I teach courses on identity politics; gender politics in Africa; power, violence, and inequality in the global South; feminist theory, and gender and sexuality.
WGS Gender Politics in Africa Spring 2023
This course focuses on the ways structures, institutions, and discourse shape gender in sub-Saharan Africa. It begins with the highly contested topics of pre-colonial gender relations and what gender means in Africa. Next, we turn to the colonial era, tackling themes such as white misperceptions of the Black body and the ways in which sex and gender were at the heart of the colonial state and national liberation movements. After independence, African women organized, moved into formal politics, and even brokered an end to violent conflicts, the third section of the course. Dramatic political transformations like these raised hopes that violence would diminish. The fourth section of the course explains why these hopes have yet to be realized, assessing gender-based violence and homophobia. Despite the odds against them, African feminists and queer theorists remain undaunted. In the final section of the course we consider their inspiring vision for the future that reaches beyond the continent and calls each one of us to action.
PLCP 7500 Identity and the State Spring 2023
What is identity? Where do identities come from? What are some of the challenges and consequences of identity politics? This course investigates these questions by examining different identity categories—including class, race, gender, religion, and ethnicity—from a comparative politics perspective. We begin with political science and its relationship with identity politics. Next, we turn to the shift from treating identity as given to a process. The second section of the course considers four approaches to identity formation: (neo)primordialism, instrumentalism, constructivism, and constructionism. We then turn to two pressing challenges: how to study identity and the relations of identity groups with one another. The final section of the course addresses the consequences of identity politics: how and why identity groups mobilize; violence associated with identity politics; how identity shapes voting, representation, and public policy; and the Radical Right.
PLCP 4500 Power, Violence and Inequality in the Global South, Spring 2022
This course examines how power, violence, and inequality function in the global South. The global South as used here refers not to a geographic location but to those groups and peoples around the world who have been negatively affected by global processes such as state-building, colonialism, border control, racism, and neoliberalism. The course thus centers processes of marginalization and injustice that comparative politics neglects. Our readings are drawn from a multidisciplinary set of readings that are theoretically challenging, empirically rich, and politically provocative. Indeed, they raise a series of counterintuitive arguments, such as secularism is at the root of religious tensions in Egypt, international peacekeeping fuels violence, and contemporary understandings of genocide facilitate mass killings. Course readings span the globe, and include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, Mexico, Palestine, and Southern Africa.
WGS 3810 Feminist Theory Spring 2022
This course provides an overview of the historical roots of and contemporary developments in feminist theory. We begin by discussing what is feminism, theory, and feminist methodology. We then study a range of feminist theories, including liberal, Marxist, Indigenous, African, and decolonial feminisms. The course also introduces students to queer theory and trans theory, and how to do feminist research and analysis. We conclude with a session on backlash and the future of feminism. Through the assigned readings and class discussions, students will learn how to use feminist tools from different traditions to analyze these multiple and intersecting forms of injustice. The objectives of this course are 1) to provide an overview of contemporary feminist theories; 2) to examine competing foundations, arguments, and positions within these theories; 3) to develop the analytical skills needed to critically evaluate the assumptions, arguments, and debates among contemporary theorists; and 4) to apply this knowledge to a final research project.
WGS 7500 Approaches to Gender & Sexuality Studies Fall 2021
This course is a graduate-only advanced introduction to the field of contemporary feminist and queer theories, especially to areas where these two fields have made critical interventions. The aim is to survey contemporary feminist and queer epistemology, subject formation, ethics and politics. The main pedagogical goal of the course is to provide students with a foundation in the methods and content of feminist and queer theory. The seminar approaches these two closely related fields from a multidisciplinary perspective by asking a series of questions. What is a woman? Gender? Sex? Sexuality? What is theory and who can theorize? What is the relationship between theory and the body, and the institutions and structures that shape our everyday lives, such as the family and the economy? The course will not answer these questions definitively, but instead will encourage students to ask more specific versions of these questions to develop their own research interests related to women, gender and sexuality.
PLCP 4500 Identity Politics Fall 2019 (Click here for the 2019 syllabus)
What is identity and where do identities come from? How and why do groups pursue identity politics? How do identity groups interact with one another? This course investigates these questions by analyzing an array of identity categories, such as class, race, sexuality and religion in comparative perspective. We begin with a discussion of our core concept and the emergence of identity politics in the United States. Nest, we discuss the different approaches that political scientists use to analyze identity formation. In the second section of the course we explore identity formation and identity politics around the globe. Cases include class politics in South Korea, indigenous movements in Latin America, and nationalism and sexuality in Eastern Europe. In the third section of the course, we analyze different relations among politicized identities, including relations of conflict in France, coalition building in South African, and social sorting in the United States. The course concludes with student research presentations in preparation for the final research paper.
