Professor Claudia Klaver 427 Hall of Languages
Office phone: 443-2074 Office Hours: Tuesday 1:15-3:00,
Email: ccklaver@mindspring.com Wednesday 3:00-4:00, and by appt.
ENG 825
Advanced Seminar in Critical Theory:
Gender and
Sexuality
Course description:
This seminar will rigorously examine four contemporary theoretical models of the social construction of gender and sexuality. One possible subtitle for this course could be “Theories of Gender and Sexuality: Beyond Psychoanalysis,” because we will be examining theoretical models that at once draw upon and critique the “high” psychoanalytic theory of Freud and Lacan. Thus the course will presume some familiarity with psychoanalytic theory, but will not directly examine such theory.
We will begin by examining a number of materialist feminist formulations of gender, sexuality, and their imbrication, particularly the work of Monique Wittig, Luce Irigaray, Cora Kaplan and Adrienne Rich. Next we will study Foucault’s major writings on sexuality, as well as selected essays on politics and power. Our third theoretical focus will be the feminist gender theory of Judith Butler, as well as a number of queer applications of her notion of performative genders and sexualities. Finally, the class will examine Felix Deleuze and Gilles Guattari’s Anti-Oedipus alongside feminist and queer appropriations and critiques of their theorization of sexuality.
Because
many of these theoretical texts are in such close conversation with one
another, as well as with psychoanalytic theory, our exploration of them will be
densely self-referential and intertextual, rather than linear and direct. In
addition to closely examining each of these theoretical paradigms, the goal of
the class will be to explore the critical and political potentialities of these
models for an analysis of gender and sexuality in culture and society. Students’ own areas of interest and
specialization will help to shape the focus of this exploration and to provide
the class with analytical “test cases.”
Required course
texts:
(Available at the SU Bookstore)
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality: An Introduction, Vol. 1
Michel Foucault, The Use of Pleasure: The History of Sexuality, Vol. 2
Michel Foucault, The Care of the Self: The History of Sexuality, Vol. 3
Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity
Judith Butler, Bodies
That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex”
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia
eds. Buchanan and Colebrook, Deleuze and Feminist Theory (recommended; on order)
(Available at Campus Copies in the Marshall Sq. Mall)
Photocopy course packet #5735; readings in the course packet are indicated by “P” in the schedule of readings
Schedule of readings and assignments:
Week 1
Week 2
Sept. 5 Rich,
“Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” P
Lorde, “Scratching the Surface: Some
Notes on Barriers to Women and Loving,”
“The Uses of Pleasure,” and “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women
Redefining
Difference” P
hooks, “Sisterhood: Political
Solidarity between Women”
Haraway, “A
Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology
and Socialist
Feminism in the
1980s” P
Week 3
Sept. 12 Rose, “Introduction: Feminism
and the Psychic,” “Feminism and its
Discontents” P
Kaplan, “Radical Feminism and Literature: Rethinking Millett’s Sexual Politics,”
“Wild Nights: Pleasure/Sexuality/Feminism,” and “The Feminist
Politics of Literary Theory” P
Week 4
Sept. 19 Wittig, The Straight Mind and Other Essays, sel. P
Irigaray, This Sex Which Is Not One, sel. P
Irigaray,
An Ethics of Sexual Difference, sel. P
Foucauldian
formulations of sexuality
Week 5
Sept. 26 Foucault, The History of Sexuality: An Introduction, Vol. 1
Foucault,
“The Eye of Power” P
Week 6
Oct. 3 First half of class meets with Eng. 631
Foucault, The Use of Pleasure: The History of
Sexuality, Vol. 2
Bordo handout
Week 7
Oct. 10 Foucault,
The Care of the Self: The History of
Sexuality, Vol. 3
Butlerian
formulations of gender and sexuality
Week 8
Oct. 17 Butler,
Gender Trouble
Week 9
Oct. 24 Butler,
Bodies That Matter
Week 10
Oct. 31 Wilchins, “Imaginary Bodies, Imagining Minds” (handout)
further reading TBA
Deleuze Guattari, and
the unformulation of gender and sexuality
Week 11
Nov. 7 Deleuze
and Guattari, Anti-Oedipus
Week 12
Nov. 14 Deleuze and Guattari, Anti-Oedipus, cont.
Bibliography
and tentative outline for seminar paper due
Week 13
Nov. 21 Thanksgiving break; no class
Week 14
Nov. 28 Deleuze
and Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus:
Capitalism and Schizophrenia,
sel. P
Olkowski, “Body, Knowledge and Becoming-Woman: Morpho-logic
in Deleuze and Irigaray” in Deleuze and Feminist Theory
Week 15
Braidotti, “Toward a New Nomadism: Feminist Deleuzian Tracks; or
Metaphysics and
Metabolism” P
Colebrook, “Is Sexual Difference a Problem?” in DFT
Braidotti, “Teratologies” in DFT
Course requirements:
Readings: All assigned readings are required and due on the date provided above.
Attendance and participation: This class is an advanced seminar and will be conducted through discussion rather than through lecture, so regular attendance and engaged participation will be essential for the class, both individually and collectively.
Discussion questions: We will begin each class with a discussion question from each student based on the day’s reading.
Oral presentations: All students will give one formal oral presentation introducing the reading for the class period assigned. Presentations will be 15-20 minutes long. Topics are open, but I encourage students to address questions of political implications and/or potential for application in relation to the theoretical readings explored.
Presentation response questions: For each formal presentation, two students will respond with a question directed either toward the presenter or toward the class as a whole arising out of the presentation.
Mid-term essay: A 6-8 page essay based on one or more of the readings from the first half of the course. For students who have already presented or are who preparing to present, this essay can be an extension or elaboration of their presentation topic.
Seminar paper: An 18-25 page essay of publishable quality on a topic of your choice related to the course, developed in consultation with the professor. This paper can revisit material used in the oral presentation, but not material covered in the mid-term essay.
Other:
Contacting me: Outside of my office hours, the best way to contact me is via e-mail, which I check at least once a day, and usually more often.
Office hours: I encourage all of you to stop by my office hours or schedule an appointment with me throughout the semester to introduce yourself individually, discuss a reading, oral, or written assignment, give me feedback on the class, or just say “hi.”