Semester:
Offered:
Professor, Katherine Gibson
Wednesday 3:00-5:45pm
Why is it easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism? As we witness the effects of global warming, species loss, economic inequality, and gendered and racialized violence, it is indeed hard to imagine that other worlds are possible. There is no better time to focus on the generative impacts of feminist praxis. This course examines the work of feminist scientists and indigenous elders who have reshaped approaches to environmental toxicity, climate change, and ecological degradation. We will study the work of feminists who have put domestic labor, reproduction, and care on the national policy agenda while challenging economic frameworks that privilege markets and growth. We will use feminist and decolonial tools to destabilize patriarchal notions of "mastery" and "domination" over the natural and social world. We will explore the strategies that working class women, diasporic Black communities and rural women all over the world have used to build dignified livelihoods. Finally, we will identify what can be done in our own lives to repair ecologies and build ethical economies centered on care.