The content within this section may be utilized for any course related to Gender and Sexuality Studies. \u00a0However, it was most recently shared in an upper-division Women’s Studies course, Theories of Love and Sex<\/a>.<\/p>\n The course introduces and synthesizes theories from philosophy, psychology, sociology, history, religion, and literature about love and sex. The complexities of love and sex, including their fundamental meanings, contemporary understandings, identity implications as well as their historical constructions are explored. An important dimension of this exploration is the source and meaning of the moral valuation assigned various forms of sexual activity.<\/p>\n * The Moroccan experience provided specifically focuses on these learning objectives<\/p>\n In her 2009 TedTalk on the \u201cDanger of the Single Story,\u201d feminist novelist Chimamada Ngozi Adichie speaks to the dangers of only hearing one story about a group of people.\u00a0 She explains, to create a single story, \u201cshow a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.\u201d\u00a0 Adiche shares her own experiences with the single story, claiming that historical accounts of Africans created by literary authors, philosophers, and ethnographers served to depict Africans as \u201csavages\u201d in need of European \u201csaviors.\u201d\u00a0 Specifically, she quotes philosopher John Locke as having referred to black Africans as \u201cbeasts who have no houses\u201d and poet Rudyard Kipling as describing Sub-Saharan Africans as \u201chalf devil, half child.\u201d \u00a0Consequently, Adiche grew up writing her own stories rife with white characters who did not represent her own lived experiences, nor did they reflect her cultural reality.\u00a0 Rather, these single stories reinforced stereotypes, and according to Adiche, \u201cthe problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete.\u00a0 They make one story become the only story.\u201d\u00a0 In her concluding remarks, Adiche posits a method for challenging both stereotypes and the single story.\u00a0 She states, \u201cStories matter. \u00a0Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity.\u201d\u00a0 In this analysis of gender and sexuality, I present my story of Morocco. \u00a0Theories of Love and Sex<\/a> students may utilize this story as an example of how love and sex are read by an outsider from the United States.<\/p>\n Prior to sharing this story, it is important to note that all stories are shared from a specific perspective and background, or are grounded in situated knowledges. \u00a0Situated knowledges are those that take into consideration the intersectionality of one\u2019s identities and positionalities. \u00a0According to Haraway (1988), a situated knowledge is equivalent to feminist objectivity whereby \u201cwe become answerable for what we learn how to see\u201d (p. 583).\u00a0 In this sense, my own stories and history hold importance in how I interpret my surroundings; I have an active role in translating my embodied experience into meaningful dialogue about the gendered and sexed relations I perceived in Morocco as a Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad visitor.\u00a0 As an active consumer and creator of knowledge I must therefore recognize that the knowledge I create is incomplete, at best.\u00a0 At worst, I risk what Haraway describes as the \u201cserious danger of romanticizing and\/or appropriating the vision of the less powerful while claiming to see from their positions\u201d (p. 584).\u00a0 I reiterate, then, that this story is one of the many stories told about gender and sexuality in Morocco, specifically, and among Muslim nations, more broadly.\u00a0 It is my story, told as an \u201coutsider\u201d in Morocco who\u00a0has\u00a0interests and knowledge in feminist critical thought and queer theories. \u00a0This story\u00a0of gender and sexuality in\u00a0Morocco is presented within a critical queer framework which seeks to reimagine identities, behaviors, and positionalities that have been “rendered unthinkable by the dominant culture”;\u00a0it\u00a0should thus be\u00a0considered\u00a0with this in mind (Mu\u00f1oz, 1999, p. 31).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Course Plan The content within this section may be utilized for any course related to Gender and Sexuality Studies. \u00a0However, it was most recently shared in an upper-division Women’s Studies course, Theories of Love and Sex. Course Description The course … Continue reading Course Description<\/h2>\n
Course Learning Objectives<\/h2>\n
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Background<\/h1>\n
Note on Situated Knowledge<\/h2>\n