Practice / Methods in Feminist Scholarship Course Objectives • Students will gain a foundation in discourses around feminist knowledge production and research practices. • Students will develop a focused research topic. • Students will identify research methods and practices that support their academic interests and be able to articulate the connections between their methods and research topics. • Students will learn to develop, strategize and implement feminist research methods.
Course Readings •
Most of our readings will come from Moodle (in the syllabus marked as M) and the required text Feminist Research Practice: A Primer (ISBN: 9781412994972)
Learning Responsibilities •
Reading - This is your education. Make the best of it, make it yours. Students are required to be prepared for every class discussion. You are expected to have read the materials listed in the course outline by the class session specified. You are also required to bring that reading material with you to class. This is imperative to facilitate discussion and for your own reference during class.
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Discussing – Some individuals may have strong feelings about one topic or another in this class. This is expected. However, speaking over and interrupting individuals is not conducive to a learning environment. Furthermore, talking and chatting while someone is speaking is downright disrespectful and hampers your ability to understand the person who is speaking. In the spoken word community we have a saying: “respect the mic.” That is, engage with whomever is speaking with interest and attentiveness. I expect you to respect the mic/classroom so that we can have a respectful and efficient learning environment.
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Community Responsibility – This classroom places a big emphasis on community learning through group interaction. In this way, not only are we learning from the texts and the professor, but from each other—together. This requires a certain
amount of responsibility to yourself and your cohorts to keep up with the readings so that you can contribute to the best of your abilities in class. This also means doing the work agreed upon in group interactions so that your fellow group mates are not forced to pick up your slack. It also means being assertive about a group member who may be slacking. You all have a responsibility to each other and there are no “outs” with group work assignments. •
Technology – Laptops are admissible for reading and note taking, but please try to keep social media habits under control in the classroom. With the exception (and within reason) we use Twitter and may use it as class discussion and in addition to class discussion.
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Cell Phones – Turn them off, or on vibrate. DO NOT SEND TEXT MESSAGES IN THE CLASSROOM. I REPEAT: DO NOT SEND TEXT MESSAGES IN THE CLASSROOM. No exceptions. Not even if you are telling your friends how great this class is. There is an exception to this. You are welcome to tweet what is going on in class discussion. Note above.
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Violation of any of these rules will be reflected in your participation grade.
Accommodations For Students With Disabilities Mount Holyoke College has resources to help students with disabilities and professors. If you have any provisions for your learning needs, please contact AccessAbility Services in B4 Wilder Hall or at x2634. Do not wait until the first writing assignment to do this. In addition, you are welcome to talk to me about any aspects of the classroom environment that would better serve you. Religious Observances And Student Body Participation It is my own policy that students not be penalized in any way for participation in major religious observances. This is a very important aspect in many of our lives. However, you must inform me in writing by about such observances by February 3rd so that proper arrangements can be made for assignments and readings. Absences This class is about participation. If you are not present, you cannot participate. I do take note when students are missing or are not present in class discussion. If there is an assignment that was due on a day that you were absent, you are responsible for making sure that I receive the assignment on time. A note on contagious (airborne) illness: As much as your fellow classmates and I love your presence in class, we care more about your health and the health of our whole community. If you have unfortunately caught an airborne illness such as the flu or a cold please stay at home and get well. Contact me via email, check in at our class hashtag on Twitter (see first page of this syllabus), and ask fellow classmates for updates on class discussion and any important information that you may have missed. Always let me know that you’re out because of an illness.
Grading and Assignments All assignments should be typed, double spaced with one-inch margins with a reasonable font such as Times New Roman. Script type is unacceptable. Works should be cited under an appropriate citation style. When assignments are to be posted online they should be in .doc or .docx (Word) format. Please do not post documents in Word Perfect or any other format, you will risk my not being able to view and read them. Although assignments will be uploaded to Moodle for grading, please have them with you in class. Class Structure This is class is structured around ways of learning that are both analog and digital. We will meet regularly in our designated classroom for class discussion, however our learning and communication will continue online via Twitter (see hashtag and my user name above) and resources will be available on our moodle site at moodle.mtholyoke.edu. Twitter: I am not here to enforce your use of social media personally. I am however, interested in our class being able to interact with different media for communication and learning. For this reason, I support your decision to use Twitter accounts that may not be associated with your name, or twitter accounts other than the one you may have for personal use. Regardless of your choice, please send me an email with the username you wish to use in this class so that I can know whom I am talking to on the great wide “interwebs.” Twitter will be used in this class as a way of communicating after class. You are welcome to ask questions of your classmates and me via twitter. I encourage you to highlight interesting parts of class discussion or your favorite quotes from our readings using our hashtag. Our hashtag is on the first page of this syllabus. I will occasionally recap class discussion, make class announcements, and suggest supplemental readings on our twitter hashtag. If you are unfamiliar with Twitter you may find this document useful: http:// www.icc.edu/innovation/PDFS/resources/TwitterBasics.pdf We will also go over Twitter basics in class. Moodle: Documents and other resources are available online through our school’s course management system of choice: Moodle. This site is located at moodle.mtholyoke.edu.
