| Dr. Lori E. Amy Director, Women’s and Gender Studies Program Georgia Southern University |
P.O. Box 8090 / Forest Drive 1127 Statesboro, GA 30460 (912) 681-0625/fax (912) 681-0739 |
Sex, Violence, Culture
grading | attendance | academic conduct | readings and web links | syllabus | WGST Resources | final project |
Sex, Violence, and Culture uses feminist theories of gender, sexuality, and patriarchal culture to explore the relationship between public and private violence. Placing private violence in a global perspective, this course critiques the gender stakes of economies of domination and exploitation, the war system, and ideologies of family and nation.
At its most basic level, a course in Women’s and Gender Studies asks us to examine all of our traditional concepts – concepts of “man” and “woman,” first and foremost, but also of church, family, nation, class, race, and economy – and to ask how these concepts rely on the subordination (or: disenfranchisement, marginalization, inequality) of certain groups of people. In this sense, a women’s and gender studies course requires a detailed analysis of power – who has it, how it works, what its effects are – and of the cultural arrangements according to which power is distributed and circulated.
Because this is a cross-listed, interdisciplinary course, we have to remain aware of the fact that we are engaging with others who are staked in and see the world in very different ways. I want our classroom to be a space of collaborative community in which we can encounter not only ideas, but each other and ourselves. To really encounter ourselves, I believe that we must read the course material carefully and critically, with both our hearts and our minds fully engaged; we must, in other words, open ourselves to self-reflection, to an examination of old ideas and a consideration of new ideas. To encounter each other , we must come to class ready to listen compassionately, and to speak honestly and passionately but also with respect for the many differences in life experiences, world views, and subject positions from which we engage with each other. Outside of class, you will work on reading, writing, and in groups on projects. In class, we will work on community.
Student Activities and Evaluation=
Reading and Attendance: 50%
This course requires a great deal of reading, possibly more reading than you are used to. I expect you to read — you cannot pass this course if you do not keep up with the readings! Because I want you to read our course material and really explore the research I am offering you, and because I believe that our class discussions of the readings are crucial to your understanding of the material, class attendance and demonstration of reading comprehension are worth 50% of your grade. In order to get this 50% of your grade, you will need to turn in either:
- Reading notes for 15 of the readings
- Reading responses to 15 of the readings
Reading notes should track the key ideas of the readings and any questions you have about the reading. Reading responses may take up one or two points that struck a nerve with you, explain these points in detail, and trace your personal relationship to the points. You will receive a letter grade for each of your responses. Notes or responses are due within one week of the reading!
Research or Project Work: 50%
Research or project work will make up the remaining 50% of your grade. Depending on your interests, you may either pursue traditional research based on your interests, or you may take up a community/activism project. By the middle of the semester, you will have to decide which of these you want to pursue, and you and I will draw up a contract for your research or project work.
Course Outline:
- Overview
- Starting on the Home Front: Structural Violence, Race and Class
- Political Economies of Violence I: Poverty, Gender, and Violence in American Culture
- Psychic Economies of Violence I: Sexuality and War
- I: Constructions of Masculinity and the Soldier
- II: American Soldiers: The Half-Life of War
- III: Women and War: Gender, Family,Nation
- Psychic Economies of Violence II: Racism and Misogyny
- Political Economies of Violence II: Global Circuits
- I : Beyond the Bombs: Refugees, Diaspora, and the Eco-Feminist Response
- II: Neo-Imperialism and Sex trafficking
- Bringing it Back Home: The Public Nature of Private Violence
- I: Rape
- II: Domestic Violence
At University Book Store:
- James Gilligan Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic
- Cynthia Enloe Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women’s Lives
- Jenny Matthews Women and War
- Emilie Buchwald, Ed. Transforming A Rape Culture
- Course Packet: ( From Klaus Theweleit Volume II of Male Fantasies: Psychoanalyzing the White Terror: Chapter 2 "Male Bodies and the White Terror"; From Michael Bilton and Kevin Sim Four Hours in My Lai: "Introduction"; From Bell Hooks: in Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics "Reflections on Race and Sex"; in Black Looks: Race and Representation "Selling Hot Pussy"; From Susan Griffin Pornography and Silence: Culture’s Revenge Against Nature "The Sacrificial Lamb"; From Dan Hallock Bloody Hell: The Price Soldiers Pay "Lee" & "Bloody Century"
Online:
- Trudy Lieberman "Hungry in America" http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030818&s=lieberman
- Berta Esperanz-Truyol "Sex, Culture, and Rights: A Re/Conceptualization of Violence for the Twenty-First Century" http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/Diana/fulltext/hern.htm
- Human Rights Watch — Women’s Page http://www.hrw.org/women/index.html
- The Gender Ads Project http://www.genderads.com/
- United Nations Commissioner on Refugees web site http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home
- "Prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence in refugee situations: Inter-agency lessons learned conference proceedings, 27-29 March 2001";
- "World Refugee Day 2002 – Refugee Women"; "Note on certain aspects of sexual violence against refugee women";
- "Gender-Related Persecution
- Center for Disease Control "Sexual Violence Facts" http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/svfacts.htm
|
Wk 1
1.8 |
Overview
Attendance Verification Due |
|
Wk 2
1.14 |
Starting on the Home Front: Structural Violence, Race, Class
Jan. 19: MLK Holiday: Celebrating A Tradition of Unity: 7:00 p.m., RU Ballroom. Speaker: Dr. Prince Jackson, Former President of Savannah State University. |
|
Wk 3 1.22 |
Political Economies of Violence I: Poverty, Gender, and Violence in American Culture
|
| Wk 4 1. 27 |
|
|
Wk 5 |
Psychic Economies of Violence I: Sexuality and War
|
|
Wk 6
|
February 10 & 11 — Vagina Monologues, Foy Rectial Hall, 7:00 p.m.
