I. Course description:

Welcome to this Gender Studies course! In this course, we will study the topic of gender from a primarily sociological perspective, but include readings and research from across disciplines. In this course will investigate the social construction of sex, gender, and sexuality; how gender is conceived of by social scientists; the process of socialization in terms of masculinity or femininity; and how social identities such as race and social class intersect with gender. We will discuss gender as it is studied on the micro and macro levels. We will discuss how research approaches and treats gender as a social identity. This will include micro-level processes, such as language, to gender inequality on the institutional level, to how gender inequality and constraints are challenged by various groups of people.

II. Course components:

This class will be composed of lectures and class/group discussions based on the material that is assigned for each class.

III. Course objectives:

Outlined below are objectives for this course. In the process of achieving these objectives, students will understand a major piece of the college’s mission, which seeks to “advocate for justice and peace in recognition of each person’s responsibility for the welfare of both humankind and the environment

• Understand how sociology approaches the topic of gender and related concepts
• Investigate how social identities intersect with one another to shape a groups’ experiences, and how people work to change these experiences
• Analyze how gender is experienced as an interactional process
• Explore the ways gender is shaped by and shapes institutional practices, experiences of individuals within these institutions, and social policy.

Overall plan for the Service Learning Component in Gender Studies:

The Service Learning experience will require you to dedicate approximately 1-2 hours every week at one of the following organizations addressing gender as a topic: Boys to Men, Maine Women’s Fund and Hardy Girls, Healthy Women.

The Goals of the Service Learning Component:

• To provide help for and contact with organizations dedicated to addressing issues associated with gender and gender identity
• To integrate the academic concepts contained in the course into the practical experience and application working these organizations
• To recognize the meaningful role each student has in the lives of those with whom they work, and to reflect on our place in a gendered society

IV. Required texts:

• Kimmel, Michael and Amy Aronson. (Eds.) 2004. The Gendered Society Reader. New York: Oxford University Press. (“K & A” throughout syllabus)
• Tarrant, Shira (Ed.) 2008. Men Speak Out. New York: Routledge. (“R”)
• Readings posted on Angel (“Angel”)

V. Methods of Evaluating Student Progress

A) Writing Assignments

There are three types of writing assignments in this course: Weekly reaction papers (2 page each); 2 applied papers (4-5 pages each) and a paper – either a reflection based on the Service Learning project (6-7 pages) or a Research Paper (10-12 pages).

B) Exams

There are two non-cumulative exams scheduled for this class.

C) Participation and Attendance

I will pass around an attendance sign-in sheet every class. However, I realize that situations arise that are out of your control, and so you will be allowed up to three absences without penalty during the semester. After your third absence, 7 points will be deducted for each class.

D) Point Allocations

12 Weekly reaction papers = 120 (10 points each)
2 Applied papers = 40 (20 points each)
2 Exams 1 = 80 (40 points each)
Service-learning reflection paper = 60 
OR
Non service-learning option: Research paper = 60

Total points = 300

This course aims to explore the discourses, representations, and responses to female deviance and criminality in the Criminal Justice System, and how they may serve as a reflection of the views of wider society. Particular attention will be focussed on portrayals of women who commit non-traditional offenses, and their implications in the study of gender and crime. An examination and analysis of the explanations and discourses used to deal with the violent female offender will be used to construct informed insights about the status of women in the Criminal Justice System, and in society in general.

Purposes and Goals:

This is an honors designated course designed to engage students in active learning about the topic of female criminality. Through a seminar format, students will be expected to engage each other in the learning process. The service learning project will serve to further engage the students with issues around women’s crime by connecting the literature to issues confronting female offenders here in Maine

Evaluation:

Response Papers 20%
Seminar Chairing 20%
Participation 20%
Take Home Exam 20%
Service Learning Project 20%

Instructions for Response Papers:

Each student is required to complete each scheduled reading and write a brief response paper. This paper should be no longer than 2 pages and should include some questions for discussion in the seminar as well as connections to other readings/issues being covered in class. The response papers are due to the seminar chair and myself in the class BEFORE the scheduled reading. Late responses will be docked two letter grades per day. Students must submit ALL response papers or they will receive a grade of 0/20.

Instructions for Seminar Chairing and Paper:

Each student will choose an available reading and lead the class in the discussion of that reading on the scheduled day. This is NOT a presentation of the reading, the chair is responsible for directing discussion around issues/questions raised by classmates in their response papers as well as their own reflections on the reading. Included in the chairs’ responsibilities will be the development and distribution of a handout synthesizing questions/issues and outlining the discussion plan. The assignment of readings and scheduling of seminars will be completed on a first come-first serve basis. See the list of readings at the end of this syllabus.

Instructions on Participation:

Engaged participation in discussions is integral to any seminar-based class. All students are expected to come to every class prepared to discuss the scheduled reading(s) specifically and its connections to other readings more generally. Students must also discuss ideas in a manner that is respectful of others, even in cases of disagreement. As well, there is such a thing as TOO MUCH participation. We all must remain aware of the need to give time for everyone to contribute. Also included in the participation grade is an expectation of consistent attendance. Students will be given two confidential warnings if they are not participating/attending at the expected level, failure to improve will result in a grade of 0/20.

Instructions on Service Learning Project:

Each student in this class is expected to work on the project. Much of this work will be completed outside of class time. You are expected to spend approximately 20 hours of work into the service learning project. Each student will keep a journal documenting work done towards the project as well as personal reflections on their experience with the project (problems, successes, frustrations, fears etc). Students should bring their journals to every class. All students are also expected to participate in a presentation of the project on University Day (April 14th). Students are also required to submit a formal reflection paper with their journals at the end of the semester. This paper will include reflections on the experience of working on the project and how that experience connects to the substantive knowledge gained in the seminars throughout the semester. Students will also submit self, team, and class evaluations at the end of the semester.

