This course focuses on a range of theories of gender in modern life. In recent years feminist scholars in a range of disciplines have challenged previously accepted notions of political theory such as the distinctions between public and private, the definitions of politics itself, the nature of citizenship, and the roles of women in civil society. In this course we will examine different aspects of women's lives through the life cycle as seen from the vantage point of political theory. In addition we will consider different ways of looking at power and political culture in modern societies, issues of race and class, poverty and welfare, sexuality and morality.
Requirements
All students will be responsible for each week's reading and will write a weekly response paper of two to three pages. Students will each co-lead one class, providing questions for discussion on that day. There will also be one final paper (15-20 pp.) which will be due on lecture 11. We will discuss this in class.
Grading
Grading will be as follows:
Required Texts
Dodson, Lisa. Don't call Us Out of Name: The Untold Lives of Women and Girls in Poor America. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998.
Enloe, Cynthia. Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.
Lamphere, Louis, Helena Ragone, and Patricia Zavella, eds. Situated Lives: Gender and Culture in Everyday Life. New York: Routledge, 1997.
Snitow, Ann, Christine Stansell, and Sharon Thompson, eds. Powers of Desire: The Politics of Sexuality. New York: New Left Review Press, 1983.