AMST 30130 - Feminism and the American Empire

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

American Studies

Description:

Since the earliest movements for women's rights in the US, American feminisms have been defined in relation to empire. And since the earliest days of westward expansion, American imperial projects have interacted with multiple feminisms around the world. This course investigates the connections between feminism and US empire, asking (1) how US empire has been central to a wide range of feminist political and intellectual work -- both within and outside the US -- since the mid nineteenth century, and (2) how discourses of feminism and female empowerment have been mobilized in the service of American imperialism. Our study will take two overlapping paths. First, students will read primary and secondary materials that document and analyze American feminist movements in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries that have (a) utilized the tools of US empire and/or (b) sought to "civilize" or "save" non-white and non-American women, as part of their strategies for claiming political and citizenship rights. Examples will include nineteenth-century suffrage movements and missionary projects; twentieth century struggles over birth control and abortion rights; and contemporary feminist debates about such issues as hijab, genital cutting, reproductive justice, and war. At the same time, students will read a wide variety of feminist work, produced both within and outside the US, that critiques or resists both US imperialism and imperial feminisms. This study will include historical and contemporary anti-racist, anti-imperial, and transnational feminisms based in the US (such as Black, Chicana, Asian American, and Native American feminist scholarship and activism), as well as feminist work taking place in regions directly impacted by US empire, such as Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and the Middle East. Evaluation will be based on a reading journal, 4 in-class quizzes, and a final research paper.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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