Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts by Feminist Theorists,
Philosophers, & Activists

I do not think that there are definitive answers to anything. This is a way of thinking I have developed with age and education. It is at times exhausting the way I overly analyze and criticize, but I would rather this be the case than settling for everything I am presented with. ~Brittany Blevins, WMS201

It becomes a question for ethics, I think, not only when we ask the personal question, what makes my own life bearable, but when we ask, from a position of power, and from the point of view of distributive justice, what makes, or ought to make, the lives of others bearable. ~Judith Butler

Moving away from essentialism creates a space for empathy, acceptance, and hope in ways that feminists have not before enjoyed. Holding the tenets of an intersectional approach in hand while progressing with a cooperative spirit can bring feminism to the next generation. Widening our view can create a global movement and greater connection to women who are still oppressed, while adding progress that has already been made on the behalf of others ~Michelle Gragg, WMS201

Two or three things I know for sure, and one of them is that if we are not beautiful to each other, we cannot know beauty in any form. ~Dorothy Allison

How can we reach a point where we appreciate each other’s differences, not just tolerate them? How can we tear down the electrified barbed wire that has been placed between us to keep us separated, fearful, and pitted against each other? How can we forge a movement that can bring about profound and lasting change – a movement capable of transforming society? ~Les Feinberg

Being critical is easy -- isn't this stuff fucking obvious? ~ Lauren Martin

We use stories in our everyday lives to figure out who we are as individuals, what shapes and molds our beliefs and our convictions. A story, especially a good story, can affect an individual to the extent that it touches them to such a great degree that it changes them on a fundamental level. ~Brandy Beavers, WMS201

Although we may not find a common world of women in the future, we may find a world of meaningful connections based on a sense of justice, empathy, compassion, kindness, and all kinds of histories, knowledges, and politics. It is up to us to seek out these connections. ~ Inderpal Grewal & Caren Kaplan

Life itself becomes foreclosed when the right way is decided in advance. ~Butler.

Arundhati Roy

Blog Prompt #8

Bodies, Differences, and Representations
People who inhabit ‘dissimilar’ bodies are read as both inferior and threatening (LeBesco 54).

You have two options for this blog post. Choose ONE:

1. What is a common theme about bodies and differences that holds together Kathleen LeBesco, Celestine Bohlen, Margaret Hunter, and/or Catherine Lutz and Jane Collins? How do these authors illustrate that an intersectional approach to gender matters when analyzing the body and representation; or, how do they illustrate that the values attached to particular bodies change over time and place?
2. If you find that LeBesco, Bohlen, Hunter, and/or Lutz & Collins actually inform, nuance, and support your final project ideas, detail why/how the specific essays are significant to your project and how you will use the essays as support. This is a fabulous chance to get a small piece of writing done for your final project.
   

Due: Monday, June 21 @ 6:00PM. 500 Words. 2 in-text citations as support.
Happy Writing!

Margaret Cho: Comedy and Politics

Margaret Cho's
"Our Revolution is Long Overdue"

**More Cho Video Clips Below**

Supplemental Information on Burma & Thailand

"The Story Becomes the Thing Needed."

Burma's Ethnic Groups

Anticipation of 2010 Election

Aung San Suu Kyi

Suu Kyi was the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1991.

She is also represented in a Shepard Fairey mural above & below.

Suu Kyi Biography

Burma: Current News

Burma: Feminist Activism

Karen Youth Organization

Feminist Activism

Human Rights/Burma

U.S. Burma Campaign

Burma: History/Politics

Trafficking of Burmese Women & Girls Into Thailand

Facts on Global Sexual Exploitation (Burma)

Thailand: Current News

Thailand: Feminist Activism

Historical Timeline

Facts on Global Sexual Exploitation (Thailand)

Human Trafficking in Thailand

Blog Prompt #6

Amalia Ortiz's "Women of Juarez"

PROMPT: Gender, Labor, and Justice.
Choose ONE:

1. Issues: Using at least two IWS readings and "Ciudad Juárez," explore why it is important to take an intersectional approach to gender when analyzing issues of labor on a global scale?
2. Activism: "It is essential that feminism be conceived and enacted in global terms" (Woodhull 255). How do concerns of activism and global citizenship hold together Martha McMahon’s “Resisting Globalization,” Winnie Woodhull’s “Global Feminisms” and the I Live Here Project/“Ciudad Juárez”?

Due Monday @ 6:00PM. 500 Words. 2 in-text citations as support.
Happy Writing!

Vandana Shiva's "Seeding Deep Democracy"

Blog Prompt #7

Final Project Ideas

For this post, I would like you to begin to articulate your final project ideas. You will be sharing this post in class so we can brainstorm together and finalize your ideas.

Questions to explore:

• What is your overall claim?
  
• How might you support your chosen argument; or, where might you begin looking for research?
  
• What is your purpose (answer the “so what” question)?
• Who is your audience?
• What genre will be the most effective in reaching your chosen audience and conveying your purpose?
  
• Remember, the tighter your focus, the easier it will be to get productive feedback.

If possible, I would like you to list and briefly detail one piece of support that you might use from our course readings or outside research. Or, think about how/if the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights," "The Millenium Goals" and/or Cynthia Enloe's "Beyond the Global Victim" might shape/inform your project.

Length: 500 words. Due: Thursday, June 17 @ 6:00PM. Be energetic, rigorous, thoughtful, and creative. And have fun!

Imagining a Feminist Future

Fantasy is not the opposite of reality; it is what reality forecloses. […] Fantasy is what allows us to imagine ourselves and others otherwise; it establishes the possible in excess of the real; it points elsewhere, and when it is embodied, it brings that elsewhere home. ~Judith Butler

There are different ways of imagining a feminist future:

1. We can imagine a future world by focusing on the best and most ideal world possible, based on what we know about the past and present.
   
2. We can imagine a future world by asking ourselves ethical, critical, & responsible questions.
   
3. We can create programs and projects as a concrete means toward eliminating inequalities and injustices.
   
4. We can think about and explore how we live in an imperfect world and how we struggle to negotiate norms, ideology, power, violence, and injustice.

Despite our method of “Imagining a Feminist Future”, we must always:

1. Recognize our own power and privilege, as well as our own limitations and marginalization.
   
2. Understand why and how “difference” matters.
   
3. Create local and global links and coalitions for we can no longer be satisfied with just our own identities, positions and experiences in the world.

(Inderpal Grewal & Caren Kaplan)

Extra-Credit Blog Post

Blog Prompt:

How might we begin to take steps that further our personal understanding of the issues raised by I Live Here – and our place in the world in relation to them. Because contextualizing is a useful tool in developing this kind of understanding, here are your extra-credit blogging options. Choose ONE.

1. How do Susan Davis’ “Contested Terrain,” Angela Davis’ “Reproductive Rights,” and/or the National Latina Health Organization’s “Norplant Information Sheet” connect and illustrate that an intersectional approach to gender matters when analyzing women’s health care and reproductive freedoms. How are the “local” gendered issues raised in these essays connected to the “global” gendered issues raised in the “Malawi” notebook from I Live Here?

2. Because “Malawi” makes us aware that there are already Malawian projects/activism in place that are designed to “help communities care for themselves” and because we want to avoid "the dangers of a single story," conduct an online search for feminist/human rights work/activism occurring on a local and/or grassroots level in Malawi. Detail how your search results nuance/impact one issue, theme, or concern that the “Malawi” notebook raises. Please embed a link to the research that you found.

3. Sometimes when we read, we experience frustration, resistance, or moments of pause because we don’t understand a reading. We might feel that we are “missing something” or that there is a “gap” in our reading. Conduct an online search on one gap that you experienced as you read the “Malawi” notebook from I Live Here. Then, detail how this research allows you to better understand one theme, issue, or concern that the “Malawi” notebook presents. Please embed a link to the research that you found.

This post must be submitted before class on Thursday, June 10. It must be approximately 500 words with at least one in-text citation. If you choose option #2 or #3, you must embed the link to your source. You will also be asked to share your findings in class. Worth up to 50 points.

Chimamanda Adichie's
"The Danger of a Single Story"
(thanks Brittany)

Supplemental Information on Malawi

“So where do you start” (“Malawi”)? Because stories matter and because the mission of I Live Here is “that stories can change the world,” we will spend time in class on Thursday discussing the purpose of the “Malawi” notebook. We will also put "Malawi" into conversation with "The Danger of the Single Story". Below you will find more information on Malawian politics, activism, and the I Live Here Project if time/interest allow:

"Permaculture/Activism" @ the Kachere Juvenile Prison
The I Live Here Project
Local Malawian Feminist Activism
UN Millennium Developmental Goals: Many millennium goals have intimate connections with the issues raised by I Live Here.

