"… we still have with us the legacy of systematic discrimination against women. It is embedded within the economic, social, political, religious, and even linguistic structures of our societies."
- Jesuits and the Situation of Women in Church and Civil Society – The Documents of the Thirty-Fourth General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, Decree Fourteen, 363
Readings
In this course, we will examine the ways in which women's bodies are both constructed and deconstructed in postmodern culture and the ethical, social, and political implications of these processes for the well-being of women. We will focus on technologies of gender, i.e., those sets of cultural practices that make the body gendered. The theoretical basis of this course is the notion that the human body is conceptualized and articulated within specific cultural discourses such as religious, medical, legal, economic, popular culture, and political discourses. These discourses reflect the deepest belief systems or ideologies of a culture and, as they work in concert, they create spoken and unspoken rules and regulations for how women and men are supposed to think, feel, and act towards themselves, one another, and their environment.
In feminist scholarship, the female body is viewed as the location of the scripting of cultural anxiety about control, life and death, and ultimate human meaning. That is, women's bodies are highly public markers and, as such, they reflect the panic, the chaos, and the disunity of the public, social, and cultural spheres in the postmodern age. Throughout this course, we will carefully examine how these processes get played out by focusing on the discursive/semiotic modes of construction (that is, the language and sign systems) of the female body and how these modes become entrained or inscribed in actual bodies and real lives. In particular, we will explore body issues that emerge as crucial points of conflict. Here one can see operating the technologies of gender, such as: weight concerns; cosmetic surgery and other types of technological interventions and reconstructions; women's athleticism and body-building; body sculpting (piercing, tattooing); the management of menstruation, pregnancy, and other forms of public surveillance and uterine politics; and the inequities of the experiences of growing older.
The theoretical assumption weaving together these topics, is that discrimination and violence against women is facilitated, if not directly perpetrated, through these practices by inducing women and men to engage different sets of cultural scripts about the meanings and experiences of self, community, and decision-making; God, faith, and human suffering; and social power and status– respectively, the essentials of a curricular focus on ethics, religion, and society.
Interdisciplinary Course Assumptions and Trajectories
This course is an interdisciplinary course facilitated by two teachers: Dr. Stinson, a sociologist, and Dr. Winkelmann, a linguist. As feminist scholars, the common ground we share is simple: We are both concerned with the well-being of women. However, we bring to this concern different assumptions, theoretical perspectives, and methods arising out of our specific training. As students in this interdisciplinary course, you will be asked to negotiate the commonalties and differences between these approaches.
Sociological analyses begin with the assumption that there is a complex dialectical relationship between individual thought and action on the one hand and societal institutions, including religion, politics, economy, and family on the other hand. Further assumptions stem from those of symbolic interaction, and Marxist/critical sociology: first of all, meaning is socially constructed as individuals come together in interpersonal interaction and; secondly, as constitutive of stratified society, all human behavior must be understood in the context of hierarchized relations based on gender, class, ethnicity, and age.
The disciplinary assumptions of sociology complement and challenge the disciplinary assumptions of linguistics. One basic assumption of functional linguistic analysis is that there is a relationship between the language of a community and its world views, values, belief systems. The researcher can make reasonable claims about this world view by searching for patterns of language usage on the levels of phonology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and paralinguistic or other semiotic phenomena. Feminist and critical linguists further assume that race/ethnicity, class, and gender are particularly cogent categories of analyses because they are used as tools in the unequal distribution of power, status, and material goods. The production of knowledge for the sake of knowledge is not the goal of feminist/critical linguistics; rather, social change for the common good is the goal of systematic language analyses and linguistic education.
The common and complementary theoretical ground between the two disciplines is this: Culture is socially, semiotically, and discursively constructed.
The challenge for all learners in our course is to make systematic connections between sign systems such as language or other meaning making systems, social behavior, and the gendering of the human body, including technological (including medical and chemical) interventions and reconstructions; bodysculpting, building, and mutilating; public surveillance; and so forth. In particular, we wish to focus in our course on the enfleshment or entrainment of ideologies of gender: i.e., how bodies are made to "perform gender" according to cultural scripts or rules.
Interdisciplinary Course Methods
A methodology common to both sociology and anthropological linguistics is ethnography. The students in our community will be placed in selected field sites which avail themselves to the anthropological research of gender and social and linguistic practices (e.g., local nonprofit organizations and/or community-based agencies such as a group home for the elderly, health clinics or centers, facilities for teen-age mothers, and other community sites that render service to particularly working and underclass women). As part of a self-reflective research process on site, you will use ethnographic methods such as participant observation, interviewing, field notes, logs, systematic language/sociological analyses, and group critique.
