| Instructor: Dr Chitra
Sankaran |
Introduction
Topical Introduction
Despite the intense media coverage that feminist activities usually provoke and the extensive and popular discussions featuring feminists and issues related to feminism that are constantly hosted on talk shows, there is very little understanding as yet amongst people about what constitutes feminist thought. Many do not acknowledge the fact for instance, that without the persistent efforts of women-rights activists from (at least) 19th century onwards, many fundamental rights such as voting rights (women's suffrage) and education for women, that people in most developed and many developing countries now take for granted would not have come about.
On the contrary, pervasive media manipulation has led to a certain kind of stereotyping of the feminist movement, and feminists are more often than not depicted as 'home-breakers': as aggressive, immoral, unattractive and so on. Popular depictions in, for instance, Hollywood and Asian movies usually contrast these 'undesirable feminists' with a certain constructed femininity which images 'the feminine' woman as essentially positive and productive within society as opposed to the destructive feminist. One of the texts the students will be asked to analyze will be the box-office bollywood hit 'Aaina' which sets up a contrast between the 'feminine' younger sister and a 'feminist?' elder one where the former is constructed positively and the latter negatively. A consequence of these constructs is that conventionally in many societies, 'feminism' and 'femininity' are perceived as antithetical terms that seem to signal two contrasting and mutual contradictory world-views.
This module will examine these constructions of femininity and deconstruct them in the light of feminist ideology through a close reading and analysis of several texts, both visual (film and video) and literary. It will raise questions about whether there is one, static, feminism or whether the feminist movement is evolving and covers a whole range of beliefs and goals. Similarly it will study different constructions of femininity and show how these images too have been changing over time and differ across cultures.
This is not a course designed exclusively for women. Through the centuries, several men, like John Stuart Mill in England, have contributed actively to the struggle for women's empowerment. Several of the issues regarding the representation and perception of women that will be featured on the course will be of equal relevance to men and women. Finally, as most feminists would readily agree, one cannot bring about a sea change in social perceptions of women without the active co-option of men into its ideologies.
Finally, all the literary texts chosen for this unit will, I hope, serve the dual purpose of illustrating rhetorical lessons as well as providing useful content.
Rhetorical Introduction
This module has a primary and a secondary aim. The primary aim is to help students to write more effectively and persuasively by learning how to marshal evidence and construct arguments to augment their viewpoints. The secondary aim is to critically assess the truth of the claim that feminism and femininity are conventionally depicted in somewhat antithetical terms. The secondary goal is subsumed under the main goal and is important mainly as a means of satisfying the primary goal. Therefore, in the process of critically evaluating the claim about feminism and femininity, students will learn how to unearth evidence, construct arguments and assemble short and long written texts that argue persuasively and succinctly about their perceived viewpoints.
In addition to the above, the module will reinforce the following:
1. By exposing the students to a range of texts (visual and literary) from various cultures, the module will attempt to reinstate the notion that writing is primarily a cultural act and that therefore texts are cultural products.
2. From critically examining these texts, students will develop close-reading skills and also learn to disengage themselves from texts in order to generate their (objective) views on them.
3. In generating their objective/critical views on notions of femininity and feminism through their essays, the students, it is hoped, will be led to re-examine their own (preconceived) notions, regarding either one or both of the above terms.
4. By participating in this deconstructive analytical exercise, students will learn the importance of marshalling arguments and evidence to objectively justify their views about issues that may ordinarily evoke a passionate rather than a critical response from them.
Assessment and Syllabus
Unit 1 (four weeks duration)
Unit one will examine the term 'femininity'. What do we understand by the term 'femininity'? Do different cultures have differing notions of femininity? Does one culture change its notions of what constitutes the ideal feminine over time? What are the ways through which femininity can be constructed within a society?
We will look at two films which project slightly differing versions of femininity:
A Bollywood film - Aaina (mirror)
A Hollywood production - Ever After
Also, one short story - A Jury of Her Peers.
These different texts all present different constructions of the feminine. The close reading and analysis of these texts will be followed by class discussions. Some simple theoretical readings will be distributed to students and they will be asked to read these texts in the light of these theoretical perceptions. In Aaina and in Here After - a remake of the fairy tale "Cinderella" we have two films that have two different constructions of femininity. What do these constructions tell us about the cultures that produced them? What do these versions tell us about the archetypes of femininity in place in these societies? All these questions will be discussed in class.
Finally, we will look at the construction of femininity in the short story A Jury of Her Peers. We will examine the way these women though completely within the patriarchal fold, yet pose some fundamental challenges to patriarchal assumptions through their actions. A close reading of the text will also open our eyes to the subversive ways in which feminist authors construct their texts.
