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Gender Theory Syllabus Notes, Schemes and Mind Maps of Gender Psychology
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2020/2021
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G E N D E R
T H E O R Y
S Y L L A B U S
DEVELOPED BY
ALISON PHIPPS,
SUSSEX UNIVERSITY
Gender Theory Syllabus by Alison Phipps is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
- 0 International License
S U M M A R Y A N D N O T E S F O R T U T O R S Thank you for downloading my Gender Theory syllabus! It is based on a core module I developed for the Gender Studies MA at Sussex University, but would also be suitable for students at upper undergraduate levels. It is an independent reading module which aims to help students become more autonomous as learners whilst giving them lots of support. This was designed to be appropriate to different levels of background knowledge and experience - because of the independent reading format, students can follow their own path. Students who are well-versed in gender theory may be reading very different texts to those new to it. The syllabus currently contains thirteen topics (and I will keep adding more over time as it is not exhaustive). It could be taught over any number of weeks - just pick the topics you want to cover and the order you want to do them in (you do not have to follow my numbering). Alternatively, you could just use one or two (or more) topics to slot into an existing module. A key reading (or two) is suggested for each topic and then students are expected to find additional literature themselves (with prompts). The reading prompts are not comprehensive and there are many names and lines of thought left out – if you want to change them or add extra names please do, and/or if students want to search for something different, they should. There are also suggestions for multimedia content and individual and group tasks you can ask students to do for each topic.
what has struck you this week, from your reading and the other module content? why does this resonate with you personally, politically, and/or professionally? are you inspired to take any actions as a result, and if so, what? Handout on learning journals from the University of Worcester ‘What is a reflective journal?’ – handout from Warwick University Handout on reflective and/or learning journals from the Australian College of Applied Psychology ‘Learning journals and reflective writing’ – handout from Queen’s University Belfast You can also introduce an element of praxis through a reflective journal that students can keep throughout the module. Ideally, they would be allotted 10 - 15 minutes at the end of each seminar to write in it, but they could also write in their own time or set up writing and discussion groups (either in person or online) together. Suggested writing prompts are: Here are some online resources on reflective learning journals that you might find useful to share with students: R E F L E C T I V E J O U R N A L
We start from a position of trust - there are very few rules, and we assume you already know how to engage constructively with each other. Unkind and discriminatory speech and behaviour will be addressed, but we will ‘call in’ rather than ‘calling out’ wherever possible. This is a learning, not a ‘knowing’, space - we can all learn from each other and we are all responsible for our own learning. However, we respect and validate expertise where it exists, whether this is academic or in the form of lived experience or professional skill. We believe in dialogue, not ‘debate’ - we explore issues with an emphasis on listening and empathy, and try to move away from adversarial understandings and engagement. A ‘safer space’ is one in which it is OK to feel things deeply and express them in the knowledge that they will be heard with understanding. However, we also acknowledge that there are always power relations in play, and that one person’s freedom of expression can limit another’s ability to speak. We recognise multiple inequalities and power relations in the classroom, but we also recognise that the structural and the interpersonal are not always connected in a linear way. We acknowledge that the system is dysfunctional, institutionally and globally, and that while we can all work to resist and mitigate its effects, no individual among us should be responsible for fixing it. There are six key principles which underpin our classroom spaces on the Gender MA (whether in person or online), which are intended to facilitate students’ learning and enjoyment of our sessions. Please use or adapt these if you think they would be helpful for your teaching.
