GWSS 528 A: Gender and Sexuality in China

Course Information

ANTH/GWSS/JSIS A 328 A/GWSS 528A: Gender & Sexuality in China

Autumn 2024 | M/W 12:30-2:20 | Gould Hall 322

Instructor

Professor Sasha Su-Ling Welland (she/her/ta/她)

Email: swelland@uw.edu* 
Office: Padelford Hall B110-L (inside main GWSS office)
Office Hours: Mondays, 3:00-4:00 pm or by appointment (Sign Up Link)

Teaching Assistant

Liz Zeng (she/they)

Email: zzeng31@uw.edu
Office: Padelford Hall B111
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 3:00-4:00 pm

*Please note: Every effort will be made to respond to email within 72 hours.

Download full syllabus: ANTH/GWSS/JSISA 328 | GWSS 528

About the Course

Course Overview

Do you want to read the fiery words of anarcho-feminist He-Yin Zhen who published the first Chinese translation of The Communist Manifesto in 1908? Watch the drama of working-class silent film star Ruan Lingyu, who made 29 films before her death at 24? Learn about China’s revolutionary modern girls, women soldiers, and iron girls; what love’s got to do with the translation of “homosexuality” into Chinese; how “comrade” shifted from a term of socialist solidarity to one of queer identification; or why queer and trans theory needs Sinophone studies?

This interdisciplinary course provides a comprehensive survey of gender and sexuality as key aspects of China’s process of modernization, from the late Qing dynasty through the Republican era, Communist revolution, and post-Mao economic reform. It examines, through historical, anthropological, and cultural studies scholarship, the centrality of these social constructs in terms of family, state, labor, body, and ethnicity.

For students of gender and sexuality, the course provides an extensive exploration of feminist thought and movement in a non-Western context; and of the tensions between local and transnational influences in shaping norms, resistances, and struggles for social justice.

For students of anthropology, it examines gender and sexuality as significant aspects of cultural meaning making in everyday life across more than a century of tumultuous historical change.

For students of Chinese history and culture, it analyzes gender and sexuality as central to the development of the modern Chinese nation-state, revolutionary politics, and post-socialist opening to global capitalism.

Learning Goals

• To understand the centrality of gender and sexuality in modern Chinese history, sociocultural formation, and processes of change. (close reading, listening, and comprehension)
• To examine, in a non-Western context, the cultural specificity of gender and sexuality as social constructs that shape ideologies and experiences of family, state, labor, body, and ethnicity. (close reading, listening, and comprehension)
• To examine how transnational encounters shape these social constructs; and how the “local” and “global” interact and influence each other in producing and challenging powerful norms. (close reading, listening, and comprehension)
• To explore how these constructs are made, maintained, and modified at the macro and micro level, and their implications in power relations and struggles for social justice. (analytic and writing skills)
• To engage in a deep and sustained interdisciplinary conversation about gender, sexuality, culture, power, history, and change. To learn from each other’s expertise in cultural critique, gender analysis, and Chinese history and culture. (oral presentation skills, collaboration skills)

Required Texts

There are three required books for the course, which are available through the University Book Store. You can also access digital copies of the texts through the UW Libraries using the links below. NOTE: The publisher of Women and China's Revolutions has not released an unlimited user version, so the 3-user version is the best the libraries could do at this time. Since this text serves as the historical backbone of the course, you might consider prioritizing it when you are making book buying decisions.

I highly recommend that you obtain all texts prior to the beginning of the quarter. If you can purchase a physical, hard copy of each book and print out chapters and articles, having paper copies may help you annotate (underline, highlight, take notes in the margins) and take a break from all the screen time that's taken over our lives.

• Gail Hershatter, Women and China’s Revolutions (3-user eBook)
• Lydia H. Liu, Rebecca E. Karl, Dorothy Ko, eds., The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory (eBook)
• Shuxuan Zhou, From Forest Farm to Sawmill: Stories of Labor, Gender, and the Chinese State (eBook)
  NOTE: This text has been assigned in place of Lisa Rofel, Other Modernities, which I had already ordered before I knew this newly published book would be available. While you may see Other Modernities at the University Book Store, you do not need to purchase or read it.

View the Course Materials page (coming soon) for further information about other assigned readings and films.

