Spring 2008
ENG 460: Feminist Literary Theories
116 Fell Hall / Wednesday evenings, 5:30-8:20pm
Dr. Nathalie op
de Beeck
17G Williams Hall
309.438.3297 /
dbop@ilstu.edu
Office hours: Monday and Wednesday, 11-noon
Feminist Literary Theories
investigates women’s studies and gender in literature, visual art,
and other media of the twentieth century to present. To provide an
understanding of “feminist literary theories” and what such theories
can and cannot accomplish politically and textually/artistically, we
will begin by examining definitions of gender, feminism, and related
categories in recent “keywords” volumes and literary critical
surveys. Throughout the term, we will explore problematic
expressions of love, desire, and gender (as theorized by Judith
Butler, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Laura Kipnis, etc.); relationships
between gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class (as
detailed by Patricia Williams, Angela Y. Davis, Donna Haraway,
etc.); and the shifting national and transnational definitions of
feminism, feminist politics, feminist activism, and related methods
of critical inquiry and critical practice (as in the work of Cherrie
Moraga, Gloria Anzaldúa, Audre Lorde, Chela Sandoval, Wangari
Maathai, etc.).
Our foundational readings in women’s issues, gender issues, history,
literature, and multimedia include psychoanalytic case studies;
Foucault’s The History of Sexuality; well-known material on
feminist literary critique (e.g., Virginia Woolf, Hélène Cixous,
Luce Irigaray, and Toril Moi); and debates about sex, sexuality,
property, and liberty among scholars and artists including Gayle
Rubin, Catharine MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin, Ann Ferguson, Karen
Finley, Susie Bright, and others. In February, our readings on
identity, gender, and performativity will coincide with a visit from
performance artist Holly Hughes.
Additional readings and film screenings during the semester will
address what Chela Sandoval has called “U.S. Third World Feminism”;
transnational activism with a feminist (or ecofeminist) stance, such
as Wangari Maathai’s Green Belt Movement and Arundhati Roy’s
activism on water rights; modern, postmodern, and contemporary art
and literature related to gender/race/class issues; accounts of
cinema, photography, and the gaze by feminist theorists; and fiction
including feminist utopias and speculative fiction (by, for
instance, Octavia Butler, Ursula Le Guin, and Samuel R.
Delany—specific readings will be decided as the course begins and
may vary depending on research interests).
In addition to developing a foundation for thinking about feminism
and gender, this course aims to help students prepare
well-researched essays and presentations for conferences, theses,
and possible publication with journals/publishers in their fields of
study. Students from diverse fields of study are encouraged to
participate and to broaden the discourse.
Assigned Texts
• Toril Moi, Sexual/Textual Politics
• Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own (Harvest annotated
edition)
• Katie Conboy, Nadia Medina, and Sarah Stanbury, eds. Writing on
the Body: Female Embodiment and Feminist Theory
• Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality: An Introduction
• Catharine MacKinnon, Only Words
• Andrea Dworkin, Intercourse
• Laura Kipnis, Against Love: A Polemic
• Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler, eds. Keywords in American
Studies
• Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Seeing the Unspeakable: The Art of Kara
Walker
• Chela Sandoval, Methodology of the Oppressed
• Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing
Theory, Practicing Solidarity
• Wangari Maathai, Unbowed
• Rachel Stein, ed., New Perspectives on Environmental Justice:
Gender, Sexuality, and Activism
• Samuel R. Delany, Tales of Nevèrÿon
• Octavia Butler, Dawn
Additional readings
will be available either online, in PDF format through
http://www.english.ilstu.edu/reserve/files/op_de_beeck/,
or via Milner Library databases.
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Requirements
Class Participation:
Complete all assigned readings by class time, attend class,
contribute to conversation, and listen to others. While there is no
set grade for attendance, you do need to be present and prepared to
discuss the material. Students who miss four or more meetings
automatically fail the class, as do students who plagiarize.
Weekly Responses:
We have a small group, and this week we will generate an email list.
Each week, before noon on the day of class, email our entire group
with (1) a concise, substantive one-paragraph response to the week’s
reading material, and (2) at least one brief critical question for
discussion. Skim one another’s postings prior to class; I will bring
copies to class for distribution and discussion. You must be present
in class later to get full credit for responses.
Your statements need not be lengthy—five to ten sentences will be
sufficient—but they should provide fodder for inquiry and argument.
You may investigate and report on factual details that capture your
interest, but your critical questions should invite opinions and
conversation. Try framing your one-paragraph response as a question,
for instance, or pose the question that led to your own statement of
opinion. Weekly responses will be graded for credit and can serve as
foundations for research. (14 responses = 20 percent of your
grade)
Individual reports on supporting material,
in which members of the class will be assigned to prepare particular
essays, inform the group on their findings, and hand in presentation
materials for credit. These include a “keywords” assignment,
selections from Writing on the Body, selections from
Feminism Without Borders, and selections from New
Perspectives on Environmental Justice.
