GSFS 353 - Radical “I”: Feminisms and the First Person Voice in Performance

FC ARHU CD

4 credits
This course centers performance methods in the exploration of the feminist first person voice. As students consider the feminist first person in a variety of theoretical and literary texts including fiction, poetry, oral history, and personal narrative, our analysis will be guided by some of the following interrelated questions: how is voice shaped by cultural, social, and material “givens” such as gender, race, socio-economic class, sexuality, etc.? In turn, how does voice manifest identity, subjectivity, and “soul”? And lastly, what are the connections among gender, sexuality, voice, physicality, and embodiment? This course invites students to better understand feminist theory and literature through embodied practice, movement, and critical reflection and thus requires a strong commitment to preparation and public presentation. Authors will include Audre Lorde, Cherríe Moraga, bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Linda Martín Alcoff, among others. This course is open to all students but may also be taken to complete the capstone requirement in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies.