SSOC 223 Women Writers: A Medley of Voices CRN 20317 -- TEACHER
VERSION
Spring 2008 Thu. 6:00-9:15 A105
Kay Fowler
Syllabus URL http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwsp08syllabus.html
PDF Version for
Printing: http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwsp08syllabus.pdf
"What would
happen if one woman told the truth about her life?
The world would split
open..." --Muriel
Rukeyser
Faith Ringgold Tar Beach 1990
|Book Reports and Oral
Presentations | Book
Report List |
Class
hour and room: Thurs. 6-9:15 Room: E215
Office: School of Social and Human Services, Room E-222 Phone : 684-7565 (don't leave voicemail) Email: kfowler@ramapo.edu Website:
http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/ Office hours: Tues. 12-1 pm; Thu. 5-6
pm. Other times by appointment.
Course
Description: This is a 200 level women's studies course surveying the wide,
deep and vibrant range of American Women's voices from pre-European contact to
the present with attention to the context of feminist theory and feminist
literary criticism. We are attempting to cover a very rich tradition in a
single semester so the reading is substantial, although, I trust, not overwhelming.
Still we will only be able to "taste" the many delicacies and take a
quick nibble at some of the main courses. The material is wonderful and diverse, enjoyable and
occasionally difficult. Readings
will be explored and contextualized through a number of individual writing
assignments, collaborative projects, presentations, WebCT resources and class
discussions, activities and supplemental resources. For further details see the detailed course description at
http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwcoursedescription.html
Course
Objectives: http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwcourseobjectives.html
Required
Texts
: PH: POETRY HANDOUT (provided first day), Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior. AL:
Hogeland, Lisa Maria and Mary Klages, Eds. Aunt Lute Anthology of U. S. Women Writers Vol. 1: 17th-19th C.
2004 WOW: Kallet, Marilyn and
Patricia Clark, eds. Worlds in
Our Words: Contemporary American Women Writers. 1996. There will be additional readings
on WebCT6 and on the Web. Get your
books early from the bookstore. Do
not wait until they are due because the bookstore returns leftover books to the
distributors shortly into the semester.
You are responsible for all these readings. Note: For most weeks there will be assigned readings to be
done by the entire class and assigned readings specifically for each small
group. You are to read the general
readings and your group's reading.
(Feel free, of course, to read any and all of the other groups' readings
as you choose!) NOTE: ALL REQUIRED READINGS TO BE COMPLETED BEFORE CLASS!
Writing
Assignments and Projects:
Quilt piece (Due Class 2) (group grade); Interview (Due Class 4); Email
Exchange (Due before class 6) (group grade); Midterm Exam (in-class Class 7);
Reading Questions on Kingston (Due Class 8); Play Preparation/Performance
(Class 9) (group grade); Poem explication (Due class 10); Experiential Project
1 (See below) (Due: Class 11); Experiential Project 2 (See below) (Due: Class
12); Letter to Power (Due Class
13); Hacker "Lost Ladies" research (due Class 14) (group grade );
Book Report -- written 3-5 pages submitted the day you present and presented
orally on day assigned for your book; Final Exam: Take-home : Due by Thu. May 8.
Experiential
Reports: Under the new
Curriculum Enhancement Program (CEP) students are expected to do approximately
5 hours of experiential learning outside the class. This requirement will be satisfied for this class by
completing (and submitting a write-up of the experience) two Experiential
Projects from the linked list of Experiential Project options. Experiential Project #1 is due Class
11; Experiential Project #2 is due Class 12. Alternatively you can elect to do a service learning project
related to the class. For options and guidelines see: http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwsp08experientialguide.html
Student
Obligations and Course Policies: You are responsible to read these policies
carefully and understand and observe them: Attendance; Class Participation;
Class Decorum; The "Ouch" Rule, Academic Integrity; Collaborative
Learning; Service Learning Option; Honors Option: Students with Special Needs
For details see: http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwpolicies.html
Grading
file://localhost/Policy
http/::phobos.ramapo.edu:~kfowler:wwgradingpolicy.html
COURSE CALENDAR
Class
1 Thu. Jan 24: Introduction and WomenÕs Voices: Collective Wisdom (traditional
tales and teachings, sacred stories, oral histories)
In
Class : Introduction to Web CT
and course structure. Asking
Questions and Posing Frameworks; Group Assignments and selections of texts for
Student Presentations
Setting
the Themes: Anonymous
(Shoshone) "Song of an Old Woman" (traditional) Nikki Giovanni
(African Am.) "Ego-Tripping" (1973); Mary Mullinaux Lemon (European Am.) "All My Grandmothers
Could Sing Most Died Young," (1992); Elmaz Abi-Nader (Lebanese Am.)
