The Dartmouth Observer |
|
|
Commentary on politics, history, culture, and literature by two Dartmouth graduates and their buddies
WHO WE ARE Chien Wen Kung graduated from Dartmouth College in 2004 and majored in History and English. He is currently a civil servant in Singapore. Someday, he hopes to pursue a PhD in History. John Stevenson graduated from Dartmouth College in 2005 with a BA in Government and War and Peace Studies. He is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He hopes to pursue a career in teaching and research. Kwame A. Holmes did not graduate from Dartmouth. However, after graduating from Florida A+M University in 2003, he began a doctorate in history at the University of Illinois--Urbana Champaign. Having moved to Chicago to write a dissertation on Black-Gay-Urban life in Washington D.C., he attached himself to the leg of John Stevenson and is thrilled to sporadically blog on the Dartmouth Observer. Feel free to email him comments, criticisms, spelling/grammar suggestions. BLOGS/WEBSITES WE READ The American Scene Arts & Letters Daily Agenda Gap Stephen Bainbridge Jack Balkin Becker and Posner Belgravia Dispatch Black Prof The Corner Demosthenes Daniel Drezner Five Rupees Free Dartmouth Galley Slaves Instapundit Mickey Kaus The Little Green Blog Left2Right Joe Malchow Josh Marshall OxBlog Bradford Plumer Political Theory Daily Info Andrew Samwick Right Reason Andrew Seal Andrew Sullivan Supreme Court Blog Tapped Tech Central Station UChicago Law Faculty Blog Volokh Conspiracy Washington Monthly Winds of Change Matthew Yglesias ARCHIVES BOOKS WE'RE READING CW's Books John's Books STUFF Site Feed    |
Thursday, August 15, 2002
'And Gender' The D reports today that the Women's Studies program has officially changed its name to the "Women and Gender Studies" program. Here's why: "While in the early days of women's studies a great deal of attention was focused on 'rescuing' the submerged works of women and the focus was clearly women-centered, increasingly women's studies programs and departments have shifted toward an analysis of the construction of gender as a whole and courses now include gender as a fundamental category of analysis." This statement beautifully summarizes why I disagree with the existence of such a department. The entire "Women's Studies" endeavor injects too many political sentiments into the classroom. Like Chien Wen, I wish academics would be less political and more "disinterested." However, with entire programs and departments devoted to politicized learning ("analysis of the construction of gender"?), we're not going to see a disinterested academia anytime soon. Don't believe me? Listen to this: "she [Susan Ackerman, co-chair of the program] noted that feminists have been interested in revising the myth that 'only a male president can push the button to set off a nuclear bomb.'" And last year, the only honors thesis in Women's Studies was about public masturbation, examining the role pornstars and Madonna play in the "politics of auto-erotic stimulation." You can't make this stuff up. |