Students will survey the contemporary history of menstrual politics and the rhetorics of anthropologies of menstrual rituals. Readings and theories apply to a wide range of traditional menstrual rituals. Students will analyze how menstrual politics shows up in today’s discussions of menstrual activities/rituals.
First half | Historical and anthropological rhetorics around menstrual rituals. Lander, Louise. Images of Bleeding: Menstruation as Ideology. Selections from: Douglas, Purity and Danger. Buckley and Gottlieb, eds. Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstruation. Bobel. New Blood: Third Wave Feminism and the Politics of Menstruation. Assess students’ comprehension of key concepts and histories through concept mapping. Course projects assessment: Project plan Collect sources: interviews/media sources about contemporary menstrual activities and rituals. |
Second half | Guided discourse analysis of Jewish Niddah literature from a variety of denominational sources. Selections from: Slonim, Total Immersion: A Mikvah Anthology. Responsa on Niddah, assorted denominations Adler, Rachel. “Tumah and Taharah: Ends and Beginnings.” In The Jewish Catalog: A Do-It-Yourself Kit. ——. “In Your Blood, Live: Re-Visions of a Theology of Purity.” Tikkun. Assess project readiness with Annotated Bibliography of collected primary sources and course sources relevant to the specific project. Workshop discourse analysis of collective primary source documents. Final presentation as individual final paper, blog post, podcast, or staged talk-show style presentation. |