C L A S S R O O M P R I N C I P L E S
Listen to this Tithi Bhattacharya interview on COVID- 19 and feminism Watch this Angela Davis lecture on ‘frameworks for radical feminism’ On your own, write one or two pages of bullet points on: What does the reading and media material this week tell us about (a) what gender is, (b) what it is for, and (c) how and why it is done How should we think about gender as a structure, a practice, and an embodied or assigned identity? How do the three intersect What are the relationships between the systems of heteropatriarchy, racial capitalism and colonialism? S e m i n a r p r e p a r a t i o n t a s k s
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Discuss and compare students’ bullet point notes in small groups Create a shared mind-map (electronically using a platform such as Miro or on a flipchart or whiteboard) on how we might theorise gender. What are some of the things it is and does in the world? What systems produce and maintain it? S u g g e s t e d s e m i n a r a c t i v i t i e s
Search using intersectionality as a keyword, or use key authors’ names – Crenshaw, Patricia Hill Collins, Angela Davis, Jennifer Nash, Jasbir Puar, Chandra Talpade Mohanty and Sirma Bilge to name a few. More recent texts may be applying intersectionality to different areas of oppression and experience, but this concept is grounded in Black feminist thought so if students are unfamiliar with this canon, they should start there. They could also look at some social reproduction theory: Tithi Bhattacharya, Silvia Federici, Maria Mies, Nancy Fraser and Lise Vogel are key names here. Gargi Bhattacharyya’s book Rethinking Racial Capitalism is also recommended for students working at more advanced levels. S u g g e s t i o n s f o r f u r t h e r r e a d i n g Note to students: when you read Crenshaw, think about the three forms of intersectionality - structural, political, and representational. Can you think of any examples of these, from your immediate environment or experience? Is it helpful to think about intersectionality on different levels like this? T O P I C 2 : W O R K I N G A T T H E I N T E R S E C T I O N S In my module we usually end up discussing intersectionality in the first week, as it is foundational to how we understand gender. This second topic covers the different forms of intersectionality Crenshaw theorises and some of the debates around the term, although if students are familiar with intersectionality they can read other theories and theorists. K e y r e a d i n g Crenshaw, Kimberlé. 1991. ‘Mapping the Margins: intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color.’ Stanford Law Review 43 ( 6 )
Search for post- or decolonial feminist theory or for key names: Gayatri Spivak, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Sylvia Tamale, Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí, Nira Yuval Davis, Gargi Bhattacharyya, Leila Ahmed and Lila Abu- Lughod, to name a few. Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa are important names in Chicana feminism, and Sunaina Arya's book Dalit Feminist Theory is very significant. There are also many important Native, indigenous and First Nations feminists – for instance, Lee Maracle, Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Beth Brant and Beatrice Medicine. Some of these writings may be online rather than in mainstream academic outlets, which is absolutely fine. It might also be useful for students to start reading about colonial/imperial feminism this week. S u g g e s t i o n s f o r f u r t h e r r e a d i n g Note to students: when you read Lugones, think about what it means to say that gender itself is colonial. What functions did binary gender have in the colonial context? How did the imposition of bourgeois gender intersect with the invention of race? How does gender persist today as a colonial mode of knowing and doing? This topic digs deeper to talk about the coloniality of gender – how gender, class, race and other categories have been co-constructed in the context of colonial capitalist relations and histories. If you wish, you can swap topics 2 and 3 to do this systems theory first – there is no right way to teach this so approach it however you like. T O P I C 3 : T H E C O L O N I A L I T Y O F G E N D E R K e y r e a d i n g Lugones, Maria. 2008. ‘The coloniality of gender’. Worlds and Knowledges Otherwise (Spring).