Course Requirements (Assignment Details Below)

Learning Responsibilities

Academic Integrity

The essence of academic life revolves around respect not only for the ideas of others, but also their rights to those ideas and their promulgation. It is therefore essential that all of us engaged in the life of the mind take the utmost care that the ideas and expressions of ideas of other people always be appropriately handled, and, where necessary, cited. For writing assignments, when ideas or materials of others are used, they must be cited. For assignments in this class that require citations, please use Chicago Style formatting. To model that style for you, I have used it for the bibliography of course readings. In any situation, if you have a question, please feel free to ask. Such attention to ideas and acknowledgment of their sources is central not only to academic life, but life in general. Please acquaint yourself with the University of Washington's resources on Academic Conduct.

AI Use

The assignments in this class have been designed to challenge you to develop creativity, critical-thinking, and interdisciplinary skills. Using AI technology such as ChatGPT will limit your capacity to develop these skills and to meet the learning goals of this course. If you chose to use AI tools (for example to critically analyze discrepancies in results generated by queries posed in different languages), they must be properly cited as explained above. Please note that AI results can be biased and inaccurate and thus will signal an uncritical use of them that will be reflected in assessments of your work. It is your responsibility to ensure that the information you use from AI is accurate. Additionally, pay attention to the privacy of your data. Many AI tools will incorporate and use any content you share, so be careful not to unintentionally share copyrighted materials, original work, or personal information.

Classroom Community, Diversity & Inclusion

You are learning from the course materials, the instructor, teaching assistants, and each other. You will have different viewpoints and perhaps even strong feelings about certain topics discussed in class. The different perspectives you bring are vital to the learning process. We expect you to listen to each other with respect, interest, and attentiveness. It is my intent that students from diverse backgrounds will be well served by this course and that the materials presented will respect differences of gender, sexuality, disability, age, class, ethnicity, race, and culture. Your suggestions are encouraged and appreciated.

Late Assignment Policy & Communication

Assignments submitted late will be marked down 10% for every day they are late unless prior arrangements have been made. If you have extenuating circumstances (illness, family needs, etc.) that are impacting your ability to complete work on time, please communicate with us as soon as possible! Of course, you should also feel free to speak with us for further clarification of assignments or if you have questions about course materials. We make every effort to respond to email within 72 hours. Students who have lengthy or complex questions should meet with us during office hours (see times above). 

Course Schedule (*The course schedule is on a separate page for reading ease.)

See the Course Schedule page for a detailed list of readings, including chapters and page numbers for readings in the required books, and assignments for each class session. Then follow the weekly Modules in Canvas where all of the readings, links, and assignments will be gathered for you. 

Assignments (528 students, please refer to paper syllabus)

Office Hours Visit (5%)

At the beginning of Week 2, you will sign up in small groups for an “office hours” visit on Friday 10/4 or 10/11 with the instructor and TA, so that we can get to know you better, understand how we can support your learning and intellectual curiosities, and help you prepare to succeed in the class.

Discussion Board Posts & Close Reading Annotations (30%)

You will write three discussion board posts (150-250 words) for a total of 15% of your grade. You should use discussion boards to:

• Reflect on the readings assigned for the week; while you may quote briefly from a text as part of your reflection, your post should primarily consist of your thoughts in writing. 
• Ask questions you would like to discuss further.
• Respond to or expand upon posts by other students.

Discussion Boards will be opened every other week (weeks 2, 4, 7, 9, and 11) with some initial questions to prompt your thinking. You should only post to three of them, so plan in advance which ones work best in your schedule. You should post your responses at the latest by Thursday 5:00 pm PST of that week. I highly recommend that you do 1-2 posts during the first half of the quarter to prepare for the midterm essay. Posts will be graded on a 5-point scale that follows the grading criteria below, in which 5 pts=4.0; 4 pts=3.0; 3 pts=2.0; 0 pts=not turned in.

You will contribute close reading annotations (at least two posts of 50 or more words each) to three course texts through Hypothes.is for a total of 15% of your grade. An introduction to how use this software, currently being piloted by UW-IT as a tool integrated with Canvas, will be provided during week 2. Hypothesis assignments will be given every other week, alternating with discussion boards. The same guidelines given above for the discussion boards apply to these annotations, including that you should only choose three of these to contribute to. 

