women, art, and culture, an introduction to women’s studies
WMST 250, Spring 2012 UMD
Tuesdays 2 pm – 3:40 pm at SQH 1120 [NOTE: starting at 2:30 was an error on some versions of the syllabus. Sorry!]
Sections on Th & F, various times and places: check section and TA (scroll down and look at right hand light blue column on this website) THESE DO NOT BEGIN UNTIL THE WEEK OF 21 FEBRUARY!
Sections on Th & F, various times and places: check section and TA (scroll down and look at right hand light blue column on this website) THESE DO NOT BEGIN UNTIL THE WEEK OF 21 FEBRUARY!
Professor:
Katie King
Office:
2101C Woods Hall, University of Maryland, College Park
Katie’s office hours: Thursday afternoons 2-4 pm
Office
phone: 301.405.7294 (voice mail)
Email:
katking@umd.edu
IF YOU
SUBMIT ANYTHING BY EMAIL DO IT ONLY
TO: katiekin@gmail.com (notice “kin” NOT “king”)
KK’s
website with MESSAGES: http://katiekin.weebly.com/
Katie
tweets as: katkingumd
Class Website at:
http://wacspr.blogspot.com/
===
course description
Women's
art, art by women, feminist art, and art activism have been ways women have
analyzed and changed everyday life. Art is one of the forms of passionate
politics feminists have mobilized to make life better, for themselves and
others. In this course we will investigate how artists and activists have asked
sometimes hard, sometimes joyful questions about power, gender and sexuality,
practices of racialization, nations and languages, abilities and disabilities,
religion and meaning and more. We will examine assumptions we and others make
about women, art, culture and feminism. We will especially consider how art can
reshape possibilities and actualities for everybody. What counts as art? What
do we do with public art? What is art activism?
To create our own community of thinking and action, we want
to get to know and work with each other. Ours will be an active and ambitious
learning community, one in which we will all gather together for lecture times
on Tuesdays, and then work in small groups on Thursdays and Fridays. This term
these small groups will be led by women’s studies graduate students Melissa
Rogers, Michele Prince, Jessica Vooris, and Yuenmei Wong.
We
will not be using Blackboard in this class, but rather working with Blogger, a
public online site, using it for class multimedia presentations, for class
preparation and review, and maybe for other possibilities! Please bookmark our
class site: http://wacspr.blogspot.com/
All
students please do come to office hours to just talk. The TAs
and I want to get to know each of you personally! This should be
a very fun class, demanding we hope in the most satisfying ways, and full of
comradeship and excitement. We all want to know how the
class is working for you, what touches and excites you, how your projects are
going. So please make a point of coming to office hours and opening up
conversations!
Let us know in office hours or after class when you need
help, or any special accommodations, the
sooner the better. Folks with disabilities or who need time from class to
observe religious holidays, please contact Katie ASAP to make any arrangements
necessary.
===
explore our readings!
our “book-museum”:
· Pérez. 2007. Chicana Art. Duke. 0822338688 (also on Kindle but without pictures,
which is a problem)
our handbooks to art, social movements, and feminisms:
· Freeland. 2002. But Is It Art? Oxford. 0192853678 (also
Kindle & Google ebook)
· hooks. 2000. Feminism is for Everybody. South End. 0896086283
· Moore & Prain. 2009. Yarn Bombing. Arsenal Pulp. 1551522551
· Reed. 2005. The Art of Protest. Minnesota. 0816637717 (also Kindle and Google
ebook)
· Seeley. 2007. Fight Like a Girl. NYU. 0814740022 (also Kindle)
You are required to read
these books, not to buy them, or even to own them. All are on reserve at
McKeldin and many are available at other libraries. Share them, rent them,
borrow them, xerox them, scan them. Fair use means producing copies for your
own private research use. Of course you can help others in obtaining originals
for such fair use copying. Always be sure to locate your books long before you
need to read them, even if one or more turn out to be just coming out or even
out of print. Find what you can and read them anyway! ISBN numbers are included to make ordering them
easier if you wish to buy them.
===
how the class will be organized
This will
be a media and technology intensive course. So-called constructionist learning and collaboration open up our analysis of women, art, and culture, and
our introduction to the field of women’s studies, as well as to activist
practices. Bring your own laptop, netbook or iPad if you can, to connect across
media, to become increasingly savvy about web resources, and to use data
visualizations and virtual environments for cognition and collaboration.
Throughout the course we will share resources for all these.
The course will involve both taking things in, absorbing them and learning to put them in context; and also actively using what we come to know, sharing it others, thinking on one's feet, brainstorming and speculating, figuring out how it all fits together. Both require careful preparation before class and keeping up with the reading. Some educators call these forms passive and active learning. One can take in and absorb more complicated stuff than one can work with and work out, at least at first. We do both in the class, but we also realize that active learning requires patience and imagination, a bit of courage to try things out without knowing something for sure yet, and a willingness to play around with being right and wrong, guessing and a lot of redoing.
