Help me pick classes?

[rax]

I need to choose classes for the semester. Here's what I am required to take:

2-4:30 PM on Mondays: GNDR 600 "Concepts of Gender"

I'm required to grade GNDR 225, "Gender, Sexuality, and Pop Culture." It meets Tuesdays and Thursdays, either 9:30-10:45 AM or 1-2:15 PM, depending on which fits better with the rest of my schedule. (If I have no conflicts, I'll probably be assigned based on other people's schedules. This is fine with me, I'm used to being up and functional at 9:30 AM and even kinda like it.)

I can take either one other class and a graduate consortium (professional development, writing workshop, that kinda thing) or two other classes. Here are the classes I am most strongly considering, and I can't count on any of them being offered again (although AAAD 500 will be, I bet):

10-12:30 PM on Mondays: GNDR 598 "Feminist Theory: Classic Text and Founding Debates"

"Explores founding texts of contemporary feminist theory, asking questions about identity, knowledge, sexuality, and ethics.   Such works have emerged in relation to a variety of theoretical discourses, such as Marxism, structuralism, cultural studies, and others.  Examines the intellectual history of feminist theory and its resonance with more recent trends." This is appealing because I feel like my background in early work is really, really, really shoddy.

6-8:30 PM on Tuesdays: GNDR 701 / AAAD 500 "Intro to African-American and African Diaspora Studies"

Not many schools have a department in this at all; while they have other courses that are appealing (in particular one on Black Women in America that I think would build off of the Early African-American Lit course I took at UMB), again, I feel like my grounding is really poor and an intro class would push a ton of books and ideas at me in a structure that encouraged digesting and internalizing them.

5-7:30 PM on Wednesdays: "Transsomatechnics"

I had to look up what this meant too; basically it's "theories and practices of transgender embodiment," and so it brings together technology and technology of the body and trans theory and it's all oh my god hardcore. [0] It's also super theoretical, and I'm a smidge worried it would kick my ass. But in a lot of ways it's basically what I want to be working on. The only question for me about taking this course is "Do I want to dive directly into the really hard stuff I want to think about while still taking my intro core courses?," or, more simply, "Feet wet head first <y/n>?"

10-11:30 AM on Wednesdays: "Research Colloquium in Gender Studies"

I described this above, but basically it's professional development. Many people take it more than once, and I've been advised to take it my first semester, although told I don't have to if I really don't want to. I want professional development, so I'm probably going to take it, although I'm a little bit tempted by taking it the next semester...

For context, a student needs 20 classes for a PhD, likely 10-15 worth in my case because I am coming in with an MA. (It'd be 10 if my MA were in Women's Studies or something; I can probably get at least 5 classes of credit, but I don't know if they're going to transfer, say, fiction workshop, or that I want them to even if they will.) I'd like to be done taking classes within three years, which means I should take either two or three classes per semester. With the conservative estimate of needing 16 classes, that's 3/3/3/3/2/2 for six semesters assuming I don't do anything that gets me credit in the summer --- which I could, if I wanted, either independent study or a course in whatever my minor will be. [1] (Gender Studies doesn't offer coursework in the summer, but other grad departments sometimes do.) I'd feel like I was wasting my time using
the graduate colloquium too many times to get credits --- after all I'm here to take classes and learn things, not just to develop professional skills. But one fall and one spring colloquium, maybe a year apart, seems reasonable. 

Next semester I will be taking two core courses, so I can only fit one elective in. I might want that elective to be something in minor, since I probably don't want more than one minor course per semester? And if my minor is something very different from gender theory, it would be nice to have something in an alternate context to go and do every week, aside from my job. [2] Or I could get more professional development and be done both with colloquia and with core courses after the first year.

