The University of Western Ontario

The University of Western Ontario

Women’s Studies and Feminist Research

9458A - Critical Race and Feminist Studies

Time/Place: Wednesdays 10:30 am – 1:30 pm; LWH 2205

Instructor: Erica Lawson – (519) 661-2111 ext. 86941;

Office hours: Tuesdays 10:30-11:30 am; Thursdays 10-11am; or by appointment

Course Description

This interdisciplinary graduate seminar will examine the relationship among feminism, race, racialization as these are deployed both within structures of power and as forms of resistance. The course will address historical and contemporary theoretical perspectives on race and feminism as these pertain to how we know and claim our identities, exercise agency, and address social injustice. Towards these goals, the course is focused on 1) how we produce racial and feminist knowledge, 2) How these knowledges are debated and contested; and 3) how we apply anti-racist and feminist praxis to advance a social justice agenda. We will address these questions, especially, but not exclusively in scholarship that focuses on law, media, sexuality, disability, imperialist projects, and the “war on terror” as we consider the possibilities for stronger feminist and anti-racist collaborations. This is a discussion-based seminar; your preparedness and participation are central to its success.

Course Objectives

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

·  Communicate the multiple ways that race and racism intersect with feminist theory and practice.

·  Compare different theories about the meanings of race/racism.

·  Identify and compare multiple theoretical perspectives and opposing views concerning race, racism within feminism, race privilege, and related relevant topics.

·  Develop a deeper understanding about how to apply a critical anti-racist and feminist lens to everyday social ideas and practices.

Learning Objectives

Students will develop their written, presentation, and research skills in these ways:

·  By participating weekly in in-class discussions, students will become stronger and more confident speakers.

·  By organizing and delivering concise and thoughtful presentations based on readings

·  Through the longer written assignments, students will sharpen their skills of exposition, thesis development and defense, critical writing, and consideration of multiple perspectives.

·  By developing the confidence to make clear arguments and ask informed questions

·  By sharpening research skills

Evaluation

Readings and class discussions

Students are required to conduct a close and critical reading of the articles before coming to class and must be prepared to participate in discussions. This means being prepared to ask relevant questions and make informed comments based on the readings.

1. Presentation and Paper - 20% (presentation: 5%; paper 15%). Each student is expected to lead a thoughtful and critical presentation/discussion (not a review) of a selected article for 15- 20 minutes. The objectives of the discussion are to a) address the article’s conceptual framework and underlying assumptions; b) articulate a grasp of its core arguments and how they are developed, and c) pose two discussion questions with which to engage the class for approximately 10 minutes. Give careful thought to your questions and frame them in ways that will encourage deep thinking and engagement with the topic. Please hand in a summary of your presentation at the beginning of the class; this is the first 2-3 pages of your paper, including discussion questions. You do not have to hand in the paper at the time of presentation. You have until the next class to do this. The point of handing it in later is to give you an opportunity to improve the paper based on class discussion and feedback, if you feel that this is necessary.

2. Two position papers – 30% (15% x 2)

Choose two readings and respond to any part of the author’s argument that is of interest to you. Eight double-spaced pages for each paper. These readings should be different from the one you choose to discuss in class. Note: You cannot write on a paper that has already been discussed in class.

Due (position paper #1) October 12th AND Due (position paper #2) November 9th.

3. Final paper (with an optional 250 word abstract) - 50%; Each student is required to write a final paper, 20 pages, doubled spaced, including references. Use at least two readings from the course but all other sources must be external. If you wish, you may write an abstract to be submitted for instructor’s review and comments – this is an opportunity to work out your ideas.

The essay topic must address one aspect or some combination of an issue pertaining to feminism and race in historical or contemporary context. Due (Abstract): November 16th by 5pm AND Due (Final paper): December 14th at 5:00pm. Please send abstracts as email attachments so that I can respond quickly; all other assignments must be submitted as hard copies and uploaded to turnitin.

We have the option of meeting outside of class, for one day, in a conference style setting to present papers for peer feedback and constructive comments. The purpose of this exercise is to learn from and dialogue with each other constructively in a group setting to strengthen the final papers. Typically, each student presents the first 8-10 pages of the final paper. As a group, we can decide if we want to do this exercise.