WGS Gender Politics in Africa Spring 2023
This course focuses on the ways structures, institutions, and discourse shape gender in sub-Saharan Africa. It begins with the highly contested topics of pre-colonial gender relations and what gender means in Africa. Next, we turn to the colonial era, tackling themes such as white misperceptions of the Black body and the ways in which sex and gender were at the heart of the colonial state and national liberation movements. After independence, African women organized, moved into formal politics, and even brokered an end to violent conflicts, the third section of the course. Dramatic political transformations like these raised hopes that violence would diminish. The fourth section of the course explains why these hopes have yet to be realized, assessing gender-based violence and homophobia. Despite the odds against them, African feminists and queer theorists remain undaunted. In the final section of the course we consider their inspiring vision for the future that reaches beyond the continent and calls each one of us to action.
PLCP 7500 Identity and the State Spring 2023
What is identity? Where do identities come from? What are some of the challenges and consequences of identity politics? This course investigates these questions by examining different identity categories—including class, race, gender, religion, and ethnicity—from a comparative politics perspective. We begin with political science and its relationship with identity politics. Next, we turn to the shift from treating identity as given to a process. The second section of the course considers four approaches to identity formation: (neo)primordialism, instrumentalism, constructivism, and constructionism. We then turn to two pressing challenges: how to study identity and the relations of identity groups with one another. The final section of the course addresses the consequences of identity politics: how and why identity groups mobilize; violence associated with identity politics; how identity shapes voting, representation, and public policy; and the Radical Right.
PLCP 4500 Power, Violence and Inequality in the Global South, Spring 2022
This course examines how power, violence, and inequality function in the global South. The global South as used here refers not to a geographic location but to those groups and peoples around the world who have been negatively affected by global processes such as state-building, colonialism, border control, racism, and neoliberalism. The course thus centers processes of marginalization and injustice that comparative politics neglects. Our readings are drawn from a multidisciplinary set of readings that are theoretically challenging, empirically rich, and politically provocative. Indeed, they raise a series of counterintuitive arguments, such as secularism is at the root of religious tensions in Egypt, international peacekeeping fuels violence, and contemporary understandings of genocide facilitate mass killings. Course readings span the globe, and include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, Mexico, Palestine, and Southern Africa.
WGS 3810 Feminist Theory Spring 2022
This course provides an overview of the historical roots of and contemporary developments in feminist theory. We begin by discussing what is feminism, theory, and feminist methodology. We then study a range of feminist theories, including liberal, Marxist, Indigenous, African, and decolonial feminisms. The course also introduces students to queer theory and trans theory, and how to do feminist research and analysis. We conclude with a session on backlash and the future of feminism. Through the assigned readings and class discussions, students will learn how to use feminist tools from different traditions to analyze these multiple and intersecting forms of injustice. The objectives of this course are 1) to provide an overview of contemporary feminist theories; 2) to examine competing foundations, arguments, and positions within these theories; 3) to develop the analytical skills needed to critically evaluate the assumptions, arguments, and debates among contemporary theorists; and 4) to apply this knowledge to a final research project.
WGS 7500 Approaches to Gender & Sexuality Studies Fall 2021
This course is a graduate-only advanced introduction to the field of contemporary feminist and queer theories, especially to areas where these two fields have made critical interventions. The aim is to survey contemporary feminist and queer epistemology, subject formation, ethics and politics. The main pedagogical goal of the course is to provide students with a foundation in the methods and content of feminist and queer theory. The seminar approaches these two closely related fields from a multidisciplinary perspective by asking a series of questions. What is a woman? Gender? Sex? Sexuality? What is theory and who can theorize? What is the relationship between theory and the body, and the institutions and structures that shape our everyday lives, such as the family and the economy? The course will not answer these questions definitively, but instead will encourage students to ask more specific versions of these questions to develop their own research interests related to women, gender and sexuality.
PLCP 4500 Identity Politics Fall 2019 (Click here for the 2019 syllabus)
What is identity and where do identities come from? How and why do groups pursue identity politics? How do identity groups interact with one another? This course investigates these questions by analyzing an array of identity categories, such as class, race, sexuality and religion in comparative perspective. We begin with a discussion of our core concept and the emergence of identity politics in the United States. Nest, we discuss the different approaches that political scientists use to analyze identity formation. In the second section of the course we explore identity formation and identity politics around the globe. Cases include class politics in South Korea, indigenous movements in Latin America, and nationalism and sexuality in Eastern Europe. In the third section of the course, we analyze different relations among politicized identities, including relations of conflict in France, coalition building in South African, and social sorting in the United States. The course concludes with student research presentations in preparation for the final research paper.