File spoon-archives/french-feminism.archive/french-feminism_1996/96-06-15.140, message 145


Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 00:16:41 -0800 (PST)
From: Trudy Mercer <true-AT-u.washington.edu>
Subject: Please teach French feminism (long)


Catherine Peebles,

Please don't give up on teaching French feminism on an undergraduate
level. I would have loved taking an undergraduate class on French
feminism. Currently I am doing my honors thesis on the work of Julia
Kristeva--my choice. I am spending the quarter reading mostly secondary
sources along with _Revolution in Poetic Language_ & probably _Desire in
Language_ &/or _Black Sun_. I am *hoping hard* that I am accepted for
graduate school so I can continue my studies in critical & feminist
theory. Without exposure & opportunity to read & explore on an
undergraduate level I would probably not have considered graduate school
because I wouldn't know what wonders were available for me. 

Let me introduce myself & provide you with an example: I am a 43 yr old
senior at the Univ. of Washington. I had been out of school for 15 years
before returning to finish my BA. So I missed many of the academic changes
regarding feminism & theory. All of my previous experience was at 
community colleges. I have a double major in English & Humanities.

My first quarter at the UW I had a class on critical theory. We read
Saussure, Lacan, Derrida, Freud, Nietzsche, Barthes, Blanchot, Bataille,
Foucault, Deleuze & Guattari, Irigaray, Kristeva & Haraway. I
knew I was in deep water, but struggled to keep my head up. There was a
great deal that I didn't "get." My professor's attitude was: I know you're
not going to get all of this, but try to grasp as much as you can. He
assigned us "response statements" to be turned in after each reading
assignment but before the lecture started. Then tuned the next lecture to
address some of the problem areas he saw in our responses. We wrote 2
papers. The first was a "creative" essay that "did something" with one or
more of the theories. I wrote on clocks & time using Derrida's concept of
supplementarity & the simultaneous presence & absence of meaning. The
second essay was an explication that tied together two or more theories.
My essay (on Saussure & Lacan) wasn't very good, but I worked hard to
understand what I was writing about. Because of that class I sought out
other classes that offered theory or its practice. I enrolled in a class
that was described as mostly French feminist theory only to find out that
the prof decided it was too "hard" for us & assigned lighter reading. 
Most of us were disappointed & a little bored. 

I set up my honors thesis on Julia Kristeva because if I don't get into
grad school I want a chance to explore her work with some guidance. 
*Please* don't give up on teaching French feminism on an undergraduate
level. There are students who want it. Instead reconsider the reading load
& the form of your lectures. Perhaps spend some time in the beginning
"loading" those terms for the students. Set up a long list of suggested
readings of secondary sources that they can explore for help. 

There will always be students who don't "get it," but for those of us who
do, we are hungry for more. 

Best wishes & Good luck.

Trudy Mercer
true-AT-u.washington.edu
Seattle, Washington






   

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