Learning Responsibilities
Participation (500) is a very important part of our class dynamic here. Every day of class will count in your final participation grade. When discussion board assignments are due on days we do not meet, those will count as participation grades as well. Not only will you be discussing the reading material and learning from each other but you will be collaboratively working to complete your individual assignments. At midterm, you will sign up to feature in the class’ research workshop. This means that you will describe your research topic in detail, discuss where you are in your research process and tell the class how they can support you in your research process. Likewise, you will be expected to support your fellow classmates as they lead research workshop time. The Topic Paragraph (50) is an opportunity for you to start brainstorming your research project and giving concrete language to some of the ideas that are floating in your head. It is required to be one paragraph only. The Preliminary Proposal (150) is the beginning phase of your final research project. It will include an expanded research proposal to be 3-5 pages in length. You will also include an annotated bibliography of at least five sources, two of which inform your method. Finally, you will hand in a bibliographic search procedure. First Draft of the Research Portfolio (100) You will turn in a draft of the Research Portfolio for review. This draft is for credit only and intended to guide you towards a complete research portfolio. Final Draft Research Portfolios (250) are your completed research proposal and additional materials. This portfolio will include your research statement, which will describe your research methods and methodology as well as your research rationale. You will also include a completed annotated bibliography on your research topic. This annotated bibliography will include twelve to fifteen sources on your research topic and three to five sources on your method.
Course Outline Epistemology, Methodology and Method Week 1 Introductions Syllabus Review Selections from Natasha Tretheway’s Thrall “The Method Question” Sandra Harding Hypatia 2.3 (1987) 19-35. [M] “Feminist Research: Exploring the Interconnections of Epistemology, Methodology, and Method” from The Handbook of Feminist Research: Theory and Praxis [M]
Feminist Knowledges Week 2 “Chapter 2. Feminist Empiricism and Standpoint Theory: Approaches to Understanding the Social World” Nancy A. Naples and Barbara Gurr “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective” Donna Harraway from The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader [M] “Learning from the Outsider Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought” Patricia Hill Collins from The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader [M] “Chapter 3. Feminist Postmodernism, Poststructuralism and Critical Theory” Nollaig Frost and Frauke Elichaoff
Interacting with Humans Week 3 “Chapter 4. Ethics and Feminist Research” Linda Bell “Chapter 6. Feminist Practice of Action and Community Research” Elana D. Buch and Karen M. Staller “Chapter 5. What Is Feminist Ethnography?” Elana D. Buch and Karen M. Staller “The Call of Autoethnographic Stories” Carolyn Ellis from The Ethnographic I [M] “Chapter 7. Feminist Approaches to In-Depth Interviewing” Sharlene Hesse-Biber “Chapter 8. The Practice of Feminist Focus Groups” Jennie Munday
Feminist Knowledge Production Week 4
“Chapter 9. Feminist Media Research” Heather McIntosh and Lisa M. Cuklanz “Pigment to Pixel” Graeme Sullivan in Art Practice as Research [M] “Chapter 10. Feminist Survey Research” Kathi Miner and Toby Jayaratne “Chapter 11. The Feminist Practice of Program Evaluation” Donna M. Mertens and Nichole Stewart
Towards Your Research Project Week 5 “Chapter 12. Feminist Approaches to Mixed Methods Research” Sharlene Hesse-Biber “Chapter 13. Conclusion: Putting Together Your Research Project” Week 6 Research Workshop – Library Research Research Workshop – Archival Research Week 7 Research Workshop Week 8 – Research Proposals Due (1st Draft) Research Workshop Week 9 Research Workshop Week 10 – Complete Research Portfolios Due Research Workshop Next Steps Discussion