mid-semester course evaluation

Thus far this course has taught me so much in terms of gender identity, feminism, defying binaries and hierarchies and exploring self-representation, including my own. In terms of the course material solely, I have been fascinated, scared and amazed by the texts we have read. I like the variety of the texts and the forms in which they are presented, they stem away from the usual formats I read in school and this has made it easier and more exciting to read them. They are engaging and eye-opening for me. Our discussions around the texts are eye-opening as well.

I really appreciate the discussion based format of this class; it allows me to gain multiple perspectives and opinions. I value the vulnerability that the class has shared with each other and the mutual respect among the classroom, it has allowed for us, I think, to have such deep and introspective conversations. The classroom set up also helps this, I like that we sit in a circle and are able to see everyone in a more intimate and personal way. I also like that when we speak, we are addressing the whole class and not just the professor, breaking down the power dynamic that often makes speaking intimidating for me. Also, because I am often a quiet person, not speaking for days often without realizing it, working in smaller groups is very helpful. Often I do not speak in class because before I can fully gather my thoughts for articulating, we as a class have moved on to another topic, so working in small groups helps me gather my thoughts and articulate them in a more private space, so that when we go back into a larger group, I know what I want to say and am more willing to share.

This class is one in which we do a lot of questioning. Questioning is a good way of opening us up to more opinions and allows us to do more critical thinking, however I often feel more confused when I leave the class and I never feel as if we come to any resolutions or conclusions about anything. Maybe not coming to a conclusion is a purposeful exercise to illustrate that not everything can be solved and understood so easily, however it seems that we just kind of leave the topic we were questioning the previous day and don’t fully flesh it out. If for some of the topics we talk about, we can come up with a solidified mutual understanding, if possible, I think I would feel less confused and unorganized about what we are learning.

I like the idea someone had in class of meeting in small groups before our papers are due to conference and bounce ideas off each other, and still meeting afterward to discuss them.  It would be really interesting to analyze feminist film or plays. I am hoping that we take a little closer look into to the different types of feminism and the intersectionality between different aspects of the feminist discipline.