|
|
Wk 7
2.19 |
Freshman Midterm Grades Due — Monday, Jan. 23: Early Registration Begins |
|
Wk 8 2.26
|
Monday March 1: Last Day to Drop |
|
Wk 9 3.11 |
|
| 3. 15 – 3. 19 | Spring Break |
|
Wk 10
|
Psychic Economies of Violence II: Racism and Misogyny
|
|
Wk 11
4.1
|
Political Economies of Violence II: Global Circuits
II: Neo-Imperialism and Sex trafficking http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/wrd/trafficking.htm |
|
Wk 12
4.8 |
Bringing it Back Home: The Public Nature of Private Violence I: Rape
Resources:
|
|
Wk 13 4.15
|
|
|
Wk 14
|
|
| Wk 15 4.27 |
Final Exam Week: Final Exam Tuesday, April 27, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. — RU 2084
|
Requirements for Group Presentations
Your group presentations are a very big deal and will count as your 11th Response for class. I have tried very, very hard to put you in groups with people that I believe you will disagree with, but also with whom I believe, based on class discussions, that you will respect and have positive feeling for. Your group will be responsible for thoroughly reading, understanding, and "teaching" the readings scheduled for the day you present. You must know these articles inside out and guide our class discussion. You need to be ready to respond to any questions that your classmates bring up. I will speak very, very little during these presentations — you are, literally, the teachers for your designated class period. You will be evaluated on your knowledge of the material, your ability to raise points, elicit and guide/facilitiate classroom discussion, and respond knoweldgeably to questions
- You are required to meet at least once as a group outside of class
- When you meet, your group needs to define what you think the primary issues to cover in your texts are. In this process, you will inevitably encouner different interpretations/responses to the readings. Did you agree/ disagree on which points were important? What kinds of issues did your group discussion uncover (issues both from your texts and from your potentially different readings of the texts)?
- You will need to decide how you will proceed in class. Who will begin? Who will cover which points from which articles? How will you make sure that the class addresses the primary points you define?
- It would be advisable to provide an outline for the class discussion, both for your own benefit and for the class’s.
- You’ll need to make clear in some way the range of interpretative positions that your group brings to the readings — consider yourselves mirrors for the range of responses we might anticipate from the larger class.
- Your group will need to turn in to me:
- A Written summary of the group’s conclusions — what issues you defined, how you decided to bring those issues to the class, etc.
- An explanation of the group’s dynamic/process — when/ where did you meet, how did the group work together, did you have conflict, and, if so, how did you manage it?
- An explanation of what you took away from the process –that is, what was the emotional/intellectual experience of the group work?
