Women and Representation IAH 207-702: Literatures, Cultures, Identities Summer 2010, First Session (May 17-June 30)

Instructor: Shannon Sears E-mail: searssha@msu.edu Office Hours: MW 4:30-5:30, at the Panera Bread on Hall Rd, 2 miles west of MCC campus Meeting time: MW, 6-10pm Meeting place: Room A-226

Goals of Integrative Studies in Arts and Humanities: Integrative Studies in Arts and Humanities at MSU seeks to assist students to become more familiar with ways of knowing in the arts and humanities and to be more knowledgeable and capable in a range of intellectual and expressive abilities. IAH courses encourage students to engage critically with their own society, history, and culture(s); they also encourage students to learn more about the history and culture of other societies. They focus on key ideas and issues in human experience; encourage appreciation of the roles of knowledge and values in shaping and understanding human behavior; emphasize the responsibilities and opportunities of democratic citizenship; highlight the value of the creative arts of literature, theater, music, and arts; and alert us to important issues that occur among peoples in an increasingly interconnected, interdependent world Course Description: This course will focus on the experience and representation of women in North America, the Caribbean, and Anglophone Europe. Well reflect on and analyze texts and films, both fiction and non-fiction, as we discuss the roles of women in culture beginning in the late eighteenth-century and ending with a film released just last year. We will consider not only how women are represented, but also how they create representations. Additionally, youll notice that, following the one-day unit on May 17, the course is divided into three units: the mind, the body, and the family/social. While these are convenient labels for the major ideas well discuss in the texts that belong to each unit, well work on deconstructing those very labels and exploring how they overlap, intersect, and depend upon one another. Course Goals: This course will introduce you to a wide range of cultural representations of women in an effort to explore the important links and disparities between them. This is an interdisciplinary course that will ask you to engage with a variety of texts from literature, history, and philosophy, as well as films. It is important to the success of the course that you discuss more than just your opinion or knee-jerk reaction to a text or film. By the end of this course you should be able to: * identify and discuss concepts like dehumanize and objectify * articulate well-informed ideas about women and representation in literature, history, philosophy and film * talk/write about multiple texts together * close-read a text/film * write a short paper analyzing the images, themes, and language of a text * construct a written argument about a text * apply the analytical and reflective skills you hone in this class to texts you encounter in your daily lives outside of and beyond this course Required Texts: 1

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) Kate Chopin, The Awakening (1899) Ami McKay, The Birth House (2006) Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (1991) Fanny Flagg, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Caf (1987) Short texts to be distributed in class: Joan Dunayer, Sexist Words, Speciesist Roots (1995) Catharine Arnold, Mad Women (2008) Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wall-paper (1892) Djuna Barnes, How It Feels to Be Forcibly Fed (1914) Jill Lepore, Baby Food (2009) Films (to be screened in class): Christie Callan-Jones, Cat Ladies (2009) Katja von Garnier, Iron-Jawed Angels (2004) Stefan C. Schaefer & Diane Crespo, Arranged (2007) Assignments: There are three types of assignments youll complete in this course: 1) a reading journal; 2) two analytical papers; 3) a final project. Each assignment is outlined below, and Ill distribute details about the papers and final project as they approach. Reading Journal: For each day of class that there is a reading assignment, youll write about that assignment in a reading journal. What you write here will serve as a source for class discussion, and will likely also provide you with a starting point for your papers. There is a template for this assignment attached to the end of this syllabus, and specific due dates are indicated in the schedule below. Reading journals must be submitted in word-processing format (i.e. typed) and turned in on the due date. If you have a printer mishap, you can e-mail me your reading journal before class on the day its due and transcribe a written copy to refer to in class that evening; however you get it to me, it must be turned in before/during class on the due date. Late reading journals will not be accepted. Analytical Papers: Youll write two 3-4 page analytical papers for this course. We will practice the skills youll need for these papers in class, so youll receive lots of training and support for these assignments. Ill give you prompts for the first paper, and the direction of your second paper will be up to you, although Ill provide assignment sheets with details for both papers. Final Project: Your final project will consist of several tasks. First, youll find a text or film that relates to our courseit can be a book, a (video)blog, a website, a documentary, a news story, etc. Second, youll analyze what you find the same way well be analyzing texts in class, and youll write a short paper discussing this analysis. Third, youll develop a presentation to be delivered in class based on your short paper. Fourth, youll write a reflective essay about the process of completing your project and its application to life beyond IAH 207. Presentations will take place on the last day of class, and the short papers and reflections that accompany them will be due at that time as well. 2

