26031 - Women And Science

Academic Year 2019/2020

Learning outcomes

The student acquires specific knowledge of sciences within a feminist perspective.

Course contents

Women in the History of Anthropology. Heritage, fights, and the final recognition of women’ anthropology (1900-1980)

The course presupposes a good knowledge of the History of Anthropology. Accordingly, a previous reading of the parts related to the birth of Anthropology in United States (Louis Henry Morgan, Franz Boas, Ruth Benedict e Margaret Mead) in the suggested list of textbooks is highly recommended for those students who previously did not attend any course where History of Anthropology was treated.

In this course the birth of Women’ Anthropology in the United States will be analyzed, paying particular attention to Franz Boas’ two disciples, i.e. Ruth Benedict e Margaret Mead. Later, the biography and the scientific contribution of women who were directly or indirectly disciples of Boas but who are not usually considered in the History of Anthropology will be illustrated. A careful examinations of the academic, political and gender-related reasons why these women, such as Matilda Coxe Stevenson (1849-1915), Elsie Clews Parsons (1875-1941), Gladys Reichard (1893-1955), Ella Cara Deloria (1889-1971), Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), Ruth Bunzel (1898-1990) e Ruth Landes (1908-1991), have been usually neglected in the history of the discipline and are today considered “hidden scholars”, will be thoroughly investigated.

Finally, the legacy of such women/hidden scholars in the birth of feminist Anthropology will be presented, paying particular attention to Ruth Behar e Catherine Lutz.

The course will start on September 26th

Class hours and rooms:

Monday 10:00 - 13:00 AULA D (Via Centotrecento, 18

Wednesday: 11:00 - 14:00 AULA 2, Via Zamboni, 33.

DETAILED PROGRAMME:

Wednesday September 25th THE DISCIPLES OF FRANZ BOAS: RUTH BENEDICT E MARGARET MEAD

• Monday September 30th THE “HIDDEN SCHOLARS” OF FRANZ BOAS

Wednesday October 2nd THE “HIDDEN SCHOLARS” OF FRANZ BOAS

Monday October 7th WRITINGS, LEGACY AND STRUGGLES OF AMERICAN WOMEN ANTHROPOLOGISTS

Wednesday October 9th THE SEVENTIES AND EIGHTHIES IN ANTHROPOLOGY: WOMEN

• Monday October 14th WOMEN ANTHROPOLOGISTS AND FEMINISM

Wednesday October 16th NO LESSON FOR AN INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR

• Monday October 21st RUTH BEHAR & CATHERINE LUTZ : THE POST-MODERNISM TURN.

• Wednesday October 23rd PRESENTATION BY THE STUDENTS OF THE COURSE AND SEMINAR LESSON

Monday October 14th PRESENTATION BY THE STUDENTS OF THE COURSE AND SEMINAR LESSON

• Wednesday October 30th PRESENTATION BY THE STUDENTS OF THE COURSE AND SEMINAR LESSON

 

Readings/Bibliography

Readings:

• Lamphere L., Unofficial Histories: A Vision of Anthropology from the Margins. In American Anthropologist. Vol. 106, pp. 126-139, 2004.

• Lutz, C. The Erasure of Women's Writing in Sociocultural Anthropology. In American Ethnologist Vol. 17, pp. 611-627, 2001.

• Sanjek, R., The Position of Women in the Major Departments of An-thropology, 1967-76. In American Anthropologist Vol. 80(4), pp, 894-904, 1978.

• Sanjek, R., The American Anthropological Association Resolution on the Employment of Women: Genesis, Implementation, Dis- avowal and Resurrection. In Signs: A Journal of Women in Culture and Society Vol. 7, pp. 845-86, 1982.

• Behar R., & Gordon D.A. , Women Writing Culture,
Berkeley, University of California press, 1995.

• Behar R., Translated woman: crossing the border with Esperanzas, Boston, Beacon press, 1993.

Teaching methods

Lectures using power point presentations

At the beginning of each lesson the presence of students attending will be checked. Students who attend the course will be required to produce (in pairs) a presentation on one of the topics discussed during lessons and present in the course bibliography.

Such presentations will be assessed (amounting to 40% of the total) and discussed in seminars in the classroom.

Students agree on the topic, ask for materials and advice during the lessons, which will consist of 3 hour modules.

 

Assessment methods

The exam consists of a Spoken tests for both students who have and those who have not attended.

Students who have attended will produce a spoken presentation carried out by two/three students at the time.

* Presentations will be organized in agreement with the teacher and will entail the exposition of a topic agreed to during office hours or in breaks during lessons.

* Students will have to prepare a power point presentation and read a number of articles agreed upon with the professor (if necessary) or give a critical presentation of the chosen itinerary. This will be part of the final assessment, totaling 40% of the grade point average. The presentation will have to explicitly state each student’s contribution.

* The interview will assess student’s skills in synthesizing and expressing themselves in fluent, accurate Italian. Students will have to demonstrate their knowledge of the history of the subject, their ability to connect different aspects of the latter, and to navigate its different schools of thought (debated during lessons and to be found in textbooks)

Assessment scales:

Excellence: attaining a holistic vision of the themes debated in lectures and critical effort showing mastery of the contents and technical language. .

Fair: knowledge by rote and not wholly accurate use of technical language.

Passable: minimal knowledge of topics discussed, (dates and names), without severe errors.

Insufficient: lack of minimal requirements (that is those for passable assessment).

Teaching tools

Students attending the course are kindly requested to enroll in the following distribution list, so as to receive any urgent notices on changes to the timetable or the venue of lessons:

zelda.franceschi.Storia

Office hours

See the website of Zelda Alice Franceschi