Contents of spoon-archives/french-feminism.archive/Syllabi/Women_men_and_the_body
WISE 3P96: WOMEN, MEN, AND THE BODY
Brock University
Instructor: Tom Craig, Ph.D
tcraig@spartan.ac.BrockU.ca
Movement Educator: Maureen Connolly, Ph.D
Rationale
Women's Studies and feminist theories are increasingly acknowledging
"body issues" and "body rights" as fundamental content in Women's
Studies curricula. While the body is included as an important topic in
many Women's Studies courses; there is no one course that focuses
thematically on the living body itself. This course buttresses the
content and conceptual frameworks being developed in other WISE
courses while offering alternative theories, influences, and
experiential applications relating to the body in the lives of women
and men. WISE 3P96 is presented as an opportunity for learners to
respect diversity, celebrate connection, and engender the bodily
sensibility that humans are at their best when they live with a
conscious awareness of their own intercorporeal authenticity.
Course Description
A critical and reflective examination of historical, philosophical,
socio-cultural and religious influences on the body from a variety of
feminist perspectives. Experiential work (somatic, movement,
expressive) is part of the course experience. Lecture/tutorials,
seminars, experiential labs, 3 hours per week.
Course Objectives
To provide participants with knowledge of theoretical and conceptual
frameworks relating to the body.
To provide participants with opportunities to examine influences,
traditions, and research relating to the body.
To provide participants with opportunities to understand the
connections between feminist theories and practices and the body.
To provide participants with opportunities for blending experiential
and theoretical learning.
Course Reading Materials
Photocopied package of selected readings (see attached reading list
below) will be available in the bookstore and on reserve in the
library.
Course Content and Organization
Our experiential labs, lectures, and feminist seminar process will be
organized around three deeply embodied thematics:
religion and spirituality,
health, illness and disability, and
lived relation.
We will explore a variety of theoretical and practical influences on
the body using these three thematics to guide our exploration of the
bodily-expressive ground of all human experience. The
bodily-expressive components of our experiential laboratories in the
gym will provide an alternative and complementary means for exploring
the issues, topics, and theories made explicit in our lectures and
discussion in the classroom. Successful participation depends on the
quality of both teacher and student preparation in all course
activities. Course participants are expected to commit themselves to
active reading of all the required materials, open engagement in the
experiential labs, and critical, respectful interaction in the
classroom.
Students will be asked to participate in teacher evaluation during the
course itself and at the end of the semester. Student learning will be
evaluated across three modalities:
experiential-expressive,
interactive,
written.
Student Evaluation
Experiential-expressive 30%
Midterm bodily-expressive performance (in teams of 2)
Final bodily-expressive performance (in teams larger than 2)
Interactive 30%
Ongoing participation in experiential labs, class discussion, and
feminist seminar process
plus an oral presentation based on a choice between:
a) Email discussion process among members of this class and--starting
Feb 6th --members of the third year course, "New Critical Issues in
the Study of Religion: Ethnicity and Gender" taught by Mary Keller and
Jeremy Carrette at the University of Sterling in Scotland.
b) Journal exchange process
c) Comparative Ethnography on the "Love and Feminism" Conference at
Brock University (Feb 12-14, 1998)
Written 40%
Formal paper: 8-12 double-spaced pages (not including title page
and references)
Written draft due 2-3 weeks before the final paper is turned in at the
end of the semester.
Choice among:
a) annotated bibliography (10-12 entries)
b) movement profile
c) policy investigation/critique
Note: Further guidelines for evaluation components will be negotiated
during the first two weeks of class. Modifications or individualized
contracts are possible depending on participants' particular
circumstances.
SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
WEEK 1
Religion and Spirituality
Jan 5-9
* Introduction to course
* Introduction to the themes of Religion and Spirituality
* Lab: Introduction to experiential activities and strategies
* Readings for this week
Eastman, 7-8: "The Brahman in the Pit"
WEEK 2
Religion and Spirituality
Jan 12-16
* Lab
Development of movement sequences from topics/issues within readings
* Readings for this week
Fisher 1997, 12-37: "The Religious Response"
DFT: "Embodiment;" "Essentialism;" "Patriarchy;" "Feminist
Theories," "Postmodernism,"
Supplemental Readings: DFT: "Popular Religiosity," "Goddess,"
"Wicca/Neopaganism," "Ecofeminism"
WEEK 3
Religion and Spirituality
Jan 19-23
* Lab
Development of movement sequences around topic of oppression
* Readings for this week
WBC: "Introduction" (xiii-xix), "When Women Interpret the Bible"
(1-9)
Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings 1-11; WBC: "1 and 2 Kings" (pp. 96-109)
DFT: "Hermeneutics of Suspicion," "Feminist Hermeneutics,"
"Feminist Theologies"
WEEK 4
Religion and Spirituality 4
Jan 26-30
* Lab
Exploring/Developing spiritual identity
* Readings for this week
Goldenberg 1996, 58-68: "The Tribe and I," 172-189: "The Body of
Knowledge"
New Testament: Mark 1-4
WBC: "Mark" (263-74)
DFT: "Orthodoxy," "God"
WEEK 5
Health, Illness and Disability 1
Feb 2-6
* Lab
"The Work of Talk"-power dynamics in "healing" interactions
* Readings for this week:
Northrup 1994, 3-24: "The Patriarchal Myth and the Addictive
System,"
25-49: "Feminine Intelligence and New Modes of Healing"
DFT: "Bioethics," "Healing"
Rintala 1991, 260-279: "The Mind-Body Revisited"
WEEK 6
Health, Illness and Disability 2
Feb9-13
* Lab
Midterm Performance
* Readings for this week
Markula 1995, 424-453: "Firm but shapely..."
Shilling 1993, 1-18: "Introduction," 70-99: "The Socially
Constructed Body"
Johnson, ed. 1995, ix-xviii: "Introduction," 241-251: "The Tao of
the Body"
WEEK 7 (Feb 16-20)
No Classes--Reading Week
WEEK 8
Health, Illness and Disability 3: Pain
Feb 23-27
* Lab
Empathy experiences, movement sequences expressing themes of pain,
illness, disability
* Readings for this week
Toombs 1995, 9-23: "The Lived Experience of Disability"
Frank 1991, 51-63: "The Body as Territory and Wonder"
Bloom 1992, 313-34: "How can we know the dancer from the dance?
Discourses of the self-body."
DFT: "Disability," "Handicappism," "Justice and Social Change"
WEEK 9
Lived Relation 1: Lifeworlds, Homeworlds, Social-Semiotic Codes
Mar 2-6
* Lab
Living the multiply located body
* Readings for this week
Johnson 1983, 1-14: "Shrinking Before Authorities"
May, Strikwerda, and Hopkins, eds. 1996, 79-94: "Male Friendship
and Intimacy"
Hagan: "Orchids in the Arctic"
Bell and Valentine, eds. 1995, 75-95: "Bodywork"
WEEK 10
Lived Relation 2: The Personal is Political-Despite the Best of
Repressions
Mar 9-13
* Lab
Anger, conflict, fear-feelings as inspiration for movement sequences
* Readings for this week
DFT: "Agency," "Battering"
Goldenberg 1996, 149-155: "The Same Stuff;" 156-171: "Anger in the
Body"
May, Strikwerda, and Hopkins, eds. 1996, 95-115: "Gender Treachery"
WEEK 11 (Mar 16-20)
Lived Relation 3: Transformational Processes
* Lab
Investing in Self-Critical Reflection and Social-Semiotic
Transgression
* Readings for this week
May, Strikwerda, and Hopkins, eds. 1996, 119-134: "Real Men;"
289-305: "Are Men Oppressed?"
WEEK 12 (Mar 23-27)
Lived Relation 4: Secrecy, Private Boundaries, Authentic Communication
* Lab
Trust, Texture, Self, Other
* Readings for this week
Bok 1983, 3-14: "Approaches to Secrecy;" 15-28: "Secrecy and Moral
Choice;" 29-44: "Coming to Experience Secrecy and Openness"
WEEK 13 (Mar 30-Apr 3)
*Final Performances*
*Oral Presentations*
READING LIST
Bell, D. and Valentine, G. Eds (1995). Mapping desire-geographies of
sexualities. New York: Routledge.
Specific reading:
75-95, "Bodywork-Heterosexual Gender Performances in City Workplaces"
(L. McDowell)
Bloom, L.R. (1992) "How can we know the dancer from the dance?