Grading: Daily Writing: 20% Paper One: 20%

Participation: 15% Paper Two: 20%

Final Project: 25%

Participation: While there will be some lecturing in this course, most of our time will be spent in group discussion. Texts and films are always open to multiple interpretationssomething well talk more about laterand for this reason, part of your grade will be based on your class participation. Asking questions, offering opinions, and responding to your classmates are all part of this category, as are having a hard copy of the text in class with you and taking notes. If you regularly exclude yourself from the conversation, neglect to bring your book/printouts, or turn into a non-responsive zombie as soon as class begins, your participation grade will be lowered. This is particularly relevant in a summer course, which has fewer people: there is a greater burden on you to have something to say in every class. You need to be on time, be prepared, and be engaged. **It is a course policy that no laptops are allowed in class. Please take notes the old-fashioned way. **Texting is likewise not allowed. I can see you texting under your desk or in the back of the room, and your participation grade will be lowered as a result. Attendance: Your attendance at every class meeting is required. You are allowed 1 absence; save it for illness, major religious holidays, funerals, court dates, job interviews, etc. For each additional absence beyond 1, your final grade will be lowered by 0.20. Should a medical or family emergency arise that will require your absence beyond 1 class, please notify me as soon as possible. You will be expected to provide documentation from a physician or hospital and to make up missed work. Students who will use their absence to observe a major religious holiday may make up missed course work only if they make arrangements in advance with me. If a conflict arises between your obligation to attend class and an obligation to the University, it is your responsibility to see me in advance, to hand in all assignments on time, and to make up work missed during your absence. *Students whose names do not appear on the official class list for this course and section may not attend this section. Academic Integrity: Academic honesty entails, among other things, that students will not plagiarize. This means (1) students will not submit someone elses work as their own (e.g. they will not submit another students paper etc., nor will they hand in a paper copied from the web or another published source). Academic honesty also means students (2) will not knowingly permit another student to copy and submit their work as that students own and (3) will not use unacknowledged quotations or paraphrases as part of their work. As provided by university policy, such academic dishonesty or plagiarism may be penalized by a failing grade on the assignment or for the course. Failure in a course as a result of academic dishonesty will also result in written notification to the students academic dean of the circumstances. Additional discussion of cheating or academic dishonesty is available on the Ombudsmans webpage: <http://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/dishonestystud.html>. Students with disabilities: If you have a documented disability that will affect your performance in this course, please let me know as soon as possible so that we can talk about accommodations.

You should also contact the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities. You can contact them in person, in 120 Bessey, or by phone at 353-9642 (voice) or 355-1293 (TTY). Course Evaluation: Michigan State University takes seriously the opinion of students in the evaluation of the effectiveness of instruction, and has implemented the SIRS (Student Instructional Rating System) process to gather student feedback. This course utilizes the online SIRS system, and you will receive an e-mail sometime during the last two weeks of class asking you to fill out the SIRS webform at your convenience. This course is enrolled in the SIRS Pilot project and, as a reminder to be sure to fill out the SIRS evaluation form, the final grade for this course will not be accessible on STUINFO during the week following the submission of grades for this course unless the SIRS online form has been filled out. You have the option on the online SIRS form to decline to participate in the evaluation of the course we hope, however, that you will be willing to give us your frank and constructive feedback so that we may instruct students even better in the future.

Semester Schedule
Introductions. Women and Animals Monday, May 17 Syllabus Dunayer, Sexist Words, Speciesist Roots Short film (Cat Ladies) and discussion Unit One. The Mind: Women, Consciousness, and Madness Wednesday, May 19 Arnold, Mad Women Gilman, The Yellow-Wallpaper Chopin, The Awakening DUE: Reading Journal #1 Monday, May 24 Wollstonecraft, selections from Vindications of the Rights of Woman (Introduction; Chapters 2-4; Chapter 8; Chapter 13, Section 6) DUE: Reading Journal #2 Unit Two. The Body: Contested Site of Power Wednesday, May 26 Iron-Jawed Angels (FILM) Barnes, How It Feels to Be Forcibly Fed DUE: Paper One Monday, May 31 MEMORIAL DAYNO CLASS 4

Wednesday, June 2 McKay, The Birth House (Prologue-Chapter 26) DUE: Reading Journal #3 Monday, June 7 McKay, The Birth House (Chapter 27-epilogue) Lepore, Baby Food DUE: Reading Journal #4 Unit Three. The Family and the Social Wednesday, June 9 Alvarez, Garcia Girls (pp. 3-85) DUE: Reading Journal #5 Monday, June 14 Alvarez, Garcia Girls (pp. 86-224) DUE: Reading Journal #6 Wednesday, June 16 Alvarez, Garcia Girls (pp. 225-290) DUE: Paper Two Monday, June 21 Arranged (FILM) DUE: Found Texts Wednesday, June 23 Flagg, Fried Green Tomatoes (pp. 3-150) DUE: Reading Journal #7 Monday, June 28 Flagg, Fried Green Tomatoes (pp. 151-395) DUE: Reading Journal #8 Wednesday, June 30 Final Presentations and Short Papers/Reflections Due

Grading Criteria IAH 207-702 US 2010 Reading Journals: Reading journals will be worth 5 points each, be averaged together, and be worth 20% of your final grade. Criteria for these assignments are below: 1 point: Turned in. May be incomplete or carelessly done. 2 points: Completed. Writing is observational or cursory/unclear. 3 points: Writing is reflective and fairly explained, but not thorough. 4 points: Writing is reflective and thorough. 5 points: Writing is reflective, analytical, perceptive, and thorough. *It is possible to get half points on the reading journals (e.g. 2.5 or 3.5 points).

Papers and Projects: Your papers and projects (including your final presentation) will be graded on a 4.0 scale. Grading criteria for these assignments are explained below: 0.0 Minimum requirements of assignment not met. This may include a piece of writing that does not at all address the assignment, or a case where writing has not been handed in at all. 1.0-1.5 Meets minimum requirements of the assignment. 2.0 Acceptable work. Student has met requirements of assignment and demonstrated a general understanding of writing conventions. 2.5 Average work. Student has met requirements of assignment, worked successfully with writing conventions, and demonstrated the ability to read beyond the surface of a text. 3.0 Good work. Student has demonstrated solid critical thinking and analytical writing skills. Work shows above-average insight. 3.5 Very good work. Student has demonstrated excellent critical thinking skills and analytical writing skills. Work is insightful and original. 4.0 Outstanding work. Student has demonstrated superior critical thinking skills and analytical writing skills. Work is particularly insightful, articulate, original, and polished. *Papers and projects will be graded in 0.1 increments (e.g. 3.1, 3.2, 3,3, 3.4, 3.5)

IAH 207-702 Daily Reading Journal Template with Directions In this section, you can write down your general thoughts about the reading assignment. Possible topics for this section are: why you did/didnt like the reading; what the reading made you think about; significant similarities or differences between this reading and another text, etc. [Be thorough and thoughtful in this section.] Reflection:

In the section below, construct a discussion question that you can pose to the class. After you decide on a question, you should include a short paragraph explaining how you yourself would answer this question. [Your question should require your classmates to analyze the textavoid yes-or-no questions here.] Discussion Question:

Here, you should select a passage from the days reading that you think we should examine closely as a class. It can be as short as a few lines or as long as a couple of pages. Provide the page number(s), indicate how this passage begins and ends, and describe in a sentence or two whats going on in the passage. Once youve done this, you should write a paragraph that analyzes the significance of this passage to the text overall. Does it allude to an important theme?How? Does its language indicate a hidden meaning? If so, what is it? [You should practice your close reading skills in this section.] Passage of Interest: