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WGSS 4575 – Senior Seminar
Issues in Contemporary Theory
T/Th 9.35-10.55; Caldwell 115
Spring 2014
Professor J Suchland Office Hours:
Hagerty Hall 420t/th 11-12;
r by appointment
Accessibility:
I am committed to making the classroom accessible to all enrolled students and would like to be informed of any needs as soon as possible. The Office of Disability Services offers services for students with documented disabilities. They are located in 150 Pomerene Hall, 1760 Neil Avenue; telephone 292.3307; TDD 292.0901;
Course Objectives:
This course serves as the senior seminar for the major in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. The course should push and deepen the boundaries of your feminist thinking/knowledge. What should one “get” from a WGSS major? What have you received? At a minimum, the department has a commitmentto teaching students about structural inequality, intersecting social differences and identities, and multiple feminist methodologies. Before you head out into the world beyond Ohio State University, we should take the time to think about what you have learned, what you still want to know more about and what questions are now most important to you.
This course is a collaborative project in the making. We won’t know what is to come until we go through the beginning group assignment…
Group Assignment (20%)
What is an education in women’s, gender and sexuality studies? This is the question posed to each group. In response, you will work collectively to create a power point presentation (pptx) condensing, describing and explaining the key questions, concepts, debates, and issues that have animated your experience in the major thus far. You can organize your presentation any way you like, but please approach this as a “lesson” you are giving to the rest of the class. Please be coherent, analytical and provide sources. Presentations should be 20-25 minutes. In addition, presentations should end with questions, themes and/or authors that the group is most interested in pursuing in the class. Groups should send me their pptx the evening prior to their presentation (8pm) as well as post it to our Buckeye Box site.
Why do this? Well, all of you are coming from similar and different experiences in the major. You also have different expectations about what an education in WGSS should be. Rather than assume our knowledge and investments, we will begin this course with an exploration of our common knowledge, areas of disconnect, and gaps. From that place, we will collectively decide the themes for the course, working together to fill the syllabus.
Timeline:
January 9 – Come to class with your personal list of classes taken for the major; your ideas about the most important authors, themes, debates and questions that have been a part of your education thus far. Also include a list of issues, themes and/or questions that you want to further explore. This should be typed up nicely (bring two copies, one for me and one for yourself). We will create groups and start brainstorming.
January 14 – Group work continues. I suggest using Buckeye Box or Google Docs so that you remotely work as a collective. Authorship and labor should be fairly distributed. I will be asking for peer feedback regarding this.
January 16 – Presentation and discussion
January 21 – Presentation and discussion
January 23 – Presentation and discussion > decision-making
From our discussions, we will collectively come to an agreement on the kinds of issues we will analyze during the semester. You may even have specific readings to suggest. With your input, I will put together readings for the class. These readings may fill a gap that emerged from the group presentations or be “old” readings that not everyone has read or that we would all benefit from reading again. This is a pedagogical experiment, so roll your sleeves up and keep an open mind.
As you will see from the schedule, there are only two assigned readings, which coordinate with speakers who are visiting the campus this semester. I have also left a certain portion of your grade (30%) open to a discussion of how you will illustrate/demonstrate your thinking about course readings. As the instructor of the course, I will have ultimate authority over the decision, but I would like us to have a conversation about the myriad approaches and outcomes that are possible (in-class written exams; oral presentations with mini papers; website construction;etc).
Planned Course Evaluation
Class Participation & Attendance (20%)
This class will be as rich and challenging as each of you makes it. It is a seminar and I take participation (and regular attendance) very seriously. While participation does not require that you speak at every meeting, it does require attentiveness, ability to listen to and engage other students, and willingness to respectfully share your views with the class. I expect every student to be fully prepared to participate in our discussions at every class meeting. If you struggle with participation, please see me early in the semester; and always feel free to ask about how your participation grade is going. Finally, attendance is the condition on which participation depends, so I expect regular attendance; more than two unexcused absences will result in a lowering of your participation grade.
Final Essay (45% total)
WGSS 4575 requires completion of a Final Essay, 8-10 pages (25%), which is due Monday April 28th, as scheduled by the university. If you would like your paper returned, please hand-in two copies and a stamped, self-addressed envelope. This is the major work of this seminar; therefore, several other assignments connected to it are also structured into the work of the semester: (1) Proposal (5%) – the essay has no assigned topic. To get an early start, you must submit a 2 page proposal for your topic by March 6th. This is an all/nothing deadline: no late proposals accepted; (2) Annotated Bibliography (10%)– the final essay must include a bibliography of no fewer than 6 items (books, journal articles or essays/chapters). However, to ensure a wide range of research, you must write an annotated bibliography of at least 8 items that is due March 28th. You may use sources from our class readings, but least five sources must be materials outside of our reading list. Any sources drawn exclusively from the web must be checked with me before they may be included on the bibliography; (3) Draft and Peer-Editing (5%) – A draft of your final essay is due in class April 10th. Please bring two copies. On April 15thwe will have writing workshops on the peer-edited drafts. This is an all/nothing deadline: no late drafts and no tardy or poor quality peer edits accepted.
Grading Scale:
A = 94-100B+ = 87-89C+ = 77-79D+ = 67-69
A- = 90-93B = 84-86C = 74-76D = 64-66
B- = 80-83C- = 70-73E = 63 and below
Academic Integrity
It is the responsibility of the Committee on Academic Misconduct to investigate or establish procedures for the investigation of all reported cases of student academic misconduct. The term “academic misconduct” includes all forms of student academic misconduct wherever committed; illustrated by, but not limited to, cases of plagiarism and dishonest practices in connection with examinations and essays. Instructors shall report all instances of alleged academic misconduct to the committee (Faculty Rule 3335-5-487). For additional information, see the Code of Student Conduct at
Schedule
January 7-23 – group projects, presentations, setting the agenda
January 28
January 30
February 4
February 6
February 11
February 13
February 18
February 20
February 25 -27 MaríaLugones, TBD
March 4
March 6[Final Paper Proposals due]
March 18
March 20
March 25
March 27
** March 28 Annotated Bibliography due
April 1 – 3 Alison Kafer, Feminist, Queer, Crip (2013) [select chapters]
April 8
April 10[Final Paper drafts due]
April 15Peer Editing/Writing workshops
April 17No class – writing period