Independent study

WSTD 299: Special Topics

Reproductive Health Internship in Feminist Contexts

Instructor: Dr. Holly Hassel

Summer 2004

"Service-learning means a method under which students learn and develop through thoughtfully organized service that: is conducted in and meets the needs of a community and is coordinated with an institution of higher education, and with the community; helps foster civic responsibility; is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students enrolled; and includes structured time for students to reflect on the service experience." American Association for Higher Education (AAHE): Series on Service-Learning in the Disciplines (adapted from the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993)

Description:  Women’s studies 299, a Reproductive Health Internship in Feminist Contexts, will draw upon the principles and practices of service learning, the primary purpose of which is to “use a community or public service experience to enhance the meaning and impact of traditional course content for students…. service learning does make a difference in academic, civic and moral learning.” The course’s academic work—the reading, writing, and talking—will complement the internship work by providing a feminist theoretical context for the political and public health issues facing women and health care providers.

Course Objectives

• To read and analyze significant arguments and ideas of the feminist movement
• To make connections between feminist theories and the practical applications to reproductive health; to connect theory and case study to real-life situations, promoting cognizance of the interrelatedness between personal experience and broader social realities.
• to determine avenues of intellectual interest, develop intellectual curiosity, and pursue scholarly inquiry independently

• to advance learner leadership and civic skills through active engagement on site at Family Planning Health Services

Requirements

          Weekly Journals: one, 3-page journal per week (typed, double-spaced)

Weekly Meetings: one-hour meeting per week during the course date

Final Project Proposal

          Final Project: a final project of the student’s design drawing upon course readings,                               internship activities, and site needs,

          Fulfill time commitments and duties with the Family Planning Health Services specifically                        geared toward publicizing and supporting Emergency Contraception and the Family                    Planning Waiver. Duties will include but not be limited to the following:

• developing contacts with campuses with the FPHS service area
• contacting students newspaper and student groups for ads
• distributing posters, flyers, etc
• conducting on-site Family Planning Waiver enrollment
• generating local publicity (PSA’s, TV ads, billboard, breakfast seminars)
• advocacy for women’s rights/reproductive health rights
• working with women’s groups
• Other tasks identified by on-site supervisors Lon Newman,   and Chris Hanke, R.N.

Materials

          FPHS Reading Packet

          Feminist Theory: A Reader Komar and Bartkowksi

Schedule

Week One June 14-18

• Read: FHPS Reading Packet (Patients Rights and Provider Responsibilities, Wisconsin Family Planning Medicaid Waiver Program, Worksite Reproductive Care, Emergency contraception information, Contraceptive Equity Information, Catholics for a Free Choice newsletters, FPHS Mission Statement)
• Write: Three-page reflection on first three weeks at internship: based on what you already know about issues facing women and of interest to feminist scholars, how do you see the work done at your site intersecting with women’s studies?
• Write: one page-introduction to instructor: what is your background with women’s studies? What assumptions and knowledge do you bring to a course in women’s studies? What are your interests in this discipline? What are you future goals in doing work in women’s studies?
• Meet: one hour with instructor

Week Two June 21-25

• Read: from Feminist Theory (FT)
  • Part One: “What is Feminist Theory? What is Feminism?” p. 2-41
• Write: three-page journal responding to these questions: based on the readings, what is your understanding of what feminism(s) are or can be? What is your own definition? How is the work at your site of interest to feminists? Could it be considered feminist? Why or why not?
• Meet: one hour with instructor

Week Three June 28-July 2

• Read: FT “Lexicon of the Debates”
• Write: three-page journal responding to these questions: how does language become a source of power and a site of controversy within feminist and women’s studies? Within the field of reproductive health?
• Meet: one hour with instructor

Week Four July 5-July 9

• Read: FT: Part II: Wollstonecraft (#9), Cady Stanton (#11), Mill (#15), Douglas (#19), Engels (#20), Terrell (#24), Goldman (#26).
• Write: three-page journal responding to these questions: These essays written pre-1910 reflect early concerns of advocates for women. What were, historically, the concerns voiced by these activists?  Which of these are still key issues? How do these historical essays frame your understanding of contemporary issues facing women in reproductive health?
• Meet: one hour with instructor

Week Five July 12-16

• Read: FT Part III: Sanger (#30), Woolf (#34), Horney (#35), Kennedy (#38), de Beauvoir (#40), James (#41)
• Write: three-page journal responding to these questions: What have these philosophical, psychological, activist, and literary approaches to women’s issues privileged as of concern to women? How do these diverse perspectives illuminate your on-site work?
• Meet: one hour with instructor

Week Six July 19-23

• Read: FT Part IV: Friedan (#42), Millett (#46), Redstockings (#47), Firestone (#49), Koedt (#50), Bunch (#55), Cixous (#56), Rubin (#59).
• Write: three-page journal responding to these questions: What was of important concern to second-wave feminists? How have those concerns been addressed or ignored over the last thirty years? How do race, age, sexual orientation, and other identities complicate reproductive health practices and principles?
• Write: Two-page project proposal identifying a topic, idea, writer, issue you want to explore further, how you plan to do explore it, what you want to learn, and how you will document your learning.
• Meet: one hour with instructor

Week Seven July 26-July 30

• Read: FT, Part V: Delphy (#60), Mulvey (#61), Combahee River Collective (#64), Irigaray (#65), Chodorow (#66), Rich (#71), Gilligan (#74), Mohanty (#75)
• Write: three-page journal responding to these questions: how do Marxism and feminism complement and resist one another? How is popular culture important to women’s studies and feminism? How do the readings relate to your on-site experiences?
• Meet: one hour with instructor

Week Eight August 2-6

• Read: FT, Part VI: Haraway (#76), Riley (#82), Fuss (#84), MacKinnon (#87), Butler (#89), Davis (#91)
• Write: three-page journal responding to these questions: how do contemporary notions of the female body shape political policy?
• Meet: one hour with instructor

Week nine August 9-13

• Read: FT: Part VII: Crenshaw (#96), Baumgardner and Richards (#100), Garland-Thomson (#102), Braidotti (#103).
• Write: three-page journal responding to these questions: What do these most recent theoretical readings tell you about current feminist priorities and agendas? How do they intersect with communities and politics?
• Meet: one hour with instructor
• Final Project due