WaGS 126Denise Witzig
Section 1Dante 311 x4422
Spring, 2014Off.Hrs. TT 3-4
dwitzig@smc
ENGAGING COMMUNITIES: GENDER VIOLENCE
This course will examine gender and violence in local and global contexts today, paying particular attention to the ways in which violence operates on both personal and political levels. To this extent, we will examine the causes of violence against women and marginalized men as both situational and systemic, analyzing and discussing the impact of violence on communities intersected by sexuality, race, class and nation as well as gender. In addition, this course will investigate a “real world” understanding of violence through community engagement, with partners whose work addresses a range of related social issues from domestic violence and sexual assault to bullying and homelessness. In focusing on the problem of violence we will also debate solutions in place, looking for effective ways to eradicate gender violence in our communities and in the world. This course will satisfy the Core Curriculum requirement for Community Engagement.
Texts:
Gender Violence Reader
Rape: A Love Story, Joyce Carol Oates
The Women of Brewster Place, Gloria Naylor
Moodle site articles
Explorations
Readings for this class will ask you consider theories and descriptions of violence in the lives of women and men. They will also address the concept or idea of violence as a social institution, as well as the attempts by fiction writers, poets and artists to respond to violence and to conceive of a world without violence. Your engagement of these ideas will be extremely student-active. That is, teaching and learning will be a group responsibility. This will include your bringing related articles and readings, or Explorations, to class discussion, as well as your own responses to experiences in community engagement. Class time will be balanced between discussion of the readings and reflection on service and its relationship to your understanding of gender violence.
Explorations: Class discussions designated as explorations will ask you to bring in your own textual interactions with the readings and ideas on gender violence addressed. These might include news articles on global or local situations of gender violence; ads, videos, music or other popular culture related to violence; readings from other classes; poems or stories written by you or someone else, etc. Explorations should be able to address these critical considerations: How does the text (or image) address related themes from discussion or readings in a concrete and specific way? (It shouldn’t just be “about” the subject of gender violence. It should add to our understanding in a new and connective way.) How does it expand upon our understanding of the issue? What are the “real-world” implications (about gender or violence) of this perspective? Be prepared to discuss and/or write about your exploration in class.
Book groups: In addition to assigned readings, each of you will be a member of a book group which will read and discuss one of the novels listed below and then teach the class about that book in a 20-30-minute presentation. These books are available through Link+ or online sellers:
What Night Brings, Carla Trujillo
Possessing the Secret of Joy, Alice Walker
Black and Blue, Anna Quindlen
Edinburgh: A Novel, Alexander Chee
The Round House, Louise Erdrich
Community Engagement:
As part of investigating ideas and theories about gender violence and its complex social and cultural interactions, you will participate in a service learning project with designated Community Partners. Your commitment in this project will include
●30 hrs. of service (@ 3 hrs. per week over 10 weeks; more if you choose);
●Response and Reflection papers, one a week, which address your experiences and thoughts about your service, making connections to the ideas you’re encountering in readings and discussion.
●R/R papers should be typed on regular paper, one-half to one page (no more), single-spaced, dated, and kept in a dedicated folder that is not your regular class folder. These papers are intended to be informal and loosely-structured, including questions, conversations, ramblings – positive and negative - along these 3 lines of consideration: descriptive – an account of your service experience; reflective – your responses to and thoughts about that experience(s); analytical – connections between the experience described and ideas addressed in readings or class discussion.
●R/R papers should also include at least one article a week from the Moodle site in these responses. Feel free to address larger issues, groups of experiences as well. Your R/R folders will be collected every three weeks for evaluation and will be considered in overall CE project grading;
●a final class project which addresses your experience of community engagement and its implications in understanding gender violence. More details on this project will be forthcoming.
To facilitate our service experience, we are working with a Cilsa Engaged Learning Facilitator (yes, ELF), Justher Gutierrez. You can contact her anytime with questions or concerns about the details and mechanics (transportation, scheduling, etc.) of your service at jcg8@smc. The success of your community engagement will correspond to the number of hours committed, as well as an evaluation of your service by your community partner.
Assignments:
Response and Reflection folder20%
Book group presentation15%
Critical analysis essay15%
Final project20%
Community engagement service15%
Class participation and discussion15%
Notes:
▪All written work must be submitted to receive a passing grade in this course, and must also must comply with standards for original work set by the College’s Academic Honesty Policy.
▪All service hours and responsibilities to your community partner must be completed to receive a passing grade in this course.
▪Please use office hours and/or consult our class ELF to discuss any questions or concerns about your service commitment. Please also check in about writing assignments and/or deadlines. All written work must be submitted in hard copy, unless otherwise specified. Work submitted by email will not be accepted without express approval beforehand.
Class discussion:
Our class discussions will rely on the exchange of ideas, opinions, and responses to readings and to your community engagement. Your responsibility to discussion includes your careful preparation and active participation. Bring all readings to class and be ready to address key ideas and questions. Bring paper for note-taking, in-class writing and reflection. (No laptops, please.) Preparation for class includes being ready to share your responses, questions, disagreements and concerns. This means active engagement with the readings, theories and ideas discussed. Be ready to listen, carefully consider, agree or disagree with points expressed by the writers, by your classmates or by me. The classroom is a place for active involvement with ideas. Some of these may be challenging or even upsetting, given our subject matter. Your responsibility as a participant is to respect our class community and the dialogue that ensues. It does not mean you will always agree or be comfortable. But that’s how we all will learn and grow together. Respect, honesty, open listening, thoughtful argument are the hallmarks of an engaged classroom experience. Be present.