The methodology of this course will be action research. Action research is a group activity in which the participants (that is, students and the participating agency staff) work together on an agreed upon research project that leads to a particular product such as useful information for the agency or a pamphlet or brochure. One goal is to provide a useful service to the agency and its clients. A more profound goal of the project is for students and agency staff to attempt to change themselves and their culture, individually and collectively. Action research involves a spiral of activity: planning, acting, observing, reflecting, and re-planning (Lewis 1946, 1952; McTaggart 1991). Consequently, patterns of language use are a primary concern in this type of research because, as practitioners attempt to transform culture, they must analyze the distribution of power, status, and materials. Participants strive for reciprocal relations for mutual benefit: Students will produce useful research for the agency and gain the opportunity to learn and to grow morally, spiritually, and intellectually; community workers will provide a field site for the students to study and they will gain substantively from the knowledge students produce.
In the past, you may have taken part in "service learning" or "community service" activities. Our pedagogical approach differs significantly from those two types of activities. Action research is geared towards creating reciprocal relationships in the interest of social, situational, and cultural change. Unlike much "service learning" activity, the needed service or project identified by the participants must involve the research skills of the students. In the end, a product will be produced for the agency, one part of your semester requirements of reading, researching, and portfolio-building.
Course Goals and Objectives
This course is an upper-level Ethics, Religion & Society course. As such, the goals of the course are intended to approach an integration of Xavier University's emphasis on the moral, spiritual, and intellectual development of students. Some objectives, for example, are:
- To acquaint students with important sociological and literary/linguistic texts about an issue of pressing social significance
- To allow for the opportunity for critical reflection on theoretical knowledge about gender, race/ethnicity, and class, and social discourse, in the light of practical experience
- To stimulate intellectual, moral, and spiritual development
- To invite students into collective, collaborative relationships of mutuality and co-mentorship
- To offer needed, negotiated participatory action research skills to the community
- To develop good relations of reciprocity between Xavier University and the community
- To encourage responsible social action in the community
- To provide the opportunity to apply the ethical/moral/religious concepts and frameworks introduced in lower level E/RS courses to a specific area of ethical concern –women's well-being.
To meet these goals and objectives, we will engage in the following activities:
?Balsamo, Anne. Technologies of The Gendered Body. Durham: Duke UP, 1996.
Stringer, Ernest T. Action Research: A Handbook for Practitioners. London: Sage, 1996.
?Weitz, Rose. The Politics of Women's Bodies: Sexuality Appearance, and Behavior. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998.
We will also read other material on reserve at the McDonald Library. You may access it through XPLORE by searching our class reserve files for the author's name listed on the reading schedule. Occasionally, material will be distributed in class. You must be prepared, however, to use the library to access readings. This will not always be convenient for you; however, it is part of the reason we will be able to investigate a range of texts without exorbitant book fees.
Team Work: This course will be neither teacher-centered, nor student-centered. It will be conversation-centered. This means that everyone in our community will be teachers and everyone will be students. Together we will be responsible for shaping and sharing knowledge in the classroom. If you prefer lecture-style courses or if you prefer not to speak in class, you probably will not feel comfortable in this class and you should consider joining another reading community. However, if you are comfortable with the give-and-take, the open-endedness, and the non-linear logic of ordinary conversation, you will be satisfied in this community.
The basic rules for our class conversation will be preparedness to take part in analyses of the readings and respect for the contributions of others.
In addition, you will be working throughout the semester in one action research team. You need to be a responsible team member who neither dominates nor shrinks in small, independent group work. If you do not like collaborative work, this course is not for you. Please think about this carefully to decide whether you should stay in the course. Your decision will affect many people–both in the classroom and in the community. We need to be able to depend on you to conduct yourself with responsibility and graciousness.
Course Evaluation:
Your final grade will be based on three items or categories: your class participation, your team action research presentation; and your individual portfolio.
Informed and Meaningful Participation
We expect your participation to be informed and meaningful. That is, your class talk should reflect your engagement with the course readings and your community experience. Tardiness to class will be deducted from your participation grade. Habitual tardiness to class will be deducted from your absence allowance (see attendance policy section below).
Action Research Team Presentation
Your team will be responsible for one class session at the end of the term. On your day, you will use the entire period to describe and discuss your team's action research with our class community. Each member of the team will receive the same grade (one grade) for the scholarliness and originality of the presentation.
Individual Portfolios
Each individual student in the community will submit a portfolio at the end of the term. The portfolio is the creative documentation of your thoughts and ideas throughout the semester regarding the class readings, the class discussions, and your community research. The portfolio should include two types of contents: the minimal requirements and your own creative additions or idea developments. (See the attached sheet on portfolio development.)
