PHIL 265 Feminist Philosophy

This exam focuses upon the Feminist Freedom Warriors text and digital archive; yet it will build on material from earlier in the course.

There is a great deal of depth and complexity to the material, and many terms and visions that may be unfamiliar. Be sure to answer questions in regular language. As with your other exams, pretend that your reader will be someone pretty unfamiliar with the interviewees and concepts involved. Don’t assume that they will know the “jargon,” explain things fully. It might be helpful to give examples.

Remember that you need not agree with the text and interviewers. Your job is to engage sympathetically to grasp their ideas, reasoning, and visions on their own terms.

Strive for excellent writing, clear expression of ideas, strong explanations, insight, and good grasp of the meaning of the videos and text. Remember that the essay grades are based on the quality of writing as well as the “content.”

In this final exam, you must go beyond mere summary of the FFW’s ideas and story, to synthesize and relate across these stories – explaining the meaning and/or themes occurring.

CHOOSE 100 points (in any combination). Put all of your answers in blue books.

Write legibly, and skip lines! I cannot give credit for answers I cannot read or understand.

Section I. 2 points each (short answer)

1. True/False Amina Mama reports that the various strands of feminism on the continent of Africa all strive to emulate U.S. feminism.
2. True/False According to the text, all peoples and nations in the world today have totally repaired the damage caused by trans-Atlantic slavery and imperialism.

3. True/False In reflections before and after the election of Trump, at least one of the writers/interviewees expresses concern about rises in hate crimes.
4. True/False Angela Davis, Amina Mama, and Aída Hernández-Castillo all express strong support for neo-liberalism.
5. Which of the following grew up primarily in Nigeria? A. Amina Mama B. Aída Hernández-Castillo C. Angela Davis D. None of these.
6. Which of the following grew up primarily in the United States? A. Amina Mama B. Aída Hernández-Castillo C. Angela Davis D. None of these.
7. Which of the following grew up primarily in Mexico? A. Amina Mama B. Aída Hernández-Castillo C. Angela Davis D. None of these.
8. Which of the following drove overland and visited Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkey in their younger days? A. Amina Mama B. Aída Hernández-Castillo C. Angela Davis D. None of these.
9. Which of the following visited Grenada during its revolutionary days with Maurice Bishop as leader and was impacted by Bishop being killed? A. Amina Mama B. Minnie Bruce Pratt C. Zillah Eisenstein D. None of these.
10. Which of the following worked with incarcerated women in Mexico? A. Amina Mama B. Aída Hernández-Castillo C. Zillah Eisenstein D. None of these.
11. True/False Amina Mama describes living in London and learning about racist treatment of Black people by many London police there.
12. True/False Amina Mama describes the destructiveness of Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) in Nigeria.
13. True/False Amina Mama expresses concern that college and university rhetoric about “embracing diversity” may not address sufficiently the deep political issues relating to oppression.

14 – 23: Pictures

See images (in separate file), using the numbers on the images, write out the names (full names) of the Feminist Freedom Warriors next to the number that appears beside their images.

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1. 10 points each (30-word minimum) Answer in complete sentences.

Note: Questions 1-7 (and possibly 14) call for your own positions, insights, and experiences. You cannot answer them adequately by simply explaining the authors’ views.

1. Choose one of the Feminist Freedom Warriors, name the person and explain one of the following bullet points:

• how/why each sees critiques of racism, capitalism, imperialism, homophobia, transphobia (whichever each focuses upon) as crucial to feminism (I’ll call it coalitional, deeply intersectional feminism).
• how each imagines liberation/positive change, and their reasons why
• how each relates specifics of their life and work context to these issues.

2. Choose one of these authors and a meaningful quote (or related quotes) or concept/theoretical point, develop it, explain it, and apply it – whether to a situation they describe or one you see in your life or in the world today generally.
3. Describe some of Aída Hernández-Castillo’s work with women in prisons, explaining one of the anecdotes and lessons she draws from it.
4. Describe some of Amina Mama’s work, explaining one of the anecdotes and lessons she draws from it.
5. Relate the Feminist Freedom Warriors project to some videos we have watched in class, or that I have recommended, such as Chimamanda Adichie’s TED talk “We Should All Be Feminists.” Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6ufvYWTqQ0 Or Dolores Huerta’s talk (she was the co-founded of the United Farm Workers, along with Cesar Chavez) https://www.ted.com/talks/dolores_huerta_how_to_overcome_apathy_and_find_your_power

Or Tony Porter on masculinity (content warning – some explicit violence references) https://www.ted.com/talks/tony_porter_a_call_to_men?language=en

Explain at least one significant ways that the Feminist Freedom Warrior project (or some element of it such as an interview or some points from the introduction to the text) relate to one or more points in the video.