Please note that a paper written for another course cannot be submitted for this course. There is no final examination for this course. And, from time to time, I may show relevant documentaries or clips that reflect and support themes in our readings.

Here are some of the criteria that I use to assess written work:

·  Appropriate grammar and sentence structure

·  Clear and precise use of language (i.e. clear definitions of terms)

·  Concise articulation of the issue or problem that the paper addresses

·  Coherent development of arguments

·  Arguments supported by clear evidence

·  Close attention to referencing APA Style

·  An examination and interpretation of arguments in ways that illuminate hidden assumptions, meanings, contradictions, or inconsistency (in other words, an analytic rather than an overly-descriptive assessment of the topic/issue).

Women’s Studies Grading Criteria (see WSFR Handbook for details):

· A+ (90 to 100) – Excellent work

· A (80 and up) - Superior work

· B (70 to 79) Good work, meeting all requirements, and eminently satisfactory

· C (60 and up) – Competent work, meeting requirements

· D (50 to 59) – Fair work, minimally acceptable

· F (49 and down) – Assignment does not apply to course; basic requirements are unmet; plagiarism)

List of Readings (Readings marked “**” are posted in Owl Sakai; other readings, taken from books, are in the course pack).

**Aiku, Hokulani, et. al. (2015). “Indigenous Feminisms Roundtable.” Frontiers, 36(3): 84-106.

Ang, Ien. (2001) “I’m a Feminist but…” Other’ Women and Postnational Feminism.” In Kum-Kum Bhavnani (ed)., Feminism and Race, 394-409. New York: Oxford University Press.

Arat-Koc, Sedef. (2010) “New Whiteness(es), Beyond the Colour Line? Assessing the Contradictions and Complexities of “Whiteness” in the (Geo)Political Economy of Capitalist Globalism.” In Sherene Razack, Malinda Smith, and Sunera Thobani (eds.), States of Race: Critical Race Feminism for the 21st Century, 147-168. Toronto: Between the Lines.

**Azuma, Eiichiro. (2009). “Race, Citizenship, and the Science of “Chick Sexing: The Politics of Racial Identity Among Japanese Americans.” Pacific Historical Review, 78(2): 242-275

**Bracey, Glen (2015). “Toward a Critical Race Theory of State.” Critical Sociology, 41(3): 553-572.

**Chesler, Phyllis (2007) “Responses to Sunera Thobani’s White Wars: Western Feminisms and the ‘War and Terror,’ Feminist Theory, 8(2): 227–235.

**Hong Songh, Stephen. (2012). “Minor Character, Minority Orientalism, and the Borderlands of Asian Americans.” Cultural Critique, 82: 151-185.

Dei, George J.S. (1996). Anti-Racism Theory and Practice. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, pp. 40-54.

**Dolan, Neal (2015). “Fearful Symmetry: The Unhistorical Self of Whiteness.” Modern Intellectual History, 12(2): 417-442.

**duCille, Ann. (1994). “The Occult of True Black Womanhood: Critical Demeanor and Black Feminist Studies.” Signs, Journal of Women and Culture in Society, 19(3): 591-629.

**Fellows, Mary Louise, and Razack, Sherene (1998): “The Race to Innocence: Confronting Hierarchical Relations among Women.” Journal of Gender, Race, and Justice, 335-352.

**Ghobadzadeh, Naser (2010). “A multiculturalism–feminism dispute: Muslim women and

the Sharia debate in Canada and Australia” Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 48(3): 301-319.

**Kandaswamy, Priya (2008) “State Austerity and the Racial Politics of Same-Sex Marriage in the US.” Sexualities, 11(6): 706–725.

Kitossa, Tamari (2002) “Criticism, Reconstruction and African-Centred Feminist Historiography.” In Njoki Nathani Wane, Katerina Deliovsky and Erica Lawson (eds.), Back to the Drawing Board: African Canadian Feminisms. Toronto: Sumach Press, pp. 85-111.

**Lamble, Sarah. (2013). “Queer Necropolitics and the Expanding Carceral State: Interrogating Sexual Investments in Punishment.” Law and Critique, 24(3): 229-253.

