Instructor:

Jeanne Curran, Ph.D., Esq.
Office: SBS-B326
Telephone: 310-243-3831
Office Hours: Tuesday 4 - 5 pm; Wednesday 12 - 2 pm; By appointment.
Teaching and Research Associate: Patricia Acone

Course Description:

Women in Society approaches feminist issues with an eye to their historical development and the relationship of women's contributions to the current transformation of our lifeworld from the "objective" overconfidence in science as a solution to all social and individual problems to the ambiguity of postmodernism and critical theory. We examine three books, one of which deals directly with spirituality and theology, the other two of which deal with the transformation of colonialism to grant dignity and respect to those who have been excluded and exploited.

Texts:

Maria Pia Lara (1998) Moral Textures: Feminist Narratives in the Public Sphere University of California Press. Berkeley. 1998. ISBN: 0-520-21777-2 (pbk.) Required.

Maria Pia Lara is a Professor of Philosophy in Mexico. Her text looks at some of the most pressing issues in feminism today: Patriarchal society, and methods to procure for women a voice in their own welfare. Oppression and domination of many peoples in the world, and methods to transform the domination for those who have been excluded and exploited. And she sees feminist theory as offering the means to these transformations. Her text is difficult to read. But I have accompanied each chapter with lecture notes. Be sure to read those first.

AND Choose ONE of the recommended texts.Most of us don't have time to cover a great deal of reading during the semester. So please notice that you are to choose ONE of the recommended books, not both.. Of course, if you want to read the other, too, I'll be delighted. But you aren't required to read the third book to get an A. You will find that the two books are very different in style and reading level. This means you ARE required to have two books, the REQUIRED text and ONE of the RECOMMENDED texts. .

Dale M. Bauer, ed. and S. Jaret McKinstry, eds. (1991) Feminsim, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic. SUNY Press, Albany. 1991. ISBN: 0-7914-0770-5 (pbk.) Recommended..

This is a delightful text that critiques Habermas for relying too much on rationality, and tries to bring balance to Habermas' theory by combining it with that of Bakhtin. Bakhtin never lost sight of the situational context of the individual, and, in that, serves as a useful base for many feminist theorists. We will expect to realize from this text and the primary text the role that feminism has played in advancing the social sciences and transforming our lived experience.

Rosemary Radford Reuther. (1993) Sexism and God-Talk. Beacon Press, Boston. 1993. ISBN:0-8070-1205-X. (pbk.) Recommended.

Given the tragedy of recent events many of us have found solace in the moral teachings of the church. Rosemary Ruether is a Protestant theolgian who examines the meaning of religion in the lives of women, and the relationship of feminism to spirituality and theology across world religions. Emphasis on Christian religion.

Course Objectives:

• To provide an experiential forum for civil discourse and to learn the skilled discipline of participation in that forum.
• To select social issues of import to us for discussion of validity claims.
• To review the priniciples of both dominance and oppression as they relate to women.
• To review the contributions of women to the principles of ethics and legitimacy.
• To produce an actual forum in which to present our civil discourse as a model for other students and community leaders.

Grading and Suggested Measures of Learning:

• Using Common Sense:

  Permission to enroll in this course is premised upon upper division status that we assume renders you capable of performing competently in this course. However, I recognize that crises occur and that you have many conflicting demands as students, family members, and workers. Please remember that A's are earned, not given for the status characteristic of "being a good student who could get an A if he/she made the effort or had the time." One way to deal with such crises effectively is to be sure that we know when they are happening. Because most of my lectures and your practice are on the site, it's easier to make up missed time over conflicts than you might think.

  Nota bene: If you have the flu, please don't come and give it to the rest of us. We'll help you catch up when you're well. I lost three weeks to flu this summer. The bugs are getting stronger and more resistant to medication. If I lose three weeks during classes, you'll be left with a substitute.

  If you haven't slept, and are falling asleep from exhaustion, please stay home and sleep. Sleep deprivation is a very real problem. We all drive freeways to get here, and go home often late at night. You can kill yourself andor others by falling asleep, even momentarily, at the wheel. Please don't.

