Global Feminisms

How does the personal activate the political?

What is this course about?

No single feminism suffices in today’s world. This course explores feminism around the world. This course demands the active presence of every student as she explores the issues vital to being a feminist in a world full of complex differences and intersectional identities.

This course historicizes and regionalizes the definition of feminism. We will parse out how various concepts—from invisibility to character, to heroism—can be used against women—by their families, by legislative bodies, by their partners, even by their friends—and explore various ways feminists can and do use them as sources of unexpected power.

Themes—Questions

Invisibility—What keeps some people and experiences from being seen?

Carelessness—Why do some people get to be careless while others do not?

Normal—How does the media reflect and enforce narrow cultural norms?

Resistance—What does feminist resistance look like?

Victims/Heroes—Who benefits from a culture of fear?

Sacrifice—How does gender shape the ways individuals share work in hard times?

Expectations—How does gender affect the way we navigate expectations?

Theme Paper

"It is on the knowledge of the genuine condition of our lives that we must draw our strength to live and our reason for acting."

-Simone de Beauvoir

Each unit’s theme gives the students a way to access and compare very different kinds of sources. We tell stories which come back and tell us how to live, and become like blueprints for our lives. A full exploration of feminism, its history and its regional variations, must encompass as many kinds of stories as possible: folk tales, fiction, personal essays, private diaries, public speeches, advertisements, and even scientific journals. This class is a great opportunity for students to read good writing and use it as a model for building empathy and cultivating their own voices.

We will use these texts to see how a society, a community, shapes the psyches of women and men and how these individuals turn around and work against the grain of stereotype, cliché, legislation and even language to create ways for human beings, especially women, to lead full lives of their own choosing.

Each unit culminates in a writing assignment—a personal essay, a persuasive essay, a short memoir, or a research paper. This variety encourages students to weave themes through various genres and develop a unique scholarly voice. Students will explore their own purpose in taking this course and explore how they participate in the movements and structures we are studying. This course is entwined with identity and making meaning beyond the classroom so we will work throughout the year with various teachers and educators to cultivate opportunities for rich discussions of intersectionality, diversity, and inclusivity outside of class.

How is the course organized?

Every unit has

a central theme,

While each theme can be explored on its own, they build on one another to offer students and teachers a deeper understanding of the ways in which gender shapes experience, especially for women.

an essential question,

These questions offer a way into the texts. The course revisits them again and again to encourage students to re-evaluate preconceptions and reflect on their own ways of thinking.

an anchor text,

Usually one book, this text offers students the opportunity to focus their thinking and explore the mechanics of great critical analysis in action. While most texts are nonfiction, units 1 and 3 offer ways of exploring how fiction (books, movies) shape thinking about gender.