READING LIST:

Burgess-Proctor, Amanda, “Intersections of Race, Class, Gender and Crime: Future Directions for Feminist Criminology” Feminist Criminology 2006 1; 7

Miller, Jody, “The strengths and limits of ‘doing gender’ for understanding street crime” Theoretical Criminology 2002 6:4

Carlen, Pat, “Women’s Imprisonment: Models of Reform and Change” Probation Journal 2002 49; 76

Dowden, Craig and Andrews, D.A., “What Works for Female Offenders: A Meta-Analytic Review” Crime & Delinquency 1999 45; 438

Goodkind, Sara, “Gender-Specific Services in the Juvenile Justice System: A Critical Examination” Affilia 2005 12; 52

MacDonald, John M. and Chesney-Lind, Meda, “Gender Bias and Juvenile Justice Revisited: A Multiyear Analysis” Crime & Delinquency 2001 47; 173

Bond-Maupin, Lisa, “That Wasn’t Even Me They Showed”: Women as Criminal on America’s Most Wanted” 1998 4; 30

Davis, Carla P., “At-Risk Girls and Delinquency: Career Pathways” Crime & Delinquency 2007 53; 408

Belknap, Joanne and Holsinger, Kristi, “The Gendered Nature of Risk Factors for Delinquency” Feminist Criminology 2006 1; 48

Ferraro, Kathleen J. and Moe, Angela M., “Mothering, Crime and Incarceration” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 2003 32; 9

Chesney-Lind, Meda and Paramore, Vickie V., “Are Girls Getting More Violent?: Exploring Juvenile Robbery Trends” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 2001 17; 142

Brents, Baraba G. and Hausbeck, Kathryn, “Violence and Legalized Brothel Prostitution in Nevada: Examining Safety, Risk, and Prostitution Policy” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 2005 20; 270

Pollack, Joycelyn and Mullings, Janet L. and Crouch, Ben M., “Violent Women: Findings From the Texas Women Inmates Study” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 2006 21; 485

Mosher, Clayton and Phillips, Dretha, “The Dynamics of a Prison-Based Therapeutic Community for Women Offenders: Retention, Completion, and Outcomes” The Prison Journal 2006 86; 6

Eliason, Michelle J., Taylor, Janette Y., and Williams, Rachel, “Physical Health of Women in Prison: Relationship to Oppression” Journal of Correctional Health Care 2004 10; 175

Richie, Beth, “Challenges Incarcerated Women Face as They Return to Their Communities: Findings from Life History Interviews” Crime & Delinquency 2001 47; 368

Leverentz, Andrea M., “The Love of a Good Man? Romantic Relationships as a Source of Support or Hinderance for Female Ex-Offenders” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 2006 43; 459

Lund, Ryan et al., “Women’s Needs After Release From Prison to a Rural Community” Journal of Correctional Health Care 2002 9 271

Chesney-Lind Meda, Morash, Merry and Irwin, Kathrine, “Policing Girlhood? Relational Aggression and Violence Prevention” Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 2007 5; 328

Katz, Rebecca S., “Explaining Girls’ and Women’s Crime and Desistance in the Context of Their Victimization Experiences: A Developmental Test of Revised Strain Theory and the Life Course Perspective” Violence Against Women 2000 6; 633

Wright, Emily M., Salisbury Emily, J. and Van Voorhis, Patricia, “Predicting the Prison Misconducts of Women Offenders: The Importance of Gender-Responsive Needs” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 2007 23; 310

Koons-Witt, Barbara A. and Schram, Pamela J., “Does Race Matter? Examining the Relationship Between Co-Offending and Victim Characteristics for Violent Incidents Involving Female Offenders” Feminist Criminology 2006 1; 125

Mallicoat, Stacy L., “Gendered Justice: Attribution Differences Between Males and Females in the Juvenile Courts” Feminist Criminology 2007 2; 4

CLASS SCHEDULE:

Wed Jan 20: Introduction to course, Review of Syllabus, Seminar Assignment

Mon Jan 25: What is a Seminar?, Seminar Assignment DUE

Wed Jan 27: History of Female Criminality

Mon Feb 1: Film and Lecture

Wed Feb 3: Service Learning Work, Responses to Burgess-Proctor and Miller DUE

Mon Feb 8: Feminism Seminar (Lisa), Burgess-Proctor and Miller, Responses to Carlen and Andrews & Dowden DUE

Wed Feb 10: Female Offenders Seminar (Lisa), Carlen and Dowden & Andrews

Mon Feb 15, Wed Feb 17: BREAK WEEK

Mon Feb 22: Service Learning Work

Wed Feb 24: Student Chaired Seminars

Mon March 1, Wed March 3: schedule forthcoming

Mon March 8: Service Learning Work

Wed March 10: Student Chaired Seminars

Mon March 15, Wed March 17: schedule forthcoming

Mon March 22, Wed March 24: BREAK WEEK

Mon March 29: Student Chaired Seminars

Wed March 31, Mon April 5: schedule forthcoming

Wed April 7: Service Learning Work

Mon April 12: schedule forthcoming

Wed April 14: UNIVERSITY DAY

Mon April 19: Student Chaired Seminar

Wed April 21: Service Learning Work

Mon April 26: Student Chaired Seminar

Wed April 28, Mon May 3: schedule forthcoming

Wed May 5: Clean Up Day, Receive Take-Home Exam, Service Learning Journals and Reflection Papers DUE

Wed May 12: FINAL EXAM DUE by 4:00pm

As a member of the university community, I pledge to:

Pursue academic excellence,

Support open inquiry and civil expression,

Listen respectfully to the viewpoints of others,

Participate responsibly in the life of the community,

Conserve and enhance the beauty of the campus,

Help all members of the university community to realize their potentials.

This course will serve as the inaugural course offering under the newly established capstone service-learning course designation ADST 483. We will explore interchanges among critical race theory, black feminist thought, and black women’s health, with emphasis on the role that the HIV/AIDS crisis has played in networking these discourses at the site of hip hop-inflected literary, artistic, and musical representations of black women’s bodies.

