WS 898: Research Colloquium

Spring 2005

Mondays 3:30-5:30pm

Prof. Ann Cudd                                                                              Office Hours:

213 E Bailey                                                                                  M, W: 2-3:30

4-2311; acudd@ku.edu                                                       and by appointment

www.ku.edu/~acudd

Description:

This course is the capstone to the Women’s Studies Graduate Certificate program. In this colloquium the members of the seminar will produce a major paper and will share their research. During the first part of the term a small number of visitors will be invited to assign readings for study by the seminar and subsequently present their work on women and gender. Students will be expected to attend the Gender Seminar of the Hall Center for the Humanities whenever possible.

This semester we will be reading and discussing the research of three KU professors and one from Duke University:

Professor Susan Harris, Dept. of English

Professor Mary Zimmerman, Health Services Administration and Dept. of Sociology

Professor Robyn Weigman, Dept. of History and Director of the Women’s Studies Program, Duke University

Goals and Objectives:

•       To engage in and with high level research in Women’s Studies

•       To practice professional activities of conference paper preparation and presentation, preparation and presentation of formal comment papers

•       To discuss and learn about the role of Women’s Studies programs and feminist work in the academy

•       To learn about some of the variety of work on gender and women being done at the University of Kansas

Course Requirements:

•       Students are expected to make every effort to attend all the classes, prepare the readings in advance, and make the discussions interesting and useful to the participants.

•       Students are expected to attend the Gender Seminar at the Hall Center whenever possible. (See schedule below.)

•       Students will write a research paper (15-35 page – whatever is article length for your discipline) for the course and lead a seminar (or part thereof) based on the research due by May 20. A short version of the paper (8-10 page – conference length) should be circulated one week in advance of the seminar presentation.

•       Students will also write a brief (3-4 page) response paper to one of the seminar papers, due in the seminar that the paper is discussed.

•       Grades will be determined by the following weighting scheme: 60% research paper; 20% seminar presentation; 20% response paper.

Readings: The book by Susan Harris will be available for photocopying or you could buy a used copy from Amazon.com (or perhaps you have a better source). Other readings will be made available in the seminar.

Schedule:

Jan. 24: Introduction to the course – no assigned readings, but seminar participants should come to class prepared to give a brief description of their proposed research project.

Jan. 31: Library Research class – meet in Watson Library with Tami Albin, Women’s Studies Bibliographer.

Feb. 7: Reading assignment tba

Feb. 14: Guest Appearance by Prof. Mary Zimmerman

Feb. 21: Reading Assignment: Susan Harris, The Cultural Work of the Late Nineteenth-Century Hostess: Annie Adams Fields and Mary Gladstone Drew

Feb. 28: Guest Appearance by Prof. Susan Harris

March 7 : Reading assignment: tba

March 14 :

Presenter(s):

Respondent(s)

Spring Break March 21-25

March 28:

Presenter(s):

Respondent(s)

April 4:

Presenter(s):

Respondent(s)

April 11

Presenter(s):

Respondent(s)

April 18 (if necessary)

Class will meet without Prof. Cudd to discuss Robyn Weigman’s work (while Prof. Cudd finishes the Boston Marathon, with any luck)

Reading Assignment:

April 25:

Presenter(s):

Respondent(s):

May 2: Guest Appearance by Prof. Robyn Weigman

May 9: Summing up

Hall Center Gender Seminar Schedule:

Kim Warren, History
"Gender at the Center of Racial Uplift Agendas: African American and Native American Education in Kansas, 1865-1935"
Thu., Feb. 24, 2005, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
Hall Center Seminar Room

Ghislaine Lydon, History, UCLA
"'Does the Pebble Roll Up the Mountain?': Reflections on Gender in the History of Trans-Saharan Trade."

Wed., Mar. 30, 2005, 3:30-5:00 p.m., Hall Center Seminar Room

Robyn Wiegman, Women's Studies, Duke University “The Desire for Gender"
Tue., May. 3, 2005, 3:30-5:00 p.m., Hall Center Seminar Room