"Preparing for Occupation" Lucille Clifton (African Am.) "Wishes
for Sons" Joy Harjo (Creek/Muscogee) "I Give You Back," (1983)
Collective
Wisdom: Handouts:
Group
A: Zuni
"How Women Learned Wisdom" 63-64
Group
B:
Iroquois: "Sky Woman" 173-4
Group
C:
Chinook: "The First Ship" 175-6
Group D:
Colette Inez (French/Belgian American) "Mary at the Cave". POETRY HANDOUT : Group E: Luci Tapanhoso (Dine/Navajo)
"Remember the Things They Told Us"
Group
F: Elaine Zimmerman (European Jewish Am.)
"To Essie Parrish"
SPECIAL EVENTS
Mon. Jan. 28 6 p.m. SC219 (overflow in
SC136-138). 2ND DIVERSITY CONVOCATION: DR. TERENCE ROBERTS "LESSONS FROM
LITTLE ROCK". For more information see http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/divconv08.html
Class
2 Thu. Jan. 31 : Speaking
Hands (sewing, weaving,
cooking, gardening, hair dressing,
art and music)
ALL
READ:
Teresa
Palomo Acosta (Chicana) "My Mother Pieced Quilts" PH; Linda Hogan (Chickasaw)"What Has
Happened to These Working Hands" WOW 475-6; Abbey Lincoln (Aminata Moseka (African Am.) "I
Am the Weaver" PH; Lucy Larcum (European Am. Working Class)
"Weaving" (1868) AL
763-764;
Gina Valdez (Chicana) "My Mother Sews Blouses" PH; Alice Walker
(African Am.) "In Search of Our MotherÕs Gardens" 516-523 on WebCT; Roberta Hill Whiteman
(Oneida) "Star Quilt" PH
View
on the Web: Hmong Story cloth:
http://www.uwrf.edu/library/exhibits/storycloth.html
AND Faith Ringgold. Cotton
Fields, Blackbirds and Quilting Bees, 1997: http://www.faithringgold.com/ringgold/d15.htm
Elizabeth Keckley and the Mary Todd Lincoln Quilt: http://www.quilters-world.com/pages/features1.php?_id=3&subcat=In
the quilting world
Assignment:
Before class: Create a (paper) Quilt piece (use a 12x12 square piece of sturdy
paper as provided in class. If for
some reason you did not receive one, please come by my office during office
hours and select one.) On your quilt paper tell visually a traditional story or
piece of wisdom important in your family/culture. Think, for example, about
some story that has been repeated many times in your family or in your faith
community or at cultural gatherings
or one that has been handed down in your family through generations. (As
you illustrate this story on the quilt piece, you may use a word or two but the
primary presentation should be visual). Sign it on the front visually in some
way. Sign it on the back with your written name and the date.
