Professor
Claudia Klaver 427
Hall of Languages
Department
of English Phone: x2074
Syracuse University email: ccklaver@syr.edu
Office
hours: Tuesday 2:30-4:00,
Thursday 11:00-12:00, and by appt.
ETS 393: Introduction to
Sexualities
Theories of
Gender and Sexuality
Course description:
This course will examine the major contemporary
paradigms that theorize the construction of gender, sexuality, and the
intersection of the two. The course
will be divided into five segments, each of which will examine one of these
paradigms. We will begin by looking at
the paradigm of psychoanalysis, which until the 1970s and 1980s dominated the
theoretical discourse around gender and sexuality. We will then examine feminism,
focusing on the writings of French, American, and British materialist
feminist theorists. The remaining three
paradigms that the course will explore are to some extent reactions to, as well
as being informed by, these two initial models, including theoretical work in
the traditions of Michel Foucault, , Eve Sedgwick, and Judith Butler.
While the readings for the course
will be predominantly theoretical in character, much of the class’s written and
oral exploration of this material will focus on political implications and
questions of “application.” Since the
readings are themselves cumulative and self-referential, the course will unfold
more as a seminar exploring certain issues and questions than as a survey of
distinct theoretical traditions. At the
same time, there will be an emphasis on recognizing and examining the distinct
theoretical assumptions and implications of different theoretical paradigms.
Required course texts:
(Available
at the Folletts Orange Bookstore)
Peter
Gay, ed., The Freud Reader
Monique Wittig, The Lesbian
Body
Michel
Foucault, The History of Sexuality: An
Introduction, Vol. 1
Michel
Foucault, Hercule Barbin
Judith
Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the
Subversion of Identity
(Available
at Campus Copies in the Marshall Sq. Mall)
Photocopy
course packet #5736; readings in the course packet are indicated by “P” in the schedule of readings
Schedule of readings and
assignments:
Week
1
Psychoanalytic formulations
of gender and sexuality
Aug. 28 Freud, Three
Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, pp. 239-253 in
Gay, The Freud Reader
Week
2
Sept. 2 Freud, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, pp. 253-293
Sept. 4 Freud, Dora, Fragment of a Case of Hysteria, pp. 172-215
Week
3
Sept. 9 Freud,
Dora, cont., pp. 215-39 and “Case of Female Homosexuality” P
Sept. 11 Jacques Lacan, “The
Mirror Phase” P
Leader
and Jones, Introduction to Lacan, sels. P
Elizabeth
Grosz, “The Ego and the Imaginary” from
Jacques
Lacan: A Feminist Introduction P
Week
4
Sept. 16 Lacan,
“Signification of the Phallus” P
Leader and Jones,
sels. P
Grosz, “Sexuality and the Symbolic
Order” P
Sept. 18 Rose, “Introduction:
Feminism and the Psychic,” “Feminism
and its
Discontents” P
Kaplan, “Wild Nights:
Pleasure/Sexuality/Feminism” P
Week 5
Sept. 23 Rich, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” P
Sept. 25 Lorde, “Scratching the Surface: Some Notes on
Barriers to Women and Loving,”
“The Use of the Erotic” P
Week
6
Sept. 30 Wittig, “The Category of Sex,” “The Straight Mind,” and
“one is Not Born a
Woman,” sel. P
Oct. 2 Irigaray, “This Sex Which Is Not One” and “When
Our Two Lips Speak” P
Friday, Oct. 3, 1st paper due; 12:00
noon, 401 Hall of Languages
Foucauldian formulations of
sexuality
Week
7
Oct. 7 Foucault, The History of Sexuality: An Introduction,
Vol. 1, pp. 1-49
Oct. 9 Foucault, History, cont., pp. 53-91
Week
8
Oct. 14 Foucault, History, cont.,
pp. 92-concl.
Oct. 16 Foucault, “Preface” to the History
of Sexuality, Vol. 2 P
Week
9
Oct. 21 Foucault, Hercule Barbin, pp. vii (Introduction)-115
Oct. 23 Foucault, Hercule Barbin, cont., pp. 115-concl.
Week
10
Oct. 28 Eve
Sedgwick, “Axiomatic” from Epistemology of the
Oct. 30 Sedgwick,
“Axiomatic,” cont. and “How to Bring Your Kids Up Gay” P
Week
11
Nov. 4 Sedgwick,
“The Beast in the Closet” from Epistemology P
Henry James, “The Beast in the
Jungle” P
Nov. 6 Butler, Gender Trouble, “Preface” and Ch. 1, “Subjects of Sex/Gender/
Desire”
Friday, Nov. 7, 2nd
paper due; 12:00 noon, 401 Hall of Languages
Week
12
Nov. 11 Butler, Gender Trouble, Ch. 1, “Subjects of Sex/Gender/
Desire,” cont.
Nov. 13 Butler, Gender Trouble, Ch. 2,
“Prohibition, Psychoanalysis, and the
Production of the Heterosexual Matrix”
Butlerian formulations of
gender and sexuality
Week
13
Week
14
Nov. 25 Jenny
Livingstone, “Paris is Burning”
Nov. 27 Thanksgiving break; no class
Week
15
Dec. 2 Butler, Bodies That Matter, Ch. 4, “Gender is Burning: Questions of
And Appropriation and
Subversion” and Ch. 8, “Critically Queer” P
3rd paper due; IN CLASS
Course requirements:
Readings: All assigned readings are
required and due on the date provided above.
The reading load throughout the course will be moderately heavy and at
times readings will be extremely challenging as well. You will need to allow a minimum
of four hours a week for the required reading alone.
Attendance and
participation: The majority of the class 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. Always bring your text
to class to facilitate informed discussion. More than one unexcused absence will negatively affect your final
course grade; more than one or two excused absences must be made up through
extra written work; unexcused absences cannot be made up. All students will be expected contribute to
class discussion at least once each week.
Black-board: Part of the discussion for this course will be conducted outside
of class through the web-board. You
will be expected weekly short reading responses or responses to class
discussion and/or others’ written responses during the course of the
semester.
Papers: All students will write
three formal 5-7 page papers on assigned topics or proposed topics of their
choice. Papers are due on date
indicated above. Late papers will be
penalized 1/3 letter grade each day they are late.
Oral presentations: At this point, I have scheduled no formal presentations for the
class, but during the course of the semester I may arrange group presentations
on specific questions relating to the various theoretical models that we will
be exploring.
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 at least once during the semester to introduce yourself
individually, seek assistance on an assignment, give me feedback on the class,
or just say “hi.”
Grading: attendance and participation—15% blackboard—15%; papers—70%