26016 - Feminist Historiography - Storiografia Femminista

Learning outcomes

The student possesses an in-depth knowledge of feminist historiography and of the origin of women's history in different cultural contexts. He acquires methodological tools that will allow him to research autonomously in these areas.

Course contents

Learning outcomes
Students acquire critical knowledge of Feminist Historiography and History of Feminism (theories and methodologies) in an intersectional and comparative perspective.

Course contents
Part 1. (6h) Writing History of Feminisms, writing History as Feminists
A methodological introduction to feminist historiography and feminism in historiography.
Part 2. (15h) Wave on Wave. From Suffragism to Transfeminism
The history of feminist movements in a wide chronological range from the early twentieth century to the contemporary, with a particular critical attention to periodizations, categories and key words.
Part 3. (9h) Three Manifestos for Feminism
Three recent feminist manifestos will be analyzed from a theoretical and historical perspective: Emi Koyama, The Transfeminist Manifesto (2001); Laboria Cuboniks, The Xenofeminist Manifesto (2015); Sara Ahmed, A Killjoy Manifesto (2015).

Readings/Bibliography

Further readings and other information will be provided also during the lessons (and then published in the online reading list and program).

ATTENDING STUDENTS

1) Notes taken during the lectures. Readings provided by lecturer.

2) Estelle B. Freedman, No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women, Ballantine Books, 2002.

3) A book of your choice (to turn in a book report in English or Italian)

The book report has the function to present important monographs and anthologies, which use theories and methodologies in historical practice. The book report should be approx. 1500-2000 words (6-8 pages) long. Concerning formal presentation use the following tips:

 Title: Author, title, city of publication, publisher, year of publication, pages.

 Layout: double line spacing, Times New Roman typeface, font size 12.

 Sources must be cited in footnotes.

Send the book report by email (v.greco@unibo.it) one week before the final exam.

Eng.

- Sara Ahmed, Living a Feminist Life, Duke University Press, 2017.

- Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Routledge, 1990.

- Angela Davis, Women, Race & Class, Random House, 1981.

- Leslie Feinberg, Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman, Beacon Press, 1997.

- Jack J. Halberstam, The queer art of failure, Duke University Press, 2011.

- Donna Haraway, Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium.FemaleMan©_Meets_Oncomouse™: Feminism and Technoscience, 1997.

- Helen Hester, Xenofeminism, Theory Redux, 2018.

- bell hooks, ain’t i a women. black women and feminism, South End Press, 1981.

- Luisa Passerini, Autobiography of a Generation. Italy 1968, Wesleyan University Press, 1996.

- Paul B. Preciado, Testo Junkie: Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopornographic Era, The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2013.

- Susan Stryker, Transgender History, Seal Press, 2008.

Ita.

- Teresa Bertilotti, Cristina Galasso, Alessandra Gissi, Francesca Lagorio, Altri femminismi. Corpi, violenza, riproduzione, culture, lavoro, Manifestolibri, 2018 (2006).

- Carlotta Cossutta, Valentina Greco, Arianna Mainardi, Stefania Voli, Smagliature digitali. Corpi, generi e tecnologie, Agenzia X, 2018.

- Porpora Marcasciano, L’aurora delle trans cattive. Storie, sguardi e vissuti della mia generazione transgender, Alegre, 2018.

- Anna Rossi-Doria, Dare forma al silenzio. Scritti di storia politica delle donne, Viella, 2007.

- Stefania Voli, Soggettività dissonanti. Di rivoluzione, femminismi e violenza politica nella memoria di un gruppo di ex militanti di Lotta continua, Firenze University Press, 2015.

NON ATTENDING STUDENTS

1)

- Sue Morgan, Theorising Feminist History: a thirty‐year retrospective, Women's History Review Volume 18, Issue 3, 2009, pp. 381-407.

- Joan W. Scott, Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis, The American Historical Review Vol. 91, No. 5 (Dec., 1986), pp. 1053-1075.

- Natalie Zemon Davis, "Women's History" in Transition: The European Case, Feminist Studies

Vol. 3, No. 3/4 (Spring - Summer, 1976), pp. 83-103.

2)

- Gisela Bock, Women in European History, Blackwell, 2002.

- Estelle B. Freedman, No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women, Ballantine Books, 2002.

3) A book of choice (to turn in a book report)

- Sara Ahmed, Living a Feminist Life, Duke University Press, 2017.

- Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Routledge, 1990.