SPECIAL EVENTS
(May be used for Experiential Option
for this class):
** Sun. Feb. 3, 3 p.m. and Mon Feb. 4,
3:45 p.m. Berrie Center -- Sharp Theater.THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES: A THEATRICAL
ADAPTATION OF SUE MONK KIDD'S BOOK. Tickets $10.00
** Feb. 6 4 p.m. SC219 DIANE WILSON:
"AN UNREASONABLE WOMAN" Diane Wilson is a fourth-generation Texas
shrimper, environmental activist, author of An Unreasonable Woman, and
co-founder of Code Pink. For more information see
http://ww2.ramapo.edu/academics/ADP/
Class
3 Thu. Feb. 7: WomenÕs Voices
Whispering Secrets (personal records, diaries, private journals, writings for
the self)
ALL
READ:
Marilyn
Chin, (Chinese Am.) "First Lessons" (1987) WOW 62-63; Mary Wright
Cooper "From the Diary" (1769) 84-86 on WebCT; Sonia Sanchez "Dear Mama" (1989) WOW 132-134; Amalia Sibrian (Mexican Californian)
"A Spanish Girl's Journey from Monterey to Los Angeles" (1829?) AL 594-6; Nancy Willard
"Angels in Winter" (1995) WOW 577-578
GROUPS
READ:
Group
A: Sarah
Kemble Knight (European Am.) from "The Journal of Madame Knight"
(1704) entries Oct. 2-Oct. 7: AL 60-71;
Group
B:
Abigail Abbot Bailey (European Am.) "from The Memoirs of Mrs. Abigail
Bailey
(1815)AL 135-139; 144-162;
Group
C:
Loreta Janeta Velasquez (Cuban Mexican Transgender) "from The Woman in
Battle..."
(1876) Chaps. 1, 3, 4: AL
1074-1089
Group
D:
Lorenza Stevens Berbinea "from Unpublished Diaries" (1851) 98-103 on WebCT;
Group
E: Mary
Coburn Dewees "From the Journal..." (1788) 230-234 on WebCT and Dorothy Dudley
"from the DiaryÕ"(1775) 287-291 on WebCT;
Group
F: Alice James "from the Diary" (1889) 996-1003 on WebCT.
Book
Reports: Audre Lorde (African Am. Lesbian) The Cancer Journals (1980).
Class
4 Feb. 14: WomenÕs Voices Filtered; Muffled; Transmitted (court records,
"confessions," anthropological accounts, etc., symbols)
ALL
READ:
Lilac
Chen (Chinese Am.) "Lilac Chen" (1973) AL 1359-1362; Janice Mirikitani (Japanese Am.)
"Suicide Note" (1987) PH; S.N.
(South Asian) "Revisionist History" 2006 PH; Nishimura Ekiu v.
United States (Japanese Am.)
(1891-2) AL 1350-1351; Belinda
Royall, (18th C. African Working Class Am.) "Petition of an African
Slave" (1787) http://www.medfordhistorical.org/belinda.php and see
http://tuftsjournal.tufts.edu/archive/2002/august/calendar/royall2.shtml ; Vo
Thi Tam: (Vietnamese Am.) "A Boat Person's Story" on WebCT; Sojourner Truth (African Am.) "Speech" (1851)
AL 337-8.
GROUPS
READ:
Group
A: Mary
Read (European Am. Transgender) "The Life of Mary Read" (1724) AL 98-102; Group B: Tituba (Native
Am./African Am.) "The Examination of Tituba" (1692) AL 79-87;
Group
C: "Petition for a Ten Hour
Workday" (1845) AL
148-157;
Group
D: Lee
Yow Chun and Chun Ho (Chinese Am.) "Rescued Chinese Prostitutes Testify at
the Industrial Commission."
(1901) 377-383 on
WebCT;
Group
E: Joyce
Madelon Winslow (European Jewish Am.) "Born Again" WOW 313-324.
Group
F: Vue
Vang, (Laotian Am.), "Vue Vang's Life Story as Told to her daughter Marjuo
Xiong," (1993) on
WebCT.
Assignment: Interview a woman or girl who is over
65 or under 12 or one whose first language is not English (and is not your
first language). Work up several
questions in advance to ask; you will be adding others as the interview
unfolds. Focus on what your
interviewee thinks is most important to share about herself and her life.
Then write up the interview (using a pseudonym for your subject or just
initials). Include a brief
introduction describing the person you chose to interview, the interview
questions and the interview process.
(Approximately 2-4 pages in length). Bring to class and be prepared to share it.
Class
5: Thu. Feb. 21: "The Truth About Her Life:" Autobiography, liberatory
narratives, memoirs, testimony etc.