**Lawrence, Bonita and Dua, Enakshi (2005). “Decolonizing Anti-Racism.” Social Justice, 32(4): 120-143.

**Lesley, Naomi. (2014). “Disability, Giftedness and Race in Cynthia Voigt’s Tillerman Novels.” Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, 8(1): 49-66.

**McNay, Lois (2010). “Feminism and Post-Identity Politics: The Problem of Agency.” Constellations, 17 (4): 512-525.

**Mills, Charles. (2015). “DIALOGUE: The Racial Contract Today – The Racial Contract Revisited: Still Unbroken After all these Years.” Politics, Groups, and Identities, 3(3): 541-557.

**Murphy, David. (2015). “The Emergence of a Black France, 1985-2015: History, Race and Identity.” Nottingham French Studies, 54(3): 238-252

Omi, Michael and Winant, Howard (2015). Racial Formation in The United States. New York, NY: Routledge, 3rd. edition, pp. 105-136.

Newman, Louise M (1999) “The Making of a Female Citizenry: Suffragism, Antisuffragism, and Race.” White Women’s Rights: The Racial Origins of Feminism in the United States, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 56-85.

**Pilosoff, Rory. (2009). “The Unbearable Whiteness of Being: Land, Race, and Belonging in the Memoirs of White Zimbabweans.” South African Historical Journal, 61(3): 621-638.

**Powell, John A. (2009). “Post-Racialism or Targeted Universalism?” Denver University Law Review, 86, 785-806.

Razack, Sherene (2015). Dying from Improvement: Inquests and Inquiries into Indigenous Deaths in Custody. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 28-56.

Roediger, David R. (1991). The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class.” London, New York: Verso, pp. 19-40.

** Roshanravan, Shireen M. (2010) Passing-as-if: Model-Minority Subjectivity and Women of Color Identification.” Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, 10(1): 1-31.

**Sexton, Jared. (2016). “The Vel of Slavery: Tracking the Figure of the Unsovereign.” Critical Sociology, 42(4-5): 483-597.

**Smith, William L., and Brown, Anthony L. (2014). “Beyond Post-Racial Narratives: Barack Obama and the (Re) Shaping of Racial Memory in US Schools and Society.” Race, Ethnicity and Education, 17(2): 153-175.

**Staurowsky Ellen J. (2007). “You Know, We’re all Indian: Exploring White Power and Privilege in Reaction to the NCCA Native American Mascot Policy.” Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 31(1): 61-76.

Stoler, Ann (2010). “Carnal Power and Imperial Knowledge: Gender and Morality in the Making of Imperial Power.” In Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 41-78.

**Srivastava, Sarita (2005). “Are you Calling Me A Racist? The Moral and Emotional Regulation of Anti-racism and Feminism.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 31(1):29-62.

**Thomlinson, Natalie (2012). “The Colour of Feminism: White Feminists and Race in the Women’s Liberation Movement.” History, 97(327): 453-475.

Thobani, Sunera. (2010). “White Innocence, Western Supremacy: The Role of Western Feminism in the “War on Terror.” In Sherene Razack, Malinda Smith, and Sunera Thobani (eds.), States of Race: Critical Race Feminism for the 21st Century. Toronto: Between the Lines, pp. 127-146.

Walker, Barrington (2010). Race on Trial: Black Defendants in Ontario’s Criminal Courts, 1858-1958. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 24-44.

**Wood, Amy Louise (2005). “Lynching Photography and the Visual Reproduction of White Supremacy.” American Nineteenth Century History, 6(3): 373–399.

**Zalewski, Marysia (2013). “Roundtable: Thinking Feminism and Race Through the War on Terror.” Critical Studies on Terrorism, 6(2): 313-315.

