Alex Boswell12/5/2012Category: Inquiry and Intellectual Growth

Feminist Theory Midterm Paper

The following artifact is an assignment for Professor Kelly’s Feminist Theory class. The paper is adescription of the relevancy of feminist theory, as well as a breakdown of liberalism, radicalism, and Marxismthrough a feminist lens. It also shows an understanding of women’s history, how feminist theorists assessed andaffected history, and how various theories have both contributed to society and been criticized or problematic forsociety. Lastly, this essay demonstrates some of my weaknesses as a writer in 2010. I have extremely longparagraphs, minor grammatical errors, and notes from my professor indicating a need for citation in various areasof the essay.

I have selected this artifact as a document of my inquiry and intellectual growth. This essay in comparisonto my Women in Literature essay shown in “Devotion to My Own Intellectual Growth and Providing MeaningfulResponses to Student Work” marks my ability for improvement and development as a writer. The artifact alsodemonstrates inquiry and intellectual growth through my knowledge of theories and histories that can be appliedto understanding literature. I am able to apply literary theories, such as liberalism or Marxism, in multiple ways,such as from a historical point of view or a feminist point of view. The paper itself promotes the idea that there isnot one absolute truth but instead a lineage of ideas and perspectives that can be heard, assessed, and held inconversation with one another. The need for an authentic representation of all groups of people in any discourseis an underlying theme throughout the paper; however, the exclusion of recognizing transgender women in theessay is one problematic detail that is glaringly visible to me now. Lastly, this paper is exclusive towards theacknowledgment of (certain cisgendered) women, women’s history, and women’s oppression because it is afeminist theory paper; however, in reality, I acknowledge and continue to develop my understanding of thehistories, achievements, and oppressions experienced by all people. This paper isolates a theory and then puts itin conversation with a few other theories.

My hope is that this paper not only displays my ability to improve as a writer, my knowledge of theory,my intellectual growth, and my ability to form complex understandings from multiple points of view, but also myability as a teacher to encourage students to form their own ideas as diverse individuals and to intelligently, aswell as confidently, be in conversation with the ideas of other individuals. This process will, hopefully, contributeto a student’s ability to validate their ideas and/or build more complex understandings, without the concept ofbeing absolutely right or absolutely wrong. As a teacher, I plan on providing multiple points of view in mycurriculum, and allowing students to develop their own unique perspectives with insightful evidence.

I am invested in the intellectual growth and personal growth of my students, as well as my growth as aneffective writer, scholar of literature, and teacher. By providing multiple points of view and asking questions thatencourage students to put diverse points of view in conversation with one another, I hope to aid in students'process of discovery and growth within their education.