WS 1500: Introduction to Women's Studies
Summer 2009
Presentation Handout Guidelines
Handout Format: Overview and Detailed Instructions
length - in pagination: 2-3 pp. minimum, plus relevant attachments, which
include:
discussion questions
exercise(s) required for team/partnered/group discussions;
graphs;
academic or
press articles; news releases, etc.
and audio-visual aids (films, graphs,
internet resources)
length - of presentation time: 20 min. per individual; 35-40 min. per
team
font size: 10 or 12, no larger!
spacing: standard, except for indentations and changes in topic indicated
by paragraphs, new headings, or subheadings
copies for course participants: see note below
headings: all presentations must show the full name of the
presenter, the date of the presentation in the upper right-hand corner; in
addition, all handouts must have a title that is clearly linked with
the main point(s) of the presentation.
text & phrasing: no sentences, or standard paragraphs (in general);
employ phrases and key terms instead; this presentation handout is not a
narrative itself, that is, it shouldn't read or look like a paper you are
reading from; the narrative itself is what you, the presenter, provide by
filling in the gaps. The presentation handout should be in outline format:
therefore, use bulleted headings and subheadings; also use highlights (underlining, bold,
italics, different font styles/sizes) to set off the main overview/overarching
points from the subordinate and bulleted points.
Part of the overall assessment for your presentation grade involves your ability
to introduce the terms and concepts central to Women's Studies/feminism. Be
sure to highlight (bolden, italicize) critical terms that are: a) new to the
audience, and b) introduced in/related to the Women's Studies reader text/film you are
working with.
visuals: very important! If you are working with a film, feminist/Women's
Studies author, writer, philosopher, and/or historian, please provide basic information on
this individual and pictures and images and related visual cues of some sort so that the
audience can associate the topic with a concrete image and through helpful
visuals, with the socio-historical context as well.
audiovisuals: You are strongly encouraged to draw on relevant (academic -- and
non-academic, where relevant) A/V (audio-visual)
resources for this presentation! Consider using films/media you are familiar
with that shed light on the specific topic, on which you have chosen to present. In instances where a film, DVD or CD can
clarify an aspect you wish to elucidate in the Women's Studies reading you are
presenting on, don't hesitate to draw
upon this supplemental source. Extra credit will be provided for presentations
that make creative and relevant connections to other A/V media. Note,
again, that the vast majority of films (VHS, DVD) are ON RESERVE in the
Library for a three-hour loan period. This will enable all students to
preview the materials and bring them to class on the day of the presentation. In
some instances, I have a text that may be of use (e.g., Susan Faludi's Backlash),
and in yet other instances, students will need to borrow the appropriate
text/film from our library or acquire it through Interlibrary Loan.
crediting sources/citations: since both the presentation and handout are
foremost academic
exercises for all presenters, for every presentation, all sources must be cited,
including websites, at the bottom/end of handout. Incomplete or too few sources
will result in a lowering of the grade.
Assessment of Presentation:
Content
................................................................60%
Critical terms
introduced........................15
Coverage of all key concepts.................20
Clear explanation of themes, concepts....20
Integration of audience in discussion.......15
Form....................................................................40%
Format follows guidelines......................25
Handout demonstrates mastery of
punctuation, spelling, syntax, grammar...15
TOTAL.............................................................100%
Possible Extra Credit Points:
Excellent (i.e., judicious and creative) use of other
non-pre-assigned AV materials: 3-5 pts.
Outstanding integration of class in covering the material for
review: 3-5 pts.
NOTE: Copies for Course Participants. On the date of the presentation, and
even prior to this date if possible, bring 30+ (exact count will be determined
once the class roll is set during the first week or two of classes) photocopies
of your presentation handout to class for distribution to all course
participants. In cases where the handout is missing or late (i.e., it is
"due" at the beginning of class on the date of the presentation), and
a request is made to bring it in "later," a substantive portion of the
overall presentation score will be downgraded.
**** SAMPLE HANDOUT ******
Eva L. Szalay
September 15, 2009
(Re)Defining Women's Studies
TOPIC: Reading: "What is Women's Studies?" by Amy Kesselman, Lily
D. McNair, and Nancy Schniedewind. Women: Images and Realities: A Multicultural
Anthology, Fourth Edition, Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008. 7-15.
OBJECTIVE: Define "Women's Studies" according to the reading, make
associations between the reading and: a) other academic themes, topics, and
resources (taped and recorded interviews with professors and students)
related to Women's Studies, b) other real-world, relevant topics, including
recent news events, media, film, books, etc. Ensure that the class audience has
grasped the critical terms and concepts by posing pertinent questions and/or involving the
students in a team/partnered dialogue, small group or class discussion and/or
exercise to test for this comprehension.
Defining Women's Studies and the Women's Studies Course:
* Academic and real world creations of this
concept
* Avoid conflation (to bring together, to fuse or confuse,
and to combine, as in two separate, disparate readings of a text into a
composite whole) of Women's Studies and feminism
* Women's Studies courses: courses created within
disciplines (e.g., Women in Literature, Sociology of Women), incorporates
the experiences of women in the subject matter of disciplines, and creates
interdisciplinary courses and lines of inquiry (research, develops
state/federally-funded grants).
