ACTLab
TRANS Fall 2009 - page 1 of 8 -
An
ACTLab course -- RTF 331R/390Q unique # 08235/08680 -- Syllabus
version 1.0
TRANS
Dangerous
Border Violations
http://actlab.utexas.edu/trans
Instructor:
Sandy Stone (sandy@actlab.utexas.edu, phone: 302-9933 cell: 695-6732)
Teaching
Assistant: Joseph Lopez, ludwigvan968@actlab.utexas.edu, phone:
413-7832
ACTLab
Guest Lecturers: Dustin Younse <milsyobtaf@gmail.com>, Drake
Wilson <drake@begriffli.ch>
Office
hours Mon 5-7 in the ACTLab and by appointment in the ACTLabTV
office, CMA6.124
Class
meets in the ACTLab Monday 1:00-4:00
Summary:
This
course is an exploration into the media and technologies of
transition, with emphasis on identity and
transgender
discourse across cultures and throughout history. We will consider
Trans practices from
antiquity
to the present; review changes in scientific perspectives on the
design and significance of the
body
marked as male/female/Trans/Other; discuss gender, ethnicity,
prosthetics, cyborgs, and the
posthuman
in relation to media production; and explore the function of the
liminal and Trans figure in
films,
pulp fiction, and popular culture.
Class
is in studio and discussion format. This means that your active
participation is a requirement of the
course.
During the semester we expect you to contribute your own ideas and
arguments to the
discussions.
There
are no written exams. Instead you will use the theories and tools you
acquire during the semester
to
make stuff about
some aspect of Trans. What you make can be in any form: sound,
installation, film,
video,
computer animation, digital-fu, collage, sculpture, assemblage,
performance, or intermodal
combinations.
You will do this in stages, starting with simple projects and moving
to more complex ones,
using
humor, irony, uncommon approaches, and bizarre techniques.
You
will make a total of three projects: one freethrow (the Make-a-thon),
one small project and one larger
final
project. They are due at roughly four week intervals during the
semester.
Take risks! Amaze us! In ACTLab courses we assume a high level of motivation on your part and your
willingness
to self-start, set your own goals, think independently, collaborate
with others, seek help when
you
need it, and take risks. Let's make it an interesting semester!
This
syllabus includes a list of study material to be addressed on certain
dates, but actual material may
change
as circumstances require. During the semester other material may be
added, or listed material
deleted.
ACTLab courses are student-driven, and you are invited to submit
material for inclusion or
suggest
changes at any time.
Readings and Resources:
The
following book is required for the course, and available through
Amazon.com. You will have plenty of
time
for it to arrive before we start using it.
Susan
Stryker and Stephen Whittle (Eds.): The
Transgender Studies Reader (hereinafter
called the
BOOK).
The
following books are not required but are important and will be
referenced during the semester. If you
are
seriously studying Trans, you should have these.
Leslie
Feinberg: Stone
Butch Blues
Michel
Foucault: Herculine
Barbin
ACTLab
TRANS Fall 2009 - page 2 of 8 -
Judith
Halberstam: Female
Masculinity
Ann
Fausto-Sterling: Sexing
the Body
Alice
Donurat Dreger: Hermaphrodites
and the Medical Invention of Sex
Graduate students may optionally read these additional books, if you haven’t already:
Deleuze
and Guattari: A Thousand Plateaux
Michel
Foucault: Birth of the Clinic
There will be a reader (hereinafter called the READER) available from Jenn’s Copies, across
Guadalupe
from our building, during the second week of class. If you prefer
reading from a screen you
can
download a .pdf version from the TRANS website,
http://home.actlab.utexas.edu/trans.
General requirements:
The
following six things are required
for you to
receive a grade:
1.
Attendance at all classes.
2.
Reading all assignments and coming to class prepared.
3.
Participation in discussion.
4.
Successful completion of two mini-projects and one final project. See
presentation
below.
5.
Successful completion of documentation. See documentation
below.
6.
Full cleanup of the ACTLab following final presentations. Leave it
the way you found it
--
no better, no worse.
Presentation:
No
presentation may endanger the presenterʼs or othersʼ health or
safety.
