Women, Gender, Sexuality 492C - S-Topics in Feminist Theory

This seminar is designed for upper level undergraduate and graduate students who want to use some of the tools developed in US feminist theory in the 20th and 21st century to deal with the issues of gender, race, class, and sexual power as they reinforce each other in systems of social injustice. The topics we will focus on to bring out these connections include love as a value and a social construction, violence (both personal and institutional), and material class power as it reinforces and undermines racism, sexism, heterosexism, and trans oppression. We will also consider feminist visions and theories of justice. Although the course will be organized topically there will be some attention to historical writings of feminist theory. The theories of race, gender, sexuality and social domination of Marx, Freud and Foucault will be considered through those feminist theorists who have appropriated aspects of their theories and methods. Attention will be given to women of color feminism and queer theory. Most readings will come from the following texts: Alexander The New Jim Crow, Digby Love and War, Eisenstein Feminism Seduced, Federici Caliban and the Witch, and an anthology of readings by Nicholson The Second Wave: A Reader in Feminist Theory. There will also be a number of online readings, including such authors as Judith Butler and bell hooks.

Some background in social theory is presupposed for undergraduates, such as a 300-level or higher course in Philosophy, WGSS or STPEC. Please contact instructor if you are unclear whether your background is sufficient: ferguson@philos.umass.edu