Required readings for the course will include Quinn Gentry’s Black Women’s Risk for HIV: Rough Living (2007); Tricia Rose’s Longing to Tell: Black Women Talk about Sexuality & Intimacy (2004); Dorie Gilbert and Ednita Wright’s African American Women & HIV/AIDS: Critical Responses (2002); Sister Souljah’s The Coldest Winter Ever (1999); Pearl Cleage’s What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day (1997); and Sapphire’s PUSH (1996). We will also analyze the critically-acclaimed HBO film Life Support (2008) and the award-winning BET, Rap-It-Up/Black AIDS short film Walking on Sunshine (2005). Finally, we will review scholarly articles on K12 school-based service-learning in preparation for fulfilling the required service-learning project, “Let’s Get It Started: The Traveling Health Fair Project”.

The goals of the service-learning project are implicit in its title. “Let’s Get It Started!” strives to energize and inspire you, the students in ADST 483, as you apply what you learn over the course of the semester about black women’s health in the age of Hip Hop and HIV/AIDS to the design, organization, and implementation of a community-based project that fosters the health and wellbeing of K12 students throughout New Orleans. The community-based project is a health fair that will travel to three New Orleans public schools. Each student will be assigned to one of five committees: a clinical committee, a procurement committee, a site coordinating committee, a publicity committee, and an assessments committee. Committees will work from August through October meeting your various charges in relation to planning, implementing, and assessing the outcome of the health fair. A detailed description of this project follows the calendar for the course.

Objectives

This course aims to:

• Enhance students’ comprehension of the cultural dimensions of health and environmental issues impacting black women;
• Expand students’ problem-solving skills as they relate to health issues affecting local communities; and
• Prepare students to identify, design, and implement projects that foster healthy K12 student populations.

Learning Outcomes & Assessment

• Weekly quizzes will be administered to insure that students are keeping up with readings and to measure students’ reading comprehension.
• Every two weeks hypothetical questions will be posted to blackboard; the questions will incorporate factual data about HIV/AIDS and black women. Students will develop roadmaps, or plans of action, that point the way to solving the hypothetical. Class discussion will provide a context for students to discuss their roadmaps/plans of action with one another and learn from one another’s suggestions.
• Drawing from course readings & discussions, and using their roadmaps/plans of action as guides, students will organize and host a health fair at three different K12 sites. Students will document all phases of planning, organizing, and implementation and complete exit interviews about their experiences completing the project.

Required Readings

Gentry, Quinn. Black Women’s Risk for HIV: Rough Living (2007)
Rose, Tricia. Longing to Tell: Black Women Talk about Sexuality & Intimacy (2004)
Gilbert, Dorie and Ednita Wright. African American Women & HIV/AIDS: Critical Responses (2002)
Sister Souljah. The Coldest Winter Ever (1999)
Cleage, Pearl . What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day (1997)
Sapphire. PUSH (1996)
Lakin, Rebecca and Annette Mahoney. “Empowering Youth to Change Their World: Identifying Key Components of a Community Service Program to Promote Positive Development.” Journal of School Psychology (December 2006): 513-531. (AVAILABLE ON BLACKBOARD)

Course Products and Weight:

1. Quizzes 20%
2. Hypotheticals 20%
3. Committee Reports 20%
4. Discussion 20%
5. Health Fair Report 10%
6. Exit Interview 10%
__________
TOTAL   100%

Course Requirements & Rules

1. All assignments must be completed to receive a grade in this course.
2. The service-learning component of this course is not optional and the product of your service-learning effort is non-negotiable.
3. No woman or man is an island. This course thrives on collaboration, candor, constructive criticism, creativity, and general good-spiritedness. If you do not like working in groups, thinking outside the box, receiving constructive feedback, giving constructive feedback, working with children, or young adults, and dealing with tough, sensitive issues, you should drop this course, because you will not enjoy it.
4. The University Honor Code applies to all activities, communications, and products of this course. If you are unfamiliar with the code, you need to read it, because you will be held to it this semester. The Code can be found at http://www.tulane.edu/~jruscher/dept/Honor.Code.html.
5. I am happy to accommodate students with registered disabilities; please contact me at your earliest convenience for further discussion. For more information on Disability Services at Tulane, please visit http://erc.tulane.edu/disability/.

Calendar

8/24 COURSE OVERVIEW; Lakin & Mahoney
8/26 Service-learning Lakin & Mahoney, continued
8/28 HIV/AIDS: Clinical Overview (Guest Speaker, School of Public Health)
8/31 Black Women’s Health: General Introduction (Guest Speaker, School of Medicine) 9/2 Black Women & HIV/AIDS: Cultural Myths, Facts, and Factors (Guest Speaker, Community Activist)
9/4 Hip Hop: Literature, Art, Music (listening and viewing set) *Hypothetical #1
9/7 LABOR DAY HOLIDAY
9/9 Hip Hop: Literature, Art, and Music (listening and viewing set)
9/11 Critical Race Theory: A General Introduction Rose
9/14 Black Feminist Thought: A General Introduction Rose continued
9/16 Hip Hop & HIV/AIDS: Discursive Interchanges & Overlaps Gentry
9/18 Black Women’s Health, Hip Hop, and HIV/AIDS Gentry continued *Hypothetical #2
9/21 Black Women’s Health, Hip Hop, and HIV/AIDS Gilbert & Wright
9/23 Black Women’s Health, Hip Hop, and HIV/AIDS Gilbert & Wright continued
9/25 COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
9/28 YOM KIPPUR
9/30 Life Support (viewing) *Hypothetical #3
10/2 Life Support (viewing & discussion)
10/5 Life Support (discussion)
10/7 COMMITTEE REPORTS
10/9 Walking on Sunshine (viewing)
10/12 Walking on Sunshine (discussion)
10/14 COMMITTEE REPORTS *Hypothetical #5
10/16 FALL BREAK
10/19 The Coldest Winter Ever
10/21 The Coldest Winter Ever
10/23 The Coldest Winter Ever
10/26 COMMITTEE REPORTS *Hypothetical #6
10/28 PUSH
10/30 PUSH
11/2 PUSH
11/4 COMMITTEE REPORTS
11/6 *Hypothetical #7
11/9 What Looks Like Crazy
11/11 What Looks Like Crazy
11/13 What Looks Like Crazy
11/16 Black Women’s Health, Hip Hop, and HIV/AIDS Summative Remarks
11/18 *Hypothetical #8
11/20 COMMITTEE REPORTS
11/23 THANKSGIVING
11/25 THANKSGIVING
11/27 THANKSGIVING
11/30 DRY RUN: “Let’s Get It Started!”
12/2 PROPOSED DATES FOR FAIR: 12/1-12/3 12/4