You
will be graded both on the projects and on the quality of their
presentation in class.
This
includes items such as lighting, sound, and organization. An
attachment containing
requirements
for ACTLab student presentations is included with this syllabus. Read
it
carefully
and save it for future reference. It contains information which you
will need in
order
to receive a grade.
Documentation:
You
must provide complete documentation of your work in the form of a web
site. A web
site
consists of a home page that says something about you, and additional
pages for
each
project as necessary.
Documentation
means a description of each project, how it was made, its
relationship to
the
readings and discussions (i.e., its theoretical grounding), your
thoughts about the
project,
etc., together with sound recordings, video, and/or still photos of
the work in
progress
and the completed project.
You
will make the web site in four stages. Each stage consists of
documentation of one
of
the three projects, plus a fourth stage consisting of the homepage
with your bio,
external
links, and whatever additional information you think is relevant.
Stages one and
two
are due in class the week following project presentations one and
two. Stages three
ACTLab
TRANS Fall 2009 - page 3 of 8 -
and
four are due no later than 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 14.
Grading:
Participation
in discussion 25%
Make-a-thon
(First project) 5%
Second
project 20%
Final
project 25%
Documentation
(Web site) 25%
Total
100%
DUE
DATES
PROJECT
ONE: September 21
PROJECT
TWO: October 26 and November 2
PROJECT
THREE: December 5
DOCUMENTATION:
December 13
REQUIREMENTS FOR ACTLAB STUDENT WEB PAGES
These
requirements are mandatory. You are responsible for knowing them and
for carrying them out.
Failure
to do so will result in a failing grade. You will receive no further
reminders.
We
will provide whatever tutorials you may need to construct your web
site until the date that first web
pages
are due, two weeks after first project presentations. No further
tutorials will be given after that
date.
You may construct your web site by writing it from scratch; by using the WordPress system we provide;
by
adapting one of the many templates available free online, provided
that we determine it doesn’t raise
security
issues; or by using any of the following web construction software:
Dreamweaver; Nvu; Amaya.
Dreamweaver
is a commercial product and is available on all ACTLab computers. Nvu
and Amaya are
free
Open Source products and may be freely downloaded to your own laptop.
You may NOT use iWeb.
The entire contents of your web site must be on the ACTLab server, nowhere else. No external
links
are permitted, except on the “Links” or “Further information”
page if you make one. You may not link
anything
to your, or anyone else’s, UT Webspace. You may freely link to your
own pages on the ACTLab
site
or to other pages on the ACTLab site.
Everything must work. No broken links, no missing images.
Compress
videos with Quicktime Pro using the following default setting
(Export: Quicktime to
Movie
(or whichever format you originally made, I.E. AVI to quicktime),
Use: Broadband Medium).
No
Windows Media (wmv) files may
be used on your site.
Compress
images to jpg set to low quality (20). In
Photoshop, use “Save for Web”. In Gimp, use
“Save
image as”, select “JPEG”, click “preview” and visually
choose a quality between 20 and 50. Save
as
gif only if you require the alpha channel (transparency). On average,
a properly compressed jpg file
should
be no more than 10-20K in size.
Resize and save images and videos in the screen size you will display them. A 1024x768 image will
still
download as 1024x768 even if you tell the browser to display it as
250x120 -- a huge waste of
bandwidth
that can unacceptably slow your site’s loading time.
ACTLab
TRANS Fall 2009 - page 4 of 8 -
All videos and sound files must stream. This means videos and sounds start to play immediately
when
the page loads, without having to download the file first. An
exception is that a video or sound need
not
start instantly if it is embedded in a web page which contains large
amounts of text that must be read
before
watching the video or listening to the sound. Because the
university’s internal bandwidth is so
wide,
it is impossible to know if your video files stream properly if you
test them at the university, so
always
test your video files from home. Be sure to clear your browser cache
between tests. If you don’t,
you
are merely playing the file out of your computer’s memory, not from
the stream.
All pages must have clear, visible navigation tools. This means buttons, menus or links to the main
headings
of your site and your home page, plus a link to the ACTLab home page.
Do
NOT have your website
open a link in a new browser window or resize the browser window
unless it is
absolutely
required by the aesthetics of your website design.