ALL
READ:
Anonymous,
"Homeless Woman Living in Car," (1993) on WebCT;
Lorna Dee Cervantes (Chicana) "Refugee Ship" (1975) WOW 61-62; Susan (Harriet Farley Donlevy)
(European Am.) "Letters from Susan: Letter 2" (1804) AL 298-301; Naomi Shihab Nye (Palestinian
Am.) "Adios" (on
leaving) WOW70.
GROUPS
READ:
Group
A:
Harriet Jacobs (African Am.) from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) AL 529-534;
Group
B: Nancy
Mairs "from Carnal Acts" 375-385 on WebCT;
Group
C: Mary L. Day (European Am./blind)
"from Incidents in the Life of a Blind Girl" (1859) AL 1005-1008 AND Leslie
Feinberg (European Am. Jewish Lesbian) "Natural Becomes Unnatural" 60-65
on WebCT;
Group
D:
Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) (Dakota/Sioux) "The School Days of an
Indian Girl" (1900) 185-194 on WebCT;
Group
E: Lisa
Springer (European Am. Lesbian lived in Iran) "Between Girls" WOW 522-530. Group F: Sucheng Chan (Chinese Am.) "You're
Short Besides," (1989) 434-439 on WebCT
Book
Reports: Carolyn Chute, (Working Class Euro. Am.) The Beans of Egypt
Maine
(1986); Joan Didion (European American), The Year of Magical Thinking (2005); Mary Crow Dog (Lakota Sioux) Lakota
Woman
(1990); Leslie Feinberg (European Jewish Transgender) Stone Butch Blues (1993); Vivian
Gornick
(European Jewish American), Fierce Attachments (1987); Jeanne
Houston and James D. Houston
(Japanese Nisei Amer.), Farewell to Manzunar (1973); Sue Monk Kidd (European American), The
Secret Life of Bees (2002); M. Elaine Mar (Chinese American), Paper Daughter (1999); Esmerelda
Santiago
(Puerto Rican American), Almost
a Woman
(1998) ; Sapphire (African American), Push (1996); Sara Suleri (Pakistani American), Meatless
Days
(1987); Suzie King Taylor (African American), A Black Woman's Civil War
Memoir
(1902).
SPECIAL EVENTS
(May be used for Experiential Option
for this
class):
** Thu;. Feb. 28 4p.m. Women's Center.
DISCUSSION ON JOAN DIDION'S THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING.
Class
6 Thu. Feb. 28: WomenÕs Voices in Conversation (letters, directed journals,
dialogues, etc.)
ALL
READ:
Azza
Basrudin (Malaysian Am. Muslim), Maddy Mohammed (Palestinian Am. Muslim) and
Khanum Shaikh (Pakistani Am. Muslim) "Our Memories of Islam: Pakistani,
Malaysian, and Palestinian Women (Re)imagine 'MuslimÕ and (Re)define
Faith" (2006) 129-159 on
WebCT;
Mrs. Elizabeth Dixon Smith Geer (European Am.) "Diary and letter"
251-255 on WebCT; Elizabeth Sprigs (Working Class) (1756)
49-50 on WebCT;.
GROUPS
READ:
Group
A:
Abigail Smith Adams and Mercy Otis Warren (1776+) 239-244 on WebCT;
Group
B: Lety
Martinez Gonzalez (Chicana working class) and Patricia Zaratec (Chicana working
class) "Two Letters Home" (1981, 1990) 141-155 on WebCT;
Group
C:
Harriet Beecher Stowe (European Am.) "From Sunny Memories of Foreign
Lands"
Letter 1 (1854) on
WebCT;
Group
D:
Margaret Tynal Winthrop (European Am.) "The Letters of MTW" (1626)
176-178 on WebCT and The Winthrop Women
(1630s-1640s) (European Am.) 235-239 on WebCT;
Group
E: Merle
Woo, (Chinese/Korean Am.) "Letter to Ma," (1981) 531-8 on WebCT;
Group
F:
Harriett Noble (European Am.) "Emigration from New York to Michigan"
223-229 on WebCT.
Assignment:
Write and send an email directed to the members of your small group (copied to
me) about what it is like to be a college student in 2007 -- what were your
expectations, what is the biggest challenge you face, what are the things you
feel have changed you in some profound way during your college experience, how
has your race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, political persuasions,
religion etc. affected your experience or your analysis of it? Then write back to each writer in your
group a thoughtful response to their first email. (In other words in all you
will be writing 6 emails). You
will be graded as a group so be conscientious on behalf of your group mates.
Class
7 Thu. Mar. 6: WomenÕs Voices
Telling Stories (short stories, novels)
MIDTERM -- IN CLASS 6-7; regular class will resume at 7:10 p.m. (after
a brief break)
ALL
READ:
Alice
Walker (African Am.) "Everyday Use," (1973), WOW 6-13; Mary Wilkins
Freeman (European Am.) "The Revolt of Mother" (1891) http://home.comcast.net/~mewf_short_stories/RevoltOfMother.htm
GROUPS
READ:
Group
A: Kate
Chopin (European Am.) "Desiree's Baby" (1893) AL 1174-1178;
Group
B: Sarah
Orne Jewett (European Am.)"The Flight of Betsey Lane" (1893) AL 1142-1155; Group C: Jumpha Lahiri. (20th C.
South Asian/Indian Am.) "When
Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine" 23-42 on WebCT; Ô
Group
D: Leslie Marmon Silko (20th C.
Laguna) "Lullaby" WOW 24-31;
Group
E:
Cynthia Ozick, (Russian/Litvak Jewish Am.) "The Shawl" (1980) WOW 204-207; Group F: Otono Watanna (Winnifred Eaton) (Chinese Am.) "The Loves of
Sakiro Jira and the Two Headed Maid" (1903) 576-580 on WebCT.
Book
Reports: Chitra Divakaruni (Indo-Am.), Arranged Marriage (1995); Jumpha Lahiri (Indo-Am.), The
Interpreter of Maladies (1999); Frances Khirallah Noble (Arab American), The
Situe Stories (2002)
NOTE: SPRING BREAK IS MAR. 10-16.
ENJOY!
Class
8 Thu. Mar. 20: WomenÕs Voices in
Novel Form
ALL
READ:
Maxine
Hong Kingston. The Woman
Warrior. Read all.
Assignment:
Answer (in a substantive and thoughtful way with direct quotation and
references to the text) 2 of the questions from Reading Questions on Kingston Your responses should together be 2-3 pages in length.
Book
Reports: Diana Abu-Jaber (20th C. Jordanian Am.) Arabian Jazz (1993); Sandra
Cisneros
(Chicana) The House on Mango Street (1989); Edwige Danticat (Haitian American) Breath,
Eyes and Memory (1994); Ella Cara Deloria (Anpetu Waste Win -- Beautiful Day
Woman) (Yankton Dakota) Waterlily (1944); Louise
Erdrich
(French Ojibwe / German American/Chippewa) Tracks (1988); Zora Neale Hurston (African Am.) Their
Eyes Were Watching God (1936); Toni Morrison (African American) The Bluest Eye (1990); Farnoosh
Moshir
(Iranian American) Against Gravity (2006); Lisa See (Chinese American) Snowflower
and the Secret Fan (2005); Helen Maria Viramontes (Chicana) Under the
Feet of Jesus (1995).
Class
9 Thu. Mar. 27: WomenÕs
Voices Dramatizing (plays, monologues, films)
ALL
READ:
Wendy
Wasserstein (European Jewish Am.) "Tender Offer" (1983) WOW 134-141.
GROUPS
READ -- And Prepare to perform (see below):
Group
A:
Cassandra Medley (African American) "Waking Women" (1991) WOW 53-60;
Group
B:
Momoko Iko (Japanese Am.) "Gold Watch" (1972) WOW 231-265;
Group
C: Alice
Childress (African Am.) "Florence" WOW 458-469;
Group
D: Janet
Neipris (European Am.) "The Agreement" WOW 542-563;
Group
E:
Denise Chavez, (Chicana) "Novena Narratives," (1987), 295-309 on WebCT;
Group
F: Susan
Glaspell (European Am.) "Trifles" 1351-1361 on WebCT.
