What follows is a draft of our syllabus for our first ever Introduction to Women's Studies course at James Madison University, to be offerred in the Spring. The course will meet once a week for 2 hours and 50 minutes a period. We envision this as a seminar format and will have a maximum enrollment of 25 students. We have not listed a week-by-week schedule because we hope to be flexible. For example, we know that Naomi Wolfe (THE BEAUTY MYTH) will speak in mid-January, so we will discuss beauty and images of women in the media and related material in the third class period. We plan to cover all the "traditional" topics, from socialization to women writers, to violence against women, to all the "women in" topics. We have a list, but right now I'd prefer to concentrate the formal structure of the course and the nature of the assignents rather than the content. Please send specific comments, suggestions, criticisms, etc. to Arnie Kahn fac_askahn@jmuvax (bitnet) or fac_askahn@vax1.acs.jmu.edu (internet). Discussion of issues of methods or structure of Intro. to WS courses in general should be sent to WMST-L *********************************************************************** Introduction to Women's Studies Instructors: Sharon O'Hare Arnie Kahn COB 416 118 Johnston Hall x-3097 x-3963 Office Hours: To Be Announced Textbooks: Richardson & Taylor, Feminist Frontiers II Variety of articles which will be assigned throughout the semester. Course Objectives: 1. To develop a feminist, interdisciplinary, multicultural perspective on women and on society's construction of gender and gender roles. 2. To explore the extent to which gender (as well as race, sexual orientation, social class, and physical disability) affects access to opportunity, power, and resources. 3. To examine the contributions of women, especially in areas in which women have been neglected or devalued. Prospective Immigrants Please Note Either you will go through this door or you will not go through. If you go through there is always the risk of remembering your name. Things look at you doubly and you must look back and let them happen. If you do not go through it is possible to live worthily to maintain your attitudes to hold your position to die bravely but much will blind you, much will evade you, at what cost who knows? The door itself makes no promises. It is only a door. Adrienne Rich A Few Basic Ground Rules: One of the premises of Women's Studies is that living and learning are inseparable, that there is a relationship between our experiences as women and men and how we see the world. It is essential in this course that we discuss our personal experiences as they relate to issues we are addressing in class. Therefore, we have established three fundamental understandings: 1. You are under no pressure to share personal experiences on a particular topic if you don't want to. 2. You will not share the personal experiences revealed by other members of this class to anyone outside of class. Anyone violating this expectation of trust and confidentiality will receive a failing grade. 3. Many of the issues we will discuss involve our personal and political philosophies. There is no reward and no penalty for having a particular set of beliefs. It is only important that we be clear about what we believe and why. Course Requirements: 1. Attendance and Participation. You are expected to attend every class meeting. Since this class meets only once a week, missing one class is the equivalent to missing an entire week's classes. This is not a lecture class, although each instructor may occasionally present brief lectures. The more each of you participate, the better this class will be. Failure to attend regularly will result in a failing grade. Active, intelligent, participation can increase your grade. 2. Readings. You will be required to prepare for each class session by completing a series of readings. The readings will be from Feminist Frontiers II by Richardson and Taylor or from a Kinkos reading packet. Reading assignments will be made prior to each class session and will form the basis for class discussions, essays, papers, and a foundation for guest speakers. Failure to prepare for class by completing the readings will result in a lower grade. 3. Essay Questions. You should bring to each class two essay questions based on the readings for that week, which could be used as questions on an exam. Each question should be typed, double-spaced, and contain your name and the readings upon which the questions are based. The best questions are frequently those which relate different readings. Essay questions will comprise 10% of the course grade. 4. Journal. You will be required to keep a journal during this semester. Journal writing will give you an opportunity to develop your thoughts about the readings, class discussions, and your own reactions to women's studies and feminism. The major purpose of the journal is for you to record the development of your thinking and imagination about women's studies and feminism. Each class period you will be required to have completed three types of journal entries: (1) an entry about your reactions to the reading assignments for the current week, (2) an entry about your reactions to the previous class discussion, and (3) how the course materials relate to verbal, written, or media information that you have been exposed to during the week. You will need to purchase a large (8-1/2 x 11) loose leaf binder, a pack of loose leaf paper, and a folder. Label each journal entry with your name and the date and time. There is no required length of each entry, however longer entries may allow you to develop your ideas and describe your reactions more thoroughly. The more entries you make, the more you will benefit from the particular topic, so don't feel that you must limit yourself to one entry in each of the above categories. If you write better at a keyboard, you should type or wordprocess your entries and use a 3-hole punch to put them into your notebook. Please use only one side of a page. We will collect the weekly entries at the beginning of each class period and return them the following week. Your assignments will be graded based on clarity and content. Please keep in mind that we have no predetermined expectations about the make-up of any particular journal. The journal will constitute 20% of your grade. If you take this assignment seriously, it will provide you with a permanent record of your thought processes about the women and gender throughout the semester. It could also be fun and enlightening. There are no constraints as to the particular format that you must use for your weekly journal assignments. Please feel free to include any outside sources which might invoke your responses if possible (e.g. newspaper clippings, recorded cassettes etc.) 5. Historical Perspective Project. Each student will be required to complete one historical perspective project. This consists of one 5-10 minute classroom presentation and a written summary. This summary is to be typed and turned in after the presentation. The objective of this exercise is to give students a chance to discover and explore the "development" of women in the United States with respect to topics of interest which form the basis of weekly class discussion. Each student will be assigned one topic and will be required to gather information based on some previous period in U.S. history. "Recent history" is acceptable. The student should however make an attempt to emphasize the progress or lack of progress of women in our society. This project will comprise 10% of the course grade. 6. Multicultural Perspective Project. Each student will be required to complete one multicultural perspective project. This consists of one 5-10 minute classroom presentation and a written summary. The summary is to be typed and turned in after the presentation. The objective of this exercise is to give students a chance to discover and explore the role of women in other cultures. The major topic of the project need not directly relate to the weekly discussion topic since specific information concerning other cultures may be limited. Students may choose the culture they wish to explore but each student must provided "unique" information to the class (you may not replicate another student's work). This project will comprise 10% of the course grade. 7. Major Class Project. Each student will be required to complete one major class project. The topic and design of this project is to be decided no later than the third class period and will require mutual agreement between the student and both instructors. Minor revisions or content or design may be made pending approval from the instructors. A written progress report on the project is due at the beginning of the tenth class period. All projects will be due on or before the last class meeting. There are numerous candidates which will qualify as a major class project. A variety of options available to students will be discussed during the first class session. The major class project will comprise 30% of the course grade. 8. Examination. There will be an open book, essay, take home final examination which will comprise 20% of the course grade. WOMEN'S STUDIES BULLETIN BOARD This semester there will be a Women's Studies Bulletin Board on the University mainframe computer, the VAX. The Bulletin Board has many purposes. It will allow the instructors to post announcements, study questions, hints, and other information relevant to the course. It will allow students in the course to ask the instructors questions about the course at times when the student cannot meet with the instructor personally. It will allow students the opportunity to discuss issues related to the women's studies with one another as well as the instructor. It will give you some experience using the VAX computer. Copies of all course materials, including this syllabus, are on the bulletin board. YOU MUST OBTAIN YOUR COURSE COMPUTER ID BY January 10. [the syllabus continues with excrutiating details about how to use the course bulletin board. I have omitted this information.]