fulkerson and S. Briggs. Oxford University Press, 2012. (pp. 157-179, posted on Blackboard).
Lavrin, Asunción. “Women in Latin American History.” The History Teacher, vol. 14, no. 3, Special Issue on Teaching Latin American History, May 1981, pp. 387-399. (Posted on Blackboard)
Miller text, Chapter 1, pp. 1-14.
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Unit 2 – Women at the Center of Popular Religions’ Roots and at the Margins of the Imposed New Religion
Week 3 (January 22 to 27) and Week 4 (January 29 to Feb. 3)
Subject: Women under Colonial Rule
1) Women’s Place in Amerindian Religions. Biological and Cultural Hybridization and Syncretism. The Roots of Popular Religion.
2) Women Resisting Slavery through Religions: Voodoo, Santería, Candomblé.
3)White and Creole Women in Colonial Society and the Development of Christendom.
4) Special Case Study: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Goals:Understanding 1) how gender, race, ethnicity and social classes were interweaved in the colonial cast system; 2) the importance of “hidden subjects,” such as women, in the history of religions.
Activities and Tasks
1)Meeting in person, Wednesdays, (01/24) and (01-31) 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm
2) On-line Tasks
- Review and analyze PPP presentation on Blackboard.
- Participate and respond questions through the discussion board.
- 15’ Student’s video or PP presentation. Due on January 31
- Select and comment on the student’s video presentation. Due on Feb.3
READINGS
Navarro text, Part I, pp. 5-57.
Marcos, S. “Women’s Religious Space in Mexico.” Unspoken Worlds: Women’s Religious Lives, edited by N. A. Falk and R. M. Gross. Wadsworth, 2001. (pp. 253-263, posted on Blackboard).
Socolow, Susan Migden. The Women of Colonial Latin America. Cambridge University Press, 2000. (Chapter 2, pp. 16-31, and Chapter 9, pp. 130-146, posted on Blackboard).
Cherpak, Evelyn and Asunción Lavrin. Latin American Women. Greenwood Press, 1978. (Chapter 1, pp. 23-59, posted on Blackboard).
González, Michelle A. “Seeing Beauty within Torment.” A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology: Religion and Justice, edited by M. P. Aquino et al. University of Texas Press, 2002.(posted on Blackboard).
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. The Answer / La Respuesta, edited by Electra Arenal and Amanda Powell. The Feminist Press, 2009. (Posted on Blackboard).
Lavrin, Asunción. Brides of Christ: Conventual Life in Colonial Mexico. Stanford University Press, 2008. (Chapter 10: “Writing in the Cloisters,” pp. 310-350, posted on Blackboard).
Miller text, Chapter 2, pp. 14-34.
Recommended TV series “Juana Inés”
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Unit 3 – Women Facing the Crises of the Catholic Church under Liberal States since the Independence
Week 5 (Feb.5-10) and Week 6 (Feb.12-17)
Subjects: Women’s Participation in a Major Historical Transition
1) Women’s Participation Breaking Colonial Ties.
2) Women Facing the Crises of the Catholic Church under Liberal States since the Independence.
3) Women Start Requesting Political and Civil Rights.
4) Special Case Studies: Policarpa Salavarrieta (La Pola) (1793- 1817) and Soledad Acosta de Samper (1833-1913).
Goal: Understanding how women have confronted political and religious situation without political and civil rights.
Activities and Tasks
1) Meeting in person: Wednesday, Feb.7 and Feb. 14 - 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm
2) Online Tasks
- Review and analyze PPP on Blackboard.
- Participate and respond questions through the discussion board.
- 15’ Student’s video or PP presentation. Due on Feb.14
- Comment on the student’s video presentation. Due on Feb.17
REDADINGS
Navarro text, Part II, pp. 59-106.
Davies, Catherine, et al. “Women, War, and Spanish American Independence.” South American Independence: Gender, Politics, Text. Liverpool University Press, 2011. (
Cherpak, Evelyn and Asunción Lavrin. Latin American Women. Greenwood Press, 1978. (Chapter 8, pp. 219-235, library book reserve).
Adams, Jerome R. “‘La Pola’ PolicarpaSalavarrieta.” Notable Latin American Women. Twenty-Nine Leaders, Rebels, Poets, Battlers and Spies, 1500-1900. McFarland, 1995. (Chapter 8, pp. 75- 82) (
Skinner, Lee. “Gender and History in Nineteenth-Century Latin America: The Didactic Discourse of Soledad Acosta de Samper.” INTI: Revista de literatura hispánica, no. 49, primavera 1999 – otoño 1999, pp. 71-90. (
Soledad Acosta de Samper: A Bibliography: .
Acosta de Samper, Soledad. La mujer en la sociedad moderna. Gariner Hermanos, 1865. (
Corpas de Posada, Isabel. “Escritos religiosos de Soledad Acosta de Samper (1833-1913): Lectura teológica y en perspectiva de género”. Revista de estudios colombianos, no. 43, 2013, pp. 22-33. (
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Unit 4 – The Role of Women and Religions Building Nation-States in the 19th Century
Week 7 (Feb.19-24) and Week 8 (Feb 26 – March3)
Subjects: Women Searching for Modernization
1) Religions and Modernization.
2) Women’s Education and Social Justice.
3) Protestant Women’s Leadership and Migration to South America.
4) Case Study: Ana Armand Ugón de Tron
Goals: Understanding women’s search for civil and political rights and social justice.
Activities and Tasks
1) Meeting in person: Wednesday, Feb. 21 and Feb.28, 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm
2) Online Tasks
- Review and analyze PPP on Blackboard.
- Participate and respond questions through the discussion board.
- 15’ Student’s video or PP presentation. Due on Feb.28
- Comments on the student’s video presentation. Due on Feb.31
READINGS
Gray, Paul Bryan, et al. “The Men Were Left Astonished: Mexican Women in Las Juntas Patrióticas de Señoras, 1863-1866.” The Historical Society of Southern California Quaterly, vol. 94, no. 2, Summer 2012, pp. 161-192. (
Maza Valenzuela, Erika. “Liberals, Radicals and Women Citizenship in Chile, 1872-1930.” Kellogg Institute, Working Paper #245, 1997. (
Miller text, Chapter 3, pp. 35-67 and Chapter 4, pp. 68-109.
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RESEARCH WEEK- Week 9 (March 5-10)No meeting in person this week.
Second Paper Literature review and sources on the selected topic.
Bibliography and Sources Critical Analysis
Due on March 17 upload in Turnitin before 11:59
SPRING BREAK - Week 10 (March 12-17)
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Unit 5 – Immigration and Religious Diversity WEEK11 (March 19-24)
Subject: Jewish and Muslin Women in Latin America
Goals: 1) Understanding Religious Diversity in Latin America and the Caribbean. 2) Developing a literature review on the topic selected for the research paper.
Activities and Tasks
1) Meeting in Person:Wednesday March 21 (1:00PM -2:15PM)
2) Online Tasks
- Review and analyze PPP on Blackboard.
- Participate and respond questions through the discussion board.
- Selected student’s video presentation. Due on Oct. 20.
- 15’ Comments on the student’s video presentation. Due on Oct. 26.
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Unit 6 – Religions, Women’s Rights, Politics and Welfare States of the 20th Century.
Week 11 (March 26-31) and Week 12 (April 2-7)
Subjects: Catholic Women Organizations and the Transit to Political Participation.
1) Latin American women in search of civil and political rights and social justice.
2) Case study: Brazil “La liga electoral católica.”
3) From Catholic Action students’ organization to political participation.
4) Case study: Solange Silvany.
Goals: Analyzing the role of Catholic women organizations in political activities, in two historical moments: Before Latin American women got political rights, such as the case of the Liga electoral; and later as citizens living the experience of personal secularization and political radicalization.
Activities and Tasks
1)Meeting in person: Wednesdays, March 28 & April 4 (1:00 pm – 2:15 pm)
2) Online Tasks
- Review and analyze PPP on Blackboard.
- Participate and respond questions through the discussion board.
- 15 Student’s video or PP presentation. Due on April 4
- Comment on the student’s video presentation. Due on April 7
READINGS
Miller text, Chapter 5, pp. 110-144 and Chapter 6, pp. 145-186.
Bidegain, Ana María. “From Catholic Action to Liberation Theology.” Kellogg Institute, Working Paper # 48, 1985. (
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Unit 7 – Women’s Orders and Congregations Face Political Turmoil.
Week 12 (April 9-14) and Week 13 (April 16-21)
SUBJECTS: The Activism of Women Religious
1) Catholic feminine orders and congregations developing social movements through CEBs.
2) Facing political and ecclesiastical repression.
3) Christian women’s martyrdom, “resilient” women and human rights issues.
4) Case Studies: The Maryknoll Sisters in El Salvador, and the missing French sister in Argentina.
Goals: To understand the role of religious women in the rise of the Latin American welfare states and how later they confronted the states’ crises.
Activities and Tasks
1) Meeting in person: Wednesday, April 11& April 18, 1:00PM - 2:15PM
2) Online Tasks
- Review and analyze PPP on Blackboard.
- Participate and respond questions through the discussion board.
- 15’ Student’s video or PP presentation. Due on April 18.
- Comment on the student’s video presentation. Due on April 21.
READINGS