*EXIT INTERVIEWS LAST DAY OF CLASS
*Health Fair Reports will be due on the scheduled final examination date

LET’S GET IT STARTED!: THE TRAVELING HEALTH FAIR PROJECT

Let’s Get It Started!: The Traveling Health Fair Project is the required service-learning component of ADST 483: Black Women’s Health in the Era of Hip Hop & HIV/AIDS. The goal of this project is four-fold. First, it provides a context for students enrolled in ADST 483 to apply what they learn over the course of the semester to the development and implementation of a community-based project. Second, it provides a medium for me to assess student achievement in relation to the general objectives of the course as well as its specific service-learning requirement. Third, it provides a means for building synergy among Tulane’s schools of Liberal Arts, Science & Engineering, Medicine, and Public Health & Tropical Medicine, a synergy that strengthens ADST’s capacity to attract students of diverse professional interests, backgrounds, and trainings to the program as majors, minors, or partners in community engagement. And fourth, if successful, the project will serve as an easily replicable model for expanding the reach, effectiveness, and efficiency of service-learning opportunities offered through ADST.

Participation in this project is required of all students enrolled in ADST 483. After the ADD/DROP date, each student will be assigned to one of five committees: a clinical committee, a procurement committee, a site coordinating committee, a publicity committee, and an assessments committee. Committee members will work from August through October meeting your various charges.

The clinical committee will consult with Drs. Nancy Mock and Tom Farley, project advisors, to discuss liability management and to determine the structural organization of the fair. The format that I envision and have discussed with Drs. Mock and Farley is one where three things will happen at the same time.

1. Students will receive information about health issues, such as hypertension, HIV/AIDS, asthma, Types 1 and 2 Diabetes, anemia, and infant mortality, via brochures & pamphlets, video infomercials, and representatives from community-based agencies and organizations specializing in research and/or the delivery of services related to these issues.

2. Students will receive rapid tests for, among other things, blood pressure, diabetes, sickle cell anemia, and HIV and have the opportunity to receive current immunization shots.

3. Doctors, medical researchers, and other healthcare professionals will be on site in rotating shifts to deliver “power talks” about the work they do and take questions from students. The format that I envision may not be appropriate for the partnering sites. If immunizations and screenings are provided, consent forms will have to be completed by parents/guardians of all student-participants. Thus, the charge of the clinical committee will be to consult with me and our advisors to determine appropriate formats for the fairs and to insure that the appropriate legal/ethical measures have been taken to protect K12 student-participants.

The procurement committee will plan for and obtain incentives, giveaways, brochures, door prizes, and other promotional items. This committee will be responsible for decorating the day of the fair and for securing and setting up supplies & equipments, including tables, tablecloths, audiovisual support, extension cords, surge protectors, pens, notepads, garbage bags, tape, scissors, and staplers. This committee will also manage all food on site for volunteers and school administrators.

The site coordinating committee will be responsible for all pre-fair communications with individual volunteers, organizations, and other service providers. You will meet & greet volunteers and agency/organization representatives; escort them to their locations at the fair; and be available to answer any questions that our volunteers may have.

The publicity committee will contact potential exhibitors and corporate sponsors, such as local health spa and health food store owners (I have been in touch with Raymond Addison, owner of a Smoothie King franchise in New Orleans about providing free smoothies on site during at least one of the fairs; we are working out the related logistics). The publicity committee will facilitate all media communications and insure that Tulane University is properly represented in these communications.

The assessments committee will collaborate with me to design evaluation instruments for each component of the fair to be completed by students, volunteers, and school administrators. The committee will be responsible for distributing and collecting all evaluations. The entire class will collaborate to generate a report based on the outcome of the assessments.

Let’s Get It Started! is a project within a course that involves undergraduate students in the formal study of health issues that impact black women. These issues are not without relevance to the lives of nonblack women and, I would add, men of all races and ethnicities. The course addresses two phenomena—hip hop and HIV/AIDS—that have broad-ranging cultural implications for men, women, and children throughout the world. By examining these issues through the lens of critical race theory, black feminist thought, and black women’s health, the course seeks to appeal to students with academic interests in public health, gender & sexuality studies, law, and critical theory. If successful in enrolling students from a wide range of disciplines, the course will also succeed by providing a context for students to collaborate with one another on a community-based project. The truly interdisciplinary nature of the course, coupled with the service-learning project, underscores the value of building alliances across departments, colleges, and schools and with the local community to foster undergraduate education at Tulane University.

Let’s Get It Started! will provide students enrolled in ADST 483 many opportunities for student-faculty collaborative learning. As previously noted, the clinical committee will require members to consult regularly with health professionals recruited to the project to insure legal/ethical compliances and to design appropriate fairs for each site. I will supervise all committees and consult with each committee throughout the planning, organization, and implementation of the project.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: HIS 145 Women, Race & Class is an interdisciplinary examination of the historical institutions, forces and movements that have shaped the status, identities and conditions of multicultural women. While many of the assigned readings are based in the United States, we will also look at global connections and contexts. We will emphasize relationships between theory, practice/action and multiple perspectives.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
• to build a learning community in which we are each actively engaged in critical thinking and discovering possible interpretations;
• to value and understand the diversity of women's experiences in the U.S.;
• to locate ourselves in relation to the historical web of race, class and gender;
• to bring together theory and practice through service learning;
to listen and communicate effectively about ideas/perspectives with which we are
unfamiliar or uncomfortable.

Course Methods & Format
This course relies upon collaboration among class members and inquiry as a process for developing historical understanding. Class weekly schedule will include 1-2 lecture/discussions on main questions and themes. Other days include seminar, computer lab, guest speakers and videos.