The website for our entire class is located at: http://wacspr.blogspot.com/
===
graded assignments: individual museum paper, group flyer and event,
individual or partner curation project, individual learning analysis, logbook
Five
kinds of assignments are required in this class: • an
individual essay about your museum visits & how you know something is
feminist, • a group (your section) project in which together you create a
feminist event, real or fictional, a flyer to let folks know about it, and a
collective definition of the term “feminist,” included on the flyer as an
important feature of event; all presented by group in class (presentation
participation is required to receive a grade) • an individual or partner
curation project linking intersectional identities and feminist art activisms
(a presentation of this work is also part of its grade) • a final learning
analysis (a presentation of which will also be part of its grade) • a running
cumulative logbook, turned in with each assignment, showing exactly which
graded assignments you have done so far and what there is still to do. LOOK AT
CLASS WEBSITE PAGES TO DOWNLOAD ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES FOR EACH ASSIGNMENT.
The
logbook will help you organize your projects: when you started them,
how many drafts you completed, who you worked with, where you are in what you
have done, and what still needs to be done. It also allows your TAs and Katie
to know how you are progressing in the class and keeps open our lines of
communication about assignments, attendance, and concerns. It is turned in four
times during the semester, each time you get credit for that particular
assignment only as accompanied by the logbook, and credit for all the
assignments of the course requires the final cumulative version turned in on
the last day of class with the final version of the learning analysis. Together
the museum paper and the group feminism project count for 1/3 of your grade, the
curation project for another 1/3, and the learning analysis, info sheet, and all
logbooks together count for the final 1/3.
Obviously attending class faithfully and taking good notes
will make all this work a lot easier. Lecture materials are displayed on the
class website, to be reviewed at any time. In
college courses ALWAYS use your projects to demonstrate how you uniquely put
together, or synthesize, class readings, lectures and discussion. Make a point
of displaying that you are doing all the reading and attending all the classes.
Doing this clearly and carefully will demonstrate that this is your own work,
and ensure your credit for honesty and for real engagement with the course.
v A work is
excellent, unusually creative and/or
analytically striking
v B is fine work of high quality, though not as
skilled, ambitious, or carefully presented as A
v C is average or usual work fulfilling the
assignment; should not be hasty, or insufficiently collaborated
v D work is
below average or incomplete; shows many
difficulties or cannot follow instructions
v F work is
not sufficient to pass; unwillingness
to do the work, or so many difficulties unable to complete
See Google docs link: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzmKs1Fz7m9uZmFjYmVhMmItOTMxMy00ZjhiLWJmYTktMjU0MWUxNmFkZWRi
for more discussion of each grade. Remember, you can
always talk to Katie and / or your TA about grades and your evaluation concerns
during office hours anytime. Feedback is always available, be sure to ask
for it when you are concerned about it and note that grades are not the only sort of feedback either, or even
the best sorts. Indeed, try not to let the grades structure your learning
experiences wholly: it is the learning that matters most! Don’t eat the menu (the grades) instead of the meal (learning)!
===
what to
do when you must unavoidably miss class, perhaps for illness:
· MAKE A DATE TO MEET WITH CLASS BUDDY TO GET NOTES AND DISCUSS WHAT
WENT ON IN CLASS WHILE YOU WERE GONE. You
are responsible for what happened in class while you were gone. As soon as
possible, get caught up with notes, with discussions with buddies and finally
with all the readings and assignments. Always talk with class buddies first. This is the most important way to know what
went on when you were gone and what you should do.
· IF YOU ARE OUT FOR ANY EXTENDED TIME be sure you contact Katie as
well as your TA. Keep all of us up to date on what is happening, so that any
arrangements necessary can be made. If you miss too much class you will have to
retake the course at another time. But if you keep in contact, depending on the
situation, perhaps accommodations can be made. Since attendance is crucial for
the process of this special course and thus for your final grade LET KATIE AND
TA KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING so that we can help as much and as soon as possible.
· THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN EXCUSED ABSENCE AND ANYTHING ELSE:
generally speaking you are only allowed to make up work you missed if you have
an excused absence. That the absence is
excused does not mean you are excused from doing the work you missed, but that
you allowed to make it up. Katie usually permits people to make up any work
they miss, and does not generally require documentation for absences. Be sure
to give explanations in your logbook and do
make up all work you have missed.
===
Reading, Writing, Assignment Schedule
Readings
are of several sorts: some will be discussed in depth in class or section,
some will help you with each assignment, some are background reading to enrich discussion and class experiences. You will need to faithfully complete all to do
assignments well, especially the final learning analysis.
some will help you with each assignment, some are background reading to enrich discussion and class experiences. You will need to faithfully complete all to do
assignments well, especially the final learning analysis.
