MESA 2559

This review is for the Women and Media in the Global South. This course changed my life and it was hands down my favorite course taken at UVA.

With that dramatic introduction, I would like to say that take any class with professor Goff. She is engaging, forces you to think critically, AND articulate your viewpoints. In this class, we dissected the current political discourse on women from South Asia and the Middle East. She throws radical questions and puzzles out there where she doesn't ever let you know what her opinion is, but allows the class to have an open discussion and come to conclusions on their own. I was so charged after every discussion that I had to bombard my poor roommates with my hyperactive thoughts afterwards because I never felt the hour and 15 minutes were enough.

We touch upon issues of colorism, racism, victimhood, native informants, violence, sexuality, neo-liberalism and intersectionality. She questions the current "liberal" and "open-minded" views about women from the global south that many professors at UVA even support and whether our savior complex or even our non-interventionist policies ultimately paint women from the global south with a flat, broad brush. I am rambling now, but this class will fundamentally change you and how you approach current matters effecting today's world.

As for the work amount (which I know most of you are here for), a good amount of interesting reading, about 4 tumblr posts you have to do throughout the entire course (each a paragraph long), a short research paper on an lgbtq activist from the global south, and a final with a portfolio that consists of an essay about what you learned throughout the course. Most of the grading is based on class participation. Very manageable course.