Gender in the Humanities: Nature, Nurture, and the Dynamics of Culture*   FOR/ENG/COM 128 - Fall 2005 Tues. & Thurs. 12:35-1:50, STV 229 Dr. Lorie Heggie STV 138, 438-7579 lheggie@ilstu.edu

This course examines gender roles, norms, and stereotypes from an interdisciplinary, multicultural perspective. It draws on a broad range of disciplines within the humanities: religion, mythology, philosophy, history, linguistics, art, film, and literature from a variety of genres (novel, poetry, short story, essay, autobiography, political manifesto). As background to this humanities-based inquiry, the course also provides an overview of biological, psychological, and sociological perspectives on gender using Carol Gilligan's In a Different Voice. Psychological Theory and Women's Development, Kessler and McKenna's Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach, and Aaron Kipnis's Angry Young Men. How Parents, Teachers, and Counselors Can Help "Bad Boys" Become Good Men.
 
To demonstrate the extent to which gender roles and ideals are a product of culture, we will compare and contrast the perspectives on gender presented in creation stories in the Bible, in Greek mythology, and in native American folklore, as well as in literary texts from Enlightenment France and England, pre-colonial Nigeria, modern Senegal, contemporary France, pre-Communist China, and in the short stories of a contemporary Chinese-American writer. Among the literary texts to be read are Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel The Handmaid's Tale, short stories from Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior, the novel Things Fall Apart by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, the autobiographical novel So Long a Letter by Senegalese writer Mariama Bâ, Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, and Robert Bly's Iron John. A number of films will be shown and discussed, including Temptation (on the story of Adam and Eve) from Bill Moyers's 1995 series Genesis, Dr. Pat Heim's The Power Dead-Even Rule and Other Gender Differences in the Workplace, Men and Women Talking Together (with Deborah Tannen and Robert Bly), Women and Islam, Jean Kilbourne's film Slim Hopes: Advertising and the Obsession with Thinness, You Can't Beat a Woman (on domestic violence), and Bruno Nuytten's film about French sculptress Camille Claudel. We will also view Bill Moyers's interviews with Achebe, Kingston, and Joseph Campbell. 
 
By comparing how gender structures vary across cultures and evolve through the centuries, the course offers a deeper understanding of the complex interconnections between nature and culture, individuals and society. Among the specific questions to be addressed are: (1) To what extent are our views of gender shaped by mythology, literature, and the media? (2) To what extent does gender influence our use of language? (3) To what extent does gender influence our interpersonal relationships, power relations, and our notions of morality? (4) To what extent are certain forms of oppression and violence gender-specific? (5) How have notions of gender evolved over the centuries in Western culture? Why have gender roles and norms changed so quickly over the past half century? (6) Gender--nature or nurture, biological fact or social construct? How do the differences in gender structures and the changing notions of masculinity and femininity across cultures and centuries reflect the cultural foundations of gender?
 
Prerequisites: Language and Composition.
Co-requisite:  Language and Communication.
 
Evaluation
40%   Five response papers (750 to 1000  words; 8 points each)
40%   Two formal papers (1400 to 1750  words + formal outline; 20 points each)
12%   Participation in class discussions, group presentations
   3%   Peer review
   5%   Final oral presentation (in place of final)

Attendance, participation, and late work
Since discussions form an integral part of the work for this course, conscientious preparation of the discussion questions and active, productive participation are essential. If you do not participate productively, I will assume you are unprepared. If circumstances prevent you from completing an assignment, you should come to class anyway. A word of explanation to me would be wise, and it would also be wise not to let this happen often.
 
The films viewed in class are not time-fillers for entertainment, but crucial components of the course. We will draw extensively on these films in class discussions and in the group presentations at the end of the semester. Students will be expected to watch these films attentively and to take them as seriously they do the readings.
 
Attendance will be taken in each class. Students will each be allowed three absences over the semester. Two percentage points will be subtracted from the final overall course grade for every absence after the third. (You can't participate if you are absent.) Please note that this means an absence for any reason: it isn't part of an instructor's job to try to distinguish between "good" and "bad" excuses for missing class. You may appeal this automatic grade reduction in a written statement that describes and documents the reasons for your absence. Your written statement must provide strong evidence that your absence was unavoidable.
 
Late submission of  other work (papers, response papers, and homework) will result in a penalty of half a letter grade for each late day (example: due on Monday, turned in on Wednesday, grade drops one full letter grade). Weekends count as one day, not two. You may appeal this automatic grade reduction in a written statement that describes and documents the reasons for the late paper. Your written statement must provide strong evidence that your absence or lateness was unavoidable and justifiable.
 
Students are expected to bring texts to class on the date they are assigned for use during class discussion. Some texts will only be available at the Library Reserve Desk; students will need bring photocopies of these texts to class. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE to photocopy texts on reserve. Plan well in advance and keep in mind that there are often long lines at the Reserve Desk. Please call me or e-mail me immediately if the Reserve Desk staff has trouble locating a particular text, so that I can resolve the problem before class. Always ask for texts by title, not by the author's name. Be sure to check your e-mail regularly for additional instructions from me regarding assignments or other matters related to the course.
 
Compositions, peer reviews, and response papers
In all your written work and presentations for this class, remember that it is quality, not quantity that counts. Wordiness and "padding" are strongly discouraged. A formal outline must be turned in with both formal compositions. Follow the format of the sample outline handed out in class and the instructions in the handout on essay-writing. Read the handout carefully; you will be marked down for not following the guidelines it gives for style and formatting. All compositions, response papers, and outlines are to be typed, double spaced, and handed in at the beginning of class on the day they are due. No cover page or bibliography is needed for any papers in this class. Page numbers for quotations should be given parenthetically within the text. All assignments are due on the dates indicated on the course schedule below. Late papers will be accepted, but will be marked down unless a valid excuse is presented before class on or before the due date. My concern is to be fair to students who struggle to turn their work in on time. Papers will not be accepted by e-mail except in emergencies and ONLY with prior consent of the instructor.
 
The two formal compositions will be evaluated according to the grading rubric found at the end of the syllabus. All students will be required to revise Composition 1. A maximum of five points additional credit will be given for improvements in content and organization and a maximum of five additional points will be given for corrections of errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. A carefully done revision can therefore raise a student's grade one full letter grade for that composition. Additional points are not given automatically, however; they must be earned. Be sure to turn in the marked up copy of your first draft with your revision, along with your outline and evaluation sheet, so I can see what changes and improvements you have made.
 
Students also will also do two drafts of Composition 2. The first draft will be reviewed by a classmate (following the written instructions handed out in advance), and then revised based on the classmate's written comments. Students will be graded for their peer review, as well as for their revision. Students will be awarded one to three points for the quality of the feedback they provide. Students who do not participate in the peer review will have three points deducted from their overall grade for the course. (Both drafts of Composition 2 should be turned in, along with outline and peer review.) There will be no revision of the response papers.
 
Policy on plagiarism: The following definition is drawn from the Undergraduate Handbook: "Plagiarism is the unacknowledged appropriation of another's work, words, or ideas in any themes, outlines, papers, reports, or computer programs." Students who plagiarize or who encourage plagiarism by giving their work to another student to copy will receive a zero for the paper in question, be reported to the SDRS/Judicial Services Office, and face disciplinary action, which may include suspension or expulsion from the University.