Learning Philosophy
I view learning as a collaborative learning experience. My approach to the study of history is thematic and emphasizes working people and social movements: their organizations, visions, and the struggle to realize democracy and equality. This course complements your other coursework by providing an opportunity to develop a perspective on our contemporary assumptions, and concerns.

Required Texts:
Kirk, Gwyn and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2004.

ATTENDANCE & WITHDRAWAL
Good attendance is highly correlated with high gradepoints. Students are NOT automatically dropped from courses. Drop-class forms are available in room 1104 and 4128. If turned in by January 16, no instructor's signature is needed. February 27 is the last day to withdraw; instructor's signature required and a "W" (withdrawal) appears on your transcript. Without the completed form, a "0.0" is assigned.

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES
By week 2, try to complete the reading by the beginning of the week. Skim for main themes and take notes to organize and develop your ideas, as well as sharpen discussion. It is unnecessary to memorize all the dates and details. Focus on expressing your understanding in your own words. Please make at least one appointment during the quarter with the instructor to discuss your progress.

WEEK	TENTATIVE TOPIC / READING	ASSIGNMENT DUE
1. 1/5-9	Introduction & Framework Chapter 1 Integrative Frameworks for Understanding	Mini-biography
2.1/12-16	Chapter 2 Identities & Social Locations	Service Learning proposal/placement due
3. 1/20-23	Chapter 3 Women's Bodies Chapter 4 Women's Sexuality
4. 1/26-30	Chapter 5 Women's Health Chapter 6 Violence Against Women	Essay 1
5. 2/2-6	Chapter 7 Relationships, Families & Households; Chapter 8 Work, Wages & Welfare	Mid-quarter Evaluation
6. 2/9-13	Chapter 9 Living in a Global Economy Essay 2 7. 2/17-20 Chapter 10 Women, Crime & Criminalization	Service Learning journals/reflection due
8. 2/23-27	Chapter 11 Women & the Military, War & Peace; Chapter 12 Women & Environment
9. 3/1-5	Chapter 13 Creating Change: Theory, Vision, and Action	Essay 3
10. 3/8-12		Essay Portfolio (includes final self-evaluation) due
11. 3/15-19		Service Learning journal s/reflection due

No Finals March 22-24

Tentative list of documentaries: Doubles, Public Hearing/Private Pain, Girls Like Us, The Global Assembly Line, The Woman Outside, Rachel Carson/Silent Spring.

Grades & Assignments: Grades will be based on evaluation of 3 areas. The percentage of the final gradepoint is in parentheses:

Participation (30%)	Readings & Connections Portfolio (40%)	Service Learning (30%)
Self-evaluations Consistent engagement in course activities Co-facilitation questions for each book (3 total) Computer lab assignments	Week 4: Essay I Week 6: Essay 2 Week 9: Essay 3 Short essays that synthesize course materials, especially applying Parts I (theory) and V (creating change).	Week 2: Proposal Week 7: Journals & Reflections for first half Week 11: Journals & Reflections for second half

Service Learning

Service Learning is one of the major assignments for this class. The goal of this service learning experience is to experience an organization's efforts to address issues/themes at the center of this course. These issues/themes are expressed in the syllabus and text (table of contents and chapter overviews).

Although members of the class will have different sites for their service learning hours, we will periodically discuss these experiences to examine the ways in which text and other course information may relate to what people are observing and experiencing.

In addition to the actual on site hours (try to schedule a minimum of 20 hours total), the following writings are required:

30 points: a proposal which includes
1. site location and your contact person
2. description of organization's mission/program
3. why you have chosen this group
4. initial questions that you hope to explore during your service learning (the "reflection"
questions in the chapters might be helpful)
5. how you hope to connect this work to HIS 145

40 points: journal entries on your service learning activities & comments based on in-class discussion of your experiences Entries should approximately correlate to your hours. One paragraph for an 8 hour block of time would not be sufficient! The journal entries will be submitted for the first half (about 10 hours) and the second half (first half = 20 points; second half = 20 points).

30 points: reflection essays for first half and second half (2 short essays; 2 pages
each).
As you are reading our text, keep notes on readings/writers/quotations that seem especially relevant to your service learning. You can incorporate these ideas into your reflections about your goals, questions, "practice" and theories that we are studying.

NOTE: the syllabus indicates due dates and we will confirm these in class

Instructor: Dr. Karen Bojar
Phone: 215-751-8331
E-Mail: kbojar {at} ccp(.)edu

REQUIRED TEXTS: You will be required to purchase Feminist Frontiers, an anthology, which contains a wide range of reading selections. Since this is an introductory course, it is important to explore a range of perspectives; hence, you will read brief selections by many different authors. In addition to required chapters from Feminist Frontiers, you will read several short, xeroxed selections provided by the instructor.

You will also read one of the books on the recommended list or, if the selection in the anthology is an excerpt from a book, you may choose to read the book in its entirety. This will allow you to pursue one issue or theoretical perspective in greater depth. A list of recommended works along with a brief description of each work is included after each course unit; most of these books are available in the College Library and also in local bookstores for those of you who wish to purchase a copy. A selection of recommended readings will be placed on reserve in the College Library.

You are also encouraged to look for newspaper and magazine articles relevant to the issues we will discuss and bring these to class. Whenever feasible, your instructor will make copies of these articles to distribute to other members of the class.

GOALS OF THE COURSE:

- To enable students to develop a deeper understanding of the complexities of gender and the ways in which gender roles have had an impact on the life choices available to women.

- To enable students to more fully understand the diversity of women's experience in a multicultural society.

- To enable students to enter the public conversation about gender roles through discussion of some of the major issues that are the subject of public policy debate.

- To enable students to enter the academic conversation by introduction to some of the major thinkers in the area who have contributed to the growing body of knowledge generally included under the rubric of Women's Studies.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

What scholars have referred to as the "knowledge explosion" in Women's Studies has radically transformed the content of the school curriculum. There has been a virtual explosion of new knowledge, new questions as a generation of feminist scholars have successfully challenged the idea of man as the human norm. Until recently, the notion of the male as the norm had been the generally unexamined assumption in all academic disciplines.