Assessment for Unit 1
At the end of this unit students will be asked to do a five-minute presentation on what they understand by the term 'femininity' and also critique the term. They will also be expected to do a close reading of any one of the three texts that are dealt with in this unit and write an essay on the construction of femininity in that text and the fissures and fractures in that construction.
Rhetorical Goals for Unit 1
To read a text closely and determine its main and sub-thesis
To cognize ways in which social, political and historical contexts determine the sort of text an author produces and the kinds of arguments that are constructed.
To use theoretical perspectives to interpret a text
To challenge binary ways of thinking
To inculcate analytical reading habits, encouraging students to notice details in texts and to challenge textual constructions
To brainstorm and attempt to form opinions about ambivalent/complex issues
To understand that sometimes there are no straight right and wrong responses to certain cultural opinions
To disengage oneself from a text in order to critically evaluate it
To support a claim with evidence
To use language with clarity and precision to express a viewpoint.
Primary Texts for Unit 1
1. Aaina (Mirror) - a film
2. Ever After - a film
3. Glaspell, Susan, " A Jury of Her Peers", from Elizabeth Villiers Gemmette (ed.) Law in Literature : Legal Themes in Short Stories, New York: Praeger, 1992.
Theoretical Readings for Unit 1
(One chapter from )Prabha Krishnan & Anita Dighe. Affirmation and Denial: Construction of femininity on Indian Television, New Delhi: Newbury Park, Calif. Sage Publications, 1990.
A theoretical Reading on "Ideology" - to be handed in class.
Unit Two : (five weeks duration)
This unit will attempt to introduce students to feminist ideology. What are the basic tenets and goals of feminism? Are there differences within feminism? Are there different aims and goals within feminism? We will begin this unit by viewing a video programme entitled "My Feminism" where several leading feminists discuss what they understand by this term and how they perceive feminism. This will be a useful introduction to feminism. This viewing will be followed by a reading of two different but related pieces of work on Feminism by Mitchell et al. & Delmar. Groups of students will be asked to read (either one of) these essays and do a five to seven minute summary of its main points.
This viewing and the presentations will be followed by class discussions on feminist ideology and feminist goals. In these discussions we will also be looking at how in different cultures feminist goals may well intersect with feminine ideals in place. Finally, we will be looking at a play by David Williamson, The Heretic where complex notions of femininity and feminism intersect each other and we will attempt a close-reading and analysis of this text.
Assessment for Unit 2
The students will do a 15 minute group presentation on the theoretical readings . They will also be expected to do a comparative essay that overviews both Unit 1 and 2. They need to discuss the ways in which any one text on the course constructs femininity and how this intersects with feminist ideologies.
Rhetorical goals for Unit 2
To gather evidence to augment your argument from texts of various genres
To develop analytical questions about texts
To develop connections between theoretical and narrative texts
To support a claim with textual evidence
To revise your argument by incorporating relevant criticism and counter-arguments
To compare thematic and other assumptions between two different kinds of texts
Primary Text for Unit 2
1. Cardona Dominique & Laura Colbert. My Feminism [Videorecording] Cardoma Calbert Films, 1997.
Theoretical Readings for Unit 2
(Selections from) Mitchell, Juliet & Oakley, Ann (ed.) What is Feminism? Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986.
Unit 3: (4 weeks duration)
This final unit will attempt to combine the work of the two preceding units. It will look at two more short stories "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "The Blank Page" by Isak Dinesan both considered classic feminist texts and attempt an analysis of the images of women in these texts and critique the constructions using feminist theoretical perspectives.
At the conclusion of the unit, students will be expected to write a term paper based on a case study of any text, fictional or factual that offers a construction of the feminine. In their term paper students must attempt a critique of this feminine construct using feminist theoretical perspectives.
Assessment for Unit 3
Term Paper: To write a critique of a text that constructs the feminine in a particular way.
Rhetorical goals for Unit 3
To cognize conflicting terminologies
To challenge binary thought systems or indeed to question any assumption that is perceived as given
To identify ideological traps embedded in arguments
To make theoretical claims that are demonstrably fact or text based
To use jargon appropriate to the field of discussion in order to display expertise
To usefully tie up your experiential data to your argument
Texts for Unit 3
Gilman Charlotte Perkins. " The Yellow Wallpaper", from Ann J. Lane (ed.) The Charlotte Perkins Gilman Reader, Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999.
Dinesan, Isak. " A Blank Page" from Short Story Collection.
| 
