Spring 2019 - GSWS 320 D100
Special Topics in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies (4)
Class Number: 3295
Delivery Method: In Person
Overview
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Course Times + Location:
Jan 3 – Apr 8, 2019: Thu, 1:30–5:20 p.m.
Vancouver
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Prerequisites:
15 units.
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
A specific theme within within the field of gender, sexuality, and women's studies, not otherwise covered in depth in regularly scheduled courses, will be dealt with as occasion and demand warrant.
COURSE DETAILS:
GSWS 320-4: SPECIAL TOPICS IN GSWS: GENDER, ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE JUSTICE
This class focuses on how women have been affected by environmental destruction and climate change, as well as their relationship with the earth more broadly. Taking the recent protests at Standing Rock and against the Kinder Morgan pipeline as our starting point, we will contextualise those two events within a longer history of land rights and colonisation, environmental degradation, and multinational trade and climate change agreements. We will look at women’s experiences around the world. Case studies will include the 1984 Bhopal gas leak in India, the Ogoni people’s fight to stop Shell’s oil drilling in Nigeria, and the role that climate change played in the Syrian civil war. We will also look at examples closer to home, such as the ‘man camps’ of oil workers in North Dakota and Alberta, the effect of hurricanes and flooding in New Orleans and Puerto Rico, the anti-logging protests in Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island, as well as more recent anti-pipeline protests at Standing Rock and on Burnaby Mountain.
As we consider these case studies, we will discuss relevant theoretical issues, from a range of perspectives. In these discussions, we will review key eco-feminist and post-colonial texts by writers like Vandana Shiva and Winona La Duke. We will also draw on relevant texts from queer and transnational feminist theories, trans studies, and critical disability studies. These readings will allow us to critically examine different understandings of women's relationship to nature.
By the end of the course, students should be able to: Have an understanding of different theoretical perspectives about women and the environment. Be aware of the different roles women have played in contemporary environmental struggles.
COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:
For more detailed information please see the GSWS website: http://www.sfu.ca/gsws/courses/Educational_Goals.html
Grading
NOTES:
Course Evaluation and Assignments:
15 % Attendance and Participation
25 % Group Project Students will be allocated a week (starting in Week 3) and work together to present the key issues in the readings for that week.
40 % Final Project The final project can explore anything related to contemporary environmental justice issues. Students have a choice between a written blog, with at least 8 academic-style blog entries, or a 6-8 page paper.
20 % Annotated Bibliography and Outline for Final Project
Materials
REQUIRED READING:
Readings will be available on Canvas.
Registrar Notes:
SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS