HONOR 3161 - To Be An American Woman

This class investigates the experiences of American women from colonial times to the present through the medium of their own writings. The course readings represent a variety of cultural and historical contexts, and pose questions about what it is to be a woman, as well as what it is to be an American. Students are encouraged to examine the issue of identity in all of its complex intersections with gender, race, class, nationality, sexuality and spirituality. The readings are roughly arranged in chronological order, to give students a sense of the historical origins and transformations that have occurred in what we might now call "American feminism." The writing assignments are designed to elicit student's critical responses to the problems of gender and American-ness, and increasingly demand the student's personal involvement in understanding these problems.