“Papers” and Projects

COMM 4600-880

Fall 2003

Paper 1—Due 10/16—An Archaeology of Gender.

In Michel Foucault’s 1969 work, The Archaeology of Knowledge he proposed that in order to understand how we come to “know” things, we must understand how meaning gets produced and reproduced in context and over time. He argued: “We must question those ready-made syntheses, those groupings that we normally accept before any examination, those links whose validity is recognised from the outset; we must oust those forms and obscure forces by which we usually link the discourse of one man [sic] with that of another; they must be driven out from the darkness in which they reign. And instead of according them unqualified, spontaneous value, we must accept, in the name of methodological rigour, that, in the first instance, they concern only a population of dispersed events.” Here, I invite you to conduct a rigorous archaeology of your own gendered construction. In writing, you should rigorously explore the following questions:

* What messages have you gotten about gender roles and gender identity throughout your life?

§ What are some specific examples of how gender has been produced and reproduced through day-to-day micropractices in your life?

* How have the messages you’ve gotten supported or challenged dominant cultural norms?

* How have you adopted and/or resisted socializing messages?

§ Provide specific examples of how this has been accomplished in interaction.

* Given your own experience of gendered identity, reflect on the following passage:

Gender is like a lens through which we’ve not yet learned to see. Or, more accurately, like glasses work from childhood, it’s like a lens through which we’ve always seen and can’t remember how the world looked before. And this lens is strictly bifocal…The second term of a binary exists only to support the first term…So both terms of the binary are really in the first…Only by overturning binaries and binary thinking will we really be able to open up more room for the second terms to come into their own, for things now obscured at the margins to emerge. (Genderqueer, pp.13& 44).

* Explore how gender and gendered identity shape the way you see the world. What would it look like to “overturn binaries and binary thinking;” what might we see in doing so?

This is not a research paper, it is a creative work. While your writing and thinking should be grounded in class and reading material, you have full creative license to create, explore, construct and deconstruct gendered identity through a variety of creative means including but not limited to: narrative, first person account, poetry, art, collage (or some combination of these or other creative means).

Project 2—due late October to Mid November—From Understanding to Action—

Each of you will be responsible for selecting one book from the list I shared in class on 10/7/03 and preparing a class presentation/ facilitating a discussion around what you have read. For this assignment you will meet at least once with me outside of class hours to discuss your plan for the class. In the 1.25 hours of class time you should:

* Provide an overview of the book: what was it about, how did it relate to course concepts, how did it deepen your understanding of course material?

* Engage your classmates in thinking about the core concepts the book offers and how it can contribute to their own thinking/learning around difference.

* Discuss and/or illustrate how reading this book has shaped your thinking around moving from understanding to action on this issue. What options do you see as viable for “making the invisible visible” and working toward productive change?

A great degree of creative license can be used in formulating your presentation/discussion—just talk it through with me before hand. Exact dates for the project tba.

Paper/Project 3—Looking ahead—what will you do with what you’ve learned?

Your final paper should be an in-depth look at an issue or concern that this course has helped raise or deepen your interest in. You should turn in a 1-page project proposal by 10/23/03 that identifies a core question or area of interest, briefly describes why you wish to explore this topic further, and identifies a short list of *communication* resources you will use in conducting your analysis. Your topic area can cover just about any dimension of difference that you can make a case for, but your analysis must be communicative. This will be a comprehensive research paper (20-25 pages in length) and should follow APA guidelines (see me if you have questions about this). You will present your “findings” to the class 12/04-12/11 and your final paper will be due on 12/13 in lieu of the final exam.