Introduction to Feminisms: Silences, Voices and Experiences

Curriculum guideline

Effective Date:
Course
Discontinued
No
Course code
GSWS 1100
Descriptive
Introduction to Feminisms: Silences, Voices and Experiences
Department
Gender, Sexualities and Women鈥檚 Studies
Faculty
Language, Literature & Performing Arts
Credits
3.00
Start date
End term
Not Specified
PLAR
Yes
Semester length
15 weeks
Max class size
35
Course designation
None
Industry designation
None
Contact hours
4 hours per week
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Learning activities

The course will employ a number of instructional methods to accomplish its objectives, including some or all of the following:

  1. small and large group discussions;
  2. audio-visual materials;
  3. internet materials (such as YouTube and TED Talks);
  4. interviews or other personal research;
  5. seminar presentations;
  6. instructors鈥 comments on students鈥 written work;
  7. lectures (including guest lectures).
Course description
An introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Gender, Sexualities and Women鈥檚 Studies, this course surveys the historical marginalization of women, the development of feminist thought and the rise of feminist resistance and liberation movements. Students will be introduced to gender and feminist theory in order to explore the nature of patriarchal societies and the common and diverse ways feminists have sought to challenge and redefine gendered experiences in Western society and the world.
Course content

Course content will include:

  1. some representative classic texts of feminist thought;
  2. diverse historical and/or contemporary texts pertaining to gender, feminisms and feminist activism

Course content may also include:

  1. some literary works (such as fiction, journals, life-writings, poetry, drama) and/or films
  2. exploration of contemporary pop culture and its representations of gender (as expressed in film, advertising, and other media);
  3. required attendance at an off-campus event
Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, successful students should be able to identify, understand and discuss:

  1. foundational vocabulary and concepts pertaining to gender and feminist theory;
  2. what is meant by the silencing/oppression of women in patriarchal societies and the psychological and societal effects of this oppression (both historically and today);
  3. the history of feminisms, including the rise and chronologies of key women鈥檚 movements;
  4. types of feminism and feminist activism;
  5. issues central to feminist discourse, such as objectification, gendered violence and reproductive justice;
  6. the experiences of women with, and the intersections among, class, age, race, sexuality and sexual orientation;
  7. the diversity of women鈥檚 voices and experiences around the world.

 

Means of assessment

Evaluations will be carried out in accordance with 黑料吃瓜网曝一区二区 Evaluation Policy and will include both formative and summative components. Instructors may use a student鈥檚 record of attendance and/or level of active participation in a course as part of the student鈥檚 graded performance. Where this occurs, expectations and grade calculations regarding class attendance and participation must be clearly defined in the Instructor Course Outline. Evaluation will be based on some or all of the following:

  1. journal writing;
  2. participation in class discussion;
  3. essays;
  4. research papers;
  5. oral presentations (individual and/or group);
  6. community life research;
  7. tests or quizzes;
  8. essay-type exams.

Students may conduct research with human participants as part of their coursework in this class.

 

Textbook materials

A list of required textbooks and materials is provided on the Instructor鈥檚 Course Outline, which is available to students at the beginning of each semester.

Sample textbooks:

  • Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All be Feminists
  • Estelle B. Freedman (Ed.), The Essential Feminist Reader
  • Cathia Jenainati and Judy Groves, Introducing Feminism
  • bell hooks, Feminism is for Everybody
  • Lee Maracle, Ravensong
  • Susan M. Shaw and Janet Lee (Eds.), Women鈥檚 Voices, Feminist Visions:  Classic and Contemporary Readings

Sample coursepack or online readings:

  • Qasim Amin, 鈥淭he Liberation of Women鈥
  • Simone de Beauvoir, excerpts from The Second Sex
  • John Berger, 鈥淲ays of Seeing鈥
  • Combahee River Collective, 鈥淎 Black Feminist Statement鈥
  • Ivan Coyote, 鈥淒ear Lady in the Women鈥檚 Washroom鈥
  • Roxane Gay, excerpts from Hunger:  A Memoir of (My) Body
  • bell hooks, 鈥淯nderstanding Patriarchy鈥
  • Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 鈥淭he Yellow Wallpaper鈥
  • Maxine Hong Kingston, 鈥淭he Misery of Silence鈥
  • Fatima Mernissi, 鈥淪ize 6:  The Western Woman鈥檚 Harem鈥
  • Sarah Nickel and Emily Snyder, 鈥淚ndigenous Feminisms in Canada鈥
  • Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, 鈥淪tatement on the Occasion of International Women鈥檚 Day鈥
  • Rebeca Walker, 鈥淏ecoming the Third Wave鈥
  • Mary Wollstonecraft, excerpts from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
  • Virginia Woolf, excerpts from A Room of One鈥檚 Own

 

Prerequisites

NONE

Corequisites

NONE

Equivalencies
Which prerequisite

NONE