Discourses of the self-body." Human Studies, 15:313-334.
Bok, Sissela. Secrecy: On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation.
New York: Vintage (Random House).
Specific readings:
3-14, "Approaches to Secrecy" (ch 1)
15-28, "Secrecy and Moral Choice" (ch 2)
29-44, "Coming to Experience Secrecy and Openness" (ch 3)
Eastman, R. (1993). 2nd edition. The ways of religion: an introduction
to the major traditions. New York: Oxford University Press.
Specific reading: "The Brahman in the Pit," pp 7-8 (Roy Amore and
Larry Shinn)
Fisher, M. P. (1997). Living Religions, third edition. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.
Specific reading: Chap 1, "The Religious Response," pp 12-37.
Frank, A. (1991) At the Will of the Body. Boston: Houghton and Miflin.
Specific reading:
51-63, "The Body as Territory and as Wonder"
Goldenberg, Naomi (1996) Resurrecting the Body: Feminism, Religion,
and Psycho- Analysis. New York, New York: Crossroad Publishing.
Specific Readings:
58-68, "The Tribe and I" (ch 4)
149-155, "The Same Stuff" (ch 9)
156-171, "Anger in the Body" (ch 10)
172-189, "The Body of Knowledge" (ch 11)
Hagan, K. L. () Fugitive Information: essays from a feminist hothead.
San Francisco: Pandora (Harper).
Specific reading:
59-79, "Orchids in the Arctic"
Johnson, D.H. (1983) Body, Boston: Beacon Press.
Specific reading:
1-14, "Shrinking Before Authorities"
Johnson, D.H. (Ed) (1995) Bone, breath and gesture Berkeley, CA: North
Atlantic Books.
Specific readings:
ix-xviii, "Introduction" (Johnson)
241-251, "The Tao of the Body" (Mary Whitehouse)
Markula, P. (1995) Firm but shapely, fit but sexy, strong but thin:
the postmodern aeorbicizing female bodies. Sociology of Sport Journal,
12, 424-453.
May, Larry, Strikwerda, Robert., Hopkins, Patrick D., eds. (1996)
Rethinking masculinity. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield
Publishers.
Specific readings:
79-94, "Male Friendship and Intimacy" (Strikwerda and May)
95-115, "Gender Treachery" (P. Hopkins))
119-134, "Real Men" (H. LaFollette)
289-305, "Are Men Oppressed?" (K. Clatterbaugh)
Newsom, Carol A., Ringe, Sharon H., eds. (1992) The Women's Bible
Commentary. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press.
Specific Readings:
xii-xix, "When Women Interpret the Bible" (Newsom and Ringe)
1-9, "Introduction" (Newsom and Ringe)
96-109, "1 and 2 Kings" (C. Camp)
263-274, "Mark" (M. A. Tolbert)
Northrup, C. (1994) Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom. New York: Bantam
Specific reading:
3-24, "The Patriarchal Myth and the Addictive System"
25-49, "Feminine Intelligence and New Modes of Healing"
Rintala, Jan (1991) The mind-body revisited. Quest 43, 260-279.
Russell, Letty M. Clarkson, J. Shannon, eds. (1996) Dictionary of
Feminist Theologies. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press
4-5, "Agency"
23-25, "Battering"
31, "Bioethics"
69-70, "Disability"
76-78, "Ecofeminism"
82-83, "Embodiment"
88, "Essentialism"
99-100, "Feminist Hermeneutics"
101-116, "Feminist Theologies"
116-120, "Feminist Theories"
128-130, "God"
130-132, "Goddess"
135-136, "Handicappism"
137-138, "Healing"
140-141, "Hermeneutics of Suspicion"
159-162, "Justice and Social Change"
197-198, "Orthodoxy"
205-206, "Patriarchy"
213-14, "Popular Religiosity"
217-218, "Postmodernism"
314, "Wicca / Neopaganism"
Shilling, C. (1993) The body and social theory. Newbury Park, CA:
Sage.
Specific reading:
1-18, "Introduction"
70-99, "The Socially Constructed Body"
Toombs, S.K. (1995) The lived experience of disability. Human Studies,
18, 9-23.
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