January 2010 Archives

This exercise requires you to think about the wonderful project you will be completing over the course of the semester. This is the first idea you will have of your project and I expect you to write a one-two paragraph (maximum one page double-spaced in word) description of what you are interested in exploring. Your project description is due by class time, February 3rd. Please be sure to label it under category "2. Project Description", tag it "project description" and any other tags you think are relevant to your posts.

Part I
Consider the following questions when crafting your initial ideas about your project:

• What main question(s) are you interested in answering?


• Why do you think your project is interesting and/or important? What kinds of interventions will your project make in the context of feminist studies?


• How will you explore your project? What types of texts will you use to investigate your questions? What theoretical works are you thinking about incorporating? Will you be using literature, movies, music, print media or popular culture media to investigate your question/topic? What do you envision as your final product, will you be writing a research paper, making a film, writing a play or what do you imagine?

Part II
Before class meets on Friday February 5th, you have to make comments or raise questions on two of your classmates' projects on the course blog. These comments or questions should help your peers further develop their own projects. You should think of your comments as a way to get your peers to think more deeply about their projects, what types of connections have you thought of between your project and theirs? Have you read a book or an article that you think would be good for them to explore? What types of questions do their research questions inspire? What are you most interested in when you read their description? Do not forget to mark on your blog grade sheet when you have submitted both your project description and the comments on two of your peers' project descriptions.

Reminder: If you are interested in doing something besides a traditional research paper for your final project please set up a meeting with me immediately to discuss your options.

When I walked into the media center, I did not know how effected I would be by Katie's presentation. I was ready to sit down, relax and watch a really good film. Then I would write my extra credit and be done with it. I was in for much more. Katie did an amazing job with her senior project. From the moment I entered the room, I could feel how personal and precious this was to her. She opened with a poem about positionality and how we can and should use our voice through different modes of presentation. She read it with passion and you could tell that it was an inspirational factor of her project. The film was not an ordinary film with series of scenes and music following the action. She referred to her presentation as a cross between a radio show, still frames and musical components.

The presentation opened with music and sounds of Katie interacting with a young child along with images of her house, family photos, the streets of the city she grew up in: Home, otherwise known as Watertown. Frequently, the screen would go black and it would just be Katie speaking. She talked about home as the place she always went back to. She referred to it as, "The specific place, location which has formed and informed me today." and she would attempt to explain her positionality to us the audience with, "Collisions of moments of my life." She started telling stories that had ages and details. There was one point where her own voice overlapped with another stream of her voice telling these stories. She used a gradual and loud crescendo during this sequence that ended abruptly and transitioned into the story of her grandpa's death.

She reflected on her grandpa's life. She spoke about the turkey plant that he worked at where he hired south africans to work for him. There was outrage in the town. While listening to a radio show that had enraged callers on the air, there was a particular moment that marked Katie's observation of race and class. A caller said, "You know that south africans are white." The calls stopped. This marked a pivotal point in Katie's young life.

Another pivotal point was the issue of tradition at her high school. Instead of homecoming, they had a day called Ki Yi Day which was established to honor the Native American Tribes that had lived on the land of Watertown before the pioneers came and took it away. She talked about her understanding today of her desire and the desire of many of her classmates of the "other." She stated in the presentation, "How is it that we as white people can represent and find pride when we are the ones that conquered them..."

Throughout the presentation there were many more examples like the ones I chose to write about. She did a remarkable job projecting to an audience, her search for answers, search for her positionality and search for what home really means to her. I was inspired by this presentation beyond what I thought was possible in a 20 minute production. She ended with a return home and this quote, "My race and class were left unmarked...all this was done in the name of love." She returns home to the sounds of the young child and the business of everyday life.

I am so glad I attended this presentation. I am inspired to take my time to search close to me in order to find answers and my positionality in order to enhance my senior project.

Hello All:

So, I received the following email and I wanted to invite you all to attend. The event will showcase a GWSS alumnus and her senior project. If you come to the event and write up some thoughtful comments on the blog on your reactions to the film and/or discussion after the film and what it made you think about in terms of your own project ideas you might get some extra credit for your participation grade. I know it's early in the semester to be thinking about your grade, but every little thing helps! If you post a response to the blog please categorize it "1. EC#1 Home: An Unmarked History".

Click on link for more info!

ErnstSrThesis.pdf

This is the course blog for the Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies 4108W Senior Seminar at the University of Minnesota, Spring 2010.

We will be keeping track of the processes of completing senior projects, the processes of undertaking such a large project, and investigating issues related to gender and sexuality studies in complex ways.

I'm excited to get to know all of you and to see what kind of writing community we can build in the context of our blog.