The Women’s March Syllabus

The Women’s March, Washington, DC, January 20, 2017

To quote Paul Bove in the chapter on “Discourse” in Critical Terms for Literary Study, discourses “produce knowledge about humans and their society,” and an analysis of discourse aims to “describe the surface linkages between power, knowledge, institutions, intellectuals, the control of populations, and the modern state” as these intersect in systems of thought, and as represented in texts (55–56). What does the above passage mean? We come to an understanding of specific circumstances, peoples, events, and cultures through the media and through art. The narrative that we construct — and that we challenge — is the result of multiple, often contradictory, ways of reading events.

After Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people in 2016, a group of a scholars/activists created the Charleston Syllabus as a way of compiling primary and secondary readings for educators and the general public in order to provide context and to shape the discourse surrounding the event. The syllabus has now become a book. Following the example of the Charleston Syllabus, the UVA Graduate Coalition put together a Charlottesville Syllabus.

For this project, students in English 463 constructed a syllabus about the Women’s March protest movement in order to analyze and contextualize the discourse generated by and about the event, which began on January 20, 2017 when women marched across the country and around the planet in response to the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States. Each student was assigned a topic related to the event, tasked with researching that topic and finding two primary and two secondary sources on that topic. Each wrote a brief summation and analysis of that topic.

The mission of Women’s March is to harness the political power of diverse women and their communities to create transformative social change. Women’s March is a women-led movement providing intersectional education on a diverse range of issues and creating entry points for new grassroots activists & organizers to engage in their local communities through trainings, outreach programs and events. Women’s March is committed to dismantling systems of oppression through nonviolent resistance and building inclusive structures guided by self-determination, dignity and respect.

Table of Contents:

I. The Backstory

1. The Women’s March (Kayleigh Sledge)
2. History of Birth Control in the U.S. (Crystal Dorrian)
3. Birth Control’s Medical Usage (Faith Foster)
4. Planned Parenthood (Jamie Williams)
5. Roe v. Wade (Liz Byrd)

II. Subjects of Discourse

1. The Pro-Life Debate (Rachel Plouse)
2. The Invented Tradition of Women’s Sexuality (Madeline Forwerck)
3. #MeToo (Rachel Utnage)
4. Viagra and Health Insurance (Jordan Freeman)