The course will explore the ways in which the field of Women's Studies has raised new questions and brought new perspectives to those areas where the humanities and social and behavioral sciences intersect, material which is interdisciplinary in nature and frequently poses a challenge to conventional disciplinary boundaries. We will read, analyze, and discuss a selection of such these texts that explore the complexities of gender and expand the conception of the human norm to include qualities historically associated with women.

APPROXIMATE TIMETABLE

WEEK ONE:

UNIT I: INTRODUCTORY PRESENTATION: THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT:

The explosion of interest in Women's Studies in the 1970s and the torrent of research of the past thirty years will be placed in historical context. Continuities and ruptures with 1 9th century feminist thought and practice will be discussed.

There are striking parallels between the 19th century "first wave" of the American feminist movement and 'second wave" of the feminist movement dating from the 1960s. "First wave" feminism was influenced by the participation of its leaders in the abolitionist movement and by their subsequent disillusionment with their former comrades who did not place the same value on voting rights for women as they did for African-American males. A similar disillusionment can be found among women veterans of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s as these women discovered that the men they worked with did not share their commitment to gender as well as racial equality.

The anger of female veterans of the Civil Rights Movement was not the only source of "second wave" feminism. The anger of well-educated women confined to suburbia and denied outlets for their talents was an other important current, first voiced by Betty Friedan in The Feminine Mystique.

We will consider the explanations offered for the growth of "second wave" feminism and try to account for the sudden explosion of feminist thinking and activism which occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

NOTE: ALL REQUIRED READING SELECTIONS ARE EITHER IN FEMINIST FRONTIERS OR WILL BE SUPPLIED BY INSTRUCTOR

Required Reading Selections:

Truth, Sojourner, "Ain't I A Woman?," p. 20

"Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton" and "Declaration of Sentiments, HAND-OUT SUPPLIED BY INSTRUCTOR

Verta Taylor, Nancy Whittier, Cynthia Pelak. "The Women's Movement: Persistence through Transformation," pp. 515-528. (We will revisit this article at the end of the semester.)

Also recommended:

Baxandall, Rosalyn and Gordon, Linda. Dear Sisters: Dispatches from the Women's Liberation Movement. New York: Basic Books, 2000. A collection of documents including posters, poems, songs, cartoons, manifestoes, and leaflets of the Women's Liberation Movement, spanning the late 1960s through 1970s

Dubois, Ellen Carol. Feminism and Suffrage: The Emergence of an Independent Women s Movement America, 1848-69. Cornell University Press, 1978. An excellent analysis of the 19th century Women's rights movement which focused primarily on the struggle for voting rights for women.

Evans, Sara. Personal Politics: The Roots of Women's Liberation in the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left. Knopf, 1979. Evans explores the extent to which the Civil Rights movement was an inspiration to women activists and also how their experiences with male activists led to growing feminist consciousness.

Evans, Sara. Tidal Wave: How Women Changed America at Century's End. New York: The Free Press, 2003. Evans traces the evolution of second wave feminism of the 60s and 70s through the third wave of the 90s and explores generational, class and racial differences among feminists.

Freedman, Estelle. No Turning Back: The History of feminism and the Future of Women. Ballantine Books, 2002. An excellent introduction to the history of the feminist movement. Much of the material (time period covered and issues explored) overlap with topics in this course.

Friedan, Betty. "The Problem That Has No Name," The Feminine Mystique. Norton, 1963. This is generally considered a book which launched the movement and led to the founding of the National Organization for Women.

Olson, Lynne. Freedom's Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to 1970. Scribner, 2001. Although male leaders gained the recognition and grabbed the headlines, women provided not just the not just the backbone but frequently the leadership of the civil rights movement,

Painter, Nell Irvin. Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol. Norton, 1996. Painter contrasts what historians know about Sojourner Truth with the many myths about her and explores what Sojourner Truth has come to represent to later generations.

Rosen, Ruth. The World Split Open: How the Modern Women's Movement Changed America. New York: Viking, 2000. A well-documented, thoughtful history of recent decades of the feminist movement, written by one of the pioneers of second wave feminism.

Springer, Kimberly, editor. Still Lifting, Still Climbing: African American Women's Activism. New York University Press, 1999. A collection of critical essays that examines the broad range of African American Women's political activities over the past four decades, including their involvement and leadership in civil rights, Black nationalist and feminist organizations.

Stimpson, Catharine. "'Thy Neighbor's Wife, Thy Neighbor's Servants' Women's Liberation and Black Civil Rights," Where the Meanings Are: Feminism and Cultural Space. New York: Methuen. 1971. Stimpson explores historical connections between the struggle for gender equality and the struggle for racial equality in both "first wave" and "second wave" feminist movements.

WEEKS TWO THROUGH FIVE

UNIT II: FAULTLINES IN WOMEN'S STUDIES:

Although Women's Studies as a field is united by its focus on women's lives and commitment to gender equality, it is characterized by a multiplicity of perspectives and by deep theoretical divisions. Although most of the writers\scholars\teachers in the field consider themselves feminist, the term "feminist" has itself become problematic and many contemporary writers refer to "feminisms" rather than a unitary "feminism."

Sameness/ Difference Divide:

The major theoretical divide is usually considered to be the division between those who focus on gender difference and those who stress sameness\equality. A helpful way to characterize the sameness/difference split is to conceive of the divide in terms of "minimizers" versus "maximizes" As Ann Snitow has put it: "A common divide keeps forming in both feminist thought and action between the need to build and identify 'woman' and give it solid political meaning [the maximizers] and the need to tear down the very category 'woman' and dismantle its all to solid history [minimizers]".

Both strands of "second wave" feminist thought have challenged the notion of the male as the human norm, the unexamined assumption in all academic disciplines, but have drawn very different conclusions.

