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Instructor: Dr. Milagros Peña

Office: Ustler Hall, Room 207

Office Telf. # 273-0387

Office Hours: Mon. 1:30-2:30pm

Wed. 10-11am

Thurs. 3-4pm

RACE PERSPECTIVES IN WOMEN’S STUDIES

(WST 6936/SYA 7933)

This course will explore the contributions of African American, Native American, Chicana /Latina, and Asian American feminists to women’s studies and feminism. We will address issues such as racism in the women’s movement and feminism and sexism in communities of color. Framed by critiques of “universal sisterhood” launched by women of color and Third World feminists, this course aims to dismantle the conventional Western story of feminism as something that began here and then spread elsewhere. We will consider the issues taken up by feminists of color; differences in experience across ethnicities, and similarities which emerge out of living in a racially marked body in the US. We will consider questions such as: About what do feminists of color theorize? What have feminists of color contributed to feminism? How does making race and ethnicity explicit change feminism? In analyzing the intersections of race/ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality we will focus on two basic questions as we explore other issues: How are feminist movements culturally and historically situated; and, How do representations of women shape knowledge, as well as agency?

Required Texts:

Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures (Thinking Gender) by Chandra Talpade Mohanty (Editor), M. Jacqui Alexander (Editor), Publisher: Routledge; (1996).

The Trouble between Us: An Uneasy History of White and Black Women in the Feminist Movement by Winifred Breines, Publisher: Oxford University Press, (2006).

From Black Power to Hip Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism by Patricia Hill Collins, Publisher: Temple University Press (2006).

Chicana Feminist Thought by Alma M. Garcia, Publisher: Routledge; (1997).

Indigenous American Women: Decolonization, Empowerment, Activism by Devon A. Mihesuah, Publisher: Bison Books (2003).

Colonize This!: Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism by Daisy Hernandez (Editor), Bushra Rehman (Editor); Publisher: Seal Press (2002).

Course Requirements:

1 research paper (17-20 pages in length)40%

Midterm 30%

Participation in 3 Questions/Responses Sessions30%

**** There are no make-ups on any of the exams, except for Medical or other problems that may emerge and for which you will provide written documentation as proof of unforeseen emergency. There will be no exceptions for undocumented emergencies.

****All assignments that are completed late will not receive full credit (for example, for each day a paper is late there will be a full point deduction).

**** On written and class assignments:

Class assignments (participation in Questions/Responses Sessions) must be done on assigned date. Failure to be prepared or a “no show” on the date of your class assignment will receive a zero for that assignment. There will be no reassignment of class assignments except for medical or unforeseen emergency that is documented.

****Students requesting classroom accommodation:

must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation.

Course Outline

Week 1 (January 8)

From the Suffragist Movement to Second Wave of Feminism in the U.S.: Where Were Women of Color?

Course outline, requirements and framing women of color’s history in the women’s movement.

Readings: Breines: Introduction; and, Chapters 1-2.

****DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING HOLIDAY JANUARY 15TH

NO CLASSES.****

Week 2 (January 22)

Grounding Women of Color in Women’s Movements and Feminist Theorizing

Readings: Collins Chapter 1; Mihesuah Chapter 6; and, Alexander and Mohanty

Chapter 2.

Week 3 (January 29)

Women of Color: Understanding the Positioning within a Women’s Movement

Readings: Garcia Introduction; Mihesuah Chapters 1-5; and, Collins Chapter 5

Week 4 (February 5)

The Civil Rights Movement and Women of Color

Readings: Breines Chapter 5; Garcia Chapter 6; and Alexander and Mohanty

Chapter 5

Week 5 (February 12)

The Struggle for Identity

Readings: Mihesuah Chapter 8; Garcia Chapters 1-5; and, Hernandez and

Rehman pgs. 3-28

Week 6 (February 19)

Women of Color and Social Consciousness

Readings: Garcia Chapters 7-11; Alexander and Mohanty Chapter 1; and,

Mihesuah Chapter 9

Week 7 (February 26)

Building Toward a Politics of Identity

Readings: Alexander and Mohanty Chapter 6; Collins Chapter 6; Garcia Chapters

12 and 13

Week 8 (March 5)

****** Midterm First Half of Class *******

Specific Issue Organizing: Documentary “La Operacion”

**** March 10-17: Spring Break NO CLASSES****

Week 9 (March 19)

Woven Themes in the Writings of Women of Color

Readings: Alexander and Mohanty Chapters 13 and 14; Hernandez and Rehman pgs. 99-169

Week 10 (March 26)

From the Past to the Future:

Readings: Breines Chapter 4 and Epilogue: and, Collins Chapters 3 and 4

Week 11 (April 2)

Toward a Feminist Future in the Writings of Women of Color

Readings: Alexander and Mohanty Chapter 8; Collins Chapter 2; and Hernandez

and Rehman, pgs. 85-99

Week 12 (April 9)

*** PAPERS DUE ***

Community Activism Still at the Heart of the Struggle

Readings: Mihesuah Chapters 11 and 12; Hernandez and Rehman pages 29-84

Week 13 (April 16)

Toward Transnational and Global Feminisms:

Readings: Alexander and Mohanty Chapters 10 and 11; Hernandez and Rehman pgs. 279-325 and pgs. 343-394.

Week 14 (April 23)

***LAST Day of Class, Paper Topic Presentations by Panel***

****CLASSES END APRIL 25TH****