Course Syllabus
GS141 Winter 2025 Syllabus-4.docx
GS 141: Gender, Culture, and Capitalism
Winter 2025
Friday 11-1:50pm
Online
Instructor: Professor Zeynep K. Korkman
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Email: korkman@ucla.edu
Office Hours: Fridays 2-330 pm online by appointment
Sign-up here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16pkFGpnsqQvfTyRolDO8yEp-NnzZ3Y058llovuGW2us/edit?tab=t.0
Is Lara Croft a cyber-bimbo or a feminist icon? How do soap advertisements cultivate colonialism and white, middle-class domesticity? Why do women and LGBTQ youth seek their fortunes in commercial divination? Actively analyzing advertisements, television serials, Disney fairy tales, and performative forms like fortunetelling in class, students will dynamically investigate culture as the terrain of (re)production of and resistance to gendered, racialized, and classed inequalities. Focusing on the relationships between gender, culture, and capitalism through the lenses of transnational feminist and queer cultural studies, this course will explore the gendered processes of production and consumption of culture under capitalism.
The Online Classroom
The class will be conducted online synchronously over zoom during scheduled class time. Here is the zoom link:
https://ucla.zoom.us/j/93505992150?pwd=9mLRssMz4mj5GDR1a9Nd4uFfX9tw4I.1
Meeting ID: 935 0599 2150
Passcode: 689465
Readings will be available online under weekly modules in course website:
Documentaries are part of required course material and will be (often partially) screened in class, while you are also encouraged to screen fully on your own time. They are available to screen online via Kanopy (a documentary and film archive) from UCLA Library (some are available free online). To access them through Kanopy off-campus, you will need to be logged into the VPN that can be found through BruinOnline.
Course Requirements and Grading
Course Requirements
In this course, we will collectively labor to cultivate a learning community. Below are the ways you are expected to prepare for and enrich the class discussions and contribute to your own and your classmates learning experience. Importantly, these assignments ask you to not only submit your work before the class but also be actively present in class, ready to share what you learned and to contribute to group work.
Reading Logs (4 X%12,5= %50)
You will write a reading log for 4 out of 7 available weeks during the quarter. In your reading log, for each assigned reading for the week, choose two key concepts provided in the syllabus and write a two pages long (Times New Roman, 12 font, double spaced) essay synthesizing the readings for the week around your key concepts. Make sure to refer to each article for the week meaningfully and accurately, and include one direct quotation from each article. Write in essay format, with a short introduction that summarize your thesis and a title.
Complete for 4 out of 7 available weeks of your choice (weeks 3-10, except week 9). Please plan ahead. You are responsible for attending classes the week you submit an assignment ready to actively contribute to class. Please note that there are no make-up options for this assignment, unless in the event of a documented emergency or a relevant disability accommodation.
Due on Wednesday 5pm of the week the readings are assigned for (you will submit your reading log before we discuss those readings in class).
Group Work (4 X%12,5= %50)
You will be completing weekly group exercises in which you will analyze an image, text, or audiovisual material in light of the week’s lecture and readings. Specific instruction will be provided in lecture.
As a group, you will write an approximately two pages long (Times New Roman, 12 font, double spaced) report on your response to the exercise prompt. Must include reference(s) to all the weekly readings, the week’s lecture, and (some of) the key concepts of the week.
You will be offered 6 group work prompts (in 6 out of 7 available weeks over the weeks 3-10, except week 9). You are required to submit at 4 write up assignments over the quarter and are free to choose which ones to skip. Start early to have the flexibility to choose to skip some assignments. Please note that there are no make-up options for this assignment, unless in the event of a documented emergency or a relevant disability accommodation. If you expect to miss class regularly, please reconsider taking the class this quarter.
You will work in groups of four to complete the assignments. Each person in the group will individually submit an identical copy of their collective assignment online. Each student in the same group will receive the same collective grade.
Assignments are due in class time. You must attend the class (and not arrive late or leave early) to be able to submit an assignment for that week. Submit on course website.
Extra-Credit Opportunity (2% each, up to 6%)
Attend an on campus talk or event and write an approximately one page report describing the event and connecting it to the course themes. You can accrue a maximum of 6 extra credit points worth %6, increasing total available points in this course to 106 (%106).
Submit online one week after the event. I will announce some events in class, you can also check with me to see if an alternative event might be eligible for this assignment.
