Guerilla Feminism and War by Counter-Narrative

Catalog description

The constrictions imposed by whiteness on ideas of women and women’s empowerment are by now routine subjects of critique and discussion. There is however little effort in pedagogy to place the “other” woman at the center of discussions of empowerment and develop subversive counter narratives that intentionally dis-locate whiteness. I envision this course as an exercise in just this sort of activist feminist inversion; one that centers on critiquing the omniscience of white feminist voices and developing individual narratives that counter them. Divided into four or five components, course discussions will focus on how white womens’ voices dominate discussions of a) war reporting b) travel c) illness d) sexual awakening e) human rights and f) work. The workshop component of this course will focus on developing guerilla counter-narratives in each of these realms with students working on writing their own experiences and developing them for publication. Beyond discussing how structural forces prevent the proliferation of these narratives we will discuss strategies that can be deployed to push more of these stories into the public realm and how this push represents the doing aspect of an active and engaged guerilla feminism. Class discussions will also work on constructing a genealogy for guerilla feminism via the works of other anti-imperialist and radical feminists of color. Guest speakers who have engaged in activism around each of these realms of feminist experience will provide further insight into how these strategies of guerilla feminist counter narratives can be deployed.