Feminist Epistemologies and Pedagogies

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to explore feminist epistemologies and their relation to pedagogy. In mainstream, “universal” epistemologies, dichotomies such as that between reason and emotion and that between the public and private spheres serve to legitimate claims regarding objectivity. In problematizing (or rejecting) such dichotomies, feminist approaches to knowledge problematize traditional claims to knowledge. Although a number of feminist theories will be addressed, the course will focus primarily on relational and standpoint theories. Among the questions we will examine will be those concerning objectivity, relational knowledge, situated knowledge, and feminist pedagogy.

Required Texts:

• Michael Awkward, Negotiating Difference: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Positionality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).
• Lorraine Code, What Can She Know? Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991).
• Patricia Hill Collins, Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998).
• Marilyn Frye, The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory (Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1983).
• María Lugones, Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition against Multiple Oppressions (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).
• Dorothy E. Smith, The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1987).
• Electronic readings available at the Marriott Reserve Desk

Copies of the required books are on reserve at the Marriott University Library and are available for purchase at the University Bookstore. The readings are available electronically from the Marriott University Library Reserve Desk.

Course Requirements

Requirements for the course are regular attendance and participation; two short papers; and a longer final paper. Attendance and participation represent 20% of the grade; the first short paper represents 20% of the grade; the second short paper represents 20% of the grade; and the final paper is 40% of the grade for the course.

Participation will be graded based on 1) careful and nuanced engagement with the readings (this means both appreciative and critical reading of the texts and learning from the texts rather than simply harnessing them to one’s own pre-existing arguments); 2) thoughtful attention and listening to others, as manifested in how one takes up and works with the contributions of others; 3) respectful forms of address and conduct (e.g., do not dominate discussion or monopolize the floor; do not expect your own questions always to be central; avoid lecturing others. Ordinary courtesy is assumed: please do not leave your cell phone on in class or read instead of listening to others); and 4) careful, well informed contributions to class discussion that thoughtfully take account of others’ contributions. Please make every effort not to be late or absent. More than two absences will affect your grade for the course.

The two short papers are to focus on an assigned theme in the readings. For the final paper, students will be asked to address the implications of feminist epistemology for feminist pedagogy. While the short papers will focus on three or four readings, the final paper is expected to draw on a much wider distribution of readings. The final paper should be about 12-15 pages in length. All papers are to be typed, double-spaced, and have one-inch margins (for comments). References should be in the format that the student would be most likely to use in a published paper or a thesis.
 

Week 1                             Introduction:  Gender Oppression

Wed. 23 Aug.

Handouts for in-class reading:

• Barbara Smith and Beverly Smith, “Across the Kitchen Table: A Sister to Sister Dialogue,” in This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, ed. Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa (New York: Kitchen Table/Women of Color Press, 1983), 113-27.
• Judith Plaskow, “Preaching against the Text,” in The Coming of Lilith: Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics, 1972-2003, ed. Donna Berman (Boston: Beacon Press, 2005), 152-56.

Week 2                            Oppression

Wed. 30 Aug.

• Marilyn Frye, The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory (Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1983), 1-40, 52-94.
• María Lugones, Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition against Multiple Oppressions (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), 53-63.
• Susan Glaspell, “A Jury of Her Peers,” in Images of Women in Literature, ed. Mary Anne Fergusun (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973), 370-85.

Week 3                            Intersectionalities of Gender, Race, and Sexuality

Wed. 6 Sept.

• Marilyn Frye, The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory (Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1983), 110-74.
• Dorothy E. Smith, The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1987), 1-43.
• María Lugones, Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition against Multiple Oppressions (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), 41-51.

Week 4                            Standpoint Theories: Gender, Class, Race

Wed. 13 Sept.

• Dorothy E. Smith, The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1987), 45-145.
• Patricia Hill Collins, Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998), ix-76.

Week 5                            Feminism and the Disciplines

Wed. 20 Sept.

