Because we analyze gender and power in culture, this interdisciplinary course draws on many different disciplinary understandings of gender (psychology, anthropology, sociology, biology) and power (political science, philosophy, economics).  As an introductory course, WGST covers a broad range of issues from many different perspectives so that you get both an overview of the important topics in WGST and ideas about how to further explore these topics in your major and minor fields and in your careers.

Our Work
I want our classroom to be a space of collaborative community in which we can encounter not only ideas, but each other and ourselves. To really encounter ourselves, I believe that we must read the course material carefully and critically, with both our hearts and our minds fully engaged; we must, in other words, open ourselves to self-reflection, to an examination of old ideas and a consideration of new ideas. To encounter each other, we must come to class ready to listen compassionately, and to speak honestly and passionately but also with respect for the many differences in life experiences, world views, and subject positions from which we engage with each other. Outside of class, you will work on reading, writing, and in groups on projects. In class, we will work on community.

• Written Dialogues (30%):  The class is divided between discussions of our readings and speakers from many different disciplines on campus. To help you reflect on what the readings and the speakers mean to you and to let me know how you are responding to the issues we address, you will write 10 short (one or two paragraph) in-dialogue pieces. An “in-dialogue” piece, as the name suggests, is an informal writing that follows a thread of your reading or class discussion as a thinking-in-writing. You may submit written dialogues in response to any reading in our class text, to a class speaker or discussion, to a campus cultural event (Valerie Smith’s March 3rd talk or Guerrilla Girls presentation, for instance,  the Take Back the Night March, or for any of the events for Women’s Awareness Month), to a community outreach activity (work with the women’s shelter, a local or national women’s/gender organization – see partial list of organizations at http://merlin.alleg.edu/employee/a/acarr/ws/activism.html), or to other appropriate events/activities that you pre-approve with me.

• In Class Group Presentation (10%): After we have gotten to know each other a bit and you have had a chance to review the text for the class, Women: Images and Realities, I’ll ask you to form groups of four or five based around common interests. Each group will have one class session in which group members introduce the readings for that day, present key issues/points for discussion, and facilitate class discussion. I will model formats for this in the first third of the semester.

• Short analysis Paper (20%):  At midterm, I’ll ask you to submit a short (3 – 5 pages) paper analyzing gender images in popular culture. You have a great deal of flexibility for this assignment. Among the possible topics for this paper: analysis of gender in an advertisement (print or broadcast media), in film, on  television, in  public discourse (political debates about “family,” welfare, or war, for example), your family or social group (church, fraternity, sorority, club) . . . as you can see, I want you to define an aspect of gender in your immediate life/sphere that is important to you and use this paper assignment as way to think this issue through more carefully.

