Calendar

WEEK # TOPICS KEY DATES
1

Introduction and Overview of the Course

Film: Nobody's Girls: Five Women of the American West. PBS. Produced by Mirra Bank. May 12, 1995. 

 
2 Theoretical Overview: Construction Gender, Race-Ethnicity and "The West"  
3 The Great Plains and the Farm Frontier  
4 The Farm Frontier—Literary Perspectives  
5 The Borderlands  
6

Challenges to Gender and Sexuality

Film: Ballad of Little Jo. DVD. Directed by Maggie Greenwald. 1993. Polygram Filmed Entertainment. 

Prospectus and short bibliography for final paper due
7 Immigration, Migration, and Farm Labor on the West Coast  
8

Women, Politics, and The Radical West

Film: Salt of the Earth. DVD and streaming. Directed by Herbert J. Biberman. 1954. Independent Production Company. 

 
9 Cultural Brokers and Moral Reform First 7–9 pages of final paper due
10 Cultural Brokers via the "Empire of the Lens."  
11

The Great Depression and WWII

Film: Wartime Richmond. National Park Service. 2013

 
12 Representations of the West: Writers, Artists, and Mythmakers  
13

Student presentations on Term Projects

Prof. Rudnick's slideshow on Georgia O'Keefe

Final Paper due at end of semester