Reference List
Books and Journals Henderson Library
- Feminist Studies
- Women’s Studies Quarterly
- Women’s Studies
Additional References (Available throught InterLibrary Loan)
- Susan Griffin A Chorus of Stones: A History of the Private Life of War & "Eros: The Meaning of Desire" (From Pornography and Silence)
- Anne McClintock Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest
- Arundhati Roy War Talk
- Rita Arditti Searching for Life: The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Maya and the Disappeared Children of Argentina
- Bat-Ami Bar On The Subject of Violence: Arendtean Exercises in Understanding
- From Evelyn Accad’s Sexuality and War: Literary Masks of the Middle East
- Betty Reardon’s Sexism and the War System
- Carolyn Nordstrom and JoAnn Martin’s The Paths of Domination, Resistance, and Terror
- Carolyn Nordstrom’s A Different Kind of War Story
- Marjorie Agosin’s A Map of Hope: Women’s Writing on Human Rights/ An International Literary Anthology
- Semezdin Mehmedinovich’s Sarajevo Blues
- Lawrence Kramer After the Lovedeath: Sexual Violence and the Making of Culture
- From Inderpal Grewal & Caren Kaplan Gender in a Transnational World: An Introduction to Women’s Studies: Anna Davin "Imperialism and Motherhood" pp. 63 – 68; Frank Dilotter "Race Culture: Recent Perspectives on the History of Eugenics"
- From Nancy K. Miller and Jason Tougaw Extremities: Trauma, Testimony, and Community: "Wendy Hui Kyong Chun "Unbearable Witness: Toward a Politics of Listening" & Wayne Koestenbaum "The Aryan Boy"
- From Page duBois Torture and Truth: "Rome, 1985," "Touchstone" "Torture" "Women, the Body, and Torture"
- From Luce Irigaray: in Je, Tu, Nous: Towards a Culture of Difference "Women’s Discourse and Men’s Discourse," "The Culture of Difference," "The Cost of Words; in Philosophy of Language "He I Sought but Did Not Find"; in Psychoanalytic Criticism: A Reader "Women, the Sacred, and Money"
- Center for Disease Control "Sexual Violence Facts" http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/svfacts.htm
- United Nations Commissioner on Refugees web site, including:
- "Prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence in refugee situations: Inter-agency lessons learned conference proceedings, 27-29 March 2001";
- "World Refugee Day 2002 – Refugee Women"; "Note on certain aspects of sexual violence against refugee women";
- "Gender-Related Persecution" (from http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home?page=search)
- Human Rights Watch Women’s Rights Page http://www.hrw.org/women/index.php and relevant HRW publications, including:
- "Rape in Bosnia-Herzogovina" http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home?page=search;
- "THE ROLE OF VIOLENT CRIME IN U.S. INCARCERATION RATES" http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/usa/Rcedrg00-02.htm;
- Film: The Official Story. Luis Puenzo.
- Film: Portrait of Teresa Pastor Vega.
- Dangerous Relationships : Pornography, Misogyny and Rape – Diana E H Russell (Author)
- Rethinking Violence against Women – Russell P. Dobash (Editor), Rebecca Emerson Dobash (Editor)
- Women, Violence, and Male Power: Feminist Activism, Research, and Practice – Marianne Hester (Editor), et al
- Loving to Survive: Sexual Terror, Men’s Violence, and Women’s Lives (Feminist Crosscurrents) – Edna I. Rawlings (Contributor), et al
- Remembering Conquest: Feminist/Womanist Perspectives on Religion, Colonization, and Sexual Violence – Nantawan Boonprasat-Lewis (Editor), Marie M. Fortune (Editor)
- Sexual Politics and Social Control – Frances Heidensohn
- Understanding Sexual Violence: A Study of Convicted Rapists (Perspectives on Gender, Vol 3) – Diana Scully
- Sexual Violence and American Manhood : – T. Walter Herbert (Author)
- Rape on Prime Time: Television, Masculinity, and Sexual Violence (Feminist Cultural Studies, the Media and Political Culture) – Lisa M. Cuklanz
- Sex, Power, Conflict: Evolutionary and Feminist Perspectives – David M. Buss (Editor), Neil M. Malamuth (Editor)
- Women, Sexuality And War – Philomena Goodman (Author)
- Gender, Peace and Conflict – Inger Skjelsboek (Editor), Dan Smith (Editor); Paperback
- F rontline Feminisms: Women, War, and Resistance (Gender, Culture and Global Politics) – Marguerite R. Waller (Editor), et al;
- States of Conflict: Gender, Violence and Resistance – Susie M. Jacobs (Editor), et al
- Everyday Violence: How Women and Men Experience Sexual and Physical Danger – Elizabeth Stanko
- Unhappy Families: Clinical and Research Perspectives on Family Violence – Eli H. Newberger, Richard Bourne;
- Social Change, Gender and Violence: Post-Communist and War Affected Societies (Social Indicators Research Series, V. 10) – Vesna Nikolic-Ristanovic, Vesna Nikolic
- Gender Violence by Laura L. O’Toole (Editor), Jessica R. Schiffman (Editor)
- After Silence by Nancy Venable Raine
- The Batterer as Parent by Lundy Bancroft (Author), Jay G. Silverman (Author)
- Women War and Peace Syllabus http://bama.ua.edu/~emartin/genwar/crseinfo.htm
- Women and Violence Syllabus http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~mccomisk/syl263.html