(Four assignments @ 5
percent each = 20 percent of your grade)
Abstract for the midterm essay,
250-500 words, due February 6. (5 percent of your grade)
Midterm conference-length essay,
minimum 8 pages, not counting bibliography, due March 7.
(15
percent of your grade)
Conference on your research agenda.
During the week of March 24, each person must schedule a one-to-one
conversation with me, in my office, to plan the final presentation
and project. Once each person develops a research plan with
feedback, s/he must stick to the stated topic.
(5 percent of your
grade)
Research proposal/abstract
(500 words), due March 28. (5 percent of your grade)
Research presentation,
in class or in a Women’s and Gender Studies panel, should we choose
to host one. (10 percent of your grade)
Final essay
based on substantial research, minimum 15 pages, due May 5.
(20
percent of your grade)
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Course Schedule
Please read and bring Sexual/Textual Politics and A Room
of One’s Own for our first meeting.
January 16: Introduction to the Course
Read for class:
• Toril Moi, Sexual/Textual Politics
• Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own annotated edition
with Gubar intro.
January 23: Feminist Literary Theories
Weekly Response #1
Read for class:
• Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own annotated edition
with Gubar intro.
January 30: Feminism and Sexuality
Weekly Response #2
Read for class:
• Toril Moi, Sexual/Textual Politics
• Editors’ Introduction to Writing on the Body: Female
Embodiment and Feminist Theory (1-12)
• Luce Irigaray, “This Sex Which Is Not One” (248-56)
• Monique Wittig, “One Is Not Born a Woman” (309-17)
• Michel Foucault, “We ‘Other Victorians,” in
The History of Sexuality
In class:
Film clip from Kinsey (2004)
Assignment for next week:
250-500 word abstract for your Midterm Essay.
February 6: Discourse and Sexuality
Weekly Response #3 and Midterm Essay abstract due
Read for class:
• Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality: An Introduction
• Excerpt from Freud’s Dora case study
• Dianne Hunter, “Hysteria, Psychoanalysis, and Feminism: The
Case of Anna O.” (Writing on the Body, 257-76)
Recommended reading:
Adrienne Rich, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian
Existence,” in Signs 5.4 (1980): 631-60.
Gayle Rubin, “The Traffic in Women: Notes Toward a ‘Political
Economy’ of Sex,” in Toward an Anthropology of Women, ed.
Rayna Rapp Reiter (NY: Monthly Review, 1975).
Rachel P. Maines, The Technology of Orgasm: 'Hysteria,' the
Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction (Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins UP, 1998; 2001 paperback)
February 13: Unspoken/Unspeakable
Weekly Response #4
Read for class:
• Catharine MacKinnon, Only Words
• Catharine MacKinnon, “Rape: On Coercion and Consent” (Writing
on the Body, 42-58)
• Sandra Lee Bartky, “Foucault, Femininity, and the
Modernization of Patriarchal Power” (Writing on the Body,
129-154)
• “Forum: The Feminist Sexuality Debates,” in Signs 10.1
(1984): 106-25.
Includes Ann Ferguson, “Sex War: The Debate Between Radical and
Libertarian Feminists,” and pieces by Ilene Philipson; Irene
Diamond and Lee Quinby; Carole S. Vance and Ann Barr Snitow.
http://www.kmu.edu.tw/~gigs/enrollment/doc/The_Feminist_Sexuality_Debates.pdf
Recommended reading:
Linda Williams, ed., Porn Studies (Durham: Duke UP, 2004)
and Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the 'Frenzy of the
Visible' (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1989)
Recommended screening:
The People vs. Larry Flynt (dir. Milos
Foreman, 1999); Inside Deep Throat (dir. Fenton Bailey
and Randy Barbato, 2005)
February 20: Love and Its Discontents
Weekly Response #5
Read for class:
• Andrea Dworkin, Intercourse (1987, “20th anniversary
edition” 2006)
• Laura Kipnis, Against Love: A Polemic
• Patricia J. Williams, “On Being the Object of Property” (Writing
on the Body, 155-175)
• To be continued: “Forum: The Feminist Sexuality Debates”:
http://www.kmu.edu.tw/~gigs/enrollment/doc/The_Feminist_Sexuality_Debates.pdf
Upcoming events @
http://www.womenstudies.ilstu.edu/news_events/calendar.asp
Wednesday, 2/27:
Holly Hughes,
“Performance as Visual Culture,” University Galleries, 4 pm.
(Can we all make it to this?)
Thursday, 2/28:
Holly Hughes,
Preaching to the Perverted
(one-woman performance). Westhoff Theatre, 8 pm.
Friday, 2/29:
Women’s and Gender Studies Symposium at the
College of Fine Arts University Galleries; Holly Hughes keynote
lecture at 1pm.
