Syllabi

Winter 1999
Introduction to Studies in Women & Gender: Humanities MIC*/WIC*
Required:

WS 102 Course Packet.
Morrison, Toni. 1987. Beloved. New York: Plume-Penguin, 1998.
Shields, Carol. 1993. The Stone Diaries. New York: Penguin, 1995.
Engaged attendance at WS 102 Guest & Instructor Presentations.
Additional readings (handouts or COCC Library reserve), if assigned by guest presenters, to be announced at least one week in advance of scheduled presentation. See WS 102 Course Plan for Scheduled Presentations.

Instructor: Cora Agatucci; Office: Deschutes 14; Office Hours: See Winter 1999 Schedule & by appointment
Office Phone & Voicemail: (541) 383-7522; Mailbox: Deschutes 12, Humanities Dept. Office
Electronic mail: cagatucci@cocc.edu or within COCC via FirstClass, address e-mail to: Cora Agatucci
[Apply for a FirstClass E-Mail Account now: COCC Links: COCC Computer Labs]

Prerequisites: None. Students with college entry-level reading, thinking, listening, and writing skills should be prepared to succeed in this course. This is an introductory course in women's or gender studies with a focus on Humanities topics. No previous coursework in such studies is required, although such background is, of course, valuable..

30% Credit/ No Credit	Participation Credits ("PC" for selected class activities) & informal written Dialogues (individual and small group responses to major course presentations & readings). Some may be made up or turned in late with no penalty by arrangement with instructor, and a limited number of extra credit options will be offered.
30% letter graded	Midterm Discussion Paper (4-to-5 typed/wordprocessed, double-spaced critical/analytical paper on a focused topic drawn from course presentations & readings in the first half of the term). Revision Option for papers turned in on time; Late papers accepted with a one grade penalty.
30% letter graded	Written Critical Review (of 3-to-5 outside sources on a topic of personal interest relevant to the course, including preliminary topic description & source list, small group oral report, and 4 extra copies or electronic version for webpublishing on WS 102 website). In-Class Oral Report cannot be made up or given late; Written Critical Review will be accepted late with a one grade penalty but no later than the Final Exam meeting.
10% self- grading	Final Course Reflections & Self-Evaluation (may be prepared in advance or written during scheduled Final Exam meeting): Final will not be accepted later than the scheduled Final Exam date.

Introduction to Studies in Women and Gender: Humanities explores gender issues and women’s experiences, cultures, traditions and achievements in the arts and humanities. Students will be introduced to relevant feminist theories, goals, and concepts—and their historical roots in women’s movements and social activism--which have stimulated the development of U.S. academic studies of women and gender. Over the past thirty years, such studies have generated a substantial body of new or revised knowledge of women and gender previously neglected or de-valued in traditional academic disciplines and professional fields. Instructor and guest faculty will offer interdisciplinary treatments of women’s and gender topics in presenters’ fields of expertise in the humanities, such as history, literature, fine arts, communication, film and media studies, philosophy, religion, and multicultural/global studies. (The content of WS 102 varies from year to year: to review this term's topics and presentations, and a week-by-week schedule of assignments, see the current WS 102 Course Plan.)

Through class and small group discussion, informal and formal writing, students will be encouraged to engage the issues presented in class, compare interdisciplinary presentations and readings, think critically about their implications, apply and synthesize what they are learning, and make connections to their own personal and professional lives. One principle of feminist educational theory is that knowledge is created by people working together in constructive dialogue. WS 102 students are encouraged to be active learners and share their ideas, while respecting the ideas of others: student responses, questions, interpretations, self-reflections play key parts in generating the shared knowledge and productive learning experiences of the course. In the second half of the term, students will also be given the chance to extend the course learning experience by selecting and investigating a topic of personal interest in women's and gender studies in the humanities.

B List Humanities Credit: WS 102 may be taken as a B-list Humanities course credit for an associate’s degree. *"M" or "MIC" Credit: The "M" in "WS 102 M/W" means you will earn Multicultural Infusion Course ("MIC") credit on your transcript for successfully completing this course, which may satisfy cultural diversity course requirements at transfer institutions.

"If in my life I have developed any ability to understand those who are other to me,
other in race or gender or culture or sexual preference,
a good deal of my training in empathy must have come from
the practice fiction and poetry have given me
in taking on other selves, other lives."
--David H. Richter, Falling into Theory, 1994

*"W" or "WIC" Credit: The "W" in "WS 102 M/W" means you will earn Writing In Context of other disciplines ("WIC") credit on your transcript for successfully completing this course, which may satisfy lower division course requirements for writing in the context of interdisciplinary fields (like women's and gender studies) or of specific academic disciplines (like humanities, history, anthropology, etc.) at transfer institutions. For extra help with writing or research assignments in WS 102 or other courses, try these resources:

WS 102 M/W- Cora Agatucci Introduction to Studies in Women and Gender: Humanities

WS 102 M/W- Cora Agatucci
Introduction to Studies in Women and Gender:
Humanities