Explore the All My Relations podcast - episodes 1 , 5 & 6 may be especially relevant Listen to this interview with Sunaina Arya on Dalit feminism Listen to Alana Lentin and Debbie Bargallie on Surviving Society Watch this panel on Fifty years of Chicana Feminist resistance Study skills: think about how you take notes from literature. What method do you currently use? Do you just extract information and quotes, or do you build up your own thoughts and analysis? If your note-taking is very information-driven, have a look at Mike Rohde’s videos on sketchnoting – might this help you to create more analytical notes? If not, then is there another method that might? Choose a note-taking method and try it out on the Lugones article and any other material you engage with. Share and discuss your notes with your study group or with a friend S e m i n a r p r e p a r a t i o n t a s k s
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I find a close re-reading of the Lugones article is usually helpful during this session, as these ideas are complex – do it either as a whole class or in small groups Group discussions: What does it mean to say that gender itself is colonial? Come up with four or five bullet points to explain Identifying examples – how do contemporary gender norms, practices and debates reflect the colonial past and neocolonial present? S u g g e s t e d s e m i n a r a c t i v i t i e s
Explore the African Feminist Forum’s video series ‘know your African feminists’ Create a Google doc on African feminism/womanism in your study group. You might want to discuss it all together first and then assign particular thinkers or themes. Include links to different kinds of resources – text-based or audio- visual – but pay attention to who has produced them (primary or locally-produced material is often more accurate than Western summaries) Listen to this interview with Sophie Lewis on her book Full Surrogacy Now Listen to this interview with Monica Simpson on reproductive justice Listen to this interview with Paula Ávila-Guillén on reproductive rights in Latin America during COVID- 19 S e m i n a r p r e p a r a t i o n t a s k s
( a s s i g n a s m a n y o r a s f e w a s y o u l i k e )
Look at students’ Google docs and discuss the main themes in them. How does the idea of motherhood function within African feminism/womanism? Is this different to Western maternalist feminism and how/why? Discussion question: what role should reproduction and motherhood (and the different forms they can take) play in feminism? (students can refer to the other preparation tasks here as well as their Google docs) S u g g e s t e d s e m i n a r a c t i v i t i e s
This is a huge area of literature to get to grips with, but here are some suggestions. For broad theorising on the state (from different perspectives) students can try Nira Yuval-Davis, Angela Davis, Catharine MacKinnon, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Cynthia Enloe, Carole Pateman, Joan Acker, Emma Goldman, Kate Millett, Sylvia Walby and Hester Eisenstein. Social reproduction theory is also relevant this week – see previous recommendations. For imperial/colonial feminism students can look at Leila Ahmed, Valerie Amos, Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí, Sylvia Tamale, Anne McClintock, Gargi Bhattacharyya ( Dangerous Brown Men ) and Jasbir Puar ( Terrorist Assemblages ). Foucault’s Discipline and Punish is also relevant this week, as is Mbembe’s Necropolitics. Students can also search for ‘state feminism’, 'colonial/imperial feminism', ‘femocracy’, ‘governance feminism’, ‘neoliberal feminism’, ‘transnational feminism’ and ‘carceral feminism’. S u g g e s t i o n s f o r f u r t h e r r e a d i n g This topic explores how gender is produced and maintained via the state and its institutions. It also looks at the complex relationship between feminism and the state, and how some feminists have deployed or been complicit with state discipline and violence. T O P I C 5 : T H E S T A T E W E ' R E I N K e y r e a d i n g Mama, Amina. 1995. ‘Feminism or Femocracy? State Feminism and Democratisation in Nigeria’, in Africa Development 20 ( 1 ) Carby, Hazel. 1982. ‘White Woman Listen! Black feminism and the boundaries of sisterhood’, in The Empire Strikes Back: Race and Racism in Seventies Britain. Routledge
Alongside Collins, the feminist standpoint has been theorised by other authors including Dorothy Smith, Sandra Harding, Nancy Hartsock and Donna Haraway. Tina Campt and Christina Sharpe are Black feminists whose work speaks profoundly to how we think and know gender and intersecting categories. Foucault is important for this topic, especially if students have not read him before, and Paul Gilroy’s The Black Atlantic is a very powerful text. Students can read up on queer and trans epistemologies: some key authors are Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Sara Ahmed, and Blas Radi. ‘Cripistemology’ is also an important area - Alyson Patsavas and Mel Y. Chen are some names here. Postcolonial theorists who are relevant this week include Anzaldúa, Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, and