Kareen Malone
Melson 205
Office Hours:
Phone: 770-836-4577
Email: kmalone@westga.edu
 

Course Description:
 Gender-related perspectives on human psychology. Emphasis on helping men and women re-examine their self-images in light of contemporary gender based movements.
 

Objectives of this course:

General
· Self-understanding & the understanding of others
· Analyze & synthesize issues in a psychological context

Specific
· To understand how Psychology typically avoids the question of our being a gendered body (a sexed body with social and psychological meaning)
· To critically explore gender differences and reflect on how we think about gender
· To expand our understanding of difference to include multiple differences as are encountered  questions of race and gender or class & gender or sexual orientation and gender
· To explore how we might take gender into account in certain areas of psychological interest, e.g. religion, interpersonal relationships, psychotherapy, health
· To understand the development of gender studies through an understanding of its theoretical lineage & of its future (feminism, queer theory, psychoanalysis, post-colonialism, the intersection of gender, class & race)
· To gain a sense of the theoretical stakes of gender
§ From being/having a gender to doing a gender
§ The essentialism versus constructionist debate
§ Gender as an unstable category sustained as a binary and a re-iteration
§ Gender in relation to other social categories
· To critically analyze texts and/or other media, disciplinary and cultural practices through the perspectives offered by gender studies

This course involves guest speakers, videos, class presentations, reflections, 2 exams, lectures and discussions and a formal final paper. Sometimes the readings will be heavy, up to 80 pages per week. At other times, the readings will be light. Class attendance & participation is extremely important to the working of a class. A class is much like a relationship; one can not have a good class by oneself.
 

Assessment of Learning Objectives:

· You will tested on psychology’s treatment of the question of gender, gender differences and the theoretical roots of gender studies in the mid-term exam
· Your final paper must be a research paper or a critical analysis of a cultural artifact through the perspective of gender studies. This paper should be suitable for submission to ARCH and/or SPARC.
· After the mid-term, you will be asked to write a two page problem paper for each class that examines  the issues brought up in the readings through the theoretical problems and frameworks that we have set up in the class. The focus will be on the theme of the class, the evolution of gender as an analytical category.
 

Evaluation & Expectations
A is outstanding to excellent. To get an A is not just to do all the work but to do the work impressively (90-100 pts)
B is very good to good 80-89 pts
C is average or satisfactory. You understand the material but have not moved beyond this initial understanding. It is little superficial compared to the higher grades. 69-79
D is unsatisfactory 68 and below

Exam   25 pts
Reflection Papers: 35 pts
Final Paper 25 ts
Participation, 15 pts

Overall participation
Be in class, think, listen, and participate, control the urge to say what you already know, engage rather than
dominate. Quizzes may be given to be sure that you come to class HAVING DONE THE READING..

Reflection Papers: These are not opinion columns. What you are supposed to do is outline the major idea in the readings. The overall point and generate some questions and show the relationship of the readings to the class. 2 to 3 pages typed.

Final paper
Research paper is eight pages long, involving research from at least ten scholarly articles.  For those going on to graduate school, preliminary research may be a good idea. However, the paper must show knowledge of the course. It must be relevant to the course. You must turn in a rough draft to receive full credit. You should expect to submit and perhaps present the paper at SPARC (Students in Psychology Annual Research Conference) in April.

Exams
In-class essay & short answer based on class and readings

Participation:
An assessment of your attentiveness, understanding, attendance, reflections, presentations, and your scores on quizzes based on the readings. I will take roll and I will notice if you are here in body only.

Attendance
If you miss more than three classes and missing part of a class will count ½ against you, your grade will be dropped by one letter.

Required Books:
Gergen & Davis (Eds.) (1997)  Toward a new psychology of Gender. New York: Routledge.
Tong, Rosmarie.  Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction.  Boulder, CO: Westview. Second
    Edition. 1998.
Tripp, Anna (Ed.)  Gender. New York: Palgrave, 2000.
Jagose, A. Queer Theory.  New York: New York University Press.
Weigman, R. American Anatomies: Theorizing Race and Gender. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

There will be readings that are placed on reserve. These readings are noted in the Class Schedule.
 

Plagiarism is grounds for failing the class. This includes mosaic plagiarism and unauthorized paraphrasing from uncited materials. Please check the student handbook and talk to me if you have questions about plagiarism. Be prepared to bring in copies of your references if required.