Those on the Minimizer end of the spectrum challenge the popular notion that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Minimizers contend that the differences between men and women have been greatly exaggerated and argue for public policies that treat men and women in the same way. Those on the Maximizer end of the spectrum argue that there are real differences that must be taken into account by public policymakers if women are to achieve true equality.

There is disagreement on the extent of the differences existing between men and women and disagreement on the cause of such differences. Are differences between men and women culturally or biologically determined? Is it possible to disentangle biological and social causes? (Gender difference is the term usually used to refer to differences rooted in culture. Sex difference is the term usually used to refer to differences rooted in biology.)

Students will be asked to take a preliminary position and try to locate themselves along the minimizer/maximizer continuum. This position will be rethought in the light of the range of readings/issues explored during the course.

Required Reading Selections:

Snitow, Ann. "A Gender Diary." In Hirsch, Marianne and Keller, Evelyn Fox (Eds.). Conflicts in Feminism. New York: Routledge, NY. Snitow provides a useful overview of theoretical divide between those who focus on gender difference ("maximizers") and those who stress sameness/equality ("minimizers"). THIS SELECTION IS NOT IN THE ANTHOLOGY AND WILL BE SUPPLIED BY INSTRUCTOR

Judith Lorber. "Night to his Day." The Social Construction of Gender. pp. 33-34.

Ann Fausto-Sterling. "Hormonal Hurricanes: Menstruation, Menopause and Female Behavior," pp. 334-47.

Gloria Steinem. "If Men Could Menstruate." pp. 347-48

Also recommended:

Gilligan, Carol. In a Different Voice. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1982. Gilligan argues that men and women employ different criteria when making moral decisions-women according to an ethic of care, men according to an ethic of rights.

Chesler, Phyllis. Woman's Inhumanity to Woman. Thunder's Mouth Press/Nation books. 2002. In sharp contrast to Gilligan who portrays women as having different values from men, values which favor caring and connection, pioneer feminist scholar, Phyllis Chesler argues that women can be every bit as ruthless and competitive as men. She portrays women as behaving competitively, aggressively, and destructively towards other women.

Cott, Nancy. The Grounding of Modern Feminism. Yale University Press, 1988. Cott argues that the sameness/difference, minimizer/maximizer divide has deep historical roots. Nineteenth century feminist activists may not have felt the need for theoretical consistency, but they certainly did feel the pull of opposing tendencies, some advancing arguments supporting women's fundamental similarity to men and at other times emphasizing their fundamental difference – what Nancy Cott has called "a functional ambiguity rather than a debilitating tension."

Tannen, Deborah. You Just Don't Understand: Men and Women in Conversation. New York: Ballantine, 1990. Like Gilligan, Tannen is generally considered a "difference feminist". She explores differences in men's and women's conversational styles that she believes derive from men's desire for status and independence and women's desire for intimacy and connection.

Tavris, Carol. "Measuring Up, Mismeasure of Woman. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992 Tavris stresses dangers of over-emphasis on difference and takes issue with Gilligan stress on women's "different voice" and values. Tavris questions the "idea that women have natural assets when it comes to intuitions, emotions, nurturing, professional self-effacement, and opposition to war." (p. 58).

Race/Class faultlines:

In the 70s, feminist theorists argued that all disciplines had to be rethought from the perspective or standpoint of women; however, the idea of a single standpoint of women has been challenged by women of color and by working class women. In the 1980s, feminism came under the same attack it once leveled at men-that is, the charge that men viewed themselves as the norm and ignored women's perspectives. European-American middle class women were charged with seeing themselves as the norm and failing to recognize the diversity of women's experience.

bell books raised the issue in 1981 in Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism and has argued in her more recent work Sisters: of the Yam: Black Women and Self Recovery (1993) that some white middle-class feminists continue to "completely ignore the specificity of race, and once again construct women as a monolithic group." Alice Walker has also insisted on the "specificity of race" and has coined the term "womanist" to express what she considers a uniquely African-American approach to feminist thought. Audre Lorde explores the relationships between African-American and European-American feminists and argues that "community must not mean a shedding of our differences."

Increasingly, Latina and Asian-American feminist theorists have insisted on the specificity of race and ethnicity and have raised challenges to what they consider the frequently unquestioned assumption of many feminist theorists that European-American middle class women are the norm. Generally, women of color who have raised such challenges to the monolithic nature of feminist thought have raised class as well as racial and ethnic issues.

We will analyze the perspectives of women of color and consider to what extent there are commonalities in women's experience which cross-racial and class lines.

Required Readings Selections:

Paula Allen Gunn "Where I Come From is Like This." pp. 18-22.

Lorde, Audre. "The Masters Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," pp. 22-24

Alice Walker. "Womanist," p. 84

Yen Le Esp

My Office Hours: M/W 4:30-5:30pm, or by appointment
University of Nebraska at Omaha
ASH 275, 554-3611
Spring 2000

Course Overview

This course examines to what extent women participate in the decisions that shape the political and economic world and the goals of women in politics. While an existing course at UNO looks exclusively at female political participation in the United States, this course connects gender politics to both comparative and international relations literatures. We will examine gender s impact on political interests and how foreign domestic and international institutions shape policy results in differential ways for the genders

A constant theme of the course, and its clear connection to service learning, will be the emphasis on critically assessing the role of women in political society and collectively defining and strategizing toward gender equality within the constraints of international political cultures and institutions.

This semester, we will work with the Omaha Public School system and the Southern Sudanese Community Association (SSCA), a volunteer agency that serves refugees from south Sudan. Serving an Omaha community of about 2500 refugees, the SSCA offers several services to the refugees who have fled the civil war-torn Sudan. Many refugees have spent up to 20 years living in UN refugee camps prior to their settlement in Omaha. We will assist with tutoring and mentoring high school Sudanese women in the Omaha Public Schools.

Please be aware that this is a service-learning course, and you will be expected to spend about 2 hours per week in service activities outside of class.