  I do not give specific deadlines, because I want you to use your common sense and your own discipline to study effectively. All work can be made up within university limits.

• Our Grading Standards:

  • Evidence of Learning Our grading standards and what to do to "get an A." And, no, we don't give tests, at least not to determine grades. Available online only.

Plausible Schedule for Reading and Study:

Updates and weekly study and practice notes can be found on
Study Schedule for Women in Society

1. Week of August 26:

   • Pia Lara. Moral Textures. Introduction. pp. 1-19
   • Site Teaching Module for Week 1, including study and practice materials. Online only.

2. Week of September 2

   • Pia Lara. Moral Textures. Chapter 1 - Autobiographies and Biographies: The Construction of Women's Identity. pp. 23-49.
   • Site Teaching Module for Week 2, including study and practice materials. Online only.

3. Week of September 9

   • Ruether. Sexism and God-Talk. Introduction. pp. xiii-xix.
   • Ruether. Sexism and God-Talk. The Kenosis of the Father. pp.1-11.
   • Site Teaching Module for Week 3, including study and practice materials. Online only.

4. Week of September 16

   • Bauer and McKinstry. Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic. Introduction. pp.1-6.
   • Bauer and McKinstry. Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic Chapter 1: The Dilemmas of a Feminine Dialogue. pp. 7-20.
   • Ruether. Sexism and God-Talk. Chapter 1. Feminist Theology: Methodology, Sources, and Norms. pp. 12-46.
   • Site Teaching Module for Week 4, including study and practice materials. Online only.

5. Week of September 23
   • Tuesday, September 24: Students receive first accounting of learning evidence submitted for a grade.
     See Evidence of Learning.

   • Pia Lara. Moral Textures. Chapter 2. Communicative Rationality: Between Spheres of Validity. pp.50-67.
   • Bauer and McKinstry. Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic Chapter 2. Vocies from the Margin: Bsg Ladies and Others. pp.25-37.
   • Ruether. Sexism and God-Talk. Chapter 1. Feminist Theology: Methodology, Sources, and Norms. pp. 12-46.
   • Site Teaching Module for Week 5, including study and practice materials. Online only.

6. Week of September 30
   • Pia Lara. Moral Textures. Chapter 3. Feminism as an Illocutionary Model. pp.68-80.
   • Bauer and McKinstry. Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic Chapter 3. Ecofeminism Dialogues. pp.39-53.
   • Ruether. Sexism and God-Talk. Chapter 2. Sexism and God-Language: Male and Female Images of the Divine. pp. 47-71.
   • Site Teaching Module for Week 6, including study and practice materials. Online only.

7. Week of October 7
   • Pia Lara. Moral Textures. Chapter 4. Autonomy and Authenticity as Textures of the Moral Subject.. pp 81-91.
   • Bauer and McKinstry. Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic Chapter 4. Irigarian Dialogism: Play and Power Play. pp. 57-69.
   • Ruether. Sexism and God-Talk. Chapter 3. Woman, Body, and Nature: Sexism and the Theology of Creation. pp. 72-92.
   • Site Teaching Module for Week 7, including study and practice materials. Online only.

8. Week of October 14
   • Review of the first hundred or so pages of each book. Recall that you will probably be reading only two of them.

   • Pia Lara. Moral Textures. Chapter 5. Narrative Cultural Interweavings: Between Facts and Fiction pp. 92-104.
   • Bauer and McKinstry. Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic Chapter 5.Critical Imperialism and Renaissance Drama: The Cawse of the Roaring Girl pp.73-81.
   • Ruether. Sexism and God-Talk. Chapter 4. Anthropology: Humanity as Male and Female. pp. 93-115.
   • Site Teaching Module for Week 8, including study and practice materials. Online only.

9. Week of October 21
   • Tuesday, October 22: Students receive second accounting of learning evidence submitted for a grade.
     See Evidence of Learning.

