ERIC Number: EJ1123320
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 8
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0882-4843
EISSN: N/A
Material Feminist Practices in a Body Politics Seminar
Stein, Rachel
Feminist Teacher: A Journal of the Practices, Theories, and Scholarship of Feminist Teaching, v24 n3 p213-220 2014
In this article, Rachel Stein focuses on two course projects in which students apply materialist feminist practices within a capstone women's studies seminar entitled Body Politics. Undertaking these projects, students become more critically aware of gendered materialities that they had previously taken for granted as they deconstruct material aspects of our social environment that they find oppressive. Students also increase confidence in their power to modify certain oppressive aspects of our material world. Perhaps most importantly, the students enjoy these exercises and find them meaningful and transformative. The first assignment is called "The Altered Artifact" in which students are asked to choose a cultural artifact that plays a problematic role in girls' or women's lives and to consider the sociological cultural, and historical importance of the object. Students decide how to physically/materially alter their chosen object to highlight the issues that they are exploring, and they then write a paper explaining the problems with the material object and the ways they wish to challenge and reconstruct its presence in our lives. The second project is called "Affirming Bodies Feminist Action," in which students design and implement individual or group actions on behalf of their own embodied selves or other girls/women. On the final day of class, students present these liberating actions to each other: they explain what they hope to accomplish with their activities and reflect upon the process and outcomes.
Descriptors: Feminism, Womens Studies, Seminars, Females, Teaching Methods, Empowerment, Human Body, Learning Activities, Assignments, Art Activities, Student Developed Materials, Gender Issues, College Students, Cultural Awareness
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A