Assignment:
Read the play assigned for your group. Draft a summary of the key info about
the play which you will be sharing with your group in class. In class you will consolidate your
drafts into a concise but effective summary of the key points and then work
with your group in class on how you might produce (stage, cast, etc.) the
play. You will then select and
rehearse a scene or two from the play. The performance by your group should be
about 15-20 min. in length so select and plan accordingly. Each group will then report out on
their summary info and then actually perform the scene they have chosen from
the play for the rest of the class.
Feel free to bring props and/or wear costumes but this is not required. If you do want to do this you will need
to confer with your group members in advance by email or otherwise so that the
group as a whole comes to a decision.
You will be graded as a group, so help each other out.
SPECIAL EVENTS
** Tues. Apr. 1 1p.m. SC136-138 MAXINE
HONG KINGSTON!!!**
Class
10 Thu. Apr. 3: Women Making Poetry
Reminder: Poetry is much easier to understand --
and much more effective -- if read aloud
-- and read more than once. Take your time and savor these poems. DonÕt rush them.
ALL
READ:
Paula
Gunn Allen, (Laguna Pueblo/Sioux/Lebanese)"Weed" (1988) WOW 387; Anne Bradstreet
(European Am.) "Here Follow Upon the Burning of Our House" (1666) AL 33-34; Emily Dickinson
(European Am.) Poetry selections AL 841-853; Joy Harjo (Creek/Muskogee) "Interview by
Marilyn Kallet: In Love and War and Music: An Interview with Joy Harjo"
and "The Place the Musician Became a Bear" (1992) WOW 670-682; Sophie Jewett
(European Am.) Poems AL
1298-1300;
Irene Klepfiz (Polish Jewish Lesbian Am.) "Warsaw, 1983:
Umschleplatz" (1983) WOW 271-2; Maxine Kumin
(European Jewish Am.) "Menial Labor and the Muse" (1989) WOW 456-458; Denise Levertov
(European Jewish Am.) "A Tree Telling of Orpheus" (1968) WOW 396; Audre Lorde
(African Am. Lesbian) "Poetry is Not a Luxury" (1977) WOW 42-44; Pat Mora (Chicana) "La Migra"
(1993) WOW 280-281; Naomi Shihab
Nye (Palestinian Am.) "So Much Happiness" (1982) WOW 745-6;Wendy Rose
(Hopi/Miwok/Scots) "I Expected My Skin and My Blood to Ripen" (1980) WOW 283-284; May Sarton
(European Am. Lesbian) "The Work of Happiness" (1948) WOW 484-5;
Phillis Wheatley (African Am.) Selections AL 170-173; Lois Ann Yamanaka (20th C. Japanese
Hawaiian Am.) "Turtles" (1993) WOW 482-484.
POETRY
HANDOUT : Read generously as much as you can of the Poetry on POETRY HANDOUT .
Assignment:
Do a careful and full explication of one poem chosen from the poetry handout or
from the assigned poems above. You
may not select a poem which we have already examined in class. Make use of the very clear and helpful
guide to explicating a poem at http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/poetry-explication.html
Class
11 Thu. Apr. 10: WomenÕs Voices
Reaching, Teaching and Preaching (spiritual narratives, educational treatises,
sermons, childrenÕs books)
ALL
READ:
Cherokee
Women (Cherokee) "Cherokee Women Address Their Nation"(1817); 177-178
on WebCT; Margaret Fuller
(European Am.) "Educate Men and Women as Souls" (1855) AL 430-1; Joy Harjo
(Creek/Muskogee) "Healing Animal" WOW 657-8;
Francis Ellen Watkins Harper (African Am.) "An Appeal to My
Countryman" (1893) AL
799-801; Audre Lorde (African Am. Lesbian)
"A Litany for Survival" WOW 66-8 ; Pat Parker, (African Am.) (1978) "Where Will You
Be?" 115-119 on
WebCT;
Debra Swallow, (Oglala) "Keep A Dime," (1984)140-141 PH;
GROUPS
READ:
Group
A: Sui
Sin Far (Chinese Am.) "Its Wavering Image" (1912) 539-544 on WebCT;
Group
B:
Judith Sargent Murray (European Am.) "On the Equality of the Sexes"
(1790) AL 162-169;
Group
C: Dr.
