I. Take-Home Portion (each essay is worth 35 points): due on Dec. 14th at 12:00

Essay Questions.  You are required to choose one essay from each group: (A) or (B). You must specifically use at least four of the class readings in each essay; the more you use, the better your grade. You may also use additional, other readings from your presentations. As you will note, many of the essays questions closely correspond to the group presentations. There should be no need for outside, additional reading.

Group A.

1. Third world women and "four thick ropes"
Mao Zedong, chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from 1935 to his death in 1976, once said that there were "four thick ropes" binding Chinese women: political, clan, religious, and masculine authorities. Do you think that other third world women also are bound by four thick ropes, and if so, are they the same ones Chairman Mao identifies? In other words, are there other, different  "ropes" binding third world women? Are there more than four? Compare two of the four societies we studied, and specifically discuss the "ropes."

2. Third world women and first world women.
Discuss the concepts of "third world women" and "first world women," and analyze their differences. How does one define and differentiate these categories? Are differences artificial? What are the historical sources of tension between feminists from the third and first worlds? Is "sisterhood is global" a myth? Why or why not? Justify your response. Are these useful categories of analysis?

Group B. In these essays, you may choose to limit your focus on specific societies we have studied. You must include, however, at least two of the geographic areas.

3. Religion
One author (in Women in World Religions) states that "flexibility, ambivalence, and alternatives existed within...religions. Furthermore, sometimes "the same religious concept may be appropriated differently by men and women." There has been a tendency within much feminist theory to simplistically theorize that most major religions are patriarchal and oppressive to women, and that third world women in particular, are "held back" by religion. Using what we have learned in this course, analyze the effects and influence that religion has had upon third world women. Consider issues of identity, power, culture, legal structures.  DO NOT OVERLY GENERALIZE. (See below.)

4. Work, economics and class
For many third world women, working is less a matter of a "career" and self-fulfillment than it is a striving for maintaining their own and their families' existence. What kinds of work have women in the third world engaged in? How has this changed in recent history? Why have work patterns changed, and what has influenced these changes? How have the types of work women engaged in differed by social class or some other form of differentiation? How have the work patterns of women been shaped by their specific history, cultural practices or social structure?

5. Family
Women's status and life experiences have traditionally, historically, been strongly influenced by their family relationships: as daughters, wives, mothers, and in many cultures, sisters. "Family values" have played contradictory roles, as we've seen. Often they have restricted women, while on the other hand (and some at the same time) provided them with profound meaning and purpose in their lives. Analyze how family has shaped third world women's lives. Do you think that, generally speaking, third world women have been historically more influenced by being family members, as daughters, wives, and mothers? Go back to the questions from our presentations, and include analysis of: the role the family played in society; how family structure affected women's lives (nuclear, extended, single parent, etc.); what kind of role  women played within the family; how the family affected women's experiences and status; how marriage figures into these factors; how sexuality figured into these factors.

6. Women and nationalism.
Women in the third world, like women everywhere, became involved in nationalist movements beginning in the late 19th century. People in third world societies longed for political independence from colonialism, and wanted to control their own national destinies. Often the struggles these movements engaged in were quite protracted; women formed their own women's nationalist movements or worked with a male-led nationalist movement. In rare cases, women and men worked as equals within one movement. Women's actual involvement took a variety of forms, depending upon many different factors specific to their struggle. If they were engaged in an outright war of liberation (such as was the case in Algeria, for example, in the struggle against French colonialism in the 1950s) women often paid the ultimate price --- death -- and also engaged in violent acts themselves. Women felt that their contributions to the nationalist cause would pay off for them internally; after they and their people won independence, women would win political rights. Often this was not the case. As Beth Baron (writing about Egypt) commented, "women have served nationalism, but nationalism, in some respects, has failed women."
Analyze women's involvement in two national struggles: what was the specific national issue the women in  were involved in? What were the goals of the national movement? How did women become involved? What form of involvement did it take? (Did they support men's work, or did they form their own organizations or movement, etc.?) What kinds of activities did women engage in? In other words, what were their tactics and strategies? How were they effective (or not)? In other words, what were the outcomes of their involvement? Why did women become involved in these national struggles as women? Did nationalism ultimately "fail" them?

• the take-home essays must be TYPED, DOUBLE-SPACED, with PAGE NUMBERS.
• Each should be between 3-4 pages long.
• Cite the sources simply by using the author's name and page number in parentheses. If an author has more than one article or book on our list (for example, Domitila Barrios de Chungara), make up short titles for the works. Example: (de Chungara, "Combine," 421). There are few of these to worry about.
• Include a list of works you cite or use as references at the end of the essays.

About the essays:

• BEWARE OF OVER GENERALIZING ABOUT OR SIMPLIFYING THE CATEGORY OF "THIRD WORLD WOMEN." BE SPECIFIC when you write about women, taking into account specificities and differences among them, such as class, race, religious and ethnic identity, age, educational levels, economic status, the particular historical period which you discuss, family status, and geographic location (rural-urban.) For example, think of how different Lenny and Ayah are in Cracking India, yet they were both "Indian women" (or girls.)

• The quality of your thesis.
• The quality and (to an extent) quantity of your use of sources for specific evidence from the readings, materials and class discussions to support your points.
• The quality of your writing and organization of your essay.
• Demonstration of your knowledge of the topic.
• Demonstration of effort.
• Following instructions (answering the questions; following the format.)

II. In-class objective portion (30 points). This should take you about 20-30 minutes at the most.

1. Map. (10 points) There will be a world map with numbers on it that include: major countries in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East; major cities in India; major seas and oceans. You will identify 10 of these. Links to study from (try printing them out if you can)

WORLD

INDIA

2. Concepts. Fill in the blanks. (20 points.) There will be twenty of these. They are from the link on the website.

Example 1:
Some Hindus practice __________________, which is when a widow immolates herself on her husband's funeral pyre.
Example 2:
A __________________ society is one in which family descent is traced through the mother.

There will be a word bank from which to choose.