February 27: Sex, Gender, and Performance
Weekly Response #6
Read for class:
• Linda Williams, “A Provoking Agent: The Pornography and
Performance Art of Annie Sprinkle” (Writing on the Body,
360-379)
• bell hooks, “Selling Hot Pussy: Representations of Black
Female Sexuality in the Marketplace” (Writing on the Body,113-128)
In the online reserve file (four PDFs):
Introduction and interviews with Holly Hughes, Annie Sprinkle,
and bell hooks in Angry Women (Re/Search)
Film in
class:
Monika Treut, Gendernauts; videos on performance artists
Karen Finley, Holly Hughes, Annie Sprinkle, etc.
Assignment for next week:
Look at recent “keywords” volumes and compare definitions of
feminism, gender, sexuality. Examples from Bruce Burgett and
Glenn Hendler, eds., Keywords in American Studies (NYU
Press, 2007).
March 5: Defining Feminism, Gender, Sexuality, etc.
Weekly Response #7
Keywords Assignment
• Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler, eds.,
Keywords in American Studies
Assignment for next time:
Individual reports on selections from
Writing on the Body
March 7 (Friday): Midterm Essay due
March 8-16: Spring Break
March 19: Science, Race, Gender, and the Gaze
Weekly Response #8
Individual work on Writing on the Body:
1.
Emily Martin, “Medical Metaphors of Women’s
Bodies: Menstruation and Menopause” and Rosi Braidotti,
“Mothers, Monsters, and Machines”
2.
Moira Gatens, “Corporeal Representation in/and
the Body Politic” and Susan Bordo, “The Body and the
Reproduction of Femininity”
3.
Sandy Stone, “The Empire Strikes Back: A
Posttransexual Manifesto” and Sue-Ellen Case, “Tracking the
Vampire”
4.
Mary Russo, “Female Grotesques: Carnival and
Theory” and Judith Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender
Construction”
5.
Mary Ann Doane, “Film and the Masquerade:
Theorizing the Female Spectator,” Annette Kuhn, “The Body
and Cinema: Some Problems for Feminism,” and Tania Modleski,
“Cinema and the Dark Continent: Race and Gender in Popular Film”
Recommended reading:
Laura Mulvey on the cinematic gaze; Lucy Fischer,
Cinematernity
Assignment for Friday, March 28:
500-word abstract for Final Essay
Conferences on your final work: March 24, 25, 26:
To be decided: do we hold a WGS panel/symposium?
classroom presentations?
March 26: “Seeing the Unspeakable”
Weekly Response #9
• Gwendolyn Dubois Shaw, Seeing the Unspeakable: The Art of
Kara Walker
• Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a Woman?” in
Writing on the Body
March 28 (Friday): Final Essay Abstract due
April 2: “Third World Women’s Feminism” and Twenty-First Century
Borderlands
Weekly Response #10
• Chela Sandoval, Methodology of the Oppressed
• Gloria Anzaldúa, “La consciencia de la mestiza: Towards a
New Consciousness” in Writing on the
Body
• Audre
Lorde, “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power” in
Writing on the Body
Assignment for next week:
Everyone should read pp. vii-84 and pp. 221-51 of
Feminism Without Borders, then report on an
additional, assigned portion of the book for class. Read
Unbowed in its entirety.
April 9: Feminism Without Borders
Weekly Response #11
• Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Feminism Without Borders:
Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity (vii-84, 221-51,
and your assigned section)
• Wangari Maathai, Unbowed
Recommended readings:
Catharine MacKinnon, Are Women Human? And
Other International Dialogues; Chandra Talpade Mohanty,
Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing
Solidarity (Duke, 2003); The Green Belt Movement: Sharing
the Approach and the Experience (Lantern Bks, 2003); Vandana
Shiva, Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge
(1997), Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food
Supply (2000), Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and
Profit (South End Press, 2002)
Assignment
for next week:
Read pp. xi-60 of New Perspectives on
Environmental Justice, plus three essays (to be
selected/assigned in class)
April 16: Ecofeminism, Nature, and Animal Others
Weekly Response #12
• Rachel Stein, ed., New Perspectives on Environmental
Justice: Gender, Sexuality, and Activism (xi-60, plus your
assigned essays)
Recommended reading:
Ursula Le Guin, Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences;
Vera Norwood on ecofeminism; Mary Daly’s Gyn/Ecology;
Carol Merchant’s The End of Nature (1978); Donna Haraway,
Simians, Cyborgs, and Women, FemaleMan Meets OncoMouse,
and The Companion Species Manifesto; Lynda Vance; Carol
Adams, etc.
April 23: Speculative Fiction / Presentations of Work in
Progress
Weekly Response #13
• Samuel R. Delany, Tales of Nevèrÿon
April 30: Speculative Fiction / Presentations of Work in
Progress
Weekly Response #14
• Octavia Butler, Dawn (Xenogenesis)
May 5 (Monday): Final Essay due
in my office by noon