• Patricia Hill Collins, Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998), 95-123.
• Evelyn Fox Keller, “A World of Difference,” in Reflections on Gender and Science (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985), 158-76.
• Liz Stanley, “‘A Referral Was Made’: Behind the Scenes during the Creation of a Social Services Department ‘Elderly’ Statistic,” in Feminist Praxis: Research, Theory and Epistemology in Feminist Sociology, ed. Liz Stanley (London: Routledge, 1990), 113-22.

First short paper due: Choosing a particular (carefully limited!) topic, discuss a feminist alternative or a feminist challenge to universalistic, androcentric knowledge claims. (5 pages)
 

Week 6                            The Politics of Maternalism

Wed. 27 Sept.

• Patricia Hill Collins, Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998), 155-83.
• Donna Deyhle and Frank Margonis, “Navajo Mothers and Daughters: Schools, Jobs, and the Family,” Anthropology and Education Quarterly 26, no. 2 (June 1995): 135-67.
• George J. Sanchez, “‘Go after the Women’: Americanization and the Mexican Immigrant Woman, 1915-1929,” in Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women’s History, ed. Ellen Carol DuBois and Vicki L. Ruiz (New York: Routledge, 1990), 250-63.
• Margaret K. Nelson, “Family Day Care Providers: Dilemmas of Daily Practice,’” in Mothering: Ideology, Experience, and Agency, ed. Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Grace Chang, and Linda Rennie Forcey (New York: Routledge, 1994), 181-209.

Week 7                            Feminism and Spirituality

Wed. 4 Oct.

• Patricia Hill Collins, Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998), 229-51.
• Katie Geneva Cannon, “Womanist Interpretation and Preaching in the Black Church,” in Katie’s Canon: Womanism and the Soul of the Black Community (New York: Continuum, 1995/1996), 113-21.
• Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, “Miriam — Leading the Dance: Charting the Field of Feminist Biblical Interpretation,” in But She Said: Feminist Practices of Biblical Interpretation (Boston: Beacon Press, 1992), 19-50.
• Judith Plaskow, “Jewish Theology in Feminist Perspective,” in Feminist Perspectives on Jewish Studies, ed. Lynn Davidman and Shelly Tenenbaum (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), 62-84.

Week 8                            Performing Ignorance

Process Drama with Professor David Dynak, Theatre Education

Wed. 11 Oct.

• Homa Hoodfar, “The Veil in Their Minds and on Our Heads: Veiling Practices and Muslim Women,” in The Politics of Culture in the Shadow of Capital, ed. Lisa Lowe and David Lloyd (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1997), 248-79.
• Sue Campbell, “Being Dismissed: The Politics of Emotional Expression,” Hypatia 9, no. 3 (Summer 1994): 46-65.
• Paula Gunn Allen, “Who Is Your Mother? Red Roots of White Feminism,” in The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions (Boston: Beacon Press, 1986), 209-21.
• Andy Smith, “For All Those Who Were Indian in a Former Life,” in Ecofeminism and the Sacred, ed. Carol J. Adams (New York: Continuum, 1993), 168-71.

Week 9                            Learning across Difference

Wed. 18 Oct.

• Michael Awkward, Negotiating Difference: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Positionality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 2-41.
• María Lugones, Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition against Multiple Oppressions (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), 65-100.

Second short paper due: 1) Drawing on at least 3 of the readings, offer a feminist analysis of a significant passage from a written text of your choice (this could be a textbook, a classic in philosophy of education, a memoir, or any number of other texts). (5 pages)
 

Week 10                            The Authority of Experience

Wed. 25 Oct.

• Lorraine Code, What Can She Know? Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991), 1-26.
• Uma Narayan, “The Project of a Feminist Epistemology: Perspectives from a Nonwestern Feminist,” in The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader: Intellectual and Political Controversies, ed. Sandra Harding (New York: Routledge, 2004), 213-24.
• Michael Awkward, Negotiating Difference: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Positionality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 42-91.

Week 11                            Class does not meet; class will be rescheduled on Saturday 11 Nov.

Wed. 1 Nov.

Week 12a                            Identity and Essences

Wed. 8 Nov.