Critical Years/Eras in the Development of Women's Studies
* late 1960s: development of
first Women's Studies Programs at universities/colleges
* first Women's Studies
Programs/feminism of the 1960s/1970s very political
* by 1989 over 500 colleges
in the U.S. established Women's Studies Programs
First Phase (or Wave) of
Feminism/Women's Movement
* early 1900s: feminism
originated in France and introduced into the U.S.
* "First
Wave of Feminism" originates in the 19th C (approx. 1835-1920)
* 1920:
Nineteenth Amendment grants U.S. women the right to vote
Second Phase (or Wave) of Feminism/Women's
Movement
* mid-1960s: new generation of
women fights for "women's liberation"
* central battles:
reproductive rights, subordination of women in workplace and home
* key declaration: "the
personal is the political"
Third Phase of Feminism/Women's
Movement
* expansion of movement to
include women of all races, ethnicities, nationalities -- plus, the expansion of
Women's Studies to include Men's Studies (Masculinities) as well as Gender
Studies
* multiple consciousness
and intersectionality are stressed by African American feminists
* feminist scholarship revises and
deconstructs the traditional notions of the distinctions between sex/gender; sex/gender
system (also: the biological-physiological/sociological) deconstructed.
* the evolution of feminisms
from feminism
* expansion of Women's Studies
and feminism to include environment, animal world, earth's natural resources,
among other broader interests.
Attachments/Handouts (for distribution):
* Graphs showing the change in enrollment patterns of women in the
traditionally male-dominated subjects (science, math); the idea of
the graphic is to underscore how academia, under pressure from Women's Studies,
has changed our perceptions of the contributions of women to academic/higher
education in the U.S.
* Course syllabi of "Women in Literature," "The Sociology of
Women," demonstrating the influence of Women's Studies and feminism in
contemporary academia.
* Review of the Henry Barnard Prize winning text (awarded by the History of
Education Society): Kim Tolley's The Science Education of American Girls: A
Historical Perspective (New York: Routledge, 2003): 287pp. Tolley's
text critically examines, while challenging traditional assumptions and
historically inaccurate myths, the developments grounding the enrollment
patterns of males and females in their traditional academic fields
in the U.S., covering the period ( http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/heq/45.1/br_13.html)
* Making Connections to Contemporary News Events/Media/Images:
Audio-Visual Aids for Analysis and Study
DVD: Is Feminism Dead? (2004) by Films for the Humanities and Sciences
Film Excerpts to show:
1) Patricia Ireland Interview
2) Phyllis Schlafly, The Eagle Forum, remarks and observations
Questions to the class regarding their impressions of these
divergent positions on feminism and what they mean.
3) Ellen Goodman of The Boston Globe
4) Dr. Tessie Liu, Northwestern University's History and Gender Identity
Departments
5) Dr. Martha Wharton, The Ohio State University's Departments of
African-American Studies and Women's Studies
Question for the class:
How do Professors Tessie Liu and Martha Wharton differ in
their way of viewing how Women's Studies is shaped at their particular
institutions, given that both Dr. Liu and Dr. Wharton teach at cross-sections of
disciplines? What does this tell us about Women's Studies as a discipline? How
does it perhaps or definitely differ from a Gender Identity Department, like
that at a large university like Northwestern University?
Discussion Questions for the Class:
1) What are the key differences between the different waves of feminism?
2) Why are the different and distinguishing characteristics of the three phases
significant for their respective socio-historical periods? In other words, what
do these characteristics tell us about these eras?
3) If Women's Studies has led to the creation of and positively influenced the emerging interdisciplinary
field of Gender Studies, what might some of the drawbacks and problems with this
development be?
Group/Partnered Activity 1:
In Groups of 2-3:
a) list the Positive Aspects for Women's Studies in this discipline's
leading to Gender Studies, and also
b) List the Negative Aspects for Women's Studies in its leading to Gender
Studies,
Group/Partnered Activity 2:
In Groups of 2:
a) Visit websites and/or view printed homepages showing what the various
Women's Studies and Gender Studies Programs offer.
b) List some key similarities and differences in what Women's Studies and Gender
Studies Programs attempt to, claim to offer in the way of an education for their
majors and minors.
4) Why is "interdisciplinari-ness" so constitutive, so central to
Women's Studies?
SOURCES:
Texts:
Kesselman, Amy, et al., "What is Women's Studies?,"
Women: Images and Realities, 4th ed. (Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008): 7-15.
Grewal, Inderpal, and Caren Kaplan, An Introduction to
Women's Studies: Gender in a Transnational World (Boston: McGraw Hill,
2002): xvii-xxii.
Internet Resources:
Internet: http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/heq/45.1/br_13.html
(Review Article on male/female enrollment patterns in the U.S.)
Academic: http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/ws/1st,_2nd,_3rd_wave.htm
(Summary of Three Phases of Women's Movement in the 19th - 21st Centuries)