CTSJ 234 Materialist Feminism

Is there such a thing as a "woman's condition" and can that condition be explained by examining the economic dimensions of women's history? Is the violence that people are disproportionately exposed to, based on gender, race, sex, and sexuality, only a tool in the production and reproduction of economic classes, or do these identities and experiences require an analytic framework that transcends economic relations? In this course, we will consider a particular intellectual tradition that engages these questions: materialist feminism. We will begin our readings by considering texts by Marx and Engels that form the backbone of this tradition. We will then consider texts from American, British, and Italian traditions of thought and activism that include feminists working in national and transnational women of color traditions. Readings will include: Michèle Barrett, Hazel Carby, Carolyn J. Eichner, Silvia Federici, Combahee River Collective, Mariarosa Dalla Costa and Selma James, Angela Davis, Friedrich Engels, Rosa Luxemberg, Karl Marx, Heidi Hartmann, and Denise Riley.