Required Texts:
(available at the Book House in Stuyvesant Plaza and Mary Jane Books)
Edut, Ophira, ed. Body Outlaws.
Jackson, Shelley. Patchwork Girl (CD-Rom).
Mernissi, Fertima. Scheherazade Goes West.
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye.
Course Packet – available at Shipmates (also at Stuyvesant Plaza) and abbreviated in course schedule as CP.
Course Requirements:
Class Participation (15 points)
Participation includes your regular attendance and contributions to classroom discussions and the WebCTdiscussion board. You are allowed 3 unexcused absences ; however, if you go over this number, you stand to lose 2 points for each additional absence from your final grade. Excused absences will only be granted in cases of documented illnesses and emergencies. Two bonus points toward your final grade for perfect attendance! Perfect attendance means that you have never missed a single class (whether this is excused or not – including for illnesses and emergencies), nor have you ever arrived late nor left early for any reason. If you attend every single session, from the beginning of class time to the end, and if you are respectful in class, contribute to discussions and never disrupt class through disrespectful behavior (being insulting, rude, or NOT turning off cell phones, pagers, and beepers), then and only then will you receive bonus points for perfect attendance.
Pop Quizzes (20 points)
Scheduled throughout the semester and unannounced; you will have as many or as few quizzes, depending on how regularly everyone in class keeps up with their reading assignments.
Media Essay (25 points)
You will be required to submit a written project towards possible publication. You may choose from one of the following:
- Option A: The e-journal, transcending silence…, accepts undergraduate student research papers, creative writing, or artwork. For the purposes of this class, develop a critical essay (12-15 pages, typed and double-spaced) based on research conducted through a Media Watch. Your media watch could include a survey of advertisements (collected through magazine/newspaper/Internet clippings), TV commercials or music videos, an analysis of music selections (from a CD playlist that you've created), or a series of photographs that you've taken of public media (i.e. billboards, transit ads, posters, flyers, etc.). Your essay must examine representations of women observed in your media watch and analyze how race, gender, class, sexuality, ability, and nationality shape the image. You may focus your topic on certain groups of women if you wish (i.e. – African American women, Latina women, disabled women, etc.) or on certain themes in media (i.e. – violence against women, heterosexual romance, etc.). You will be expected to work on this project in drafts: the first draft to be turned in on Tuesday, March 8 . The second draft (3 copies) will count as an official submission to the transcending silence... editorial board, which is due on Thursday, March 31, and which must also be turned in on CD/disk. If your submission is accepted for publication, a third and final draft, which should include major revisions based on feedback from the editorial board, is due Tuesday, April 26. Only drafts that receive a B+ or higher (22 points or more) will be forwarded to the editorial board. Please follow the submission guidelines of the e-journal (turn in 3 hard copies and a disk/CD copy). 3 bonus points added to the project grade if published. See guidelines for copyright, rights, and permissions.
- Option B: As part of our class's participation in the Frankenstein Manifesto Film Series this semester, write a Review Essay (an extended movie review) of 4-5 films featured in the film series (5-8 pages, typed and double-spaced). Be sure to analyze representations of gender, as well as to explore the films through a common theme of your choice (i.e. – artificiality, freaks and outsiders, etc.). You are expected to attend more than half of the film screenings featured in this event in order to receive full credit. The series will be held Thursdays, 7:30 pm , from February 3 to March 31, in Humanities B39. The review essay is due in class on Tuesday, April 12.
To prepare for this assignment, you will need to choose Option A or B by Tuesday, February 8. Explain your choice in a 1-3 page proposal (typed and double-spaced); then, submit an annotated bibliography (by Tuesday, February 15 ) of 4-5 secondary sources (articles from academic, peer-reviewed journals) relating to your subject matter. In your annotations, provide a brief summary (150 words) of main arguments in each source; list citations in APA format. The annotated bibliography counts 10 points toward your final grade; the proposal: 5 points. Please visit this resources page, which includes links to primary sources online.
Website Team Project (25 points)
From Production to Consumption: in teams of 4, collaborate on the creation of a website that provides information and traces the impact of women's bodies in our global information age, from the worker/producer, who assembles our media, to the consumer who is seduced into buying these products through media images. How are women's bodies used on both ends of media production? Your website should include interactive features (such as images and hyperlinks) that expand on your written information. You may choose to present your information through 1.) a metasite – an extended listing of related links (15-20 websites) with an analytical description of each website; 2.) hypertext essay – information presented through informative essays; 3.) interactive game – an innovative way of presenting your information by offering visitors to your site a fun way to interact with information through the form of a “game”; or 4.) virtual gallery or virtual map – information organized through images or a map/diagram. Be sure to seek permissions for any digitized photographs, art, or video/audio used in your website (the same applies to any used for your media essay project submitted to the e-journal):
Team 1 . "Who assembled this computer? What's on the screen?" Explore the role of women workers in our digital age; what lives do they lead, and why is computer media making such lives "invisible" to the rest of us? Then, explore how the (hyper)visibility of women's representations in cyberspace supports this invisibility.
Team 2. "Who made this lingerie? What makes it sexy?" Explore the role of women workers in sweatshops; what lives do they lead, and why do all of our fashion ads make such lives "invisible" to the rest of us? Then, explore how the sexual objectification of women in fashion ads supports this invisibility. Similar questions can be applied to the other topics below.
Team 3. “Who's getting married? Why are weddings so expensive?”
Team 4. "Who made this video game? Who has the power and control?"
Team 5. "How is pornography mainstreamed in our everyday lives?"
Team 6. "Where is the 'real' Cancun? Spring break, tourism, and globalization. "
Team 7. "Who stole the music? From poverty to hip-hop to sweatshops."
Team 8. "Whose harem is this? From burquas to thong bikinis."
Team 9. "Hollywood or Bollywood? Fantasies, world cinemas, and visions of womanhood."
Team 10. "What's wrong with women's bodies? From cosmetic surgeries to thinness to skin color."
On each team, students may perform one of these roles: web master; managing editor; researcher; bibliographer. A website team proposal (typed and double-spaced), including a design layout for the web page and plans for digitizing information in an interactive hyper-format, is due Thursday, March 17. A text version (all writing for this website) is due on Tuesday, April 19. The website is due on a CD by Monday, May 9, 4 pm in my mailbox, Social Sciences 341. Only websites receiving a grade of A- or higher will be published on our class website.