Spring 2010

WGS 356 • INTRO TO FEMINIST RSCH METHODS

Course Description

Because gender, sexuality, and the lives of marginalized peoples have historically been obscured by traditional archives/ists, colonized by traditional research practices, and condescended to by disembodied researchers, a key project of women's and gender studies has been to develop new archives, methods of research, and a lively discussion about the responsibility of researchers to our collaborators. In this course we will ask how feminism has restructured research. This course will prepare you to formulate a research prospectus and a methodology in order to undertake an article, conference paper, undergraduate thesis, or other similar project. In the process, we will examine various feminist research methods, question their assumptions, and practice articulating our relationships, as researchers, to these methods as well as to our projects. Through readings, field trips, and panels of UT-based researchers, we will become familiar with our local university and community resources and will learn about research methods including archival research, case studies, textual analysis, oral history, ethnography, digital resources, and activist research.

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