Current Events (May/June2010) on the illegality of GLBTQ Identities, Relationships, and Acts:
Gay Couple in Malawi Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison &
Malawi Pardons Jailed Gay Couple

The Constitution of the Republic of Malawi
President of Malawi (serving second term): Bingu wa Mutharika
Vice President (since May 2009): Joyce Banda
Malawi gained independence from Britain in 1964.

Blog Prompt #5

Choose one of the following prompts:

1. Using Ian López’s understanding of “the social constructionist of race,” how might you challenge Georges Cuvier’s “scientific and essentialist findings” concerning Sarah Baartman’s body? Write up a “response” to Cuvier in any format/genre.

2. Using at least one other reading as support, how does Horace Miner’s “The Body Rituals of the Nacirema” (1956) illustrate the ethnocentric ways that cultures can be misrepresented and the importance of understanding the cultural context behind the actions of people?

Happy Writing!

Length: 500 words with 2 in-text citations as support.

Due Mon. @ 6:00PM.

FYI: Visit Neil B. Thompson's "The Mysterious Fall of the Nacirema" (1972), if interested in ethnography & anthropology.

Blog Prompt #4

Because the Coordinator of GLBTQ Services, Demere Woolway, will be visiting our class on Thursday, I would like you to post 2 or 3 questions that our class discussions and assigned readings have prompted. As you write, I would like you to not only think about “how” to responsibly articulate your questions, but I would like you to also explore in this post “why” you are asking them. Be sure to use at least 2 in-text citations from the readings that prompted your questions. Length: 200-250 words. Due Wed. @ 6:00PM.

Questions to get you started:

What is it that you want to better understand?

Is it clear how GLBTQI identity categories overlap and differ?

Are there larger concepts from our readings that you are still working through?

Do our cultural attitudes on gender and sexuality shape the kinds of questions you ask?

Readings to focus on:

Emi Koyama, Cheryl Chase, Leslie Feinberg, Udo Schulklenk, Anne Fausto-Sterling, Carol Vance, and/or the short pieces on diagnoses & laws/policies.

Happy Writing!

Blog Prompt #3

Using the concepts and terminology we have been working with this semester and at least one other essay as support, explore Leslie Feinberg’s notion of “transliberation” in “We Are All Works In Progress.”

Questions to ponder:
Are Feinberg’s explorations and hopes devoted to a social constructionist approach to sex, gender, and sexuality?
How does Feinberg complicate the dominant ideology that “sex” and “gender” should neatly and naturally line up?
Why is transliberation a matter of “life and death”?
How can “transliberation” open up possibilities for all of us?

As you compose your blog, keep in mind the local and global implications of genetic research (an essentialist search for a biological “origin”) on sexual orientation detailed by Schuklenk, et al.

Due Monday @ 6:00PM. Happy Writing!

Blog Prompt #2

Using Kimberlé Chrenshaw’s definition of "intersectionality" in “Mapping the Margins,” explore how Dorothy Allison, Helen Clarkson, and Kimberlé Chrenshaw illustrate that an intersectional approach to gender matters when analyzing violence against women.

Questions to get you started:

• According to Allison, Clarkson, and Chrenshaw, what other factors of identity are important to recognize when analyzing violence against women?
• How do violence and the threat of violence exert social control on women?
• How does violence against women differ in these pieces? Does this difference matter?
• According to Allison, Clarkson, and Chrenshaw, does a woman’s identity and location shape how she experiences violence and seeks out support?
• How do myths about violence against women silence women and perpetuate systems of oppression?
• Does identity shape how one might “tell” her story of violence?
• What steps need to be taken, according to the authors, to address the problem of violence against women?
  

Always use specific examples from at least two readings to “ground” your exploration. See Syllabus (3-4) for blog requirements.

Due Monday @ 6:00PM. Happy writing!

Interview with Dorothy Allison about Two or Three Things I Know For Sure. Start video at 41 minutes.

Hapa

In "Through Strangers' Eyes", Lauren Martin identifies in many different ways, one of them being "hapa." Click on the link if you are unsure of the meaning!

Blog Prompt #1

Read through the blogging "Requirements and Evaluation Criteria" on pages 3-4 of our syllabus. Then, after reading the homework, explore one theme, concern, hope, OR issue that holds together Evelyn Alsultany, Eli Clare, and Lauren Martin. Be sure to embed one relevant link OR video. Due Wed. @ 6:00PM. Have fun!