weekly breakdown of readings
Part One: General Exposure to Varieties of Feminist Methods and Epistemologies
Jan. 3 Overview and course orientation. Expectations, introductions of class members and class. Varieties of Feminist Research and Methods. What are They? Where Do They Come From?
Jan. 10 Positivism, Naturalism, and Feminisms
1. **Roman, L. "The Political Significance of Other Ways of Narrating Ethnography" in M. LeCompte, et. al. (Eds.). The Handbook of Qualitative Research in Education.
2. Harding text, ch. 2 "`Strong Objectivity and Socially Situated Knowledge"
Videos: "The Edit", "Spaghetti Story" and if there is time, "Streetwise."
Jan. 17 Varieties of Feminist Ethnography
1. Reinhartz, ch. 3, "Feminist Ethnography"
2. **Roman, L. "Double Exposure: Feminist Materialist Ethnography" in Educational Theory (1993).
Discussion of ethics of consent and UBC Guidelines for Research with Human Subjects
Video: "Punk: Private and Public Subculture"
Jan. 24 Varieties of Feminist Interviewing and Life and Oral History Work
1. Reinhartz, ch. 2, "Feminist Interview Research"
2. Reinhartz, ch. 7, "Feminist Oral History"
First Short Observation assignment or critique of reading due. Bring copies to share with the class.
Video (time permitting): "The Diary of Richard Cardinal"
EXTRA CLASS? Varieties of Feminist Survey and Experimental Research: A Return to Positivism?
Note: Extra Session with class permission
1. Reinhartz, ch. 4, "Feminist Survey and Other Statistical Formats"
2. Reinhartz, ch. 5, "Feminist Experimental Research"
Jan. 31 Autobiographies, Testimonials, and Action Research
1. **Benmayor, R. "Testimony, Action Research, and Empowerment": Puerto Rican Women and Popular Education"
2. Reinhartz, ch. 10, "Action Research"
Tentative Speaker to be announced.
Feb. 7. Case Studies and Cross-Cultural Research
1. Reinhartz, ch. 9, "Case Studies"
2. Reinhartz, ch. 6, "Cross-Cultural Research"
3. (Optional Reading within the above tradition) Reinhartz, ch. 12 "Original Feminist Research Methods"
Tentative Speaker to be announced or
film (time permitting) "Paris is Burning"
Part Two: An Indepth Examination of Select Qualitative Field Methods
Feb. 14. Problems and Tensions in Interviewing
1.** Anderson, K. and Jack, D. C. "Learning to Listen: Interview Techniques and Analyses" in Gluck, S. B. and Patai, D. (Eds.). Women's Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History.
2.**Oakley, A. "Interviewing Women: A Contradiction in Terms", In Roberts, H. (Ed.). Doing Feminist Research.
3.**Stacey, J. "Can There Be a Feminist Ethnography?" Women's Studies International Forum, (Spring, 1988).
4. **Opie, A. "Qualitative Research, Appropriation of the `Other' and Empowerment" in Feminist Review, (Spring, 1992).
Read 1 and Oakley, along with either Stacey or Opie. Second short assignment due. Hand in critique comparing the arguments and assumptions of the readings.
Discussion of good open-ended interview techniques and how mistakes can be a guide to better listening, fine-tuning of questions and analysis.
Feb. 21 Problems and Tensions in Participant Observation
1. **Michelle Fine, "Dis-Stance and Other Stances: Negotiations of Power Inside Feminist Research" in Gitlin, A. (Ed.). Power and Method (recommended text above) or in the same volume, Patti Lather's "Fertile Obsession: Validity After Poststructuralism."
2.**D. Patai, "When Method Becomes Power" in Gitlin (see above).
Third short assignment due. Hand in critique comparing the arguments and assumptions of the readings.
Feb. 28 Problems of Informed Consent
1.** B. Thorne, "`You still takin' fieldnotes?: Fieldwork and Informed Consent," Social Problems, 27:284-297.
2.**Review UBC Guidelines on the Ethics of Research with Human Subjects
Discussion of protocol for research with minors, adults and non-English speakers or speakers of a language that differs from that of the researcher.
March 7. The Tricky Relations Between Pedagogy and Research
1.**Roman, L. G. "White is a Color!: White Defensiveness, Postmodernism and Antiracist Pedagogy" in McCarthy, C. and Chrichlow, W. (Eds.). Race, Identity, and Representation in Education.
2. **Roman, L.G. "`On the Ground'" with Antiracist Pedagogy: Raymond Williams's Unfinished Project to Create a Socially Transformative Realism," in D. Dworkin and L. Roman (Eds.). Views Beyond the Border Country: Raymond Williams and Cultural Politics.
March 14 Reflexivity in Research: Obsession or Illusion Worth Having?
1.** Barbara Cruikshank, "The Will to Empower: Technologies of Citizenship and the War on Poverty," Socialist Review. (1994), 23(4):29-56.
2. **Alcoff, L. "The Problem of Speaking for Others", Cultural Critique (Winter, 1991/92).
March 21 Class Presentations/Discussions
March 28 Class Presentations/Discussions and Final Papers/Projects Due During Week of Final Exam.
Course Expectations and Requirements. Attendance is expected on a regular basis. Missed classes will hinder rapport and impede the analytical and discussion skills of the class. The final grade will be based on three class assignments (15 points each for a total of 45), class participation (10 points), and the final project for 45 points.
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