Feminist Theory, Practice, Politics

In her book, Living a Feminist Life, Sara Ahmed
writes, "Feminism as a collective movement is made
out of how we are moved to become feminists in
dialogue with others." In this spirit, we will
think of our class as a conversation with one
another, and with feminist theories and practices.
What can we continue to learn from feminist
histories? How can we use feminist practices for
social and political change? And importantly,
might feminism inform your practices as artists?


Our study of U.S. and transnational feminisms will
explore a history of ideas central to feminism and
identify how the ideas are present in current
discourse, debates, and politics. We will use an
intersectional approach that takes gender,
sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality,
citizenship and ability as its starting point. We
will ask questions about identity, language and
culture for how they can be sites of resistance
and transformation.


Together, we will read critical theory,
manifestos, zines, essays, prose and poetry. In
addition, we will look to film, performance and
music to see how artists are engaging feminist
ideas and critique in their work. Our methods of
inquiry will include feminist practices as we
circle in consciousness raising groups, make
zines, write collaborative tracts, perform textual
and artistic interventions and develop new
projects that carry forth a vision to build a
better world.