Women, Gender, Sexuality 692C - S-Issues in Feminist Theory

This seminar is designed for graduate students who want to improve their background in feminist theory as it has developed in the 20th and 21st century United States. Some background in social theory is presupposed. 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.

Texts for the course will include an anthology of readings by Nicholson The Second Wave: A Reader in Feminist Theory, Eisenstein Feminism Seduced, and Alsop et al Theorizing Gender. There will also be a number of online readings. There will be a short paper due the middle of the semester and a final term paper. Class participation will include a short class report, and some homework questions on the readings. An optional session will meet often on Mondays starting at 5 pm to screen short relevant films, which in turn may be used as material for class reports or the short paper.