Topics for Paper II, WGS 352 Women's Religious Narratives E/W

Due in class, Monday, February 2.

• Double-spaced, not more than 750-1000 words. (You may use parenthetical notation to indicate page numbers for textual references.)
• Be sure to write your name, the name of the class, TOPIC NUMBER, and the title of your topic at the top of the page.
• I also strongly encourage you to read the essays on my Writing web pages, especially "Four Keys to Writing in the Humanities," "Paper Writing Guidelines," "Checklist for Papers," and "Writing: The Bridge between Consciousness and Unconsciousness."

Topics

1. Use Carol Gilligan's relational theory of care as presented in Feminine and Feminist Ethics together with one other thinker we read from Weaving the Visions so far to examine the relation between gender and spirituality in Kathleen Norris, Dakota-A Spiritual Geography. (If you like, you can substitute Nell Noddings or Sara Ruddick for Carol Gilligan). Be sure to discuss how the theorists' ideas both help us to understand gender and religion in Dakota, as well as the limitations of their theories as applied to Dakota.

2. Use Carol Gilligan's relational theory of care as presented in Feminine and Feminist Ethics together with one other thinker we read from Weaving the Visions so far to examine the relation between gender and spirituality in Mary Crow Dog's Lakota Woman. (If you like, you can substitute Nell Noddings or Sara Ruddick for Carol Gilligan). Be sure to discuss how the theorists' ideas both help us to understand gender and religion in Lakota Woman, as well as the limitations of their theories as applied to Lakota Woman.

3. Compare and contrast the view of the relation between women, spirituality, and the natural landscape of the Dakotas as expressed by Kathleen Norris and Mary Crow Dog. What would each see as missing in the other's views?

4. Construct a dialogue between Kathleen Norris and Mary Crow Dog concerning the relation between nature, race, and religion. Although this takes a dialogical rather than standard academic expository style, be sure to document your ideas through page references and, where appropriate, direct quotations.

5. Discuss how two of the sources, one a chapter or article from Feminine and Feminist Ethics or Weaving the Visions, respectively, and the other, one of the books read so far, Dakota by Kathleen Norris or Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog, changed or influenced the view of women and religion expressed in your first essay. Be sure to discuss points of disagreement with these sources as well as what you may have learned from them or how you may have been affected.