WGST-3010
Issues in Women’s
Studies-WAC
(Meets the non-Western
requirement)
Online Course
Instructor: Patricia A. Murphy, PhD
Email: patricia.murphy2@utoledo.edu and website www.patmurphyphd.com
Dr. Murphy
has been teaching for the Department of Women and Gender Studies at UT since 1999.
Course Description
This course
explores global feminism with the premise that race, gender, sex, sexuality,
and disability. are not biologically determined. Like disability, they
are socially constructed. That is to say they: 1. are
imaginary/made-up categories; 2. are believed to be stable, "real",
and concrete; 3. are changeable and unstable in definition across time, space
and place; and 4. have real social consequences even though they are made-up
and changeable across time, space and place. We can use these pieces of
the definition of a "social construct" to test each of these
categories and see how they are NOT biologically determined even though all them
(including disability) is believed to be biologically determined.
This is a
NON WESTERN course and so our focus will be on Muslim women in Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, Palestine, and other Muslim countries. This focus
is designed to assist us in exploring the “shifting ground of Muslim women in
the global era (also the name of our text).”
This course
also explores the agonizing process of Africa and the Middle East as these ancient
cultures move from the imperialism/colonialism/tribalism, a process that took
Europe MORE THAN 600 YEARS of bloody wars, including two world wars. The status of women in this process is
problematic, contested, and manipulated by economic, political, and religious
ideologies. The Arab Spring of 2011 has brought this process to a new level of
importance in terms of the role of women in the demand for change and democracy
in Arab and Muslim countries.
Course Objectives:
1. To introduce students to issues in global
feminism
2. To explore the status of women with
disabilities in global era.
3. To explore culture-specific gender
disparities existing in different societies.
4. To reach toward a sense of global
citizenship based on knowledge and empathic imagination which may allow for a
greater potential for a powerful global sisterhood.
5. To enhance critical thinking and
writing skills in thinking about international women’s issues.
6. To observe and appreciate social
change as it impacts women around the world.
7. To grasp the need for developing a
sense of global responsibility and action.
8. To appreciate the complexity of this
process without surrendering to simple minded solutions for something that will
take longer than our own life times.
9. To humbly approach cultural differences
while acknowledging our own ignorance and, at the same time, bringing a
feminist analysis to these issues.
10. To explore how technology and
globalization is speeding up the process of change of traditional cultures and
how these technologies are used by women.
11. To acknowledge our responsibility as
Americans to the women of the world through knowledgeable activism.
Readings:
Required Books are available at People Called Women
Bookstore at 6060 Renaissance Place, Toledo, OH 43606 and you may order books
from them by telephone at 419/535-6455 or email at PCWtoledo@yahoo.com
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank.
(2007). The Global Citizen’s
Handbook: Facing our World’s Crises and
Challenges. New York: Harper/Collins.
Nouraie-Simone, Fereshteh
(Ed.). (2005) On shifting ground: Muslim women in the global era. New York:
The Feminist Press at The City University of
New York.
Essays will be available on the Course Menu
under Reading and they include:
Annas,
P. (2007,
September/October). Settling for
a fever: Baghdad burning: Girl blog from Iraq and Baghdad burning II: More girl blog from Iraq. Women’s review of books, Vol.
24./ No. 5.
Dowling, P. (2009, March). Consangjineous Marriage and Attitudes to Disability in Some Arabic Cultures. http://www.legalaidboard.ie/lab/publishingnsf/content/The Researcher.
Haq, F. S. (2003). Career and Employment
Opportunities for Women with Disabilities in Malyaysia. Asia Pacific disability rehabilitation journal, Vol. 14, No. 1.
Nagata, K. K. (2003). Gender
and Disability in the Arab Region: The Challenges in the New Millennium. Asia Pacific disability rehabilitation journal, Vol. 14, No. 1.
Stowasser, B.
(2001 Spring).
Old Shaykhs, Young Women, and the
Internet: The Rewriting of Women’s
Political Rights in Islam. Muslim World, 00274909, Vol. 91, Issue
½.
Discussion and Participation: You will be placed in a discussion group of no more than 12
students. In your group, you will be
asked to read and to respond to the essays presented by at least 3 other
students. Rules for feedback on the work
of other students include: 1)
acknowledge what’s there in an essay; 2) note what is missing in the essay if
anything; 3) acknowledge what was best about the essay; and 4) identify what
essay you are addressing. Your
participation is worth 10 percent of the grade.
Therefore, you will need to log on at least twice per week or more in
order to accomplish this. Lack of
participation can have a serious impact on your final grade since is it 10
percent of your grade.
Writing:
You will write 16 “Shifting Ground” essays and other essays of a minimum of 300
words and 7 global citizenship essays of a minimum of 200 word essays and 3
disability and women essays of a minimum of 200 words. You will also complete 4 blogs in order to
reflect upon what you are learning in the course. Readings will be assigned
each week as noted above with one assignment given on Mondays and the other on
Thursdays. This work will be worth 60 percent of your
grade. These assignments are fairly
informal and will not be graded on grammar and spelling.
Final Examination: The final examination worth 30 percent of your grade. The examination must be submitted by 5pm on
Friday, the last day of classes. The
final examination will require a 1) Powerpoint
presentation including a map of a predominately Muslin country you have
selected with information on the status of women generally and the status of
women with disabilities in particular.
(If you cannot locate such data, then you must note the lack of such
information.) This presentation to your
group must include the major findings of your research which are more developed
in your 5 page, double spaced, 12 pt. font paper with a reference page (the 6th
page) of at least 5 references, not including internet citations. You may use all or some of the readings in
your research paper. This work should be
regarded as formal and you will lose points if grammar and spelling have gone
awry. Failure to complete the Final Examination will result in an automatic F
no matter how you did in the course work.
