This class aims at broadening our understandings of women’s involvement in and influences on American political culture by reading life narratives of women in social movements. The focus will be in particular on movements that usually are not associated with women’s political and cultural work, such as Native American Rights, Black Power, anarchist and workers’ movements, and the Religious Right. Autobiographical writings will also help us understand the role women’s narrative tradition has played in the social, literary, and historical perspectives. Questions we will explore include: Why did these women get politically involved? How were their experiences in social movements shaped by their gender? What is their cultural and political legacy? Why did they write about their life, and why do we read their narratives? Note: This course fulfills the U.S. Society (GU) requirement for students under GenEd and American Culture (AC) for students under Core.
Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed Women`s Studies 0963.