Spivak. S u g g e s t i o n s f o r f u r t h e r r e a d i n g Note to students: When you read Collins’ first piece, consider what she is saying about how knowledge is generated. Why is Black feminist thought so sociologically significant? Reading her second piece, think about her critique of the appropriation of ‘outsider within’ status as a marketable identity category – does this resonate with you and why? How might we avoid this? This topic explores the idea that there is a feminist standpoint that reflects gendered social positioning and oppression. It also puts this idea in conversation with various perspectives that trouble it such as decolonial, queer and trans epistemologies. The big question this week is: what is the relationship between knowledge (including self- knowledge) and power? T O P I C 6 : T H I N K I N G A N D K N O W I N G G E N D E R K e y r e a d i n g Collins, Patricia Hill. 1986. ‘Learning from the outsider within: the sociological significance of Black feminist thought.’ Social Problems 33 ( 6 ) Collins, Patricia Hill. 1999. ‘Reflections on the outsider within.’ Journal of Career Development 26 ( 1 )
Watch Walter Mignolo’s lecture on coloniality and Western modernity Read Alana Lentin’s article on decolonising epistemology Listen to AnneMarie Mol on the Always Already podcast Listen to episode 3. 23 of Secret Feminist Agenda on pain Discuss your reading and preparation activities in your study groups, and create two ‘talking points’ that you’d like to raise in class S e m i n a r p r e p a r a t i o n t a s k s
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Discuss of students’ ‘talking points’ either in small groups or as a class Ask students to write individually for ten minutes on one or both of the following, then share some of their thoughts: What are the relationships between positionality, identity and knowledge? What are some helpful and unhelpful ways the three can be linked? What does it mean to consider the relationship between knowledge and power in a global context? What questions does this raise about Western standpoint theories? S u g g e s t e d s e m i n a r a c t i v i t i e s
Explore Mariame Kaba’s site Transform Harm: which themes are you attracted to, and which pieces resonate with you, and why? Read this article by Shalini Nair on the Dignity March in India Read this article by Charlotte Shane on consent in the context of sex work Listen to this Intersectionality Matters podcast on Black women and #MeToo S e m i n a r p r e p a r a t i o n t a s k s
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Discussion question: can the ‘silences’ in #MeToo and similar movements be tackled by simple acts of inclusion or is the problem deeper than that, and why? Think about the different ways sexual violence enters the world: through acts, threats, allegations and punishment. How are these gendered, classed and raced? What systems do they legitimate and maintain? Create a mind map (either online or on a physical whiteboard or flipchart paper): how could we develop a theory of sexual violence that encompasses both the gendered reality of its prevalence and the many harms it causes, and how the spectre of sexual danger (and the idea of ‘women’s protection’) is used to demonise racialised, classed and other groups? S u g g e s t e d s e m i n a r a c t i v i t i e s
Social reproduction theory is of course relevant again this week. Disability theory is also very important in relation to care, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s work is excellent. Dean Spade’s work on mutual aid is also useful to look at. Students can read up on ecofeminism/gender and environmental justice – some key authors are Vandana Shiva, Carolyn Merchant, Wangari Maathai, Ariel Salleh, Wendy Harcourt and Julie Sze. Alice Echols’ work on cultural feminism is an interesting critique of the essentialism of some of these perspectives. Students can also investigate Greenham Common, Standing Rock and other direct action interventions. They can look into the literature on domestic labour and global care chains - Ai-jen Poo and Andrea Cristina Mercado are important authors here. S u g g e s t i o n s f o r f u r t h e r r e a d i n g Note to students: while you read and watch, think about the benefits and drawbacks of emphasising the politics of care. Do these shift depending on our social and geographical positions? This topic returns to the issue of care in feminism, broadening the focus beyond reproduction and motherhood to think about care more expansively (including care for the planet). This is addressed intersectionally and trans-nationally, considering racial capitalist frameworks in which care is compelled, forced, outsourced and unevenly distributed, and withheld from those who need it most. A key question is: what does all this mean for formulating a feminist politics of care? T O P I C 8 : C A R I N G F O R S E L F A N D O T H E R K e y r e a d i n g Emejulu, Akwugo, and Bassel, Leah. 2018. ‘Austerity and the politics of becoming’. Journal of Common Market Studies 56 (S1). You could also watch Emejulu’s talk on ‘care/full solidarity’