Exam prep

[kangeiko]

I have finished reading and writing up detailed notes on Judith Butler's 'Gender Trouble'. I have also finished writing up equally detailed notes on Foucault's 'History of Sexuality Vol. 1'.

I might almost understand things.

*knocks on all the wood in the house*

I have also located copies of Samuel Huntington's 'Clash of Civilizations' (I want to ask why no one has ever accused dear Sam of racism, as from where I'm sitting it all sounds remarkably like the Orientalism that Said was talking about) and of Foucault's 'Discipline and Punish', and have purchased a copy of 'Stiffed: Betrayal of Modern Man' by Susan Faludi.

That, I feel, covers at least some of the major theorists I am likely to be questioned about for my first two exams. Well. I'm not counting Amartya Sen and Alex de Waal, who write about economics. it hurts my brain.

i'm going to revise the construction of the enemy (non-female specific, i think), the economics of famines, the psychology of atrocities, genocide and probably commerce and international terrorism OR humanitarian aid. four or five topics for three questions. that sounds about right, yeah?

owwie. my brain hurts. why do i have to go to work tomorrow? i need to sleep.

Comments

[wingsmith.livejournal.com]

"i'm going to revise the construction of the enemy (non-female specific, i think), the economics of famines, the psychology of atrocities, genocide and probably commerce and international terrorism OR humanitarian aid. four or five topics for three questions. that sounds about right, yeah?"


Sounds like a bad case of academia. Drink plenty of fluids and get bed rest. I shall be around this weekend to check on you.

Muchos Amorres

[kangeiko]

vic needs tea and love. hates stupid frenchmen. grrr. *kick*

i have purchased fish.

i have eaten the fish.

mmmmm.

[hello-trouble.livejournal.com]

wow - your exams sound a lot more hardcore than mine! I've only got one and I got the questions two weeks ago! Yes, a seen exam - i've never really seen the point of them, but hey i'm not complaining.

Good luck!

[kangeiko]

not fair! i have four exams: gender theory, complex emergencies (development, economics, political theory and conflict-resolution), human rights law and geography. i also had language exams. so not fair! *stomp*

ok, I'd have more empathy if I wasn't buried under foucault. :( out of curiosity, what topics are you basing your exam on?

[hello-trouble.livejournal.com]

I had a choice of questions to choose from. These are the ones i chose:

1. How has feminism been inflected by Empire? (LOVE this question!!)
2. Discuss the feminist debate on the question of matter for its relevance to theorising bodily phenomena.

Still wondering why i chose the second one, seeing as i could have picked a number of ones that were easier (ie 'critically discuss standpoint theory' blah blah boring). I think i chose it because its interesting, without really thinking about the consequences (ie the fact that all the texts are super-heavy). Feeling kinda stressed about this one. Reading Karen Barad and Vicky Kirby at the moment. And Marsha Rosengarten, who is my course convenor - she writes about HIV in relation to feminist theory - really interesting.

[kangeiko]

fuck me sideways, i've never heard of any of those people and i did one of my honours courses on the body! i am still astonished on the sheer volume of work out there, to be honest. my reading list resembles a small book in length.

i'm very interested in the fact that you're going the HIV/medicalisation route, whereas I'd have immediately gone for haraway and cybersexualities (also, anzaldua and the-body-as-permeable-border vis-a-vis mestiza consciousness and writing on the migrant female body, probably ending up at post-coloniality, actually). the whole thing sounds fascinating, actually, i'd love to know what your conclusions are on the matter. (we're having a new reproductive technologies seminar pre-the exam, mainly because i suck ass at NRT. the whole thing scares the bejess out of me.)

what does 'question of matter' mean, anyway?

also loving the 'empire' question - said, yes? *g* I'm trying to bone up on my post-coloniality and multiculturalism and all i've come up with are mohanty, spivak and said. are there any other major ones out there? (if you say susan okin i will throw things)

totally agree standpoint theory - boring. am devoted postmodern feminist and so think the entire idea is bollocks, anyway. *g*

[hello-trouble.livejournal.com]

You know, i've been meaning to read anzaldua, but somehow i've never got around to it, apart from one short extract somewhere (in feminism and 'race' i think)

I'll probably post tomorrow about my ideas for the 'question of matter', my brain is hurting at the moment.

For feminism and empire: yes said, mohanty and spivak of course. For imperial white feminism Vron Ware is great, as well as Anne McClintock and Antoinette Burton. And Hazel Carby, Pratibha Parmar and Valerie Amos for British Black feminism

On multiculturalism my favourites are Ayelet Shachar, Floya Anthias, Saharso... Susan Moller Okin = evil!

[kangeiko]

also... one exam? on gender theory, right? *is confused*

[hello-trouble.livejournal.com]

yeah, one exam for our core courses, on gender theory and 'gendering research practices' - everything else is assessed by course essays.