Transnational Feminist Aesthetics and Politics

(4 Credits)

This course explores the link between writing and imagining a world by studying texts authored by women from varied historical, geographic and cultural contexts. Through the works of Bibi Khanum Astarabadi, Mary Wollstonecraft, Halide Edib Adivar, Phillis Wheatley, and other writers from Iran, Britain, the United States, Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, and Turkey, the course asks students to consider what agency looks like in feminist writings from around the world. Building connections between seemingly disparate Eastern and Western literary, cultural and philosophical traditions, students will learn to revise the vocabularies and practices of feminism by decentering its Eurocentric configurations. Prerequisite: Global Perspectives on Society (GPS) or Sophomore standing. Fulfillment: Humanities Major Advanced Course; Topics Course (18-19 bulletin).