NOTICE THAT SECTIONS DO NOT BEGIN UNTIL THE WEEK OF 21
FEBRUARY!
USE ANY TIME THIS FREES UP, AND MORE TOO! – TO VISIT MUSEUMS FOR
ASS. #1 DURING THE FIRST COUPLE OF WEEKS OF THE COURSE!
USE ANY TIME THIS FREES UP, AND MORE TOO! – TO VISIT MUSEUMS FOR
ASS. #1 DURING THE FIRST COUPLE OF WEEKS OF THE COURSE!
WHOSE ART
IS IT? HOW DO YOU KNOW?
Tuesday, 31 January – Welcome to our course!
• Bring in as many course books as you have so far
• Bookmark the course website, be sure you are
receiving coursemail
• Check out which section you are in and meet your TA
We jump
right into the thick of it all! Today we will met each other, make some class
buddies, learn about the books for the course, and think about how to use the
course website. Katie King, Melissa Rogers, Jessica Vooris, Michele Prince, and Yuenmei Wong will introduce
themselves. We will talk about how the class is structured as a series of
experiences. And we will start immediately with experience #1 – your museum
visits and what to do! It all starts right away and you should make plans for
museum visits NOW!
Tuesday, 7 February – Women’s Studies, what is it about?
• Bring in our book-museum, Perez’ book, Chicana Art.
• You are encouraged to bring in laptops or other
electronic devices. How will we use them in class?
• What is Web Action? How will we activate it?
• Check out Perez’ teaching site: http://ethnicstudies.berkeley.edu/faculty/profile.php?person=12
• Start finding the artists in Perez on the Web. Bring in
an example to share.
Women’s
Studies is a scholarly field, a range of feminist actions, a set of issues that
matter to women, an analysis of power and knowledge, and an intersectional
intervention into dominant social structures. Our class is an introduction into
all of these, by way of engaging the interrelationships between Women, Art, and
Culture. How will we use Perez to help us care about it all? How will we
activate web action to see how alive and dynamic women’s studies’ concerns are?
That they involve people of passion individually and in groups? What is your
stake in all this? How might it matter to you and to those you care about? You
will be telling us about your museum experiences next week! Mentally prepare
yourself to talk in class! Notice the Freeland readings for next week too!
Tuesday, 14 February – What counts as art? What counts as feminism?
For whom?
• DUE
ASS. #1: Museums & More: logbook 1 + hardcopy in class;
(next week you'll learn how to leave electronic copies in TA dropbox in discussion section).
• You should have read Freeland, Chs 4,5,7 by today and
be prepared to discuss!
• Check out Freeland’s website: http://www.uh.edu/~cfreelan/
What sort of passionate thinker is she?
• Sections start meeting next week!
Reports,
thoughts, analysis of our first class experiences, the museum visits. What
assumptions altered as you got involved here? What was surprising? What insights
about feminisms emerged? What was new? What was exciting and fun? Where will
this beginning take us this semester? What sort of journey have you begun? How
will Freeland guide us?
ACTIVISMS,
MOVEMENTS, WOMEN’S STUDIES
Tuesday, 21 February – The F-word? What about Women’s Studies?
• Your
section will meet this week. Make
sure you know where to go and when. Attendance will be taken!
• You should have finished Seely, Preface,Intro,Ch1-3
for today
• She blogs at: http://fearlessfeminist.blogspot.com/ Be sure you’ve read parts of this.
•
She tweets as: meganseely Be sure you’ve checked this out!
•
Check her teaching site too!: http://www.sierra.cc.ca.us/Programs/divisions/LiberalArts/womengender/faculty-seely.html
What do we learn about
Women’s Studies from reading Seely’s book? This set of readings is the
beginning of the experience that culminates in Assignment #2: your group’s
event, flyer, and collective definition of feminism. Why is feminism defined
collectively, in our project and in the world? Each feminist speaks from
several collective locations. What are yours? How do they compare with Seely’s?
Which collective locations might matter the most to you? To people you care
about? To people you don’t know?
Tuesday, 28 February – Steps to taking Action
• Read Seely, choose at least one from Chs 4,5,6; all
read 7,8,Apxs
• Look at artists in Perez, Ch 2. Pick the artwork that
speaks to you most. Learn about it and tell us.
What does
taking action mean in Women’s Studies? Which chapters did you choose to read?
What feminist issues matter most to you and why? How do these issues connect
feminists? What different forms of feminism address each? How do you know?
Tuesday, 6 March – The Art of Protest
• Read Reed Intro,Ch1-4
• Examine Reed’s book website: http://art-of-protest.net/tvreedhome.html
• Check out his teaching site: http://libarts.wsu.edu/english/TV%20Reed.html
• Look at his cultural politics resources: http://culturalpolitics.net/about
• Look at artists in Perez, Ch 6. Pick the artwork that
speaks to you most. Learn about it and tell us.