Grading Scale
A+ 97-100 A 93-96 A-90-92
B+87-89 B83-86 B-80-82
C+77-79 C73-76 C-70-72
D+67-69 D63-66 D-60-62 F0-59
Course Policies
Academic Freedom
UCLA Gender Studies strongly believes in the principle of academic freedom and insists on our duty as ethical scholars to teach, discuss, and research wherever inquiry leads. Our interdisciplinary field was forged to recover and build knowledge that is systematically marginalized, discredited, or disappeared by systems of power. We value academic freedom because it supports an environment for a rich exchange of ideas and interventions, including those that may be critical of existing power relations, deemed controversial or provocative, or vulnerable to being targeted by doxing, censorship, and repression (such as scholarship about transgender healthcare, undocumented immigrants’ rights, Israel and Palestine, climate justice, and more). As scholars whose work collectively interrogates various forms of power, violence, and repression, we are committed to defending and advancing the rights of faculty, staff, and students to produce dissenting knowledge and voice dissenting opinions, both in the classroom and out.
Class Etiquette
In order to enjoy and do well in this course, you should be willing to think critically about the issues discussed, be open to different and controversial perspectives on sensitive topics, be willing to share your ideas in verbal and written form, and be respectful of each other, your teaching assistant, the professor, and guest speakers in any virtual and in person spaces you might interact in.
Recording the lectures is not allowed. Anyone who is not enrolled in class needs explicit permission from the professor to attend.
During online meetings, it is ideal to have your camera on, especially when working in small groups or speaking during lecture. If you have a circumstance that regularly requires you to have your camera off, inform the professor.
Please check your email regularly for communications and updates from the professor.
COVID 19 and other Health Related Challenges
I understand that this may remain difficult time, not only in terms of psychical health, but also emotionally, socially, and economically. If you experience covid 19 or other health and disability related challenges that interrupt your coursework, please remember to prioritize your well-being. Do not hesitate to reach out to resources available to UCLA students, and to me to try to find ways to help you do your best in this course.
Accessibility
We are committed to making this course accessible to all students, and will work with the Office of Students with Disabilities to accommodate accessibility requests to our best ability. Please help us do so by letting us know of any potential requests as far in advance as possible.
Emailing the Professor
Please include GS141 in the title of your email. I will make every attempt to respond to emails within two business days.
Office Hours
Virtual office hours will be held by appointment during Friday 2-3:30 pm. Use link below to make an appointment:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16pkFGpnsqQvfTyRolDO8yEp-NnzZ3Y058llovuGW2us/edit?tab=t.0
Please email the professor if these times never work for you and you need to make an appointment at an alternative time.
Grade Disputes
If you receive a grade that you feel is an inaccurate assessment of your work, you may submit it to the professor for a re-grade. You must submit your regrade request in writing. A regrade request consists of your original assignment, accompanied by a written rationale of why you think your work deserved a higher grade. Please note that your grade may be increased or lowered as a result of reassessment.
Academic integrity
No breach of academic integrity is tolerated at UCLA, and will result in disciplinary review by the Office of the Dean of Students. Please note that plagiarism includes inappropriate use of AI.
Subject to Change Statement
Information contained in the course syllabus may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor. You are responsible for checking the course website and your email regularly for updates.
Schedule of Class Meetings
WEEK 1: January 10: Cancelled due to Fires
Week 2: January 17: Culture and Semiology
Key concepts: representation, culture, sign, semiotics, interpretation, inequality, domination, subordination
Hall, Stuart. 1997. “The Work of representation.” Pp.15-41 in Representation: Cultural representation and signifying practices, edited by Stuart Hall. London: Open University Press.
Miller, Jean Baker. 1995. “Domination and Subordination.” Pp.57-69 in Race, Class, and Gender in the United States: An Integrated Study. Third Edition, edited by Paula S. Rothenberg. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Week 3: January 24: Language, Domination, Resistance
Key concepts: language, domination, resistance, racism, sexism
Richardson, Laurel. 2012. “Gender Stereotyping in the English Language.” Pp. 103-107 in Feminist Frontiers. Ninth Edition, edited by Verta Taylor and Nancy Whittier, and Leila Rupp. New York: MacGraw-Hill.
Moore, Robert B. 1995. “Racism in the English Language.” Pp.376-386 in Race, Class, and Gender in the United States: An Integrated Study, edited by Paula S. Rothenberg. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Schept, Judah. 2010. "“I broke the law? No, the law broke me!” Palestinian hip-hop and the semiotics of occupation." Popular culture, crime and social control. 14: 91-119.
Documentary: Jackie Reem Salloum. 2008. Slingshot HipHop. 80 minutes.
Week 4: January 31: Fairy Tales from the Culture Industry
Key concepts: social construction of gender, heteronormativity, culture industry, narrative analysis
Lorber, Judith. 2012. “‘Night to His Day’: The Social Construction of Gender.” Pp. 33-48 in Feminist Frontiers. Ninth Edition, edited by Verta Taylor and Nancy Whittier, and Leila Rupp. New York: MacGraw-Hill (Shortened Version).