• Judith Butler, “Imitation and Gender Insubordination,” in Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories, ed. Diana Fuss (New York: Routledge, 1991), 13-31.
• Michael Awkward, Negotiating Difference: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Positionality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 174-92.
• María Lugones, Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition against Multiple Oppressions (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), 167-80.
• Lorraine Code, What Can She Know? Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991), 27-70.

Week 12b                            Multiplicity and Mestizaje

Saturday 11 Nov. from 1:00-3:30 p.m.

• María Lugones, Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition against Multiple Oppressions (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), 121-48.
• Cherríe Moraga, “Algo secretamente amado [A Review of Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La frontera: The New Mestiza],” in The Sexuality of Latinas, ed. Norma Alarcón, Ana Castillo, and Cherríe Moraga (Berkeley, CA: Third Woman Press, 1993), 151-56.
• Gloria Anzaldúa, “To(o) Queer the Writer — Loca, escritora y Chicana,” in InVersions: Writing by Dykes, Queers and Lesbians, ed. Betsy Warland (Vancouver: Press Gang Publishers, 1991), 249-63.
• Paula M. L. Moya, “Postmodernism, ‘Realism,’ and the Politics of Identity: Cherríe Moraga and Chicana Feminism,” in Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures, ed. M. Jacqui Alexander and Chandra Talpade Mohanty (New York: Routledge, 1997), 125-50.

Week 13                            Positionality and Relationality

Wed. 15 Nov.

• María Lugones, Pilgrimages/Peregrinajes: Theorizing Coalition against Multiple Oppressions (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), 151-64, 207-37.
• Lorraine Code, What Can She Know? Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991), 71-109.
• Joan W. Scott, “The Evidence of Experience,” Critical Inquiry 17, no. 4 (Summer 1991): 773-97.

Week 14                            Listening and Responsibility

Wed. 22 Nov.

• Lorraine Code, What Can She Know? Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991), 265-313.
• Sofia Villenas, “The Colonizer/Colonized Chicana Ethnographer: Identity, Marginalization, and Co-optation in the Field,” Harvard Educational Review 66, no. 4 (Winter 1996): 711-31.

Thesis statement and outline for final paper due.

Week 15                            Feminist Pedagogies

Wed. 29 Nov.

• Betty Bardige, “Things so Finely Human: Moral Sensibilities at Risk in Adolescence,” in Mapping the Moral Domain: A Contribution of Women’s Thinking to Psychological Theory and Education, ed. Carol Gilligan, Janie Victoria Ward, and Jill McLean Taylor, with Betty Bardige (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988), 87-110.
• Amie Macdonald, “Feminist Pedagogy and the Appeal to Epistemic Privilege,” in Twenty-First-Century Feminist Classrooms: Pedagogies of Identity and Difference, ed. Amie A. Macdonald and Susan Sánchez-Casal (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 111-33.
• Kathleen Weiler, “Freire and a Feminist Pedagogy of Difference,” Harvard Educational Review 61, no. 4 (November 1991): 449-74.

Week 16                            Gender and the Schools

Wed. 6 Dec.

• Bronwyn Davies, “The Sense Children Make of Feminist Stories,” in Frogs, Snails and Feminist Tales: Preschool Children and Gender (Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 1989), 43-69.
• Rita M. Kissen, “Forbidden to Care: Gay and Lesbian Teachers,” in Caring in an Unjust World: Negotiating Borders and Barriers in Schools, ed. Deborah Eaker-Rich and Jane Van Galen (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996), 61-84.
• Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant, “A Womanist Experience of Caring: Understanding the Pedagogy of Exemplary Black Women Teachers,” Urban Review 34, no. 1 (March 2002): 71-86.

Week 17                            No class meeting: final papers due

Wed. 13 Dec.

Final paper due (by 6 p.m.) in lieu of exam. This paper should focus on the implications of feminist epistemology for curriculum and pedagogy (or it may address some other topic in feminism and education, if the topic is pre-arranged). (12-15 pages)