Activism Course Readings

The following discussion of readings for a course on Feminist Campus Activism
took place on WMST-L in November 2006.  For additional WMST-L files available
on the Web, see the WMST-L File Collection.

Hi all:
I am teaching a new course next semester called "Feminist Campus
Activism." It's an intro level Women's Studies course designed for
students to organize an on-campus activist project over the course of
the semester. I want to do some reading with them that will introduce
them to "feminist activism" in a lively and engaging fashion. I'm
already planning to use portions of "Grassroots" and "Manifesta" by
Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards. I'm also considering using
portions of Inga Muscio's "Cunt."

Best,

Jennifer
 
Jennifer Nelson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Women's Studies Program
University of Redlands
1200 E. Colton Ave.
PO Box 3080
Redlands, CA 92373-0999

Is Katz and Veland's "Get Smart!: A Woman's Guide to Equality on
Campus" too outdated for your purposes?  Julie


~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Julie K. Daniels
English and Women's Studies
Century College
3300 Century Ave. N.
White Bear Lake, MN  55110
651-779-3364
julie.daniels  AT  century.edu

"Earth worms are so pleasant."     Zoe K. Daniels, at age 3

We (Elissa Auther and I) think any and all courses on feminist activism
should use our forthcoming special issue of the NWSA Journal on feminist
activist art (Issue 19.1, Spring 2007). It will be out in April, and
features 6 essays on feminist activism reaching back to the '70s (Suzanne
Lacy's pioneering feminist performance that transformed discourse on rape)
to what is happening right now in Afro Cuban feminist hip hop, 4 in-depth
review essays covering 9 texts with critiques of their attention to feminist
activist art, a stimulating forum featuring key voices from feminist art
criticism and history, and two outstanding feminist collectives, subRosa and
the Guerrilla Girls. The Girls appear twice in our issue, the second time in
a revealing three-way interview conducted by Kristen Raizada, and including
the Dyke Action Machine (DAM!) and Toxic Titties from LA. Liberally
illustrated, with some images in color, a first for this journal.

Don't miss it! Of course, if you are an NWSA member, you will get it
automatically. And, hopefully, your library is a subscriber.
 
Mary Jo Aagerstoun, Ph. D.
Independent Art Historian
West Palm Beach, Florida
mjaagerstoun  AT  mathisnet.com

Dear Jennifer Nelson,

Here are a few readings and resources (in no particular order) that I
have used both in undergrad Intro to WS and in a graduate seminar
Feminist Approaches to Performance Studies for a unit on activism,
including an essay I recently published on campus TA union organizing
and feminist art. - best, Jeanne

1.  Cvetkovich, Ann. Intro + Ch 5 "AIDS activism and Public Feelings:
Documenting ACT UP's Lesbians," and "Legacies of Trauma, Legacies
of Activism: Mourning and Militancy Revisited," in An Archive of
Feelings by Ann Cvetkovich, pp156-238.

2.  "Listening to Local Practices: Performance and Identity Politics
in Riverside California" by Deborah Wong in Decomposition:
Postdisciplinary Performance, pp 18-38.

3.  "Visualize Academic Labor in the 1990s: Inventing an Activist
Archive in Santa Barbara," by Jeanne Scheper. Feminist Studies 31.3
(2005).

4.WAC Archives:  
http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/specialcoll/services/rjd/findingaids/WAC-Chicagob.html

5.  Mark Dery, "Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing, and Sniping in
the Empire of Signs"
http://www.markdery.com/culture_jamming.html (also
available from Open Magazine).

6.
http://abacus.bates.edu/people/orgs/outfront/PISSAR%20poster.htm
PISSAR (People In Search of Safe and Accessible Restrooms)


Jeanne Scheper, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Houston
Women's Studies
624 Agnes Arnold Hall
Houston, TX 77204-3005
jscheper  AT  uh.edu

I'd love to see the syllabus for your course. I've taught a course 
called "Feminism and Social Activism," and I assign activist projects 
in all my classes, even if "activism" isn't in the course title. (This 
semester, for example, students in my "Women, Violence, & Resistance" 
course organized a Take Back the Night event.) Below are some of the 
books I've used when teaching the undergraduate feminist activism 
course:

Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings by Miriam Schneir
Moving the Mountain: The Women's Movement in America Since 1960 by 
Flora Davis
Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future by Jennifer 
Baumgardner and Amy Richards
Anything We Love Can Be Saved: A Writer's Activism by Alice Walker
That Take Ovaries: Bold Females and Their Brazen Acts by Rivka Solomon

The latter is not specifically about political activism, but the 
contributors share true stories of outrageous acts and everyday 
rebellions that some might consider activist in nature. It's a fun 
accompaniment to the heavier readings, and my students are energized 
and inspired by it. One semester they did a "That Takes Ovaries Open 
Mike" for their group project.

Peace!
Shereen Siddiqui
Florida Atlantic University
siddiqui  AT  fau.edu

Our Women's Studies Program at Southern Oregon University is in the midst of
transforming our final requirement for our minor; in the past it has been a
"Practicum" that has mostly attracted students in Social Science who are
interested in social service placements or service learning opportunities. I
would like to broaden the course to bring in more of our Arts and Letters
(arts, humanities) students and our minors who major in business as well.  I
am thinking of retitling the course "Feminist Theory (or Theories) in
Action" since we cannot sustain a feminist theory course.  We are under the
budget gun - the whole university is - with low enrollments.

Any ideas for readings, videos, other resources, on feminist activism in a
broad understanding of that term would be highly desired.  Send to me:
Barbara Scott Winkler, Director
Women's Studies Program
winklerb  AT  sou.edu  or winklerb  AT  charter.net  (first email address is
preferable).  If there is interest from the list I will share.  Best,
Barbara

P.S.  I also teach Moving the Mountain in my Contemporary U.S. Women's
Movements class and even though it needs updating it is very well received
as highly readable by the students.  I also try to "smuggle" feminist
theories into that class, but it is not for minors only, is gen ed, and I
stay on the history/organizations.

My book on the women's movement in Dayton, Ohio, 
Feminism in the Heartland (Columbus: OSUP, 2002), 
could be useful in a class on feminist activism. 
In her review in Against the Current, Sonya Huber 
says that it is "essential for activists who are 
hungering for context and wisdom to guide their 
own organizing efforts."
Best
Judith Ezekiel
-- 

ezekiel  AT  univ-tlse2.fr
Equipe Race et Genre
Simone-SAGESSE
http://www.univ-tlse2.fr/simone/spip/0start.php3
UniversitT de Toulouse-Le Mirail

The UVA Women's Center offers two courses on feminist activism, coupled 
with an internship either in the center itself or at a local agency that 
advocates for women in some respect. Among the books required for the 
course (in addition to many individual readings) are:

"Community Activism and Feminist Politics in the United States" (fall 
course):
Baumgardner, J., & Richards, A. (2005). /Grassroots: A field guide for 
feminist activism/. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
hooks, b. (2000). /Feminism is for everbody: Passionate politics/. 
Cambridge, MA: South End Press.**
///iris/. (Spring 2005). Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia 
Women's Center.
Labaton, V., & Martin, D. L. (Eds.). (2004). /The fire this time: Young 
activists and the new feminism/. New York: Anchor Books.
Tea, M. (Ed.). (2003). /Without a net: The female experience of growing 
up working class/. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press.

"Community Activism and Feminist Politics: A Global Perspective" (spring 
course):**
Burn, S. M. (2005). /Women across cultures: A global perspective/ 
(Second ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
Ehrenreich, B., & Hochschild, A. R. (Eds.). (2002). /Global woman: 
Nannies, maids, and sex workers in the new economy/. New York: Owl Books.
Seager, J. (2003). /The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World/ (Third 
ed.): Penguin.

If you'd like copies of the syllabi, contact Dawn Anderson at 
dla3y  AT  virginia.edu. She's a member of this list, but I haven't seen any 
response from her about this subject (apologies if she has and this is a 
duplication!).

Claire Kaplan

-- 
Claire N. Kaplan, Ph.D.
Director, Sexual & Domestic Violence Services
University of Virginia Women^-s Center
PO Box 800588
Charlottesville VA 22908-0588
cnk2r  AT  virginia.edu
http://womenscenter.virginia.edu/sdvs