Elizabeth Blackwell (European Am.) "from The Laws of Life with Special
Reference to Physical Education of Girls" 1852 AL 706-717;
Group
D:
Michelle Sharif (Arab Am.)
"Global Sisterhood: Where Do We Fit In?" 151-159 on
WebCT;
Group
E:
Gloria Anzaldua , (Chicana Lesbian) "La Conciencia de la Mestiza: Towards
a New Consciousness" (1987) WOW 560-572;
Group
F:
Adrienne Rich (Jewish Lesbian Am.) "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian
Existence" 1993 on
WebCT.
Assignment: Experiential Report # 1 due.
Book
Reports: Lousie DeSalvo (European American with disability) Breathless (1997); Helen Keller, (European Am. with
disability), The Story of My Life (1903); Maria Elinor Lucas (Chicana with
disability), Forged Under the
Sun/Forjada Bajo el Sol: the Life
of Maria Elena Lucas; Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee with disability), A Chief and Her
People
(1993) .
Class
12 Thu. Apr. 17:
Women Weaving Visions (utopias, fantasy, science fiction, speculative
fiction)
ALL
READ:
Betsey
Chamberlain (European Am. Working Class) "A New Society" (1840) 90-91
on WebCT; C. L. Moore (European Am.) "No
Woman Born" (1944) 236-288 on WebCT;
GROUPS
READ:
Group
A: James
K. Tiptree, Jr. (Eur. Am.) "The Women Men DonÕt See" (1973) http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/tiptree2/tiptree21.html;
Group
B: Annie
Denton Cridge, (European Am.) "ManÕs Rights or How Would You Like
it?"(1870) 317-336 on
WebCT;
Group
C:
Octavia Butler (African American) "Speech Sounds" (1995) 89-110 on WebCT;
Group D:
Katherine Maclean (European Am.) "Contagion" (1950) 74-101 on WebCT;
Group
E: Ellen
Klages (European Am. Lesbian) "Time Gypsy" (1998) on WebCT;
Group
F: Ursula K. Leguin "Sur" (1982)
1931-1943 on WebCT.
Assignment: Experiential Report # 2 due.
Book
Reports: Octavia Butler (African Am.), Dawn (1997); Charlotte
Perkins Gilman (European American), Herland (1915); Ursula K. LeGuin, (European Am.), Left
Hand of Darkness (1969); Marge Piercy (European Am. Jewish), Woman on the Edge of
Time
(1993); Amy Thomson (European Am.), The Color of Distance (1995)
Class
13 Thu. Apr. 24: WomenÕs Voices Speaking Truth to Power (speeches, essays, public
letters, newspaper articles, documentaries, etc.)
ALL
READ
Mary
("Molly") Brant (Canienga/Mohawk) "Letters of Molly Brant to
Judge Daniel Claus" (1778-9) 279-281 on WebCT; Audre Lorde: (African Am. Lesbian) "The
MasterÕs Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House" (1979) 98-101 on WebCT.
GROUPS
READ:
Group
A: Abolition: Muskingham County Female Anti Slavery
Society "Petition of Ladies" (1836) AL 237-8; Maria W. Stewart, "Lecture Delivered at the Franklin Hall ,
Boston, Sep. 21, 1832" (1832) AL 408-414; Angelina Grimke Weld (European/African Am.)
(1880-1950): "Address at Pennsylvania Hall" (1838) AL 414-418; Ladies of Steubenville, Ohio (European
Am.) "Memorial" ((1830) AL 839-841;
Group
B: Women's
Rights: Elizabeth Cady Stanton
(European Am.) "The Solitude of Self" (1892) AL 565-571; Seneca Falls
Women's Rights Convention "Declaration of Sentiments", (1848) AL 703-706; Victoria
Woodhull (European Am.) "from The Truth Shall Make You Free" AL 1026-1036
Group
C: Poverty/Labor: Helen Campbell (European Am.)
"From Prisoners of Poverty" (1847) AL 1036-1041; Mary Harris, Mother Jones,
"Victory at Arnot" (1972) 420-422 on WebCT; Ah Quon McElrath , (Chinese Am.) "The
Challenge is Still There" (1976 and 1994) on WebCT; Anamaria de la Cruz (Salvadoran Am.)
