Syllabus: Marginalization in the Sciences: Gender, Class and Race
Dr. Claudia Leeb
Visiting Assistant Professor
Institut für Wissenschaftsforschung
(Department of Social Studies of Science)
1090, Sensengasse 8, Seminarraum
Teaching Assistant: Mag.a Lisa Sigl
O2.05.
12:00-15.00
Introduction and Definition of Categories
The aim in this first session is to find a working definition of the categories gender, class and race, which will guide the course. Whereas the first text by Jay provides a classic account of how gender is linked to dichotomous thinking, the essay by Hennessey conceptualizes the category of class. The essay by Bhavani and Coulson shows how the concept of “race” complicates feminism.
Nancy Jay, “Gender and Dichotomy,” Feminist Studies, 1981, 7, pp. 38-56.
Rosemary Hennessy, “Class: The Importance of Concepts,” in Mary Eagleton (ed.), A Concise Companion to Feminist Theory, (2003, Blackwell Publishing Ltd.), pp. 53-72.
Kum-Kum Bhavani and Meg Coulson, Feminism and the “Race” Encounter, Mary Eagleton (ed.), A Concise Companion to Feminist Theory, pp. 73-92.
15:00-16.00
Break
16:00-18:00
Gender and Race in Academia
In our second session we discuss texts that analyze the ways in which gender and race become significant factors in academic contexts. Whereas the essay of Valian explores how gendered schemes hinder the career advancement of women in academia, the classic study of Aisenberg and Harrington shows how gendered schemes hinder women’s claims to academic authority. The study of Beoku-Betts explores how racial stereotyping leads to obstacles for African female students pursuing graduate studies in Europe and the United States of America. The text by Collins explores the “outsider-within” status of African American women in the sciences.
Virginia Valian, “Beyond Gender Schemes: Improving the Advancement of Women in Academia,” Hypathia, vol. 20, no. 3 (summer 2005), pp. 198-213.
Nadya Aisenberg and Mona Harrington, “Voice of Authority,” in their Women of Academe: Outsiders in the Sacred Grove (1988, Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press), pp. 64-82.
Josephine Beoku-Betts, “African Women Pursuing Graduate Studies in the Sciences: racism, Gender Bias, and Third World Marginality,” NWSA Journal, vol. 16, no 1 (spring 2004), pp. 116-135.
Patricia Hill Collings, “Learning from the Outsider Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought,” in (En)Gendering Knowledge: Feminists in Academe, Joan E. Hartman and Ellen Messer-Davidow (eds.), (1991, The University of Tennessee Press), pp. 40-65.
03.05.
14.00-16.00
Social Class in Academia
The first session of the second day focuses on the effects of class in academia—a topic that remains unexplored in research. Whereas the text of hooks explores the intersection of class and race in academia, the essay of Kadi leads us through her personal and theoretical struggle to counter the effects of classism in academia. The text of Tova deals with the ways class becomes salient in the life of a Jewish lesbian woman, and the short text written by Cicneros deals with the question of home and belonging in relation to class. Finally, to deepen our understanding of the impact of class in academia, we discuss the study of Walkerdine about working-class women.
bell hooks, “Keeping Close to Home: Class and Education,” in Michelle M. Tokarczyk and Elizabeth A. Fay (eds.), Working-Class Women in the Academy: Laborers in the Knowledge Factory (1993, Amherst: The university of Massachusetts Press), pp. 99-111.
Tova, “mir sayen do! We are here! Some notes on being a working-class Jewish lesbian,” in Susan Raffo (ed.), Queerly Classed: Gay Men and Lesbian Write about Class (1997, Boston, MA: South End Press), pp. 151-161.
Sandra Cisneros, “The House on Mango Street,” in Janet Zandy (ed.) Calling Home: Working Class Women’s Writings (1993, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press), pp. 68-69.
Valerie Walkerdine, “Working-Class Women: Psychological and Social aspects of Survival, in Sue Wilkinson (ed.), Feminist Social Psychologies: International Perspectives (1996, Buckingham/Philadelphia: Open University Press), pp. 145-164.
16.00-17.00
Break
17.00-19.00
Theoretical Models of Explanation 1, Political Theory
In the second part of this day we discuss theoretical explanations of gender, class and racial marginalization. We explore the model of oppression developed by the feminist political theorist Young, which implies five elements (exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence). We conclude this session with a text by Fanon, in which he elaborates the oppressive white gaze upon black skin.
Iris Marion Young, “Five Faces of Oppression,” and “The Scaling of Bodies and the Politics of Identity,” in her Justice and the Politics of Difference (1990, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press), pp. 39-65, pp. 122-156.
Frantz Fanon, “The Fact of Blackness,” in his Black Skin White Masks (1967, New York: Grove Press), pp. 109-140.
04.05.
13.00-15.00
Theoretical Models of Explanation II, Feminist Theories of Science
In this first part of our third day together we discuss in what ways feminist theorists and philosophers of science engage with gender, class and race in their works. We start out with a text by Fausto-Sterling, which explores the complex relation between sex, sexuality and gender. After, we discuss Weynand Tobin’s challenge to the processes of theory selection in moral philosophy. We then engage with an essay by Goering, which explores the ways races becomes a salient category in scientific practices. We conclude with another essay by Fausto-Sterling, which explores they was in which the scientific study of women of color was embedded in the processes of European capitalist expansion.