- Judith Butler, Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex.” New York: Routledge, 1993.

- Angela Davis, Women, Race & Class, Random House, 1981.

- Leslie Feinberg, Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman, Beacon Press, 1997.

- Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, W.W. Norton, 1963.

- Jack J. Halberstam, The queer art of failure, Duke University Press, 2011.

- Helen Hester, Xenofeminism, Theory Redux, 2018.

- bell hooks, ain’t i a women. black women and feminism, South End Press, 1981.

- Gerda Lerner, The Majority Finds its Past: Placing Women in History (1979), reprint: University of North Carolina Press, 2005.

- Kate Millett, Sexual Politics, Doubleday, 1970.

- Sue Morgan (ed.), The Feminist History Reader, Routledge, 2006.

- Linda J. Nicholson (ed), T: A Reader in Feminist Theory, Routledge, 1997.

- Karen Offen, Globalizing Feminism, 1789-1945, Routledge, 2009.

- Luisa Passerini, Autobiography of a Generation. Italy 1968. Wesleyan University Press, 1996.

- Paul B. Preciado, Testo Junkie: Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopornographic Era, The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2013.

- Denise Riley, “Am I That Name?” Feminism and the Category of “Women” in History. University of Minnesota Press, 1988.

- Sheila Rowbotham, Women, Resistence and Revolution. A History of Women and Revolution in - the Modern World, Vintage Books, 1974.

- Joan W. Scott (ed.), Feminism and History, Oxford University Press, 1996.

- Joan W. Scott, The Fantasy of Feminist History, Duke University Press, 2011.

- Susan Stryker, Transgender History, Seal Press, 2008.

The book report has the function to present important monographs and anthologies, which use theories and methodologies in historical practice. The book report should be approx. 1500-2000 words (6-8 pages) long. Concerning formal presentation use the following tips:

Title: Author, title, city of publication, publisher, year of publication, pages.

Layout: double line spacing, Times New Roman typeface, font size 12.

Sources must be cited in footnotes.

Send the book report by email (v.greco@unibo.it) one week before the final exam.

Teaching methods

Lesson; seminars; discussion in class.
Languages: English AND Italian.

Assessment methods

Active participation in class discussions: 25%. By participation in class we mean the ability of the student to enter the debates, contributing with questions and/or elaborations of the topics proposed by the lecturer. This participation does not aim at testing students' specific preparation in the field, rather, they want to favor their ability to take part in discussions and their capability to discuss in group.

Book Report: 35%. Students are requested to do a presentation of one text to be chosen from the reading list (Part. 3) in accordance with the lecturer. The book report will be given to the lecturer one week before the exam session and will be discussed during the final exam.

Final exam: 40%. The final exam will test the student's critical capability, his/her knowledge of the methodologies employed, her/his ability to combine theories with the analyses of the case studies chosen. The close reading of the texts aims at showing the student's critical ability, their knowledge not only of the texts but also of their context of creation together with the cultural politics that inform them. Students are requested to use an appropriate language, to be able to articulate their thought in English and Italian (high level) and to have an accurate knowledge of the bibliography chosen for the exam.

Grades:
Excellent: Students' high capability to elaborate on the exiting debates on the topics chosen, originality of thought and excellent knowledge of the theories and of the texts chosen for the exam, their ability to read them within a gender perspective, using also the theories employed during the course and showing comprehension of the bibliography chosen, accurate and appropriate language.

Very good level: Students' capability to elaborate on the exiting debates on the topics chosen, originality of thought and very good knowledge of the theories and of the texts chosen for the exam, their ability to read them within a gender perspective, using also the theories employed during the course and showing comprehension of the bibliography chosen, and appropriate, accurate language.

Good level: Students' capability to elaborate on the exiting debates on the topics chosen, knowledge of the theories and of the texts chosen for the exam, their ability to read them within a gender perspective, using also the theories employed during the course and showing comprehension of the bibliography chosen, and appropriate language.

Pass: Students' capability to enter the exiting debates on the topics chosen, knowledge of the theories and of the texts chosen for the exam, their ability to read them within a gender perspective, using also the theories employed during the course and showing comprehension of the bibliography chosen, and appropriate language.

Fail: Student's lack of knowledge of the theories employed during the course, incapability to critical reading of the novels, inappropriate and inaccurate language.

Please do check this web page for further notice and information

Teaching tools

Short films; Web pages; Focus groups; Guided tours; Seminars; Documentary material.

Office hours

See the website of Valentina Greco