Course Syllabus

Description

This course explores foundational texts, concepts, and debates at the intersections of contemporary Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Africana Studies, and American Studies. In this digital iteration of this course, we will use four overlapping frameworks to build up the foundations of these fields. These frameworks are: (1) Knowledge, Power, and the Human; (2) Feminist Critiques of Racial Capitalism; (3) Structures of Confinement, Normalization, and Disposability; and (4) The Government of Living and Dying. One of the big questions we’ll ask this semester is what theoretical frameworks can offer in a period of multiplying and deepening political, ecological, economic, and health crises. Through lectures, assignments, and a range of in-class activities, this course aims to facilitate collaborative learning and seeks to foster critical thinking about ways of engaging practically and conceptually with the world.

Learning Objectives

Understand foundations of WGSS, Africana Studies, & American Studies.
Grasp gender & sexuality as key terms for analyzing culture & economy.
Identify keywords in feminist and antiracist scholarship & their multiple uses.
Collaborate on refining close readings, original research, & conceptual claims.
Evaluate the construction of conceptual arguments.

Grading

Office Hours: 10%

Participation: 15%

Peer Reviews (4x): 40% (10% each)

Journal: 35%

Required Texts

I encourage you to purchase the following text through your local bookstore.

Christina Sharpe, In the Wake: On Blackness and Being (2016); $24.95 new

Sharpe’s book can also be downloaded as a series of pdfs through CLIO (https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/12320933). All other course texts will be available as pdfs or links on Courseworks.

Assignments

Office Hours (10%) Given that class will be taking place online, I will not be able to have the kinds of casual conversations with you that provide me with helpful information about your interests and experiences. To compensate for this, I am asking everyone to meet with me during office hours for one 15-minute conversation before the end of the semester. We can talk about anything during this appointment (seriously—it doesn’t have to be course related). If you attend one of these meetings, you will receive an A valued at 100% for this item. My office hours this semester will take place from 3-5pm on Thursdays and you can make an appointment through my Calendly page (see the top of the syllabus for the link). Please feel free to email me to schedule a separate appointment if you cannot meet during that time.