I know the ways I'm leaning already, but I'm curious what other people think. Scheduling plays a small role in my decisions, but not huge; I can't avoid being on campus MTR and having Wednesdays off isn't really exciting. Having Fridays off is awesome and means more possibility for long weekend visits, but there's no schedule I might pick that threatens that. Nothing conflicted, which I guess isn't that surprising since most of the grad gender classes are in the same room, but is awesome. I'm sad I can't take everything! (I had to discard some awesome classes just to get my list this short.)

[0] For those who care I am pretty sure this is as close as it comes to "Postfurry Theory" in the academy.

[1] "Help me decide my minor?" will be a separate post. I'm really tempted to do something in on the tech/science side, maybe informatics. But I could also do American Studies, or History, or English, or... They're all so fun!!!

[2] Oh by the way MetaCarta got divested from Nokia to Qbase on Monday. I probably can't answer your questions about what this means other than "Rachel spending more time in Dayton." Anyone know anything exciting to do in Dayton, OH?

Comments

[movingfinger]

The very worst kind of decision, this!

At first glance: If you could get the text list for GNDR 598 and read them independently, the class may not really do much for you other than keep you chomping through the readings on a schedule.

If you knew AAAD 500 would come around again, you could take it later; or, as above, a reading list you could go through independently at your own pace would be better than nothing. (My bias in general is that a well-grounded person can get through "Intro to..." most everything, pretty effectively that way.)

A class in Transsomatechnics sounds like it's a chance not to be missed. If you covered that material early on, you'd be much better equipped to get the most from the rest of your time there. So IMO that plus the colloquium would be awesome.

[phi]

In Dayton proper there's the RiverScape and the Oregon District, and that's pretty much it. Locals will tell you to stay away from the Oregon District because it's dangerous and scary, but really, it's mostly populated by wannabe hippies and liberals (or, as liberal as SW Ohio ever gets) and sexually liberated straight cis women. Also frat boys, who I actually find somewhat terrifying, but I'm pretty sure they aren't what people are referring to when they say the Oregon District is dangerous. There's really no consistently good music to be had, but occasionally Katz or Pacchia's will have someone decent playing or DJing. If you like nature-y things, I really like Cox Arboretum. A bit further out, there's the Wright Brothers Museum and the Air Force Museum if you're interested in historical aeronautics. If you feel like driving a bit further, Yellow Springs is where all the cool kids hang out. There's great art galleries, restaurants, and it's way more chill than anywhere else in the area. It's also the only place I know of that has exclusively vegetarian restaurants (although I can't remember off the top of my head how vegan-friendly they were).

For your own safety, I suggest staying the hell out of Oakwood. (There's nothing interesting to do there anyway, unless you've developed a golf habit or are looking for a ridiculously expensive mansion to buy).

[kiya]

I would personally be really wary of the Feminist Theory Early Debates thing if it contains stuff on trans issues because historical debates in feminist theory regarding trans issues make me fucking homicidal. Possibly femmicidal. Something. The transphobia is summer-blockbuster epic.

[rax.livejournal.com]

Oh I'm used to them, and basically discarded three decades worth of writing because of them, and should really go back and mine out the good parts. ;) But oh my god Janice Raymond aaaaaaaaa.

[kiya]

(So my sister the asskicking trans dyke preacher/performer is apparently moving into the same apartment building as Julia Serano. Accidentally! It was the place she got for grad school! Her comment on this goes something like, "Somewhere, Janice Raymond has woken up in a cold sweat.")

Good luck with the mining? Bring an extra pickaxe and a canary?

[hebinekohime (from livejournal.com)]

Huh. That's disappointing; I thought early feminism was more Simone de Beauvoir and Mary Wollstonecraft than Janice Raymond.

[sovay]

The only question for me about taking this course is "Do I want to dive directly into the really hard stuff I want to think about while still taking my intro core courses?," or, more simply, "Feet wet head first < y / n >?"

It sounds awesome to me.

[jadia.livejournal.com]

Hm, if transomatechnics has a chance of not being offered again then I'd probably leap upon that. You can always drop it if the courseload is way too much, right?

Re [2]: that explains some comments you made yesterday...eep.

