Fall 2008 Courses

English 294-02: Icons, Ideas, Instruments: Feminist Reconstructions (Sarker)

T/TH 9:40-11:10pm MAIN 009

Karl Marx is an icon. Socialism is an idea. A labor union is an instrument. How have feminisms interpreted such figures, concepts, and tools to propose new ways of thinking and acting? This course studies how various feminisms have been informed by and have responded to both prominent and marginalized 20th century thinkers and movements. It focuses on icons such as Antonio Gramsci, Emma Goldman, Simone de Beauvoir, Michel Foucault, Arundhati Roy, and Paolo Freire, among others. It analyzes the implications of ideas such as hegemony, anarchism, racialism, gender-transgression, colonialism, and pedagogy, to name a few. It evaluates the past, current, and future force of political instruments such as the nation-state, civil society, armed repression and revolt, and cultural instruments such as memoirs, pamphlets, novels, films, and art.

*Cross-listed with WGSS 220-01. First day attendance required.*

Fall 2008 Course Listings