To
upload your files, use
Cyberduck for Mac or WinSCP for PC or other programs that support
secure
file
transfer (SCP or SFTP). The ACTLab server is secure; FTP will not
work.
When
you complete each phase of your website, email the
full url (http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/
~youraccountname)
to Joey, Dustin, and
Sandy on or before the due date.
Web
sites submitted after midnight of the due date, or that are
incomplete or do not work properly by that
time,
will be considered late. A late, incomplete, or broken web site on
Projects One or Two will reduce
your
final grade. Absent dire circumstances such as documented family
emergencies, a late, incomplete,
or
broken web site on Project Three will result in a failing grade.
REQUIREMENTS FOR ACTLAB PRESENTATIONS
Lighting.
All live presentations
that involve anything other than simply screening a video are
required to
be
properly lit. It is your responsibility to plan the lighting. You
will draw up a light plot and arrange for
the
appropriate lights to be gelled and aimed before
presentation time. If
your presentation requires
total
darkness, you or an associate will be responsible for producing it.
In the ACTLab this includes
arranging
for all monitors to be turned off, the control room to be darkened or
shielded, and the studio
doors
closed. Proper lighting of your presentation is part of your grade.
Sound reinforcement. Creating a soundscape is not complete until you have decided on, acquired, and
set
up the playback system. If your presentation uses sound, it is your
responsibility to assure that
appropriate
amplifiers, speakers, and wiring are set up at the site of your
presentation, connected, and
working
properly. Don’t assume that anything works until you have
personally verified that it does. Don’t
assume
that power is available; verify that it is. Proper sound
reinforcement is part of your grade.
Microphone. If your presentation requires a microphone of any kind -- wireless, wired, contact, whatever
--
and you expect us to supply it, it is your responsibility to request
it via email at least a week before
presentation.
Doing so is part of your
grade.
Video
files. If you intend to
screen a video, you are responsible for verifying that the video
files for your
presentation
are uploaded to the presentation computer at
the beginning of
presentation day, and that
they
play on
that computer. Discovering at the last minute that your video does
not work on the ACTLab
presentation
computer will result in a reduction in your grade.
EQUIPMENT CHECKOUT
RTF
production equipment and ACTLab equipment are not the same.
Unavoidably, the procedures for
checking
them out are different.
ACTLab
TRANS Fall 2009 - page 5 of 8 -
Students
who need ACTLab
equipment for this class:
Contact the equipment checkout team
during
checkout hours. Checkout hours are posted during the first week of
class. Checkout ACTLab
equipment
from, and return it to, the Deathstar, the room directly across the
hall from the ACTLab.
Students
who need RTF
production equipment for
this class:
1.
Plan ahead. 500 students use RTF Equipment Checkout. ACTLab classes
are a little different in that
equipment
useage is an option, not a requirement. Contact RTF Equipment
Checkout at least a few days
in
advance of your needs. checkout@uts.cc.utexas.edu or phone
512-471-6565 RTF Equipment
Checkout
is open Monday through Friday 8AM-4PM.
2.
When you get there ask to speak with Linda or Hector because the
student employees will try to
impose
rules that don't apply to you.
3.
When you talk to Linda or Hector, the first words out of your mouth
should be, "I'm in an ACTLab class
and
I need equipment." That way we'll know not to charge you $25.50
insurance. Well, we won't charge
you
insurance if you keep the dollar value of your checkout below the
insurance deductible. We can help
you
with that.There's about 5 minutes of paperwork to fill out, and then
maybe 5 minutes for us to reserve
your
equipment and get it for you. Try to avoid dropping by Thursdays and
Fridays because we are very
busy.
The other students make appointments (you can make one if you like),
so we have to help people
who
have appointments first.
Mailing list: Outside of class time we keep in touch via the Trans class mailing list
trans@actlab.utexas.edu.
Use it to swap ideas, ask questions, get and give alerts of schedule
changes,
share
weird urls, and whatever else you can think of. The Trans mailing
list is the only authorized mailing
list
for this class. Do not use Blackboard.
