GayTRANSGENDER STUDIES 2009 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
SWMS 355 GENDER STUDIES PROGRAM
Walter L. Williams, Ph.D. walterlw@usc.edu Office hours: after class
Professor of Anthropology, History, and Gender Studies and by appointment.
This class covers the spectrum of transgender roles from cross-cultural, historical, sociological and psychological perspectives. Androgyny, transvestism, transsexuality, and other transgender behaviors will be examined, as well as intersexuality, medical standards, mores, laws, and social attitudes toward transgender people. Five models of transgenderism will be considered: medical, biological, psychoanalytic, cognitive-social learning, and social constructionist.
ASSIGNMENTS:
1. USC faculty and affiliated scholars will lead discussions and lectures, but because this class is a seminar student attendance and participation are essential. Each week you will read an average of about 100 pages, which is the College Deans' standard for reading requirements in Gender Studies classes. Since you must be present in order to engage in discussions, if you miss more than one weekly meeting, you will be graded down.
(10% of semester grade).
2. Midterm exam, covering the readings and discussions during the first half of the course (30% of semester grade).
3. Final exam, covering the readings and lectures during the last half of the course (30% of semester grade).
4. Term research paper (doublespaced typed 12-15 pages in Times New Roman12 point, with one inch margins) should be carefully analyzed data gathered through research with sources other than the textbooks, and well written in style and professional citation form.
Each person in the class will choose one of the following culture areas of the world, and will do research on transgender traditions in that area of the world. This includes transgender traditions in the ancient and traditional cultures of that area, plus throughout history and in modern times. Students will write at least 12 pages of text, and will also seek to find illustrations to accompany the text. Each student will also locate and make an annotated list of Internet resources on the world wide web, with links to those websites. The goal will be to produce a class website that will be as comprehensive as possible. Look for sources in the following kinds of sources: books, journal articles, magazines, newspapers, unpublished manuscripts, film/video, internet sources), and check the resources at ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at 909 W. Adams Blvd (enter the parking lot on Scarff Street, on the northwest corner). Choose one of the following culture areas:
Subsaharan Africa
Ancient Mediterranean (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Turkey, Greece, Rome)
North Africa, Arabia and Islamic Southwest Asia since Mohammed
Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean
South America
Pacific Islands (ex. Maori in New Zealand, aboriginal Australians, and native Hawaiians)
Southeast Asia mainland (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Burma-Myanmar)
Southeast Asia island (Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines)
China
Japan, Korea and Mongolia
South Asia
Russia, Central Asia and Siberia
Europe since the fall of Rome (including ancient Europe north of Rome, through history)
British Isles, and English colonies in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
United States history
Plagiarism of a paper will result in an "F" grade in this class. If it is suspected that a paper has been copied or bought, the instructor may ask the student to undergo an oral examination on the sources cited, as well as other requirements. The purpose of the term paper is to improve the student's writing and thinking processes, not just to turn in a completed work. Plagiarism will be treated as a VERY serious violation of the university's ethics rules, and may also result in expulsion from the university.
Turn in a written research proposal by the second week of classes, along with a beginning bibliography. The professor will approve or suggest changes in this topic, and the student will not change that topic unless consulting individually with the professor and turning in a new research proposal with bibliography, in writing, no later than the fifth week of classes.
(30% of semester grade).
Besides turning in a paper copy to the professor, each student will post their writings and illustrations on the class website. Everyone will read everyone else's paper and be prepared to discuss and critique each paper during the last class. Each student will be responsible for making revisions before exam week.
CLASS SCHEDULE (dates are approximate and may be revised)
WEEK OF:
August 26 Introduction to the class. Student interests for research project
The Journeys of our lives: Introduction to Dr. Williams and Dr. Connie Rogers
ASSIGNMENT: Choose research topics and Institute for Multimedia Literacy Option
Reference: International Journal of Transgenderism http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t792306875~link=cover
of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health http://www.wpath.org
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September 2 Theoretical perspectives on reducing prejudice against transgender people
Reference: James T. Sears and Walter L. Williams, Overcoming Heterosexism and Homophobia: Strategies That Work. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
Social psychology and attitude change: step by step approach
One to one dialogue, counseling, role modeling
Mass media: TV, movies, radio, internet, popular fiction
ASSIGNMENT: Search for a research paper topic, and locate sources to report.
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Sept. 9 Transgenderism in Early Human Animist Religions and in Indigenous America
READ: Sources on each student's choice of world culture area
Reference: Walter L. Williams, The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture. Boston: Beacon Press, 1986, 2nd ed. 1992.
Walter L. Williams and Toby Johnson, Two Spirits: A Story of Life with the Navajo. Lethe Press, 2006. The first novel with a Native American transgender protagonist.
