Womens Studies

Select a research site. Students should be familiar with the site and capable of observing accomplishments of gender for a total of 8 hours. 1. Observations must focus on interactions with women, cisgender or transgender (observation hours do not need to occur in one sitting). 2. The observation site should be something familiar to the student, easy and safe to access. 1. For example, students can observe at their home, place of employment, neighborhood park, the grocery store, a restaurant, their sporting league, etc. Students must be able to maintain social distance and adhere to COVID-19 CDC guidelines. Please do not interview anyone. 2. If a student is unable to safely observe in a setting, please contact me. 3. Approach the site as if you are an alien and know nothing about it. Assume nothing and write everything down (thick description). 1. You should take notes on the physical setting. What people are wearing, how do they use the space, how do they interact, what do they say, and how do other people treat them in this environment? Be particularly aware of how race, gender, class, and/or sexuality shape the meaning of the space and interactions. 4. Use observation notes to write a paper about how women “do” gender in interaction with others, intersected with other forms of difference (race, class, religion etc.), in that particular setting. 5. This is both a descriptive and analytic undertaking. 1. Descriptive process: 1. Categorize and organize your observations. Explain how people “do” gender/ “do” differences in this setting. Be sure to take an intersectional approach and discuss how the “doing” of gender is tied up with race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality. 2. Analytical process: Use course material/theories to help you understand what people are doing in that setting. Discuss doing gender/difference using the following levels of analysis. 1. Interactional Level: Use interactionist theories to explain how people do or perform gender/difference in this particular setting/ social context. How do people produce or challenge gender in their interactions and through their bodies? 2. Organizational level: How do particular social and organizational institutions impact your findings? For example, if you observe interactions between sports teams. How does the organization of that sports institution impact your findings? 3. Cultural Level: What role does culture play? How does culture/popular culture provide symbolic resources for the creation of categorical difference or sameness between men and women of varying backgrounds (race, age, ability, sexual orientation etc.). 4. Structural level: What are the structural implications of their actions and interactions? How does structure constrain and/or enable their interactions? Discuss how the gendered practices of people reproduce or disrupt the sex/gender system.

Resources

1. Paper must include a total of 8 - 9 academic sources. 1. Please be sure to use the following sources for the paper: 1. Messner, Michael A. 2000. The Barbie Girls versus the Sea Monsters: Children Constructing Gender. Gender & Society 14(6): 765-784. 2. West, Candace and Don Zimmerman. 1987. Doing Gender. Gender & Society 1:125-151. 3. Hill Collins, Patricia, and Sirma Bilge. 2016. Intersectionality. Cambridge, UK: Malden, MA Polity Press: 1-30. 4. Trautner, Mary Nell. 2005. Doing Gender, Doing Class: The Performance of Sexuality in Exotic Dance Clubs. Gender & Society 19(6):771-788

2. Please use at least 4 - 5 additional academic sources for the paper 1. Do not use Wikipedia, websites, or blogs. These sources must come from academic journals or academic books. You will need to use the University library resources. You may also use additional articles assigned in this course to meet the requirement. However, the selected articles must be relevant to your paper. Components of the Research Project 1. Research Site and Focus 1. Students will select their research site and focus early in the semester. Students must identify where they will conduct their observations and what their focus will be (for example- gender and race; the intersection of gender, race, and sexuality; the intersection of gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation, etc.) 2. Students must have prior approval from the professor if they would like to change their approved research site and focus. 2. Research Paper

1. The paper must be a minimum of 7 pages and a maximum of 8 pages, not including the Works Cited/Bibliography page. 1. Please use Times New Roman 12 pt font, 1 inch margins, and double space. 2. Please be sure to check for spelling and grammar 3. Please include in-text citations. 4. All papers will be checked for plagiarism.

3. The paper should have the following structure: 1. Introduction - Provide a 0.5 - 1 page overview of your research project. 2. Literature Review - Provide a 2 - 3 page overview of the literature on this topic. What does the literature say about doing gender/doing difference? 3. Methods - Provide a 0.5 - 1 page description of your methods of ethnographic research. How did you prepare for your observations? How many hours did you observe? How many days did you observe? What was your observation site? 4. Findings - 2.5 - 3 pages

1. Descriptive - Provide a thorough thick description of your observations. Be specific and detailed. See examples of how to write a thick description. 2. Analytical – Use the course readings (theories and other research) to help make sense of your observations at interactional, organizational, cultural, and structural levels of analysis. (See the article by Michael Messner as a guide) 5. Conclusion – Provide a 1 page summary of your research project and overall findings. Provide your reflections. What did you learn or take away from this project? 6. Works Cited Page – Include a works cited page on a separate page