Instructor: Dr. Caitrin Lynch
Office: 1155 BSB; 6-2455 (during office hours only)
Email: clynch@uic.edu
Office hours: 9:45-11 Monday and Wednesday, or by appointment

TA: Kelly Marzano
Office: 4075J BSB
Email: kmarza1@uic.edu
Office hours: 9:45-11 Monday and Wednesday, or by appointment

Lecture 8:00-9:40 Monday, Wednesday, 317 BH
Discussion 8:00-9:40 Friday (Lynch), 203 SH
Discussion 8:00-9:40 Friday (Marzano), 206 LH
Discussion 10:00-11:40 Friday (Marzano), 206 LH

Description: Women in International Perspective is an introductory Gender and Women's Studies Course with a global frame of reference. This course will not make you an expert on women everywhere; in one semester it is impossible to study all the varieties of women's experiences throughout the world. However, we will begin to appreciate the differences-and the similarities-among women's lives around the world by reading selected accounts of the experiences of women in rural and urban environments; in societies that may be considered "traditional" and in societies undergoing economic, political, social, and cultural change in the context of globalization; and in situations when women move across national borders with and without their families. One of the course's central themes is women's experiences of globalization (for instance, women as laborers in a global economy and women as targets of global human rights agendas). This theme also brings us to consider the experiences of certain groups of women in the U.S.-thus bringing the global back home.

Requirements: Course materials will be presented through readings, films, lectures, and discussions. The class is based on the premise that you will do the required readings, pay attention to the films, and participate in class discussions. Attendance is required in lecture and discussion section because we believe that absences will interfere with your ability to synthesize material presented in class and to participate in class discussions. Attendance will be taken. There will be at least 5 pop quizzes in lecture or discussion classes, which cannot be retaken if missed due to absence. If illness or emergency keeps you out of class, inform one of the instructors immediately.

Grades will be based on written work and classroom participation. You are encouraged to consider the course materials critically and with imagination; all responsible contributions to discussion are welcome. There will be two papers (6 pages each) and a take-home final exam paper (7 pages), based on readings as well as films. Grades will be calculated as follows: attendance and class participation (5%), pop quizzes (15%), two papers (25% each), final exam paper (30%). Any use of another person's ideas, taken directly or paraphrased, without citing the source is plagiarism. Plagiarism and other forms of cheating will be punished: you are expected to do your own work for this course. Punishment can range from failing the assignment to failing the course to being expelled from the university.
Papers and final exams must be turned in during class on the due date. Papers handed in after class will be considered one day late. A late paper or final exam will be downgraded two levels per day (from A to B+, from B+ to B-, etc.). If a paper or exam is not turned in by the 5th day after the due date the grade for that assignment will automatically be F. Hard copies only will be accepted (emailed papers and exams will not be accepted). Rewrites of papers (not the final exam) that receive a grade of C+ or less will be allowed within one week of when the papers are returned to the class. Prior to doing a rewrite you must meet with the instructor who leads your discussion section.

The following abbreviations are used for the course readings listed below:
[B] = required book
[P] = course packet
[O] = on-line
[R] = on reserve
 

•  [B] Required books (available at CCC bookstore and on reserve in the library):
• Katharine Bjork Guneratne, In the Circle of the Dance: Notes of an Outsider in Nepal (Cornell University Press, 2000)
• Michele Ruth Gamburd, The Kitchen Spoon's Handle: Transnationalism and Sri Lanka's Migrant Housemaids (Cornell University Press, 2000)
• Norma Iglesias Prieto, Beautiful Flowers of the Maquiladora: Life Histories of Women Workers in Tijuana (University of Texas Press, 1997)
• Jean Davison, Voices From Mutira: Change in the Lives of Rural Gikuyu Women, 1910-1995, 2nd ed. (Lynne Rienner, 1996)

 
• [P] Required course packet at CCC bookstore entitled "GWS 102, Women in International Perspective"

 
• [O] Some required readings are on-line at the class Internet website. Web address for on-line readings: http://www.uic.edu/classes/gws/gws102

 
• [R] Required readings that are not on-line or in the packets or books are on reserve in the library.

Note: Kelly Marzano has copies of all readings except for the on-line readings available for signing out from her office.

