Professor Kathleen Blee

Email: kblee+@pitt.edu

Women’s Studies Office: 2632 CL; 4-6486

Sociology Office: 2J22 FQ; 8-7590

In this multidisciplinary seminar we will survey a wide range of methods and approaches to feminist scholarship and feminist teaching from the humanities and social sciences. We will analyze and critique standard methodologies for the study of gender and feminist research methodologies. We will discuss issues of professionalization, academic hierarchies, ethics, and the development of feminist communities of research. We will also focus on the application of scholarship in teaching by surveying research on the dynamics of gender, race, class, nationalities, and sexualities in the classroom and by comparing traditional and feminist pedagogical approaches. Emphasis in the seminar will be on practical applications to your own field of teaching and research.

This course requires the active, engaged participation of all students. Attendance is required for every class session; participation will count for 10% of the final grade . Two short oral presentations (one of intended or on-going research; one of a new or revised syllabus) are required. Each presentation, together with the written research proposal or syllabi, will count for 20% of the final grade. Weekly written assignments are noted in the syllabus. These are due in class for the week they are assigned and must be typed. They should be no longer than 5-7 pages. Late assignments will not be accepted. The weekly assignments will count for 50% of the final grade. There are 10 "short-paper" assignments listed; you must submit 7 of these.

Linda Alcoff and Elizabeth Potter (eds.), Feminist Epistemologies. Routledge, 1993. (FE)

Diane L. Wolf (ed.), Feminist Dilemmas in Fieldwork. Westview, 1996. (FD)

Sherna Berger Gluck and Daphne Patai (eds.), Women’s Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History. Routledge, 1991. (WW)

bell Hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge, 1994 (TT)

VèVè Clark, Shirley Nelson Garner, Margaret Higonnet, and Ketu H. Katrak (eds.), AntiFeminism in the Academy. Routledge, 1996. (AA)

There are two packets of required readings available for purchase at Copy Cat. (P1 and P2)

SCHEDULE OF CLASS MEETINGS

Sept 9

Linda Alcoff and Elizabeth Potter "Introduction: Where Feminisms Intersect Epistemology" in FE

Diane Wolf "Situating Feminist Dilemmas in Fieldwork" in FD

Lorraine Code "Taking Subjectivity into Account" in FE

Sandra Harding "Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology: ‘What is Strong Objectivity?’" in FE

Bat-Ami Bar On "Marginality and Epistemic Privilege" in FE

Jayati Lal "Situating Locations: The Politics of Self, Identity, and ‘Other’ in Living and Writing the Text" in FD

Helen Longino "Subjects, Power and Knowledge: Description and Prescription in Feminist Philosophies of Science" in FE

Suad Joseph "Relationality and Ethnographic Subjectivity: Key Informants and the Construction of Personhood in Fieldwork" in FD

Short paper which presents the main concepts from these readings and uses these to analyze the presentation of methodology in one standard "methods" text from your field.

Sept 23

Lynn Hankinson Nelson "Epistemological Communities" in FE

Elizabeth Potter "Gender and Epistemic Negotiation" in FE

Elizabeth Grosz "Bodies and Knowledges: Feminism and the Crisis of Reason" in FE

Carol Stack "Writing Ethnography: Feminist Critical Practice" in FD

Susan Babbitt "Feminism and Objective Interests: The Role of Transformation Experiences in Rational Deliberation" in FE

Short paper which presents the main concepts from these readings and uses these to analyze the presentation of methodology in one standard "methods" text from your field.

Judith Stacey "Can There Be a Feminist Ethnography?" in WW

Günseli Berik "Understanding the Gender System in Rural Turkey: Fieldwork Dilemmas of Conformity and Intervention" in FD

Ping-Chun Hsiung "Between Bosses and Workers: The Dilemma of a Keen Observer and a Vocal Feminist" in FD

Brackette Williams "Skinfolk, Not Kinfolk: Comparative Reflections of the Identity of Participant-Observation in Two Field Situations" in FD

Patricia Zavella "Feminist Insider Dilemmas: Constructing Ethnic Identity with Chicana Informants"

Margery Wolf "Afterword: Musings from an Old Gray Wolf" in FD

Short paper summarizing the main points of the reading and discussing strengths and weaknesses of these arguments. What is useful for your research?

Kathryn Anderson and Dana Jack "Learning to Listen: Interview Techniques and Analyses" in WW

Kristina Minister "A Feminist Frame for the Oral History Interview" in WW

Sondra Hale "Feminist Method, Process, and Self-Criticism: Interviewing Sudanese Women" in WW

Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis "Black Women’s Life Stories: Reclaiming Self in Narrative Texts" in WW

Katherine Borland "‘That’s Not What I Said’: Interpretive Conflict in Oral Narrative Research" in WW

Claudia Salazar "A Third World Woman’s Text: Between the Politics of Criticism and Cultural Politics" in WW

Marie-Françoise Chanfrault-Duchet "Narrative Structures, Social Models, and Symbolic Representation in the Life Story" in WW

Valerie Matsumoto "Reflections on Oral History: Research in a Japanese American Community"

Short paper summarizing the main points of the reading and discussing strengths and weaknesses of these arguments. What is useful for your research?

Daphne Patai "U.S. Academics and Third World Women: Is Ethical Research Possible?" in WW

Rina Benmayor "Testimony, Action Research, and Empowerment: Puerto Rican Women and Popular Education" in WW

Cindi Katz "The Expeditions of Conjurers: Ethnography, Power, and Pretense" in FD

Sherna Gluck "Advocacy Oral History: Palestinian Women in Resistance" in WW

Laurie Mercier and Mary Murphy "Confronting the Demons of Feminist Public History: Scholarly Collaboration and Community Outreach" in WW

Research proposals should be distributed on Oct 14 for students presenting Oct 21

Short paper summarizing the main points of the reading and discussing strengths and weaknesses of these arguments and the relevance to your research.

Set of student research abstracts

Research proposals should be distributed on Oct 21 for students presenting Oct 28

Set of student research abstracts

hooks, Teaching To Transgress

Assignment

Short paper summarizing the main points of the reading and discussing strengths and weaknesses of these arguments.

Marilyn Schuster and Susan Van Dyne "Stages of Curriculum Transformation" in P1

Paul Lauter "Feminism, Multiculturalism, and the Canonical Tradition" in P1

Bonnie Zimmerman "Lesbian Studies in an Inclusive Curriculum" in P1

Linda Dittmar "Inclusionary Practices: The Politics of Syllabus Design" in P1

Patricia Cerrito "Demonstrating the Need for Diversity in Teaching Statistics" in P1

Short paper discussing and evaluating a standard introductory textbook in your field, using the concepts developed in the reading for this week.

Elizabeth Ellsworth "Why Doesn’t This Feel Empowering? Working Through the Repressive Myths of Critical Pedagogy" in P2

Jennifer Gore "What We Can Do for You! What Can ‘We’ Do for ‘You’?: Struggling Over Empowerment in Critical and Feminist Pedagogy" in P2

Carolyn Shrewsbury "What is Feminist Pedagogy?" in P1

Julie Brown "Theory or Practice - What Exactly is Feminist Pedagogy?" in P1

Patricia Romney, Beverly Tatum, and JoAnne Jones "Feminist Strategies for Teaching About Oppression: The Importance of Process" in P1

John Kellermeier "Feminist Pedagogy in Teaching General Education Mathematics: Creating the Riskable Classroom" in P1

Donna Eder and Audrey McCluskey "Teaching Across the Barriers: The Classroom as a Site of Transformation" in P1

Shirley Parry "Feminist Pedagogy and Techniques for the Changing Classroom" in P1

Short paper summarizing the main points of the reading, discussing strengths and weaknesses of these arguments and commenting on the applicability for your teaching and learning.

Classroom Dynamics

Lynn Cannon "Fostering Positive Race, Class, and Gender Dynamics in the Classroom" in P1

Lisa Delpit "The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children" in P2

Sherrie Inness and Julie Inness "Speaking Up at Last: Anger in the Classroom" in P1

Cheris Kramarae and Paula Treichler "Power Relationships in the Classroom" in P2

Kelley Bignell "Building Feminist Praxis out of Feminist Pedagogy: The Importance of Students’ Perspectives" in P1

Magda Lewis "Interrupting Patriarchy: Politics, Resistance, and Transformation in the Feminist Classroom" in P1

Short paper summarizing the main points of the reading and discussing strengths and weaknesses of these arguments for transforming classroom dynamics.

Clark et al., Antifeminism in the Academy

Assignment

Short paper summarizing the main points of the reading and discussing strengths and weaknesses of these arguments and the usefulness of these for analyzing the modern U.S. academy.

Assignment

Prepare short presentation on a new or revised syllabus. Bring copies for everyone to class.