Course Schedule
Aug
31: Introduce
ourselves. First-day biz. Reading
for next class: chapters from Gloria
Anzaldua’s
Borderlands/La
Frontera (download
pdf from course website http://actlab.utexas.edu/
trans.shtml)
Order The Transgender Studies Reader (the BOOK)!
Sept
7: Labor
Day: No class.
Sept
14: Discussion of
Borderlands/La
Frontera
Discussion
of Make-a-Thon
Make-a-thon
equipment requests: If
you need equipment, make sure you request it now.
Sept
21: Make-a-thon
presentations. 7 minutes max, including discussion.
Sept
28: Make-a-thon
websites due. Last website tutorial. In-class website critique.
Reading
assignment for October 5: Donna Haraway, A
Cyborg Manifesto (in
the BOOK)
Oct
5:
Discussion of A
Cyborg Manifesto
ACTLab
TRANS Fall 2009 - page 6 of 8 -
Oct
12:
TBA
Readings
for October 19:
Harry
Benjamin,“Transsexualism and Transvestism as Psycho-somatic and
Somato-psychic Syndromes”,
in
the BOOK
David
O. Cauldwell, “Psychopathia Transexualis”, in the BOOK
Janice
Raymond, “Sappho by Surgery”, in the BOOK
Sandy
Stone, “The Empire
Strikes Back: A
Posttranssexual Manifesto”, in the BOOK
Oct
19: Discussion of Benjamin, Cauldwell, Raymond, and Stone
Videos:
"Surgical
Construction of Ambiguous Genitalia",
a medical training video. Not for the faint of heart.
Emergency
Hermaphrodites
Speak! (optional)
Oct
26: Second
project presentations, Part 1: 15 minutes max, including discussion.
Nov
2: Second project presentations, Part 2.
Nov
9: Second project websites due. In-class website critique.
Readings
for November 16:
Jordy
Jones, “Gender Without Genitals: Hedwig’s Six Inches”, in the
BOOK
Excerpts
from Modcon: The
Secret World of Extreme Body Modification.
(to be handed out, optionally)
Nov
16:
Videos:
Hedwig
and the Angry Inch
The
Theo Project (part)
Readings
for November 23:.
Derrida,
Writing and
Difference (Grad students
should read it, undergrads should attempt it)
Canary
Conn, Canary: The
Story of a Transsexual (excerpt)
(to be handed out, optionally)
Morris,
Conundrum (excerpt)
(to be handed out, optionally)
Nov
23: TRANSMEDIA
A)
Drag royalty, performance art, the aesthetics of self-invention
B)
Performance art and border violations
C)
Transcinema
D)
Cybertrans
Nov
30: THE FUTURE OF
TRANSMEDIA, TRANSART, POSTTRANS, POSTPOSTTRANS,
TRANSPOSTTRANS,
TRANPTRANSPOST, TRANSTRANSTRANS... uh...
The
Day of Digestion, class discussion, debate, everyone being showoffs
Saturday,
December 5: FINAL PRESENTATIONS
Sunday,
December 13: Drop Dead Date for documentation and web pages
Tuesday,
Dec 15, 9:00 a.m.: Drop
Dead Date for professors to submit grades. You know what that
ACTLab
TRANS Fall 2009 - page 7 of 8 -
means.
The Fine Print:
This
syllabus is V.1.0. It may be updated from time to time as necessary.
Once the class has met, based on the skills, proclivities,
and
wishes of its members, we may, and probably will, modify the reading
assignments and discussion topics. If we do, you will
receive
notice about the new readings and discussion topics far enough in
advance that you will have no difficulty in keeping up with
such
changes.
The University of Texas Honor Code
The
core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning,
discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and
responsibility.
Each member of the University is expected to uphold these values
through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and
respect
toward peers and community.
Scholastic Dishonesty
The
University defines academic dishonesty as cheating, plagiarism,
unauthorized collaboration, falsifying academic records, and
any
act designed to avoid participating honestly in the learning process.
Scholastic dishonesty also includes, but is not limited to,
providing
false or misleading information to receive a postponement or an
extension on a test, quiz, or other assignment, and
submission
of essentially the same written assignment for two courses without
the prior permission of the instructor. By accepting
this
syllabus, you have agreed to these guidelines and must adhere to
them. Scholastic dishonest damages both the student's
learning
experience and readiness for the future demands of a work-career.