[doma.livejournal.com]

The transomohowdoyouspellthat class sounded the most interesting to me. Er, in a completely non-professional "What would I take if I had to take one of these classes?" sort of way.

[weirdquark]

What does your adviser say?

I'd probably go for the "Transsomatechnics" and count on the class that you're grading to give a bit of grounding in the basics, especially if it isn't likely that "Transsomatechnics" will be offered again later when you'll be able to take it. (Like, if they won't offer it again until when you're supposed to be writing your dissertation rather than taking classes.)

But then when I was a undergrad frosh, I took a 200 level philosophy class first semester and a 300 level second semester without having done the intro classes because the topics sounded interesting and the professor let me. For the record, intro classes probably would have enhanced my understanding of the material, but I still did really well in both classes because I was engaged enough in the material to want to work hard at them.

[rax.livejournal.com]

My advisor says "You need to pick what you want to take." :) Although his advice got me this far.

[krinndnz.livejournal.com]

I'd also give transomatechnics a very high ranking - sounds fascinating, and sounds more difficult than the other things (on a couple different axes).


Regarding "Classic Text and Founding Debates," how early is "early" for that class? What counts as "modern"? I'm fuzzy on what that means in this context.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

You should totally take transsomatechnics.

Unless things have changed drastically in the last five years, I am afraid there is absolutely nothing to do in Dayton, OH. Can give you some general-driving-range-within-the-state things to do if you do end up having to spend time there, but the city itself is very boring.

[coffeekitty.livejournal.com]

20 classes for a Ph.D.?!
YOW.
my Ph.D. has two required classes. One is a weekly discussion of Interesting primary literature, and the other is a very practical/hands-on class in pedagogy. your advisor can make you take/audit other classes as they see fit, but basically my Ph.D. consists of being given a lab bench and a bunch of flies and being told to go for it.

[rax.livejournal.com]

My flies are books, and so having coursework is easier. :) Although it's still pretty aggressive for a PhD as I understand it...

[sethg]

I personally am a big fan of studying the classics, if only so that we can become familiar with the mistakes that previous generations made, so that we can avoid them in favor of more original mistakes.

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

WRT the classics course, I just want to say that The Feminine Mystique was one of the most important books this working-class straight white guy ever read, in terms of altering my head's view of the world. Of course, that was twenty-mumble years ago and I'd had vastly less exposure to other points of view at the time.

As for Dayton, when I was there (also twenty-mumble years ago), Dayton's Oregon District was just becoming a haven for artists and alternative types. Midnight theater in ad-hoc spaces; galleries full of brooding, angsty art. I was living and working in a blacksmith's that had half a floor in an old warehouse; we were hardly the only ones living there illegally. It's probably all yuppy now, but might still have something going.

[eirl.livejournal.com]

I've generally found that it's a mistake to take upper level courses without first having the basics that you need. I've done this several times by accident (due to poorly explained pre-requisites, changes of plans, and programs that were revamped while I was going through them). Every time I ended up in a class where I almost but didn't quite have the prerequisites, I managed and did still get something out of it, but it was a struggle. I often found that for years later I was struggling to fill in the blanks due the classes I never had and also because of the fact that I didn't get the most out of the classes I took while not having the pre-requisites. I'd recommend holding off until you've got a solid background to take transsomatechnics because then you will understand it more fully and get the most out of it. This may matter, for instance, when it comes to passing your qualifying exam, if you have one, or just to later success in your field.

[rax.livejournal.com]

This is what I am most worried about, although I jumped into a trans theory class at Harvard head first in grad school, didn't know the first thing about what I was getting into, and after a very painful first month really nailed it --- and on the basis of taking that class ended up in my PhD program, really. So it's tricky. Probably what I'm going to do is email the professor and see if she thinks I'll be able to hack it.