This Ethics, Religion & Society (E/RS) course is cross-listed with Women's Studies. By devoting special attention to ethical issues of social significance, the Ethics/Religion and Society Focus endeavors to realize Xavier's mission and philosophy of education in its curriculum. In keeping with its Catholic and Jesuit tradition, Xavier believes its students need to discern what is truly good for Themselves and society. The E/RS component of the Core Curriculum is directed towards this end.
Student Portfolios
Each individual student in the community will submit a portfolio at the end of the term. The portfolio is the creative documentation of your thoughts and ideas throughout the semester regarding the class readings, the class discussions, and your community research.
The portfolio should include two types of contents: the minimal requirements and your own creative additions or idea developments.
Minimal Portfolio Requirements:
1. A Field Site Log
You should record the activities you undertake at your field site. Record the time you spent on site, the activities or events that happened, and a reflection on those activities or events or on your questions, ideas, or progress as a researcher.
2. An Assessment
After completing your action research activities, you must write a report that evaluates your experience. The report must include: 1) your assessment of whether the goals we identified in our course objectives were met and what unforeseen results were achieved that you could not have prefigured; 2) a description/reflection of your most rewarding action research experience; 3) a description/reflection of your most ambivalent research experience; 4) if relevant, a statement about what you would have done differently if you were able to have the action research experience again.
3. A Dialogic Engagement with Course Readings
You must read and reflect on course texts. You may reflect on your community experience with your action research team and seek out the connections between the readings and your experience. What readings were particularly relevant? Why? Which were not? Why not? What new insights can you add to the scholars' view of significant social issues for women?
4. Contracts
You must include your contract with your action research team and your contract with your field site agency.
Creative Options for Portfolio Development:
In addition to these minimal requirement items, you are encouraged to be creatively and consistently engaged in your portfolio throughout the semester. That is, we invite you to think of the portfolio or field journal as the documentation of your experience and reflections on the technology of gender throughout our time together. As such, the portfolio can include many other items that you believe capture your thoughts and experience. Some suggestions for developing your portfolio are these:
1. Write a reflection on your experience of the class community. How did your views develop or change specifically because of your interactions with others in our community? What stories moved you?
2. Draw pictures to express your feelings or to capture moments at your field site or in class.
3. Display newspaper articles or magazine clippings related to our class themes. Title and explain them.
4. Display significant quotations from scholars, public intellectuals, or artists. Add your own favorite words or quotations. Comment on them or give real life examples to elucidate their meaning or significance.
5. Describe situations you have learned about during the semester that illustrate or complicate our class themes.
6. List ways that you yourself personally, or ways that we as a society, might help to rid our culture of misogyny and sexism. Write about how we can achieve world peace through the eradication of violence against women and girl children made possible by technologies of gender.
7. Make and display a contract with yourself that describes what you will do when, for example: you hear sexist jokes or language; you have a teacher who appears to be biased against women; you witness homophobia; your partner starts to treat you in ways that you suspect might be unhealthy; your employer or co-workers appear to be harassing or under-appreciating your contributions; etc.
8. Look at the definition of sexual harassment in the university catalogue. Write a reflection on how well you believe the university community acts upon its intent to prevent or stop sexual harassment.
9. Write a letter to your parent, parents, or family members to describe all the ways you believe they helped you to prepare yourself to survive in a sexist world or write a letter to your future child explaining how you will try to help them maintain their well-being and dignity.
10. Collect the words to a few songs or music videos and tell how they either contribute to or subvert sexism.
11. Display pictures of yourself or your friends engaged in activities that will contribute to a more just society.
12. Display pictures of yourself growing up and explain how you changed over the years as you reacted to and reflected the culture in which we live.
13. Display a picture of a woman who has been a mentor or guide to you. Write about her.
14. Display a picture of a man who has been a mentor or guide to you by modeling feminist or nonsexist actions and behavior for you. Write about him.
15. Use your imagination to think of other ways you can make your portfolio a work of art or a good reflection of what you have thought about or learned this semester.
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The Action Research Agreement
I realize that by choosing to participate in an action research component of this course at Xavier University, I agree to the following conditions of this commitment:
to be punctual and conscientious in my attendance at action research activities for which I have committed myself. I will notify the site supervisor in advance if I am unable to participate as scheduled; to handle discreetly all information about other people, clients, and employees that I gain through my action research activities. I will hold this information as confidential, when appropriate or when directed by a site supervisor; to make my work the highest quality and to accept supervision graciously; to conduct myself with dignity and courtesy; to treat those with whom I come into contact at the research sites with respect and consideration; to integrate, to the best of my abilities, the learning from action research activities with academic learning in the classroom; to arrange my own transportation to the site unless other arrangements can be made; to complete all the requirements stipulated for action research in a separate handout distributed in class and to submit the portfolio at the end of the semester; to notify my professors in a timely fashion concerning any problems, emergencies, safety hazards, or concerns regarding my service activities.
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Student Signature, Date