Week 1:
May 30: introduction to course and view "Beyond Beijing" (Beyondmedia, 1996)
June 1: lecture followed by discussion SPECIAL LOCATION FOR 8 AM DISCUSSION CLASSES: 305 BH

1. Guneratne (Intro, chs. 1-4) [B]

Week 2:
June 4: lecture

1. Guneratne (chapters 5-11) [B]

1. bell hooks, "Sisterhood: Political Solidarity among Women," in Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, 2^nd ed. Cambridge, Mass.: South End Press (2000), pp. 43-67. [P]
2. Cheryl Johnson-Odim, "Common Themes, Different Contexts: Third World Women and Feminism," in Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism, ed. Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres. Bloomington: Indiana University Press (1991), pp. 314-327. [P]
3. Charlotte Bunch, "Bringing the Global Home," in Passionate Politics: Feminist Theory in Action. NY: St. Martin's Press (1987), pp. 328-345. [P]

Week 3:
June 11: lecture and view video "At the End of a Gun" (Television Trust for the
Environment, 2000) and excerpts from "Suicide Killers" (A&E Investigative Reports, 1993)

1. Story of Amirtha Valli Nayagi, a widow from Jaffna, Sri Lanka [O]
2. New York Times article "Rebels Without a Childhood in Sri Lanka War" [O]
3. Los Angeles Times article "In Sri Lanka, Dying to Be Equals" [O]
4. Tamil Guardian article "Revolution Enables Women's Struggle for Gender Equality" [O]
5. Ruth Seifert, "The Second Front: The Logic of Sexual Violence in Wars" [O]

Women's Studies International Forum, Vol. 19, No. 1/2, Jan.-April, pp. 35-43

1. Gamburd (Intro, chapters 2-4) [B]

Week 4:
June 18: first paper due in class; lecture and view film "When Mother Comes Home for Christmas" (Nilita Vachani, 1996)

1. Gamburd (chapters 5, 7, 8) [B]
2. Mary Romero, "Bonds of Sisterhood-Bonds of Oppression," in Maid in the U.S.A. NY: Routledge (1992), pp. 97-133. [P]
3. Barbara Ehrenreich, "Maid to Order: The Politics of Other Women's Work," Harper's Magazine, April 2000, pp. 59-70. [P]

Week 5:
June 25: lecture and view video excerpts from "Continent on the Move: Migration and Urbanization" (PBS America series, 1993)

1. Prieto (entire) [B]

1. Charles Bowden, "I Wanna Dance with the Strawberry Girl," Talk, September 1999, pp. 113-115, 118. [R]
2. "76 Dead and Still Counting," Chicago Tribune, 24 November 1998, section 1, page 3. [P]
3. Howard LaFranchi, "Mexican Evolution for Women's Rights" [O]
4. Martha Brant, "A Message in Murder" [O]

Week 6:
July 2: lecture and view video "Sweatshops" (Dateline, 24 September 1996)

1. Caitrin Lynch, "Newly Traditional Good Girls at Shirtex and Serendib," unpublished manuscript, January 2001. [P]
2. Kumudhini Rosa, "Strategies of Organisation and Resistance: Women Workers in Sri Lankan Free Trade Zones," Capital and Class, autumn 1991, pp. 27-34. [R]
3. Janice Fine with Matthew Howard, "Women in the Free Trade Zones of Sri Lanka," Dollars and Sense, Nov./Dec. 1995, pp. 26-27, 39-40. [P]
4. "Free Trade Zone Women Workers Treated in Sub-Human Manner" [O]
5. "Factory Girls Treated Like Machines" [O]
6. New York Times article "Two Cheers for Sweatshops" [O]
7. Heather White, "Disturbing Trends in Global Production" [O]
8. Olivia Given, Feminist Majority Foundation's "Feminists against Sweatshops," "Inside a Sweatshop: An Eyewitness Account" [O]
9. Olivia Given, Feminist Majority Foundation's "Feminists against Sweatshops," "Frequently Asked Questions about Sweatshops and Women Workers" [O]
10. Browse the following 4 resources:
1. "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A History of American Sweatshops, 1820 - Present," By Peter Liebhold and Harry Rubenstein, Exhibition Curators, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. [O]
2. CorpWatch's Issue Library: Sweatshops [O]
3. Verite: www.verite.org [O]
4. Rebekah Levin and Robert Ginsburg, "Sweatshops in Chicago: A survey of working conditions in low-income and immigrant communities" (Feb. 16, 2000) [R]

Week 7:
July 9: second paper due in class and final exam assignment given; lecture and view film clips on colonialism

1. Davison (chapters 1-5) [B]

1. Frances A. Althaus, "Female Circumcision: Rite of Passage Or Violation of Rights?" [O]
2. Fuambai Ahmadu, "Rites and Wrongs: An Insider/Outsider Reflects on Power and Excision," in Female "Circumcision" in Africa: Culture, Change, and Controversy, edited by B. Shell-Duncan and Y. Hernlund, Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2000, pp. 283-312. [R]

Week 8
July 16: lecture

1. Davison (chapters 6-10) [B]
2. Linda Marsa, "Wacko Things Women Do To Their Bodies," Cosmopolitan, May 2001, pp. 308-311, 313 [R]