Feminist Futures: Place Theory and Method
Note: This is the course description and readings for a literature course on “Women and Literature” offered in the Fall of 2021. Syllabus making is labor. In case, you use any part of this syllabus, I would appreciate, if you acknowledge it.
Course Description:
In 2019, the Chilean Feminist Collective Las Tesis wrote the song “Un Violador en Tu Camino” (A Rapist in Your Path) to protest against the increasing violence, rape and disappearance of women in Chile. The foundational philosophy of the song is the complicity of the State in gender violence and a call for dismantling the structures of the State to challenge patriarchy. The song, the movement and the choreography with women mostly closing their eyes with a piece of black cloth caught the attention of feminist activists and was performed globally. To close eyes indicates oppression, not being allowed to see but simultaneously it opens up the space to imagine futures that the State does not make space for.
Our course on Feminist Futures take up a few key questions: Why do we need to envision a future that recognizes the histories of colonialism and slave trade and yet advocates for another world? Who imagines these futures? Who is a participant in these futures? What kind of scholarly and advocacy work within the university spaces and beyond are enabled by feminist futures? In this course, we dream about feminist futures, through three lenses: place, theory and method. We will find our way through the course with a focus on the Indian Ocean World to imagine forms of placemaking; then orient ourselves with contemporary thought in Black Feminisms, Indigenous Feminisms and Global South Feminisms; and finally we will end our journey with an emphasis on archives as a methodological practice to create and reflect.
As part of a feminist pedagogy, we will create an inclusive space in the classroom, that allows you to experiment, collaborate, create joy, interrogate and collectively dream of a world that you want to be a part of.
The possibilities are for you to imagine…
Course goals:
Ø To reflect on how literature and the arts can be transformative in imagining feminist futures.
Ø To consider the cultural and historical ramifications of feminist futures for our past, present and future.
Ø To orient you with archival methods and practices in feminist digital scholarship
Fall Schedule, 2021
Unit I: Indian Ocean Feminisms
Week 1 Whom does the future belong?
31st August, Tue: Welcome Day
2nd September, Thursday: Pumzi and continuing syllabus discussion
Week 2 Speculative Futures and Otherwise Possibilities
7th September, Tue : Short Stories “Floating Rugs” and “Mother Whale”
9th September, Thursday: Poetry
Week 3 Place(d) Futures
14th September, Tue : Latitudes of Longing
16th September, Thursday: Latitudes of Longing
Week 4 Place(d) Futures
21st September, Tue: Latitudes of Longing
23rd September, Thursday : Latitudes of Longing
Week 5 Pausing for the Future
28th September Tue: Peer-Review Day
30th September, Thursday : General Review and Reflection Day/In-class work day
Close Reading Assignment Due, 30th September, 11:59 pm EST, via Canvas
Unit II: Dialogues in Theory
Week 6 Past Futures, Present Futures
5th October, Tue : Venus in Two Acts” by Saidiya Hartman
7th October, Thursday: Sharpe’s “In the Wake”
Week 7 Indigenous Feminisms and Ecological futures
12th October, Tue: “Fish, Kin, and Hope: tending to water violations in amiskwaciwâskahikan and Treaty Six Territory” and “Indigenizing the Anthropocene” by Zoe Todd.
14th October, Thursday: “Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities” by Eve Tuck
Week 8 : Global South Feminisms and Institutional Futures
19th October, Tue : Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s Feminism without Borders (excerpts)
21st October, Thursday : “Complaint as Feminist pedagogy” by Sarah Ahmed,
Week 9 : Pausing For the future II
26th October, Tue: Afghan Voices Audio Project
28th October, Thursday: Peer Review and Reflection Activity
Dialogues Assignment Due, 31st October, 11:59 pm EST via Canvas
Unit III: Archives
Week 10 Archival Futures
2nd November, Tuesday : Readings on Feminist Archive
4th November, Thursday : Introduction to Digital Archives
Week 11 Archival Futures
9th November, Tuesday : Visit to Pitt Library. Library’s collections (subject to COVID regulations)
11th November, Thursday: Workshop on Omeka
Week 12 Archival Futures
16th November, Tuesday: In-class Archive Activities
18th November, Thursday: In-class Archive Activities
Week 13
Thanksgiving Break
Week 14 Dream the future
30th November, Tuesday: In-class Consultations/Work-Time
2nd December, Thursday : Presentation Day
Week 15 Dream the Future
7th December, Tuesday: Presentation Day
9th December, Thursday: Wrapping it up
Final exhibits and reflections due on 17th December, Friday, 11:59 pm EST.