[eirl.livejournal.com]

That's a great idea! If the professor encourages you to take it, it's probably a good idea. If she does not, then it's better to wait. I'm sure she's able to gauge your background. And the class does sound perfect for you, if you are at the right level to take it, or close enough.

[postrodent.livejournal.com]

Transomatechnics sounds like an album I'd want to own! Other than that, I have no clue. I will leave you to the counsel of people who spent more than thirty seconds in college, and wave your pennant regardless. <3

[perbac.livejournal.com]

There's a big aerospace museum around Dayton, I think (I missed it, but other people have said it's pretty neat). The only time I've been there, I had some tasty frozen custard, which is not useful to you.

I wanted to try this tasty-sounding place (http://www.windscafe.com/) when I visited, but the timing didn't work out (not sure how vegan-friendly they are; I was interested in the vegetarian stuff).

Personally, I'm attracted to "Intro to African-American and African Diaspora Studies", especially if you think you're going to spend your next three years of electives working on a minor that's not related to this area, but this may be because I've been recently curious about differences in experiences of African-Americans vs contemporary first-generation African immigrants (and know very little about either, except what little I've gathered from coworkers in the latter category). You sound really excited about Transsomatechnics, though, and I'd suggest that you go with your passionate instincts (and insecurities be damned, I am sure it will be awesome).

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Transsomatechnics sounds awesome. If you're concerned with foundations, and if they're giving it next year, hold off. If you're not uncomfortable with being out of your depth—if you're a fabulously quick adapter—I'd say, dive in. If they only give it every third year or it's given by a visiting professor, grab. It has a good chance of transomataforming your brain.

Nine

[tixen.livejournal.com]

While I have nothing useful to add to this conversation, I wanted to note that I've always loved that icon. :3

[rax.livejournal.com]

You tooooootally need to see Spice and Wolf. Seriously. I already told Kelly I'd bring it when I next came down there...

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

Feminist Theory: Classic Text and Founding Debates

Do this one. Because

a) your past reading will make it really interesting-- "Oh, that's where that came from! Huh."

b) it will be much more useful to take now than later, and

c) it will help you feel all confident and not like you have huge gaps. So you can be all rock-star without worrying about gaps, and it will be pure rax rock-star-ness, and it will be awesome.

<3,
--R

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

(That said, I totally want to take Transsomatechnics. Just saying.)

[(Anonymous)]

If you hadn't been advised to take the Research Colloquium your first semester, I'd say take it the second, but since you've been advised to take it first, I would.

You seem most excited about the Transsomatechnics class. That can get you through a lot of hard work just on its own. And it's what you want to be working on. This class will probably tell you if you want to keep working on it after you've worked on it really hard. So I suggest that one.

Otherwise I would take the feminist texts one as a grounding, especially since you think that the African-American Diaspora course will be offered again, out of all the options here.

[eredien]

Er, that was me

I also wanted to suggest that you could ask your advisor, as well as friends.

[rax.livejournal.com]

I did ask my advisor, that's how I got the research colloquium advice and the list this small. :)

[rax.livejournal.com]

Whoah, anonymous commenter! Thanks, anonymous commenter. :)

[acegreco.livejournal.com]

Dear god, woman.

I'd take any of those classes in a heartbeat. Where is it that all these classes are available, anyways? If I could part-time this stuff at my local post-secondary-place-of-edification, I would totally do so.

I therefore abstain from voting.

(Although Transsomatechnics sounds positively delicious!)

[rax.livejournal.com]

http://www.iub.edu/~gender/html/complete-offerings.html --- most schools aren't gonna have something like this, sadly. But it's certainly worth checking your local university!

Although that link is out of date; I think 598 is no longer a core course and 603 now is. According to the advisor I spoke with. Who I guess could have been wrong.

[keyoki.livejournal.com]

I have no suggestion but I hope you know that I will be coming over so that you can tell me about which ever one you take. Living though you vicariously might be an understatement....