Weekly Themes & Readings

WK1 / September 14 / Introduction to course themes, expectations, evaluation. Sign up
for presentations.
WK2 / September 21 / Historical foundations: 1. Newman, “The Making of a White Female Citizenry: Suffragism, Antisuffragism, and Race. 2. **Mills, “DIALOGUE: The Racial Contract Today – The Racial Contract Revisited: Still Unbroken After all these Years.”
WK3 / September 28 / Race/Feminist Theory: 1. Dei, “Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Race.” 2. Omi and Winant, “The Theory of Racial Formation.” 3. ** Aiku et. al., “Indigenous Feminism RoundTable.”
WK4 / October 5 / Whiteness: 1. Roediger, “The Prehistory of the White Worker: Settler Colonialism, Race, and Race and Republicanism Before 1800” 2. Arat-Koc, “New Whiteness(es), Beyond the Colour Line? Assessing the Contradictions and Complexities of “Whiteness” in the (Geo)Political Economy of Capitalist Globalism”. 3. **Dolan, “Fearful Symmetry: The Unhistorical Self of Whiteness.”
WK5 / October 12 / Imperialism/Racial State: 1. Stoler, “Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power: Gender and Morality in the Making of Race.” 2. **Bracey, “Toward a Critical Race Theory of State” 3. ** Kandaswamy, “State Austerity and the Racial Politics of Same-Sex Marriage in the US.”
WK6 / October 19 / Anti-Imperialist Feminist Projects (?): 1. **Thomlinson, “The Colour of Feminism: White Feminists and Race in the Women’s Liberation Movement.” 2. Thobani, “White Innocence, Western Supremacy: The Role of Western Feminism in the “War on Terror.” 3. **Chesler, “Responses to Sunera Thobani’s White Wars.” 4. **Zalewski, “Roundtable: Thinking Feminism and Race Through the War on Terror.”
WK7 / October 26 /

Legal Perspectives: 1. Razack, “The Body as Placeless: Memorializing Colonial Power.” 2. **Ghobadzadeh, A Multi-Culturalism-Feminism Dispute: Muslim Women and The Sharia Debate in Canada and Australia.” 3. Walker, “Blackness and the Law in Slavery and Freedom.”

WK8 / November 2 / Identity: 1. **Roshanravan, “Passing-as-if: Model-Minority Subjectivity and Women of Color Identification.” 2. **duCille, “The Occult of True Black Womanhood: Critical Demeanor and Black Feminist Studies.” 3. **Azuma, “Race, Citizenship, and the Science of “Chick Sexing: The Politics of Racial Identity Among Japanese Americans.”
WK9 / November 9 / Belonging: 1. Kitossa, “Criticism, Reconstruction and African-Centred Feminist Historiography.” 2. **Pilosoff, “The Unbearable Whiteness of Being: Land, Race, and Belonging in the Memoirs of White Zimbabweans.”.” 3 Ang, I’m a Feminist but…” Other’ Women and Postnational Feminism.” 4. **Murphy, “The Emergence of a Black France, 1985-2015.”
WK10 / November 16 / Representation: 1. **Wood, “Lynching Photography and the Visual Reproduction of White Supremacy.” 2. **Hong Songh, “Minor Character, Minority Orientalism and the Borderlands of Asian American” 3. **Lesley, “Disability, Giftedness and Race in Cynthia Voigt’s Tillerman Novels.”
WK11 / November 23 / Privilege: 1. **Razack and Fellows, “The Race to Innocence: Confronting Hierarchical Relations among Women.” 2. **Staurowsky, “You Know, We’re all Indian: Exploring White Power and Privilege in Reaction to the NCCA Native American Mascot Policy.” 3. **Lamble, “Queer Necropolitics and the Expanding Carceral State: Interrogating Sexual Investments in Punishment.”
WK12 / November 30 / Anti-Racist/Feminist Politics: 1. **Srivastava, “Are you Calling Me A Racist? The Moral and Emotional Regulation of Anti-racism and Feminism.” 2. ** Lawrence and Dua, “Decolonizing Anti-racism.” 3. **Sexton, “The Vel of Slavery: Tracking the Figure of the Unsovereign.”
WK13 / December 7 / Postracialism? Postfeminism? 1. **Powell, “Post-Racialism or Targeted Universalism?”2. **McNay, “Feminism and Post-Identity Politics: The Problem of Agency.” 3. **Smith and Brown, “Beyond Post-Racial Narratives: Barack Obama and the (Re) Shaping of Racial Memory in US Schools and Society.”

COURSE POLICIES