Course Objectives
1) to critically identify the political problems and opportunities women face within their own countries and in the global arena
2) to respectfully examine and evaluate government policies on gender issues
3) to promote creative strategies for reducing bias on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexual orientation
4) to foster collaborative learning and understanding between learners
5) to advance learner leadership skills
6) to connect theory and case study to real-life situations, promoting cognizance of the interrelatedness between personal experience and broader social realities.

Evaluation
The student s final grade will be based on the following:
3 reaction papers — 45%
Quizzes on readings — 10%
Service-Learning Journal — 30%
Attendance/discussion — 15%
———
100%

Grading scale:
98-100 A+, 88-89 B+, 78-79 C+, 68-69 D+, below 60 F
90-97 A, 80-88 B, 70-77 C, 60-67 D

Key to text abbreviations
Staudt : Staudt, Kathleen, 1998. Policy, Politics & Gender. Kumarian Press.
Hutchinson: Hutchinson, Sharon. 1996. Nuer Dilemmas. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
P&R: Peterson, V. Spike and Anne Sisson Runyan. 1999. Global Gender Issues, 2nd edition. Boulder: Westview Press.

Schedule of readings/assignments: (I reserve the right to modify this syllabus, if necessary)

Week 1 — 1/8, 1/10
Introduction, service info.
Redefining politics?
N&C: ch. 1 Redefining Politics , P&R: ch. 1 Introduction: The Gender of World Politics
P&R: ch. 2 Gender as a Lens on World Politics

Week 2 — 1/15, 1/17
Gender and Power
Class cancelled Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday
Pettman: ch. 2 Women, gender and the state
P&R: ch. 3 Gendered Divisions of Power
Holt, Renee. Women's Rights And International Law: Struggle For Recognition And Enforcement, Columbia Journal of Gender & Law, v1, n1, 1991.

Week 3 — 1/22, 1/24
Nationalism and Gender
Pettman: ch. 3 Women, gender and nationalisms
Pettman: ch. 4 Women in mostmigratory and postcolonial identities

Week 4 — 1/29, 1/31
The Case of Sudan
Gruenbaum, Ellen. 1990. Nuer Women in Southern Sudan: Health, Reproduction and Work. Lansing: Michigan State University.
Hutchinson, Sharon Elaine. 1999. Nuer Dilemmas: Coping with Money, War and the State. (selections TBA)

Week 5 — 2/5, 2/7
Gender and Education
B&D: ch. 16 Creating Change through Adult Education (Brock-Utne)
Women of the World-Women's Education in India , 1998 report
Women's Education in Developing Countries , 1993 (selections TBA)

Week 6 — 2/12, 2/14
Gender and Development
B&D: ch. 12 Women and Development (Kardam)
Pettman: part 3 The International Sexual Division of Labour

Week 7 — 2/19, 2/21
Gender, Peace and War
Pettman: part 2 The Gendered Politics of Peace and War

Week 8 — 2/26, 2/28
Gender , International Movements, and International Organizations
B&D: ch. 12 The UN and Women s Issues (Galey)
P&R: ch. 5 The Politics of Resistance: Women as Nonstate, Antistate, and Transstate Actors

Week 9 — 3/5, 3/7
Gender and Violence
B&D: ch. 10 Thinking about Women and International Violence (Elshtain)

Week 10 — 3/12, 3/14
Work on journals at home
Spring Break no classes

Week 11 — 3/19, 3/21
Wrap up and conclusions
P&R: ch. 6 Ungendering World Politics
Pettman: conclusion

On Written Work:
Be sure to follow an accepted bibliographic form to cite all of your sources, either MLA or APA style. Here are a few simple rules about quotations, paraphrases, and plagiarism.
1. When you copy the words of another, put those words inside quotation marks, and acknowledge the source with a footnote.
2. When you paraphrase another s words, use your own words and your own sentence structure, and be sure to use a footnote giving the source of the idea.
3. A plagiarist often merely changes a few words or simply rearranges the words in the source.
Source: Harbrace College Handbook, p. 407.

Reaction Papers (each worth 10% of course grade)
Reaction papers should be typed, double-spaced and about 3-5 pages in length. Please be thoughtful in these papers, drawing upon readings, class discussion, and your own ideas. They may be e-mailed to me (as an attachment).

Reaction Paper #1 Gendered Visions of the World? Due 1/24 at the beginning of classHow does your gender shape the way you perceive the world? Can you separate your ideology from your gender? How are your political views influenced by your gender?

Reaction Paper #2 War and Gender – Due 2/21 at the beginning of classIs war a masculine enterprise? What role should women play in international conflict? In state or international military organizations? Who should make these decisions?

Reaction Paper #3 International Agenda on Gender – Due 3/5 at the beginning of classSuppose you were convening a conference on international gender issues. What would you focus the conference on? Who would you invite? What would you hope to accomplish?

Service Learning Journal (35% of course grade)
This is basically a log of your service activity. You should have an entry each week. Record the time you spent in the field — both activities and your ongoing thoughts. I will collect these journals a couple of times during the semester, then at the end of the course. I should be able to get a sense of your experiences in the field by reading this journal.

Before you turn it in at the end of the semester, please include a final entry where you summarize both your experiences and your reaction to the entire experience. It should be written in an informal, journalistist style as if you were telling me about your experiences. This should be both a literal and impressionistic account of your experiences working with the community.

Student Information and Acknowledgment Form

Course: PSCI 3920: Gender and Global Politics

Please read the attached syllabus, fill out the information on this cover sheet, and sign it to indicate that you have read and understand the requirements of the course in full. This information helps me understand your needs better, and will be kept confidential. Please detach this sheet and hand it to me at the end of the first class.

Name: ______________________________________
Social Security #: ____________________________
Year in school: _______________________________
Major (if any): _______________________________
E-mail: _____________________________________
Mailing address: ______________________________
Phone number (optional) ________________________

Previous international experience (travel, residence, nationality), if any:

Have you previously taken any classes that dealt with the issue of gender?

Briefly describe your reasons for taking the course:

Tell me one thing about yourself that you would like me to know (i.e. experiences, interests, political ideas)

Are there any special circumstances of which I should be aware?

I have read and understand the course requirements and conditions.

_________________________________

(signed)