[rax.livejournal.com]

Absolutely!!! I tend to get really babbly about my readings and if you want to bear the brunt of that listen, that's awesome. :)

[lindseykuper]

Dang, 20 courses for a Ph.D. sounds like a lot to me, too. Can some of them be fulfilled with reading-and-research credit? For comparison, in the CS Ph.D. program, you're required to take about eight courses. I think most people end up taking a few more than that, to get some more depth in their area, but after fourteen or fifteen, you're pretty much expected to move on to research.

If you decide to go with the informatics minor, there are some cool informatics courses on things like crypto, machine learning, ethnography of information, and so on. (The distinction between info and CS is rather arbitrary and annoying. If you ever want to see someone's face cloud over, ask an info or CS professor what the difference is.)

[rax.livejournal.com]

There are another ten courses worth of required reading and research credit --- you're at IU, so I can just say "90 units, 60 of classes and 30 of research" and that will make sense! There, I just did. Go me.

Oh my god that sounds so awesome. I'd be tempted by CS but I don't know if my pointy hat is tall enough; I wish I were better, but I'm a terrible programmer and I don't think it's worth it to really change that at this point in my life. I may, if you don't mind, pick your brain about these departments at some point once you are back? "Ethnography of information" sounds, like, perfect, and machine learning sounds very relevant to what I do for work.

[lindseykuper]

"90 units, 60 of classes and 30 of research"

Oh, okay! Then the equivalent thing for CS would be "90 units: 24 of courses, 36 of maybe-some-more-classes-but-by-now-you-should-really-be-doing-research-oriented-independent-study, and 30 of dissertation work." So ours is actually pretty much like yours, except that ours comes with built-in guilt for anyone wanting to take a lot of classes.

Also, you're probably not a bad programmer, but in any case if you think that computer scientists are necessarily good programmers, I assure you that that is not the case.

Feel free to pick my brain, although my area is programming language theory, which falls pretty squarely on the CS side of the CS/info divide.

[rax.livejournal.com]

We have the ability to do some independent study in the first 60, and I will prooooobably do that over the summers? Although it's somewhat tempting to take the summers and keep working in the tech industry full-time during them, since I like it and it's made od money. We'll see. :)

I know computer scientists are often bad programmers --- and I'm not as terrible as I think I am, but I'm rusty, poorly-trained, and have uncomfortably high expectations of myself when it comes to writing code. (When I was trying to learn, my peers were mostly MIT kids who went on to found startups. This is awesome in a bunch of ways but not for feeling OK not knowing what you're doing.)

Programming language theory is super mega cool! From what little I know about it anyway. I will totally pick your brain. :) Thanks!

[kelkyag]

I would take the Classic Texts and the research colloquium. You have vastly more background than I do, and are much better about studying on your own. I suspect you could pick up the syllabus for Classic Texts, note that you already know a good fraction of it, and do the reading for the rest, and take Transsomatechnics instead. It might be a very busy term ...

Are there going to be unique classes you want to take many/most terms, or is this unusual? If there are always going to be fascinating one-time classes available, taking the frequently-available intro classes first for grounding might be clever. If this is an unusually rich term for interesting classes, leap on them while they're available. (Possible modifying factor: do the professors, or some of them, take the intests of the current students into consideration when planning one-shot classes?)

[rax.livejournal.com]

I suspect there will be unique classes I want to take most terms, but most terms there won't be someone telling me which non-unique classes I have to take. It is fairly certain that there will be other classes on trans theory, because that's why I came here. There may not be another class on trans theory and technology of the body. This makes it tricky. Getting the Classic Texts syllabus and doing all of the readings is probably a good idea --- if I can do that now that would give me a major head-start actually. Hmmmmmm.

[kelkyag]

Can you ask the professor of Trassomatechnics whether that or something similar is likely to be offered again in the next few years?

I'd be interested in the Classic Texts syllabus.

[ab3nd.livejournal.com]

"Transsomatechnics"

Fuck yes. The fact that this exists as a course anywhere gives me hope for the continued awesome of the species.