Students who violate University rules on scholastic
dishonesty
are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of
failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University.
For
more information on scholastic dishonesty, please visit the Student
Judicial services Web site at http://
deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs
Undergraduate Writing Center
The
Undergraduate Writing Center, located in the FAC 211, phone 471-6222,
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/uwc/ offers
individualized
assistance to students who want to improve their writing skills.
There is no charge, and students may come in on a
drop-in
or appointment basis.
Services For Students With Disabilities
The
University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate
academic accommodations for qualified students with
disabilities.
For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at
471-6259, 471-4641 TTY.
Religious Holidays
Religious
holy days sometimes conflict with class and examination schedules. If
you miss a work assignment or other project due to
the
observance of a religious holy day you will be given an opportunity
to complete the work missed within a reasonable time after
the
absence. It is the policy of the University of Texas at Austin that
you must notify each of your instructors at least fourteen days
prior
to the classes scheduled on dates you will be absent to observe a
religious holy day.
University Electronic Mail Notification Policy
All
students should become familiar with the University's official e-mail
student notification policy. It is the student's responsibility to
keep
the University informed as to changes in his or her e-mail address.
Students are expected to check e-mail on a frequent and
regular
basis in order to stay current with University-related
communications, recognizing that certain communications may be
timecritical.
It
is recommended that e-mail be checked daily, but at a minimum, twice
per week. The complete text of this policy and
instructions
for updating your e-mail address are available at
http://www.utexas.edu/its/policies/emailnotify.html. (Optional: In
this
course
e-mail will be used as a means of communication with students. You
will be responsible for checking your e-mail regularly for
class
work and announcements.)
Use of Blackboard
This
course DOES NOT use Blackboard. Do not use Blackboard to check
assignments for ACTLab courses and do not use
Blackboard
mailing lists to email students in this course, as ACTLab mailing
lists include classes and individuals who are not
referenced
by the Blackboard system.
Copyright and Fair Use
You
may find the need to use copyrighted material this semester: music,
photographs, movie clips, or any other expression. For
many
of your uses, you need to find the copyright holder and negotiate a
license. You own the copyright to the work you produce in
this
class. As a copyright holder yourself, you understand the importance
of copyright ownership. It is your responsibility to secure
ACTLab TRANS Fall 2009 - page 8 of 8 -
music
and archival footage licenses as well as artwork, location and
personal releases. You will find release templates on the RTF
website.
For some uses, however, neither you nor anyone else needs to license copyrighted material. This is because copyright law exists to
encourage
and support creativity. Copyright law recognizes that creativity
doesn't arise in a vacuum. As creators, we all stand on the
shoulders
of giants. New works of art (such as films, books, poems, paintings)
all make use of what has gone before. Thus,
copyright
law not only protects authors with a copyright that lets them decide
who can use their works, but also offers exemptions
from
the author's control. For filmmakers, the most important exemption is
the doctrine of fair use. You can rely on fair use, where
appropriate,
in the film and media projects you undertake for this course. If you
are making a documentary film, consult the
influential
Documentary Filmmakers Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/files/pdf/
fair_use_final.pdf
which was created by a group of national filmmaker organizations, has
been endorsed by the University Film and
Video
Association, and is now relied on by film festivals, insurers,
cablecasters, distributors and public broadcasters. Fair use also
applies
in the fiction film environment, but not necessarily to the same
extent or in the same way.
As
always, the central question is whether the new use is
"transformative" -- i.e., whether it adds significant value
by modifying or
recontextualizing
the original. For more understanding, including information on when
you can use works for free:
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/files/pdf/free_use.pdf
without
even invoking fair use, why you (mostly) don't need to worry about
trademarks:
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/files/pdf/free_use.pdf
what
is in the public domain:
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/rock/backgrounddocs/copyrightterm.pdf
how
fair use lawsuits have been settled:
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/videos/sets/fair_use_case_studies
and
how fair use has been employed successfully in documentary film:
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/videos/sets/fair_use_case_studies
For
general information: http://centerforsocialmedia.org/fairuse
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