Anne Fausto-Sterling, “Dueling Dualisms,” in her Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality (2000, New York: Basic Books), pp. 1-29.
Theresa Weynand Tobin, “Assessing Moral Theories: Lessons from Feminist Philosophy of Science,” in Feminists Contest Politics and Philosophy, Lisa N. Gurley, Claudia Leeb & Anna Aloisia Moser (eds.) (2005, Philosophy and Politics Series, Bruxelles/New York: Peter Lang Publisher), pp. 125-137.
Sara Goering, “Conformity through Cosmetic Surgery: The Radical Erasure of Race and Disability,” in Sandra Harding (ed.), Science and Other Cultures: Issues in Philosophies of Science and Technology (2003, New York/London: Routledge), pp. 172-188.
Anne Fausto-Sterling, “Gender, Race, and Nation: The Comparative Anatomy of “Hottentot” Women in Europe, 1815-1817,” in Londa Schiebinger (ed.) Feminism & the Body (2000, Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 203-233.
15.00-16.00
Break
16.00-18.00
Theoretical Models of Explanation III, Lacanian Psychoanalysis
In the second part of this day we shift gears and take a closer look at Lacanian psychoanalysis as a model of explanation for gender, race and class marginalization. I will provide an introductory lecture, which explains the central Lacanian categories, the imaginary, the symbolic and the Real. I will then show how the concept of the Real can be used fruitfully in feminist thinking. We will also read the classic, early text on the mirror stage and a text that engages with sexual difference, as well as feminist interpretations of Lacan.
Jacques Lacan, “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the I Function: as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience,” in Ecrits: A Selection, Bruce Fink (trans.) (2002, New York/London: W.W. Norton & Company), pp. 4-9.
Jacques Lacan, “God and Woman’s Jouissance,” in his On Feminine Sexuality: The Limits of Love and Knowledge, Book XX” Encore 1972-1973, Bruce Fink (trans.) Jacques-Alain Miller (eds.) (1998, New York/London: W.W. Norton & Company), pp. 64-77.
Suzanne Barnard, “Introduction,” in Suzanne and Fink, Bruce (eds.), Reading Seminar XX: Lacan’s major Work on Love, Knowledge, and Feminine Sexuality (2002, Albany: State University of New York Press), pp. 57-75.
Slavoj Zizek, “The Real of Sexual Difference,” in Suzanne and Fink, Bruce (eds.), Reading Seminar XX: Lacan’s Major Work on Love, Knowledge, and Feminine Sexuality (2002, Albany: State University of New York Press), pp. 57-75.
05.05.
13.00-15.00
Theoretical Models of Explanation IV, Foucault’s Post-structuralism
The main aim of this day will be to engage with the French historian and political thinker Michel Foucault as well as feminist appropriations of his works to think about marginalization in the sciences. In our first session we discuss the Sarup’s introduction to Foucault’s overall work. We then discuss sections of Foucault’s Discipline and Punish and History of Sexuality I.
Madan Sarup, “Foucault and the Social Sciences,” in his An Introductory Guide to Post-Structuralism and Postmodernism (second edition) (1993), pp. 58-89.
Michel Foucault, “Docile Bodies,” “The Means of Correct Training,” “Panopticism” (from Discipline and Punish), in Paul Rabinow (ed.), The Foucault Reader (1984, New York: Pantheon Books), pp. 179-213.
Michel Foucault, “Objective,” “Method,” in his The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction (1990, New York: Vintage), pp. 81-102.
15.00-16.00
Break
16.00-18.00
Feminist Appropriations of Foucault
In the following session we discuss texts by feminist thinkers, who critically draw and appropriate Foucault in their works. Whereas Lee Bartkey draws on Foucault to examine the ways in which femininity is disciplined, Stoler draws on Foucault to analyze colonial rule. Leeb appropriates Foucault to discuss the interaction of class, gender and racial disciplining in academia.
Sandra Lee Bartky, “Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power,” in K. Conboy, N. Medina & S. Stanbury (eds.) Writing on the Body: Female Embodiment & Feminist Theory (1997, New York: Columbia university Press), pp. 129-154.
Ann Stoler, “A Colonial Reading of Foucault: Bourgeois Bodies and Radical Selves,” in her Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power: Race and Intimate Colonial Rule (2002, University of California Press), pp. 140-161.
Claudia Leeb, “Introduction,” The Consequences of Class Disciplining in the Academic World,” in her Working-Class Women in Elite Academia: A Philosophical Inquiry (2004, Philosophy and Politics Series, Bruxelles/New York: Peter Lang Publisher), pp. 15-31, pp. 131-151.
08.05
13.00-15.00
Theoretical Models of Explanation V, Judith Butler’s Postmodernism
On our last day we engage with the work of the feminist philosopher Judith Butler to further elaborate the central topics of the course.
Judith Butler, “Gender Regulations,” and “Doing Justice to Someone: Sex Reassignment and Allegories of Transsexuality,” in her Undoing Gender (2004, Routledge), pp. 40-56 and pp. 57-74.
15.00-16.00
Break
16.00-18.00
Thinking about Resistance
In this last session we discuss the theories of resistance and social transformation as outlined by Butler and other thinkers we discussed in the course. We will also conclude the course.
Judith Butler, “The Question of Social Transformation,” in her Undoing Gender (2004, Routledge), pp. 204-231.