   • Pia Lara. Moral Textures. Chapter 6. Justice and Solidarity: Women in the Public Sphere. pp. 105-119.
   • Bauer and McKinstry. Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic Chapter 6. Style ane Power. pp.85-90.
   • Ruether. Sexism and God-Talk. Chapter 5. Christology: Can a Male Savior Save Women? pp. 116-138.
   • Site Teaching Module for Week 9, including study and practice materials. Online only.

10. Week of October 28
    • Pia Lara. Moral Textures. Chapter 7. The Morlal Foundation of Recognition: A Critical Revision of Three Models. pp. 120-145.
    • Bauer and McKinstry. Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic Chapter 7. Radical Writing. pp. 95-115.
    • Ruether. Sexism and God-Talk. Chapter 6. Mariology as Symbolic Ecclesiology: Repression or Liberation. pp. 139-158.
    • Site Teaching Module for Week 10, including study and practice materials. Online only.

11. Week of November 4
    • Pia Lara. Moral Textures. Chapter 8. Feminist Models of Recognition: Problems of Multiculturalism. pp. 146-164..
    • Bauer and McKinstry. Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic Chapter 8. A Quote of Many Colors: Women and Masquerade in Donald Barthelme''s Postmodern Parody Novels. pp. 123-132.
    • Ruether. Sexism and God-Talk. Chapter 7. The Consciousness of Evil: The Journeys of Conversion. pp. 159-192.
    • Site Teaching Module for Week 11, including study and practice materials. Online only.

12. Week of November 11
    • Pia Lara. Moral Textures. Conclusion. pp. 165-171.
    • Bauer and McKinstry. Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic Chapter 9." Witness [to] the Suffering of Women": Poverty and Sexual Transgression in Meridel Le Sueur's Women on the Breadlines. pp. 135--152.
    • Ruether. Sexism and God-Talk. Chapter 8. Ministry and Community for a People Liberated from Sexism. pp. 193-213.
    • Site Teaching Module for Week 12, including study and practice materials. Online only.

13. Week of November 18
    • Tuesday, November 19: Students receive third accounting of learning evidence submitted for a grade.
      See Evidence of Learning.

    • Bauer and McKinstry. Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic Chapter 10. The Central Nervous System of America: The Writer As/In the Crowd of Joyce Carol Oates' Wonderland. pp. 155-178.
    • Ruether. Sexism and God-Talk. Chapter 9. The New Earth: Socioeconomic Redemption from Sexism.. pp. 214-234.
    • Site Teaching Module for Week 13, including study and practice materials. Online only.

14. Week of November 25
    
    • Thangsgiving Holiday this week. No class on Thursday.

    • Bauer and McKinstry. Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic Chapter 11. Language and Gender in Transit: Feminist Extensions of Bakhtin. pp.181-194.
    • Ruether. Sexism and God-Talk. Chapter 10. Eschatology and Feminism. pp. 235-258.
    • Site Teaching Module for Week 14, including study and practice materials. Online only.

15. Week of December 2
    • Friday, December 6, is the last day of classes.

    • Bauer and McKinstry. Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic Chapter 12. Subject, Voice, and Women in some Contemporary Black American Women's Writing. pp.199-215.
    • Bauer and McKinstry. Feminism, Bakhtin, and the Dialogic Chapter 13. Problems of Gadamer's Poetics: Dialogue in Burger's Daughter. pp. 219-233.
    • Site Teaching Module for Week 15, including study and practice materials. Online only.

16. Week of December 9
    • Exams: December 9-13. Because we consider exams structurally violent and inadequate measures of learning, there will be no exam in this class. The time will be available for face-to-face interaction amongst ourselves.
    • Students receive final accounting of learning evidence submitted for a grade.
      See Evidence of Learning.

17. Week of December 16
    • Grades Due.

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Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, August 2002.
"Fair use" encouraged.

Footnote 1. Esq. means Esquire, and is sometimes used to indicate that you are a member of the Bar.
jeanne is a member of the California Bar.