Attendance:
Since you must be in class to discuss and debate course issues and ideas, attendance is mandatory (with 2 absences) and will be graded as part of your class participation. It is your responsibility to find out details of discussion and assignments given during classes not attended.
Social media:
Cell phones and laptops should be turned off and put away before class begins. We only have 90 mins in each class period and that time flies. Check your messages before class. Failure to observe this policy is disrespectful to the classroom community and will have a severe impact on class participation grade.
Email and Moodle:
Our class has a Moodle site on gaellearn, which will be used actively for reading and discuss. To participate, be sure to check your SMC email on a regular basis and the Moodle site.
Grades:
Grading in this class reflects the College’s standards as specified under Academic Requirements in the Catalog. To merit a C (Satisfactory) or above as a final grade in this course, you must
●hand in all written assignments and they must meet or exceed the expectations of the assignment, adhering to the College’s Academic Honor Code,
●you must come to class on time and prepared,
●and you must participate fully in class discussion and presentations.
Your Community Engagement Project will be graded on
●your commitment – your regular and consistent on-site participation
●and your critical connections to course material you make in your journal and in discussion.
Please use office hours! See me with questions, concerns, clarifications and conflicts before they affect your grade.
Films, Speakers, Events:
Films and videos will be shown during class time as additional, visual texts of the theories and representations discussed in the readings and in class. Please address them in your R/R writing and in discussion. In addition, we will have several guest speakers in class to address gender violence from a variety of professional and personal perspectives. Finally, there will be several required events on campus this semester. The first of these is the SMC performance of The Vagina Monologues on Feb. 14 at 3 or 8 p.m. The second is a lecture by Sister Simone Campbell (from Nuns on the Bus), who will speak on immigration on Mar. 11 at 7 p.m. Finally, Momma’s Boyz will lead a workshop on race, drag and hip hop on Apr. 23 at 7 p.m. Stayed tuned for further suggestions.
Final Points:
Reasonable and appropriate accommodations, that take into account the context of the course and its essential elements, for individuals with qualifying disabilities, are extended through the office of Student Disability Services. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact the Student Disability Services Coordinator at (925) 631-4164 to set up a confidential appointment to discuss accommodation guidelines and available services. Additional information regarding the services available may be found at the following address on the Saint Mary’s website:
Course Goals and Objectives:
Students will learn to
●Develop critical strategies to recognize and interpret theories of violence as a social condition and explore their intersections with gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and class in local and global contexts
●Recognize and evaluate diverse expressions, ideas, and debates about a feminist response to violence and its effects on the lives of women, men, families, cultures and institutions
●Evaluate community responses to gender violence through engaged learning
●Develop thoughtful and well-reasoned arguments in reading, writing about and discussing gender violence, its social and historical contexts and possible solutions for its eradication
Class Schedule
Part 1: Dangerous Bodies: Theories of Violence
Week One
Tues.2/1Introduction: How should we think about gender violence?
Thu. 2/13Why Women Aren’t Welcome on the Internet, Hess [Moodle]
Fri.2/14Event: Perf: V-DAY: Until the Violence Ends. 3 p.m.; 8 p.m. Soda Center
Week Two
Tues. 2/18Regarding the Pain of Others, Sontag
Thu.2/20Sexual Violence as a Tool of Genocide, Smith
Week Three
Tues.2/25Sex Trafficking Policy and Ethnography, Hudgins
Trans Day of Action
Thu. 2/27Murder in the Maquiladoras, Arriola
Explorations
Week Four
Tues.3/4Medicalization of Domestic Violence, Durazo
Domestic Violence: Poems, Boland
Thu.3/6Diverse Lives of Militarized and Demilitarized Women, Enloe
Sat. 3/8Event: SMC Wo/men’s Conference; 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Soda Center
Part 2: Sexualizing, Institutionalizing Violence
Week Five
Tues. 3/11Fighting Bodies, Fighting Words, Marcus [Moodle]
Event: Sister Simone Campbell, 7 p.m. Soda Center
Thu. 3/13Redefining Rape: Intro, Freedman
Explorations
Week Six
Tues.3/18Rape: A Love Story, Oates
Thu.3/20Rape, cont.
Critical analysis due
Week Seven
Tues.3/25Redefining Rape: Boys, Freedman
Thu.3/27Redefining Rape: Politics, Freedman
Week Eight
Tues. 4/1Our Guys, Lefkowitz
Thu.4/3Sexual Violence in Schools, Stein
Explorations
Week Nine
Tues. 4/8The Women of Brewster Place, Naylor
Thu.4/10 Women, cont.
Week TenSpring Break
4/14-4/21
Part 3: Reading Violence: Old Stories, New Eyes
Week Eleven
Tues. 4/22Red Riding Hood, Perrault; Grimm; The Company of Wolves, Carter
Hard Candy
Wed. 4/23Event: Momma’s Boyz, 7 p.m. Soda Center
Thu.4/24Policing the Boundaries of Desire in Buffy, Shepherd
Hard Candy, cont.
Week Twelve
Tues.4/29Rule by Rape, Kristof/WuDunn
Book group: What Night Brings
Thu.5/1Goddess Murder and Gynocide, Caputi
Book group: Possessing the Secret of Joy
Explorations
Week Thirteen
Tues.5/6Visions and Possibilities: Transforming a Rape Culture
Book group: Black and Blue
Thu.5/8Visions, cont.
Book group: Edinburgh: A Novel
Week Fourteen
Tues.5/13Better Angels, Pinker;
10 Things Men Can Do, Katz
Women Write Resistance: Poems
Book group: The Round House
Thu.5/15 Final class: Project discussions
All projects due