APA Committees

Power and Gender

(focuses primarily, although not exclusively, on African-American feminism)

PHIL 321.001 / GENL 499.001
Power and Gender
Dr. Janice McLane
Fall, 2003

Office: Holmes 305
Office phone: 443/885-1804
email: jmclane@morgan.edu
Office Hours: MWF 12-1, and by appointment.

Philosophy Department Office: Holmes 309
Philosophy Department phone: 443/885-3436

This course focuses primarily, although not exclusively, on African-American feminism.

Section 1: Economic Foundations of Gender Difference

o Teresa L. Amott and Julie A. Matthaei, "Race, Class, Gender, and Women's Works: A Conceptual Framework," "We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible: African
American Women"
o Yumal Elmelech and Hsien-Hen Lu, "Race, Ethnicity, and the Gender-Poverty Gap"

Section 2: Framing Questions

o Combahee River Collective, "Black Feminist Statement"
o shani jamile, "Can I Get a Witness? Testimony from a Hip Hop Feminist"
o Audre Lorde, "Scratching the Surface: Some Notes on Barriers to Women and Loving"

Section 3: Constructions of Power, Constructions of Oppression

o Philip Zimbardo and Christina Maslach, "Reflections on the Stanford Prison Experiment: Genesis, Transformations, Consequences"
o Pearl Cleage, "Mad at Miles"
o Johnetta Cole and Beverly Guy-Sheftall, "Having Our Say"
o Kiinni Ibura Salaam, "How Sexual Harassment Slaughtered, Then Saved Me"
o Judy Grahn, "A Woman is Talking to Death"
o June Jordan, "Poem About My Rights," "A Short Note to My Very Critical and
Well-Beloved Friends and Comrades"

Section 4: Sexuality

o Pearl Cleage, "Fatal Floozies," "Good Brother Blues"
o Carole Sheffield, "Sexual Terrorism"
o Cheryl Clarke, "Lesbianism: An Act of Resistance"
o Audre Lorde, "Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power"

Section 5: Culture? Whose Culture?

o Susan Jane Gilman, "Klaus Barbie, and Other Dolls I'd Like to See"
o Lisa Jones, "A Doll is Born"
o Kristina Gray, "I Sold My Soul to Rock and Roll"
o E. Frances White, "Africa on My Mind: Gender, Counter-Discourse, and African- American Nationalism"
o Tanmeet Sethi, "Ladies Only"
o Johnetta Cole and Beverly Guy-Sheftall, "The Black Church: What's the Word?"

Section 6: What Do We Take With Us?

o Alice Walker, "Definition of Womanist"
o Patricia Williams, "Owning the Self in a Disowned World"
o Marge Piercy, "For Strong Women," "The Sabbath of Mutual Respect"

Course Requirements

The instructor may alter course structure and/or requirements, should she determine it is needed.

Journal. The journal is the least structured of the requirements. Its purpose is to allow you to express your thoughts freely, for me to know what your thinking is, and to make sure you are doing the reading. The requirement is that you write at least two typed, doubled-spaced pages a week (or the hand-written equivalent-500 words) on issues arising from the readings. The journal can be as formal or as personal as you wish; simply be sure you are engaging with the assigned readings in a meaningful way. The journals will be graded as to 1) whether or not the work is completed and turned in on time, and 2) whether the entries in fact engage with the readings. Journals are worth 60 points of the final grade. The grade is assigned once, at the end of the semester. However, if the instructor judges that students are not doing the reading, the number/and or type of assignments will be increased. It is therefore in your interest to keep up with the reading, and to show this via your journal entries and your participation in class.

The journal entries must be handed in on regular paper; i.e., not in a bound book or spiral notebook. Otherwise, they are too heavy to carry around. I advise printing/writing them on 3-hole paper so that they can be easily kept together in a binder.

Midterm and final. There will be cumulative midterm and final exams, both essay question, both in-class. Each exam is worth 25 points of the final grade.

Final paper. One 8-page paper will be required for the class. Topics will be provided by the instructor, or may be of your choice; however, they must be approved by the instructor or the paper will not be accepted. Due date of papers will be determined later in the semester. The final paper is worth 50 points of the final grade.

45-50 points. Shows extraordinarily thoughtful, sustained engagement with the reading and the issue under discussion. Cogent, technically clean writing.
40-44 points. Demonstrates engagement with the reading. Shows you're thinking. Coherent and clean technically, but not at the highest level.
35-39 points. Shows some engagement with the reading and some development of thought. Numerous mistakes of technique and coherence.
0-34 points. Too short to develop ideas, or way off the point, or technically so sloppy as to interfere with my attending to what you say.

Attendance and participation. Attendance and participation are very important in a class such as this. Therefore, attendance is required. You are allowed 3 unexcused absences for the course. For every unexcused absence beyond three, you will lose 3 points. Attendance and participation are worth 40 points. Excused absences are:

Illness (with doctors's written note)
Death in the family (with funeral director's written note)
Written excuse from the Counseling Center.
Written notice in advance from athletic coaches or other university-sponsored activities.

Late assignments. The only late assignments that will be accepted without penalty are those that, before the day they are due, the instructor has agreed to accept, or that have a written excuse from the list of acceptable excuses. If an assignment is handed in late, 10% of its points are subtracted per week. (Late journals are counted up and deducted from grade given at the end of the semester. Each journal entry handed in late deducts 5 points from the final journal grade.)

"Late" means handing an assignment 20 minutes after class starts on the assigned day. 21 minutes into class = late = 10% of grade lost + whining/cajoling/saying how unfair it is = another 5% lost. Don't print it out right before class; lost disks or malfunctioning computers/printers are not acceptable excuses for late work. Get it in, get it in on time.

Plagiarism/other cheating. Any student plagiarism or other cheating results in, at minimum, a zero for the assignment in question. However, the instructor may impose other penalties as she judges appropriate, up to and including failing the class.

Formatting papers. "Typed page" means a full page in 12-point Times New Roman font, with 1 inch margins on each page. This is the default point/font/margins on word processing programs. Handing in work that is formatted in any other way results in immediate loss of points. How many points are deducted will be determined by the instructor, depending on the degree of change involved.

Philosophy Department policy is that no paper may have more than 5 grammar or orthographic errors per page. Any paper that has more than 5 errors will be returned to the student for correction; no grade is given for the paper until corrections are made.
Journal: 60 points
Midterm exam: 25 points
Final exam: 25 points
Final paper: 50 points
Attendance and participation: 40 points
Total: 200 points