Gay American Indians, Changing the Spirit
Will Roscoe, The Zuni Man-Woman
Will Roscoe. Changing Ones
Don Kulick, Travesti: Sex, Gender and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered
Prostitutes
Mark Overmyer-Vel‡zquez, "Portraits of a Lady: Visions of Modernity in Porfirian Oaxaca City," Mexican Studies / Estudios Mexicanos 23, no. 1 (Winter 2007): 63-100, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/4490733.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sept. 16 Transgender Acceptance in Thailand and Indonesia: Dr. Williams' fieldwork
READ: Sources on each student's choice of world culture area
READ:
Michael G. Peletz, "Transgenderism and Gender Pluralism in Southeast Asia since Early Modern Times," Current Anthropology 47, no. 2 (April 2006): 309-340, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/3696809.
Peter A. Jackson, "Thai Research on Male Homosexuality and Transgenderism and the Cultural Limits of Foucaultian Analysis," Journal of the History of Sexuality 8, no. 1 (July 1997): 52-85, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/3704488.
Peter A. Jackson, "An Explosion of Thai Identities: Global Queering and Re-Imagining Queer Theory," Culture, Health & Sexuality 2, no. 4 (December 2000): 405-424, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/3986699.
Mark Johnson, Peter Jackson, and Gilbert Herdt, "Critical Regionalities and the Study of Gender and Sexual Diversity in South East and East Asia," Culture, Health & Sexuality 2, no. 4 (December 2000): 361-375, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/3986696.
Megan Sinnott, "The Semiotics of Transgendered Sexual Identity in the Thai Print Media: Imagery and Discourse of the Sexual Other," Culture, Health & Sexuality 2, no. 4 (December 2000): 425-440, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/3986700.
Sam Winter, "Heterogeneity in Transgender: A Cluster Analysis of a Thai Sample," International Journal of Transgenderism 8, no.1 (2005): 31-42.
Sam Winter, "Thai Transgenders in Focus: Their Beliefs About Attitudes Toward and Origins of Transgender," International Journal of Transgenderism 9, no.2 (2006): 47-62.
Han ten Brummelhuis, "Transformations of Transgender: The Case of the Thai Kathoey," Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services 9, no.2 (1999): 121-139.
Didik Nini Thowok and Laurie Margot Ross, "Mask, Gender, and Performance in Indonesia: An Interview with Didik Nini Thowok," Asian Theatre Journal 22, no. 2 (Autumn 2005): 214-226, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/4137131.
Evelyn Blackwood, "Tombois in West Sumatra: Constructing Masculinity and Erotic Desire," Cultural Anthropology 13, no. 4 (November 1998): 491-521, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/656570.
Evelyn Blackwood, "Transnational Sexualities in One Place: Indonesian Readings," Gender and Society 19, no. 2 (April 2005): 221-242, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/30044584.
Evelyn Blackwood, "Gender Transgression in Colonial and Postcolonial Indonesia," The Journal of Asian Studies 64, no. 4 (November 2005): 849-879, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/25075902.
Tom Boellstorff, "Dubbing Culture: Indonesian "Gay" and "Lesbi" Subjectivities and Ethnography in an Already Globalized World," American Ethnologist 30, no. 2 (May 2003): 225-242, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/3805374.
Tom Boellstorff, "Playing Back the Nation: Waria, Indonesian Transvestites," Cultural Anthropology 19, no. 2 (May 2004): 159-195, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/3651553.
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Sept. 23 Student oral reports on transgender sources in non-Western world culture areas
Reference: Serena Nanda, Gender Diversity (Waveland Press).
AFRICA
Stephen O. Murray and Will Roscoe, Boy Wives and Female Husbands
Ruth Morgan and Graeme Reid, "'I've Got Two Men and One Woman': Ancestors, Sexuality and Identity among Same-Sex Identified Women Traditional Healers in South Africa," Culture, Health & Sexuality 5, no. 5 (October 2003): 375-391, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/4005344.
SOUTH ASIA
Indrani Sen Gupta, Indrani Sen, "Human Rights of Minority and Women's Transgender Human Rights". 2005. pp: 62-121.
Reference: Serena Nanda, Neither Man Nor Woman: The Hijras of India
MIDDLE EAST
Unni Wikan, "Man Becomes Woman: Transsexualism in Oman as a Key to Gender Roles," Man 12, no. 2, New Series (August 1977): 304-319, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/2800801.
Robert Brain, "Transsexualism in Oman?," Man 13, no. 2, New Series (June 1978): 322-323, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/2800253.
Elif Shafak, "Transgender Bolero," Middle East Report, no. 230 (Spring 2004): 26-47, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/1559292.
Yael Ben-zvi, "Zionist Lesbianism and Transsexual Transgression: Two Representations of Queer Israel," Middle East Report, no. 206 (Spring 1998): 26-37, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/3012477.
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Sept. 30 Ancient Mediterranean Transgenderism
Reference: Conner, Randy, Blossom of Bone San Francisco: Harper
Bullough, Vern and Bonnie, Cross Dressing Chs. 1-2.
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October 7 Transgenderism in European and Euroamerican Culture: Medieval to Modern
Reference:
Susan Stryker, Transgender History. Berkeley: Seal Press, 2008.
Susan Stryker and Stephen Whittle, eds., The Transgender Studies Reader. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Vern Bullough and Bonnie Bullough, Cross Dressing, Sex, and Gender (University of Pennsylvania Press), chapters 1-8
READ: Claudia Breger, "Feminine Masculinities: Scientific and Literary Representations of "Female Inversion" at the Turn of the Twentieth Century," Journal of the History of Sexuality 14, no. 1/2 (January 1, 2005): 76-106, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/3704710.
Christophe Den Tandt, "Amazons and Androgynes: Overcivilization and the Redefinition of Gender Roles at the Turn of the Century," American Literary History 8, no. 4 (Winter 1996): 639-664, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/490116.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Assignment: prepare take-home midterm test.
**** October 14 Turn in take-home MIDTERM TEST on comparative transgenderism in a world perspective.
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October 14 Variations of transgenderism: theoretical perspectives
READ: Paisley Currah, Ricard M. Juang, Shannon Miller, eds., "Transgender Rights". 2006 pp. 1-21.
Source: Paisley Currah, "Gender Pluralisms Under the Transgender Umbrella".
http://books.google.com/books?id=FUwOKayHVwcC&lpg=PP1&dq=transgender&pg=PR13#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Leslie Feinberg, "Transgender Warriors". 1996. pp:1-10.
http://books.google.com/books?id=cWuG0efwzJoC&lpg=PP1&dq=transgender&lr=&pg=PA2#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Myra J. Hird, "Considerations for a Psychoanalytic Theory of Gender Identity and Sexual Desire: The Case of Intersex," Signs 28, no. 4 (Summer 2003): 1067-1092, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/3175845.
Various articles in the Journal of the History of Sexuality http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/3704913.
Douglas Mason-Schrock, "Transsexuals' Narrative Construction of the "True Self"," Social Psychology Quarterly 59, no. 3 (September 1996): 176-192, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/2787018.
Catharine R. Stimpson, "On Being Transminded," Signs 25, no. 4 (Summer 2000): 1007-1011, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/3175477.
Reference: W. Simon and J. Gagnon (1986). "Sexual Scripts: Permanence and
Change." Archives of Sexual Behavior 15, pp. 97-119.
June Singer, Androgyny
Betty W. Steiner, ed., Gender Dysphoria
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October 21 Transsexualism: The Impact of Christine Jorgensen
READ for next week: Richard F. Docter, From Man to Woman: The Transgender Journey of Virginia Prince Docter Press, 2004, pp.1-100.
Reference: Richard F. Docter, Becoming a Woman: A biography of Christine Jorgensen. New York, NY: Haworth Press, 2008.
Joanne Meyerowitz, How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States
Richard F. Docter. Transvestites and Transsexuals: Toward a theory of cross-gender behavior. New York, NY: Plenum Press, 1988.
N. Zhou, et. al. (1997). "A Sex Difference in the Human Brain and its
Relation to Transsexuality." International Journal ofTransgenderism I, p. 1.
Harry Benjamin, The Transsexual Phenomenon
Holly Devor, FTM: Female to Male Transsexuals in Society
James Green, Visable Man (FTM)
Dhillon Khosla, Both Sides Now (FTM)
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October 28 Crossdressers
READ AND DISCUSS: Docter, From Man to Woman pp.100-140.
Helen Boyd, "She's Not the Man I Married". 2007. pp: 1-35.
On the Issues – magazine website link to article written by Helen Boyd who is married to a person who is making the transition from man to woman
http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/2009summer_Boyd.php
H. T. Buckner (1970). "The Transvestite Career Path." Psychiatry 33,pp. 381-389.
Reference: Helen Boyd, My Husband Betty
J.J. Allen, The Man in the Red Velvet Dress
November 4 Drag Queens, Drag Kings and Gender Impersonators
DISCUSS: Anna Kirkland, "Victorious Transsexuals in the Courtroom: A Challenge for Feminist Legal Theory," Law & Social Inquiry 28, no. 1 (Winter 2003): 1-37, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/1215765.
Katrina Roen, ""Either/Or" and "Both/Neither": Discursive Tensions in Transgender Politics," Signs 27, no. 2 (Winter 2002): 501-522, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/3175790.
Talia Mae Bettcher, "Evil Deceivers and Make-Believers: On Transphobic Violence and the Politics of Illusion," Hypatia 22:3 (Summer 2007): 43-65; available on-line at: http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/tbettch/Deceivers.pdf
Morris Meyer, "I Dream of Jeannie: Transsexual Striptease as Scientific Display," TDR (1988-) 35, no. 1 (Spring 1991): 25-42, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/1146108.
Douglas Schrock, Lori Reid, and Emily M. Boyd, "Transsexuals' Embodiment of Womanhood," Gender and Society 19, no. 3 (June 2005): 317-335, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/30044596.
David Valentine and Riki Anne Wilchins, "One Percent on the Burn Chart: Gender, Genitals, and Hermaphrodites with Attitude," Social Text, no. 52/53 (Autumn - Winter 1997): 215-222, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/466740.
Reference: Esther Newton, Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America
Leila Rupp and Verta Taylor, Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret
Daphne Scholinski with Jane Meredith Adams, The Last Time I Wore a Dress
(Riverhead Books)
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November 11 Transgender Youth
DISCUSS: Michael Bochenek, A. Widney Brown, Human Rights Watch (Organization), "Hatred in the Hallways Volence and Discrimination Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students in U.S. Schools". New York, Washington, London, Brussels, Human Rights Organization. 2001. pp: 60-63.
Bernice L. Hausman, "Do Boys Have to Be Boys? Gender, Narrativity, and the John/Joan Case," NWSA Journal 12, no. 3 (Autumn 2000): 114-138, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/4316765.
Michael R. Schiavi, "A "Girlboy's" Own Story: Non-Masculine Narrativity in "Ma Vie en Rose"," College Literature 31, no. 3 (Summer 2004): 1-26, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/25115205.
Reference: T. Cohen-Kettenis, Friedemann Pfafflin, Transgenderism and
Intersexuality in Childhood and Adolescence (Sage).
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November 18 Biological and medical models of transgenderism and
Transgender activism.
Lori B. Girshick, Jamison Green, "Transgender Voices Beyond Men and Women". 2009. pp: 1-40.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Bs5IrE1YwrQC&lpg=PP1&dq=transgender&lr=&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Susan Janet Barker, A Lonely Heart, "A True Transgender Story". 2008. pp: 5-18.
http://books.google.com/books?id=OKwgjcjqInIC&lpg=PP1&dq=transgender&lr=&pg=PA5#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Stephen Whittle, "The Transgender Debate The Crisis Surrounding Gender Identities". 2000. pp: 1-14
http://books.google.com/books?id=UW9CknJ-tZUC&lpg=PP1&dq=transgender&lr=&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Jonathan Alexander, "Transgender Rhetorics: (Re)Composing Narratives of the Gendered Body," College Composition and Communication 57, no. 1 (September 2005): 45-82, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/30037898.
Patricia Gagne, Richard Tewksbury, and Deanna McGaughey, "Coming out and Crossing over: Identity Formation and Proclamation in a Transgender Community," Gender and Society 11, no. 4 (August 1997): 478-508, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/190483.
Patricia GagnŽ and Richard Tewksbury, "Knowledge and Power, Body and Self: An Analysis of Knowledge Systems and the Transgendered Self," The Sociological Quarterly 40, no. 1 (Winter 1999): 59-83, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/4120891.
Cressida J. Heyes, "Feminist Solidarity after Queer Theory: The Case of Transgender," Signs 28, no. 4 (Summer 2003): 1093-1120, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/3175846.
Reference: Jennifer Finney Boylan, She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders
J Stephen Whittle, Respect and Equality: Transsexual and Transgender Rights (Cavendish)
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****** Monday November 21. Final deadline to send completed research paper to everyone in the class. Assignment this week is to read the papers for discussion on Dec.2
November 25 NO CLASS THANKSGIVING
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December 2 Conclusion, and Presentation of Class Research and Multimedia Projects
FINAL EXAM, on discussions and readings since the midterm, to be turned in before the scheduled exam date.
Because Los Angeles is a center for transgender activism and scholarship, there are a number of prominent scholars in the area who may be able to participate in this seminar.
Dr. Talia Bettcher, professor of philosophy, California State University, Los Angeles,
[transphobia and philosophies of gender dualism]
Dr. Marvin Belzer, professor of medicine, USC Los Angeles Children's Hospital
[transgender adolescents and children]
Dr. Chris Freeman, professor of English and Gender Studies, USC
[literary and theoretical perspectives]
Dr. Judith Halberstam, professor of English and American Studies, USC
[female masculinity, drag kings, and theories of gender variance]
Dr. Jacob Hale, professor of philosophy, California State University, Northridge
[female to male transgenderism]
Rabbi Levi [religion and transgenderism, FTM activism, gender and Judaism]
Dr. Connie Rogers, professor of psychology, California State University, Long Beach
[biographical approaches, cross dressers, psychological factors]
Dr. Walter L. Williams. Professor of anthropology, history, and Gender Studies, USC
[transgender patterns in non-western cultures, strategies for reducing transphobia]