• Final Project (30%):  Think of your final project as the fireworks display that opens or closes big events – New Years, the Fourth of July, the grand finale of a major show. This is your chance to show off, to perform, to produce something that you find personally meaningful and fulfilling.
• Throughout the semester, I will be talking with each of you about what you might do for your final projects – I want you to use your time and energy for these projects in a way that actively accomplishes something for you and your life.
• I want your projects to mean something – to you, your peers, your community – and I want them to draw on your experience, interests, and expertise in ways that meet your current needs.  Most importantly, your final projects need to be something that you can use outside of and beyond this class—they might be material for a professional portfolio (samples of writing, art, web work, poetry, music, etc.), web projects that you publish for the larger world, gifts that you give to friends and loved ones. . . anything that documents, explains, analyzes, critiques, and/or engages in some meaningful way with gender and culture.
• If you are getting ready to go to graduate school or on the job market, you might do a project that researches graduate programs in Women’s and Gender Studies or jobs/professions that allow you to work on behalf of women’s and gender issues. You might do an oral history project (interviewing, for instance a specific group – family, targeted community – about gender issues). If you are an artist, you might produce a work of art – a poetry chapbook, a show of photographs, a play, a movie, a musical score. You can also do collaborative final projects – you might, for instance, work with a group of people to develop, design, produce, and publish a WGST magazine or a class web site; write and perform a play; make a movie; or organize an art show/exhibit or other community event.
• I encourage multi-media projects (projects that combine film, photographs, music, writing, art, the world wide web, oral and transcribed interviews, etc.)
• By the middle of the semester, I will ask for a Final Project Proposal that defines the project you want to work on. Using this proposal as a starting point, I will work closely with you to help you think your project through and to find resources.
• For those of you interested in developing web sites, I will assist you with every aspect of this – web work can be fun and empowering, so I hope that you will take this opportunity to let me work with you to develop a web site.
• 10% Slush Fund:  This course is designed to help you in your life and world, not hurt you. While it is true that we will forge a classroom community of rigorous thinkers, readers, and writers, we will also do this in a collaborative and empowering way. Hence, you may decide which of the things we do throughout the semester is most meaningful to you and apply 10% of your grade to this. If you do long, in-depth in-dialogue pieces, you can make those count for 20% of your grade. If you invest the bulk of your time in your final project, you can make that count for 40% of your grade. If you bring extensive visual aid and supplemental materials to you group presentation, you can make that count as 20% of your grade. If you develop a significant analysis piece that goes beyond the class requirement, you can make that count as 30% of your grade. You can make your final decision about how to apply this 10% at the end of the semester – along with your final project, you will submit a grade sheet to me that includes what percentage you want each of our course components to count for.

• Women: Images and Realities: A Multi-cultural Anthology.  3rd. Edition.  Eds.  Amy Kesselman, Lily D. McNair, Nancy Schniedewind.  McGraw Hill, 2003.
• http://merlin.alleg.edu/employee/a/acarr/ws/activism.html

· Identifying and training local leaders
· Strategic planning and issue cutting
· Researching and targeting decision makers
· One-on-One relationship building
· Developing and training leaders to take successful Direct Action on issues
· Fund Raising for the long-haul

To apply, Georgia Southern University applicants must send materials (resume and completed application form) before February 10, 2003 to:

Points from Men and Women's Studies Discussion
Men and Women’s Studies: Premises, Perils, and Promise/  Michael Kimmell

• Intellectual space for talking about gender
• Made men visible (decentered)
• Academically/ women’s histories – achievements – accomplishments
• Celebrates “ordinary” – all women indebted for/to (implies: materialist analysis of women’s labor)
• Utterly embodied/ socially constructed (and related race, privilege as invisible)
• Creative alliances (refers: Donna Haraway/ situational alliances)
• Pro-feminist men
• Gender = power relation

• What can men do for women’s equality
• Difference between acting against men and acting against actions of men

• Why is “man” working on behalf of “woman”?
• problem 1: not ALL women are working on behalf of "equality"
• what does "equality" mean (re: different cultures have different contexts for understanding gender, "rights," etc. -- need to problematize and keep returning to this question)
• only two positions for man = passive/do nothing to help or active/take over, appropriate, usurp feminist activism -- disavows men who obstruct/ resist
• What are costs to power and privilege?
• What are costs to men of gender roles “man”?
• Assumes that constructions of "masculinity" across the board confer benefit to man -- how does what does construction of normative masculinity debilitate/ hurt/ harm individual men?

• The ICL curriculum provides an opportunity for undergraduate women leaders to study social change strategies, develop their leadership skills and cultivate their own unique visions of change - all while participating in a diverse community of women leaders.
• The program includes rigorous academic classes that connect scholarship from the social sciences and humanities to issues of civic leadership and social change.
• It also includes an individually-tailored internship placement in a community organization (10-15 hrs. a week), skills-building workshops, retreats, a speaker series and mentoring from local women leaders.
• The curriculum helps women develop their abilities to critically analyze social and political issues, while providing them with concrete strategies for instigating social change in their communities.
• Need-based financial aid is available. After the semester, women are eligible for mini-grants of up to $1000 for carrying out their own civic/academic projects.