Zipes, Jack. 1997. “Introduction.” Pp. 1-15 in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Children, and the Culture Industry. New York: Routledge.
Martin, Karin A. and Emily Kazyak. 2012. “Hetero-Romantic Love and Heterosexiness in Children’s G-Rated Films.” Pp. 153-163 in Feminist Frontiers. Ninth Edition, edited by Verta Taylor and Nancy Whittier, and Leila Rupp. 2012. New York: MacGraw-Hill.
Wright, Will. 1998. “The Structure of Myth and the Structure of the Western Film.” Pp.119-134 in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, edited John Storey. London: Prentice Hall.
Documentary: Miguel Picker. 2001. Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Disney, Childhood, and Corporate Power. 52 minutes.
Week 5: February 7: Reading Signs of Class
Key concepts: class inequality, ruling class, neoliberal precarity, self-entrepreneurship
Mantsios, Gregory. 2007. “Class in America: Myths and Realities.” Pp. 182-197 in Race, Class, and Gender in the United States: An Integrated Study. Third Edition, edited by Paula S. Rothenberg. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Marx, Karl and Frederick Engels. 1998. “Ruling Class and Ruling Ideas.” Pp.191-192 in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader, edited by John Storey. London: Prentice Hall.
Carr, Melissa, and Elisabeth K. Kelan. 2023. "Between consumption, accumulation and precarity: The psychic and affective practices of the female neoliberal spiritual subject." Human Relations 76(2): 258-285.
Documentary: Katherine Sender. 2014. Brand New You: Makeover Television and the American Dream. 53 minutes.
Week 6: February 14: Commodity Racism
Key concepts: sociocultural construction of race, “the other,” colonialism, imperialism, commodity form, commodity fetishism
López, Ian F. Haney. 2005. "The Social Construction of Race." Pp. 52-57 in An Introduction to Women’s Studies: Gender in a Transnational World. Second Edition, edited by Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan. New York: MacGraw-Hill.
Williamson, Judith. 2005. “Woman is an island: Femininity and Colonization.” Pp. 314-316 in An Introduction to Women’s Studies: Gender in a Transnational World. Second Edition, edited by Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan. New York: MacGraw-Hill.
Lutz, Catherine A. and Jane L. Collins. 2005. “Excerpt from Reading National Geographic.” Pp. 317-321 in An Introduction to Women’s Studies: Gender in a Transnational World. Second Edition, edited by Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan. New York: MacGraw-Hill.
McClintock, Anne. 1994. “Soft-soaping Empire: Commodity Racism and Imperial Advertising.” Pp.130-152 in Travelers’ Tales: Narratives of Home and Displacement, edited by George Robertson. London: Routledge.
Week 7: February 21: Consuming Culture
Key concepts: encoding/decoding, dominant and subversive readings, negotiations, pleasure, beyond textual reading
Hall, Stuart. 2001. “Encoding/Decoding.” Pp.163-173 in Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks, edited by M.G.Durham and D.M. Kellner. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Gledhill, Christine. 1998. “Pleasurable Negotiations.” Pp. 236-249 in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader, edited by John Storey. London: Prentice Hall.
Kennedy, Helen W. 2002. “Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo? On the Limits of Textual Analysis.” Game Studies: International Journal of Computer Games Research 2(2).
Week 8: February 28: Fantasizing the Other
Key concepts: fantasy, racialized and sexualized Islam, feminist Orientalism, digital circuits, algorithmic manipulation
Jarmakani, Amira. 2010. “The Sheik Who Loved Me”: Romancing the War on Terror. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 35(4): 993-1017.
Jarmakani, Amira. 2021. “Shari’a Barbie’s Afterlives: Apprehending Racialized and Sexualized Islam through Social Media.” Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism
20 (2):298-322.
Documentary: Sut Jally. 2006. Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People. 50 Minutes.
Week 9: March 7: Class and Office Hours Cancelled
See you at UCLA Center for Study of Women graduate conference!
Week 10: Februrary 28: (Dis)Identifications
Key concepts: identification, disidentification, colonial savior fantasy, decolonial queering
Munoz, Jose Esteban. 1999. “Introduction: Performing Disidentifications.” Pp.1-8 and 25-32 in Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Alqaisiya, Walaa. 2018. “Decolonial queering: The politics of being queer in Palestine.” Journal of Palestine Studies, 47(3), 29-44.
Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali. 2021. "Searching for the Next Intifada: Exercises in Queer Muslim Futurism." Meridians 20 (2): 443-465.