Course Description
This course will examine ghost stories as a vehicle for the social and cultural concerns of women. Through readings, discussions and service students will explore how ghost stories provide a rich insight into the experiences of women and the social, political and economic forces that affect them.

Course Introduction:
This course will utilize literature, art, film and historical record to examine representations women construct of death and the after life and the relationship of these representations to social movements of the times (American women, 1860-1920). We will examine these representations as a response to the social, cultural and economic forces that denied women a more traditional public response and contrast these responses with the contemporary social condition of specific populations of women. To better grasp content and meaning, students will participate in a service-based research project at the North Providence Burial Ground repairing monumentry, researching community events evidenced in monumentry and creating a resource for the community of women's history.

Readings
The books listed below are required reading. It will be important for your understanding and interpretation of this course that you follow the timetable listed in the Course Outline. In addition, the readings will provide a common base for questions and discussions during class. The Reserve Reading List refers to a more expanded range of sources that you might find useful for pursuing topics in greater depth.

Required Reading:
This class is reading intensive and much of the class discussion will build upon previous assignments, as such I expect you to complete all readings in a timely manner.

Course Reading Packet
Restless Spirits: Ghost Stories by American Women 1872-1926 – Catherine Lundie
Beloved – Toni Morrison
The Woman Warrior – Maxine Kingston Hong
In addition, students will identify a series of readings to support a specific interest they have related to the course service project


Course Goals:
Students who have successfully completed this course should be able to demonstrate their understandings of:

?The Spiritualism movement in America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
?Ghost stories as allegories for the social, political, economic and cultural concerns of women.
The ways a feminist perspective can inform images of the afterlife.
The literary tools women authors have used to convey the psycho-social importance in a ghost story.
?How women's community history is conveyed at The North Providence Burial Ground.
Cemeteries as public spaces that contribute to the health of a community and serve as sites that illustrate the social, political, economic and cultural concerns of women.

Course Objectives:
Students who have successfully completed this course should be able to:
1.) Identify and analyze the cultural tensions between material and spiritual conceptions in late 19th century America and how those gave rise to the Spiritualism movement.
2.) Identify and analyze the social and cultural anxieties evidenced in course assignments.
3.) Identify and analyze representations of women evidenced in readings, lectures, service and related assignments and how those representations continue to resonate and influence contemporary images of women.
4.) Identify, define and utilize metaphor, religious iconography and motif.
5.) Analyze specific community events that impacted women in Providence as evidenced in the North Providence Burial Ground.
6.) Explore the conditions under which a cemetery serves as a public space.

Ways students will demonstrate Objectives 1-6:
1.) One paper in which students research and analyze the Spiritualism Movement.
2.) Students will address this competency as part of a large service and research project. The project will include a writing component and a presentation.
3.) Students will keep a weekly journal in which they reflect upon representation of women in course assignments.
4.) Students will be asked to identify and interpret literary tools in class discussion and in weekly journal assignments.
5. – 6) Students will address this competency through a community-based, action research project.

Course Requirements
?Students and the instructor are required to attend class.
?Complete all assigned readings within the time allotted but the weekly calendar.
Participate in class discussions and group activities.
Successfully complete course service project (action research project).
?Successfully complete a course journal and community proposal

Attendance Policy
Students are required to attend all classes since group participation and discussion are critical in this course. In case of illness or emergency, the student should contact an instructor before class. If it is necessary to miss class, the student is responsible for seeking assistance from other students or an instructor to make-up work. This should be done in a timely manner. Excessive absences in the course could result in failure.

Course Grade:
Course grades will be determined in the following manner:

30% Class attendance and participation
20% Journals
20% Midterm service proposal
?30% Final Project

Service Project – Community-based Action research Project:
Working with the American GraveStone Society at the North Providence Burial Ground, we will repair tombstones and in the process research events in Providence history that are evidenced through inscriptions on tombstones and monuments (e.g., influenza outbreak of 1918). Working in 2 groups the class will compile a series of essays that describe the community history of a particular section of the Burial Ground within an agreed upon time period (e.g. 1880-1920). The essays must include a ghost story or legend that is connected to the North Providence Burial Ground and explain what social and cultural norms the story reflects. Students will present their works to relevant and agreed upon organizations and neighborhood associations (e.g., the Mt. Hope Neighborhood Association).