"Interview with Jessie de la Cruz" (2003) on
WebCT.
Group
D: Jim
Crow/Lynching. Eleanor Roosevelt, " Abolish Jim Crow "
(1943); Ida Baker Wells-Barnett,
"Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases" (1892) AL 1304-1319.
Group
E: Mind
and Body: Margaret Sanger, (European Am.) from Autobiography ; Naomi Wolf (European Am.)
"Hunger" (1991) WOW 330-347; Nellie Bly
(Elizabeth Jane Cochran) "from Ten Days in a Mad-House" (1887-1888) AL 1320-1334.
Group
F: Contact and Conflict: Anida Yoeu Esguerra (Cambodian Muslim
Am.) "The Day After: A Cento Based on Hate Crimes Filed Shortly after
9/11" (2006) 23-26 on
WebCT;
Cindy Sheehan "Open Letter to George W. Bush" on her webpage at http://www.angelfire.com/sk3/spkhntrca/Casey.html;
Amy Ling (Chinese Am.)"Whose America Is It?" (1989) WOW 208-217.
Assignment: Construct a letter to a political
official (congressperson, senator, president, governor). Choose a topic (a
social issue, political position, a human rights cause) that is deeply
important to you and construct an argument presenting your position. Be sure that your opinion is supported
by concrete facts, examples, and documented information (where
appropriate). Be thoughtful about
what other positions might be held and how they should be anticipated and
addressed. Post the letter on
WebCT
for other class members to read and consider. (I hope you will plan to actually
send the letter when you have completed it a well as turning in my copy.) Be bold and courageous. Remember, as Audre Lorde says,
"Your silence will not protect you."
Book
Reports: Demetria Martinez (Chicana Am.) Mother Tongue (1994); Elizabeth
Cady Stanton (European American) Eighty Years and More: Reminiscences
1815-1897
(1898; 1993) ; Anna Lee Walters (Pawnee/Otoe-Missouria) Ghost Singer (1988).
Class
14 Thu. May 1 Last Class: In Praise of Women (tributes and accounts of
sheroes, heroes; exploration of sisterhood; celebrating womanhood)
ALL
READ:
Paula
Gunn Allen (Laguna Pueblo/Sioux/Lebanese) "Eve the Fox" (1989) WOW 563-4; Maya Angelou
(African Am.) "Known to Eve and Me" WOW 565-6; Anne Bradstreet (European Am.) "In
Honour of That High and Mighty Princess" (1650) AL 26-29; Judith Ortiz Cofer (20th C.
Puerto Rican Working Class) "The Latin Deli"(1993) WOW 63-65; Marilyn Hacker
(European Am.) "Ballad of Ladies Lost and Found: For Julia Alvarez"
(1985) PH; Emma Lazarus (European
Jewish) "The New Colossus" AL 1170; Paule Marshall (African Am.) "To Da-duh, In Memoriam" (1967) WOW 97-105; Melissa Range
(European Am.) "Lot's Wife" (1994) WOW 401-403; Mary Tallmountain , (Athabaskan) "Matmiya,"
(1984) 144 (on grandmother) PH ; Sylvia Watanabe
(Japanese Am.) "Talking to the Dead" (1989) WOW 603-612;
Group
Assignment: Each group will be assigned a section of Marilyn HackerÕs
"Ballad of Ladies..." You are to work together as a group prior to
class to identify and prepare a brief report on each of the women alluded to in
your section. You can use
internet, library databases, queries of people who might suggest ideas -- but
you must be sure that your identification is ultimately well defended, verified
by more than one source and properly documented.
Group
A: Hacker Stanzas 1&2;
Group
B:
Hacker Stanza 3;
Group
C:
Hacker Stanzas 4&5;
Group
D:
Hacker Stanza 6;
Group
E:
Hacker Stanza 7;
Group
F:
Hacker Stanzas 8&9.
You
will receive a group grade for this assignment -- so help each other out!
Final Exam Takehome Due by Thurs. May 8
Hmong Story Cloth