Late Work: Work not posted at the appropriate times will result in a
loss of grade points depending on the length of the delay. No penalty occurs for comments on other
student work but keeping up is essential.
This course is designed as an online seminar and so delay in commentary
means that you lose out on the discussion around each topic. In short, this course is really designed as a
seminar.
Some Thoughts on Academic
Integrity: For University policy on this topic,
go to http://www.utoledo.edu/dl/students/dishonesty.html.
One great thing about writing academic papers is that you are not
alone. That is, you have the company of
scholars who have gone before you and this is true in articles, essays,
unpublished work by another person, newspaper reports, website discoveries,
films, interviews, and audio reports.
Academic integrity means “no stealing of the ideas of others.” Academic integrity means an attitude of
gratitude which is expressed by acknowledging the authors in quotes or with
other documentation strategies. For more detail on the proper way to do this go to http://utoledo.edu/dl/students/ewriting.html.
Course Navigation Tips
Assignments: This is where I send you to the numbered topics for your
assignments and make announcements about general trends I see happening in the
course. You should ALWAYS check this section
before anything else.
Group discussion: You will be assigned to a group.
Topics: Please post to the topic on the Discussion Board. Please note that I will be numbering topics
as we go along. This will make it easier
for us to know what we are commenting upon when we read each other’s comments. I will give the outlines for each assignment
at each numbered topic.
Questions: Questions about course navigation and course content should
be posted to the Questions section on the BB so all students can benefit.
Email to the Instructor/Online Office
Hours: Please use email to the instructor
for private issues only. Use email to
the instructor as you would use the instructor’s office hours. Thank you.
Time:
I will be
online almost every day for this course.
I recommend that you spend at least 30 to 40 minutes per day online and
this way you will not get behind. Please
note that longer assignments will be given on Thursdays so that you will have
the weekend to do the work. Late work
will result in loss of a grade point.
Please make time for your reading and research.
Computer Help: If you are unable to get into your discussion group or are
having problems getting into the course go to http://www.utoledo.edu/dl/helpdesk/hlp_index.html.
Assignments: I will give you assignments twice per week on Mondays and
Thursdays.
August: Introductions, assignment to discussion groups, and first
assignment due on Thursday: Settling for
A Fever from Women’s Review of Books and
to link to Google Alerts for Women and
the Arab Spring. Checking Google
Alerts will continue throughout the semester.
September: No class on Labor Day.
Readings from On Shifting Ground:
Muslim Women in the Global Era and from The Global Citizen’s Handbook.
October: Readings from On Shifting Ground: Muslim Women in the Global Era and from The
Global Citizen’s Handbook. (Fall break.)
Start reading on
status of women with disabilities in Muslim countries.
November: Readings from On Shifting Ground: Muslim Women in the Global Era and start
working on final project. (Thanksgiving holiday).
December: Finish from On Shifting Ground: Muslim Women in the Global Era and present
final project including Powerpoint Presentation and
essay to your group by the last day of final exams.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This syllabus is only
a guide and may change as the course develops and the needs of the class
participants change.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Learning
Policies for the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies
General
provisions
1. This policy is in line with AAUP policies regarding Distance Learning (DL) courses, in case of any contradiction between the AAUP version and this policy the AAUP version shall prevail.
2. Distance learning courses (DL) shall comply with all of the standard practices, procedures, and criteria which have been established for traditional in the classroom courses.
3. Faculty member teaching a DL course shall receive the appropriate technical training that is available at UT. Whenever new technologies are added, faculty member shall be required to take the training courses available on campus. Instructors may seek further training offered online or elsewhere if they choose to do so.
Definitions:
4. Student: any person who registers for a DL course offered by the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies (the Department) at the University of Toledo.
5. Instructor: A qualified member of the University of Toledo (UT) faculty who meets the requirements stated above.
6. Course: any class offered for credit or otherwise that a student may register for.
7. Distance Learning (DL) course: refers to a course not taught in class but establishes communication between instructor and student via one or more technological media available at UT, such media may be developed, improved, or acquired by UT and may change as UT continues to acquire more sophisticated means of electronic media for DL.
Rights and
Responsibilities of Students
8. All students registered for a DL course shall abide by the regulations and policies established by the university for in-class courses, in particular DL students are responsible for:
a. Delivering assignments on time
b. Participation in online discussions
c. Following rules regarding academic honesty;
d. Refraining from addressing the instructor and fellow students using derogatory or disrespectful statements.
9. Students in a DL course are entitled to:
a. Delivery of written notes or complete lectures if a live medium is used.
b. Have their questions answered
c. Freedom of expression provided that they abide by article 8. above.
10. Any disagreement, conflict, or any other problem that arises in the course should be settled or solved by the faculty member teaching the course. The instructor shall not allow the problem to escalate without offering solutions.
11. If the instructor is unable, for any reason, to resolve a problem, he/she must report the problem to the Department Chair who in turn shall seek a solution to the problem.
12. Any complaints made by students directly to the Chair of the Department shall be communicated immediately to the instructor who should work with the Chair or other faculty to solve the problem. Solutions shall, as far as possible, seek to satisfy the student’s needs without breaching the rights of other students enrolled in the course or the instructor’s.
13. The syllabus shall contain instructions on the line of communication if the problem is a technical one, i.e. students are to report the problem to the Helpdesk copying the instructor.
14. The instructor must contact the Helpdesk if the problem is not solved in a timely manner.
15. The Department may develop an online evaluation form for student’s assessment of the course, such form is be sent to the students directly from the Department’s secretary’s office and sent back through the same channel it was sent through.