FEMINIST THEORIES OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

COURSE DESCRIPTION

One of the exciting features of this course is that in at least one fundamental way (and probably far more than one) its subject matter almost defies description. That is, the philosopher Sandra Harding (1991, 20) writes in her book, Whose Science? Whose Knowledge, "[a]s feminists have discovered in every field, when one tries to add women and gender to conventional subject matters and conceptual schemes, it quickly became obvious that the two have been defined against each other in such a way that they cannot be combined." Thus, students encountering descriptions of women's lives in a course on international politics have had strongly established justifications for saying, "This is not what this course should be about!" Similarly, when an international relations instructor (I) attempt(s) to select readings for a course on feminist readings, she constantly confronts voices that say, "But this isn't I.R.!"

In our reading and writing together we will attempt to learn what "international relations" has meant and what it might mean when we introduce women and gender as largely unexamined questions or contested categories of analysis. We will, over the course of the term, do some wandering and wondering together about how international relations has been constructed as a discipline and discuss strategies for understanding the issues that matter to us. In so doing we will read texts written by journalists, political scientists, philosophers, and ourselves.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The initial objectives of this course are the following:

a) To discuss the implications of taking gender seriously as an issue in the study of international relations.
b) To discuss what is encompassed by the notion "international relations".
c) To discuss how various feminisms have responded to the challenges posed by the above questions.
d) To discuss ways in which the challenges posed by feminism to the study of politics are related to challenges posed to the sciences in general.
e) To learn what we can learn by using our own writing as a common text.

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES

Students are expected to attend all class sessions, to participate actively, to complete reading assignments prior to class, and to bring to class points, puzzles, or questions related to the readings and scheduled course topics. Because this is a seminar, students will take turns initiating discussion of our assigned texts. Students will also participate in "bibliographic background collectives" (BBC). Each student will take part in at least one BBC. Each BBC will work together to select an accessible reading from the bibliography of one of our required texts. Members of the BBC will read this text together and then lead a class session using their outside reading to shed new light on the text we are all reading together.

Together we will decide upon the actual form of our common class project which we will design to meet the following goals:

A. Ask "the woman question" about a puzzling topic in international relations.

B. Address the question in a manner that:

• sheds light on women's lives
• enhances understanding of feminist theory
• enhances understanding of I.R. theory

C. Presents information and analysis in a compelling manner to an audience beyond this class.

D. Takes advantage of the skills and experience of each class member.

The final assignment in the course will be an integrated essay that addresses the question, "What is a feminist theory of international relations?"

REQUIRED TEXTS

Machiavelli, The Prince. Penguin Books.
J. Ann Tickner, Gender and International Relations. Columbia University Press.
Jean Bethke Elshtain, Women and War. Basic Books.
John Clark, Democratizing Development. Kumarian Press.
Joni Seager, Earth Follies. Routledge Press.
Sara Ruddick. Maternal Thinking. Ballantine Books.
FEMISA. The Electronic Discussion List of the Feminist Theory and Gender Studies Section of the International Studies Association.

MORE ABOUT BIBLIOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND COLLECTIVES

What goes on in the small print in the books that we read together? What are the origins of an author's conclusions? The purpose of these presentations is to expand our understanding of a text by turning to footnotes, endnotes, and bibliographies to learn more about sources that we may or may not interpret as the author does. Students participating in a Bibliographic Background Collective should first identify cited sources that they would like to explore on their own. Then, meeting with other students, make a group decision about how you can most effectively present your findings to the class as a whole. Please bring along some kind of handout with highlights you want us to remember!