What sort
of “art” is protest? How do social movements create culture? Which social
movements do you know the most about? Which ones would you like to learn more
about? Which arts have engaged the feminist issues you care about most? How do
you know? How is women’s studies involved?
Tuesday, 13 March – Raising our Consciousness: What is Feminism?
DUE ASS.#2: feminist event project elements & logbook 2
Everyone
will say something today! Everyone should be in class today, working with their
group, and talking about the experiences that coalesce around this set of
projects. Prepare with your group before hand so that your group’s 7 mins will
allow everyone to be introduced and talk about feminist process and CR, and how
definitions of feminism entail collective action. See guidelines for specifics
for preparation!
Tuesday, 20 March – SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS but there is reading!
• During the break read Moore and Prain’s yarn bombing
book
• Check out the book website: http://yarnbombing.com/
• Look at Moore’s blog at: http://www.yarnageddon.com/
• Check out Prain’s tweets as: LeannePrain
• You’ll
also be reading hook’s very small book, Intro & Ch1-8
INTERSECTIONAL
ART ACTIVISMS & IDENTITIES
Tuesday, 27 March – Working Out Visions
• For today you should have read about half of hooks: Intro,1-8
• And all of Moore & Prain
• Note hooks description on the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_hooks
• Check her teaching site: http://www.berea.edu/appalachiancenter/people/bellhooks.asp
• You can see her on video with this search: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=vid&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1052&bih=533&q=bell+hooks&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=
What do
you notice when we read about yarn bombing and hooks’ book together? How do
each of these work out visions of social justice? How do they think about how
to include “everybody”? Which social groups are interconnected through these
projects? How do they help us understand identities and power and action?
Tuesday, 3 April – Whose Worlds? Intersectionality and multiple
identities
• Read Reed 5-6
• Look at artists in Perez, Ch 4. Pick the artwork that
speaks to you most. Learn about it and tell us.
Art can
speak powerfully about the worlds we live in, the differences among worlds
created by uneven power and social structures, the forms of oppression and
privilege that identities entail, and the histories in which some groups thrive
at the expense of others. How does intersectionality help us understand these
complexities? How do we live as individuals and as groups at the intersections?
Tuesday, 10 April – Altar, Alter – Self, Other
• Look at artists in Perez, Ch 3. Pick the artwork that
speaks to you most. Learn about it and tell us.
• Read Perez, Conclusion
Self and
Other, Otherings of various kinds are political and power transactions with
implications for social justice. Perez is interested in how people survive
oppression through art and spirit, creating culture and meaning, and
“politicizing spirituality.” What are the implications for intersectionality?
What feminisms are vibrant here?
Tuesday, 17 April – Offerings
• Look at artists in Perez, Ch1&5. Pick the artwork
that speaks to you most. Learn about it and tell us.
• DUE
ASS. #3: Intersectional curation project & logbook 3
Today we
will learn about each other’s curation projects in a poster-session style
event!
On Friday 20 April will be a
conference celebrating the intersectional imaginations of African-American
& LGBT SF author Samuel R. Delany! Details here!
• Read about Delany on
the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_R_Delany
• See him talking on video
with this search: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=vid&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1052&bih=533&q=chip+delany&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=#hl=en&gbv=2&tbm=vid&sa=X&ei=ZVwHT_H0K8Tk0QG5lsnvCA&ved=0CDwQvwUoAQ&q=samuel+delany&spell=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=75c227a9e320ee54&biw=1052&bih=533
FEMINISM
IS FOR EVERYBODY
Tuesday, 24 April – Blood and Beauty: Visions for Justice
• Read Freeland, Intro,1,2,3,Conclusion
• Read Perez, Intro
• Read hooks, 9-19
What are
these three books about now you’ve worked with them and done projects that tie
you into the insights they want to share with us? How do they each speak to the
idea that feminism is for everybody? What feminist worlds do they open? Which
aspects of Women’s Studies do you glimpse from these? How do they offer
versions of intersectionality, feminist identities, visions of social justice?
Tuesday, 1 May – Our Feminisms
• Everyone
should have a draft of the learning analysis ready to speak from and use for
exercises today. We will draw lots, and half the class will talk about their
learning analysis draft today.
Tuesday, 8 May – Sharing Feminisms – LAST DAY!
• DUE
ASS. #4: Final redrafted and edited version of your Learning
Analysis: logbook 4 + hardcopy in class; electronic copies in TA dropbox –
REMEMBER YOU WON’T GET CREDIT FOR ANY WORK IN THE COURSE WITHOUT TURNING IN
LOGBOOK 4!
• The
rest of the class will talk about their learning analysis today.
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