Reading Analysis Post & Discussion Section Facilitation (15%)

Reading Analysis Post (10%): At the beginning of the Week 2, you will sign up in class for one week of the quarter. You will write a more extended analysis post (700-800 words, roughly 3 solid paragraphs) about one or more of the readings assigned for that week and serve as a discussion facilitator in class that week. Do not also submit a discussion board post (above) for the week you sign up for this assignment. In order to receive full credit your reading analysis post should:

• Be submitted to the separate Reading Analysis Post board by5 pm the day before the class you signed up for so other students have time to read it in advance of class.
• Focus on analysis rather than summary.
• Draw our attention to something specific about the assigned reading, helping us to see it in a new way.
• Incorporate and analyze quotes from the assigned readings.
• Be thoughtful, organized, and carefully proofread.
• Include proper Chicago Style in-text citations as well as Works Cited (not included in the word count) at the bottom of the post.
• Conclude with two robust discussion questions. (NOT: What did you think about the reading? Did you like my post?)

Your analysis post does not have to address every aspect of the assigned readings; instead, the best posts will have a main argument (thesis), make 1-2 observations, and elaborate on these observations: exploring their implications and using these observations to raise new questions. The deliberate use of supplementary primary-source or secondary source materials in English, Chinese, or other languages, images, video, and supplementary materials is encouraged. 

Some options to consider:

• Trace or question arguments you see developing throughout a text.
• Examine the research or interpretive methodology used by the author. 
• Illustrate an important connection between two texts, such as a common question they both take up.
• Provide historical context or a theoretical perspective that reveals something about a text.
• Connect an example from the text to something going on in your own learning trajectory or the world beyond the classroom.

Discussion Section Facilitation (5%): In the class for which you write an extended analysis post, you will also assist in facilitating class discussion based on your post and discussion questions. The goal of these facilitations is to delve into a specific aspect of the readings in a more complex way. You will lead a short breakout group activity of your own design (think-pair-share, a close reading exercise, a writing prompt, moderated discussion of questions, etc.) and ensure that ideas generated by the group feed back into our larger class discussion.

Facilitations should:

• Teach us something: help the class see an aspect of the assigned reading(s) in a new way.
• Encourage class participation, engagement, and critical thinking.
• Be well-organized (not haphazardly thrown together) and prepared for a 10-minute time frame.
• Include every member of the breakout group.
• Be creative and delivered with enthusiasm – this is your opportunity to help teach the class in whatever way you want.

Midterm Essay (20%): Due Friday, 10/25 by 11:59 pm via Canvas

You will write a mid-term exam essay (4 page/1,000 words) in response to a prompt (you will be given at least two options to choose from) that will ask you to reflect critically on lectures and assigned readings from the first five weeks. Good essays will demonstrate close and careful reading of the assigned materials, an ability to integrate readings with lectures and discussions, and an analysis of how these materials matter in understandings of  gender, sexuality, culture, power, history, and change. 

Final Paper (30%): Due Monday, 12/9 by 11:59 pm via Canvas

You will write a final paper (6-8 page/1,500-2,000 word) reflecting on what your learned over the course of the quarter, with a focus on the last five weeks of readings. A handout with prompts to choose from will be distributed on the last day of class.

Grading Criteria & Scale

• 4.0 – achievement outstanding relative to the level necessary to meet course requirements
• 3.0 – achievement significantly above the level necessary to meet course requirements
• 2.0 – achievement meeting the basic course requirements in every respect
• 1.0 – achievement worthy of credit that does not meet basic course requirements

You can find a copy of the grading scale used for this class in Canvas>Files>Syllabus.

Writing & Study Centers

If you would like additional help with an assignment at any point of the writing process, I highly recommend that you make an appointment at the POL S/JSIS/LSJ/GWSS Writing Center.  

Syllabus Resources

Access and Accommodations

Your experience in this class is important to me. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please activate your accommodations via myDRS so we can discuss how they will be implemented in this course. If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), contact DRS directly to set up an Access Plan. DRS facilitates the interactive process that establishes reasonable accommodations. Contact DRS at disability.uw.edu.

Religious Accommodations

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy.  Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form.

UW Policies & Student Resources

UW Health & Wellness Resources

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