WOST 401 Feminist Practice
Independent study of student's own area of interest within women's studies, serving as a capstone to the interdisciplinary experience of the minor. The capstone may be a final project, undergraduate thesis, or community-based internship, for example. Must arrange with coordinator prior to course selection.
Feminist Practice Guidelines
Description: Feminist Practice is the capstone course for minors completing their coursework in the Women's Studies Program. It is an independent study that is offered every semester, including one summer session. However, those students enrolling in Feminist Practice in the spring semesters will also have the opportunity to attend a series of meetings with women's studies faculty and other minors who are enrolled in the course concurrently. Every student enrolled in Feminist Practice must select a director and submit a proposal for their work the semester before taking the course. The director does not have to be the Director of the Women's Studies Program, but can be any faculty member who agrees to work with you and who is doing relevant research in the field. See timeline below for more details.
Three Options: Students enrolling in Feminist Practice can satisfy the course requirements in one of three ways: 1) producing a final project; 2) writing an undergraduate thesis; or 3) completing a community-based internship. Students are encouraged to include a public component to their projects. See details under the individual descriptions below. All students are required to present their completed research at the Women's Studies Spring Symposium.
1) A final project in women's studies must focus on a topic pertinent to scholarship in women's studies and must also correlate with coursework in the minor.
Example: Sold: What They're Not Telling You Is What They're Selling You, by Sabina Saragoussi and Carrie Shannon. This project involved collaborative research on advertising's representation of women and links to eating disorders and body image problems among adolescent girls. After researching the issues, the students compiled a folder of representative advertisements, which they used in two ways: 1) to lead a workshop on body image issues in local high schools; and 2) to support their analyses in a paper that brought their research together with their workshop experience in a final written product. Their project had three components: 1) research; 2) high school workshop; and 3) writing.
What was turned in: a portfolio with three sections: 1) fully documented paper analyzing the issues relating to body image, advertising and eating disorders, supported by their research and listing all of their sources (10-15 pages); 2) write-up of high school workshop and evaluation of how it went (5 pages); and 3) sample advertisements used to support the paper and in the workshop (15-20 pages of advertisements).
2) An undergraduate thesis must focus on a topic pertinent to scholarship in women's studies. Since the entire three credits are reflected in a single written product, the thesis should be substantial in length. The student and director have flexibility to determine scope and length of the thesis, but should keep in mind a minimum of 25-30 pages of writing and a substantial bibliography of sources. The public component of the thesis can be worked out individually, but might include presenting the paper on a panel of other feminist practice students; presenting at a professional conference; speaking for a local community organization; visiting a women's studies class to present your research; or presenting your research at the end-of-semester Women's Studies Symposium.
Examples: research on transnational feminist theory and activism, violence against women in global contexts, and AIDS services in Chautauqua County.
What to turn in: a 25-30 page thesis, not including notes and citations.
3) A community-based internship must be relevant to women's studies scholarly and activist concerns. Examples include working with a battered women's shelter, rape crisis center, or women's health organization. However, simply working at such an organization is not sufficient. The women's studies minor seeking to fulfill the feminist practice requirement must apply her knowledge from women's studies coursework. Students must do a write-up of the particular initiative that they organize, documenting all work done and demonstrating its relevance to and connection with women's studies coursework, including reference to research in the area. In other words, to get credit for an internship for feminist practice, students must still do research relevant to the internship, and apply their knowledge in a hands-on manner in the context of their internship. This option requires both an on-campus and an on-site director, and it is the student's responsibility to put the two into contact with one another to assess the student's work for the course credit. The public component would be satisfied through the particular application of women's studies-based knowledge.
Examples: Previous students have organized support groups for rape survivors through local battered women's shelters; a campus support group for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse (both of these required making arrangements for the group to meet with trained counselors who spoke to the group members' needs); and a workshop on gender differences in grieving, especially women's grieving practices, for a Buffalo Hospice organization.
What to turn in: approximately 10-15 pages documenting the internship experience. This could be in the format of a journal or other narrative form, or in traditional academic language. It must incorporate references to pertinent research linked to the internship and must document the component of the internship that involved applying women's studies-based knowledge on-site.
***Timeline***
The semester before students want to take WOST 401, they must do the following:
1) decide which option they will pursue (see the Director of the Women's Studies Program for suggestions and guidance, and to get the Guidelines for Directors sheet to share with prospective directors);
2) develop a working title for the project/paper/internship;
3) write up a 2 to 3 paragraph proposal detailing research interests, ideas for projects and/or internships, and produce a working bibliography of sources pertinent to the practice;
4) take that proposal to prospective directors, and ask if they would be willing to direct;
5) get feedback on the proposal from the director(s) who agree(s) to direct;
6) by course selection week the semester before students take WOST 401, they must submit their proposals to the Director of Women's Studies and must indicate who their director(s) will be (oral agreements, or email confirmations are fine);
7) during course selection week, get signature from Director of the Women's Studies Program giving permission to register for WOST 401 (permission will be based upon the proposal submitted);
8) take registration worksheet to the registrar for an electronic signature to be added to the class;
9) register for WOST 401;
10) be prepared to start work right away when the semester the student has enrolled for the class begins, and also to attend bi-monthly meetings with other Feminist Practice students and women's studies faculty to discuss progress and receive feedback on work (for those enrolled in the spring semesters).
Due dates for Feminist Practice are established by individual directors, and (in spring semesters) also by the faculty meeting with students during regular class time. Final projects are graded by individual directors. These directors then submit their grades to the Director of Women's Studies no later than the final day of exam week. The Director of Women's Studies submits all grades to the registrar.
*****For students enrolling in Fall and Summer sessions of WOST 401, a midterm progress report must be submitted to the Director of Women's Studies, with signatures by both the student doing the practice and the directors of the practice, testifying to successful progress on the Feminist Practice. These are due to the Director the week before midterm grades are due. Reminders will be posted to email, but students are ultimately responsible for being sure to submit these reports for a grade of "S" on their midterms.