Writing Gender and Sexuality In this course we will read, discuss, and write creative works that explore issues of gender and sexuality. Readings will include stories, poems, and essays by James Baldwin, Ana Castillo, Peggy Munson, Eli Claire, Alice Walker, Michelle Tea, Alison Bechdel, and others. The course will include writing workshops with peers and individual meetings with the instructor. Every student will revise a range of pieces across genres and produce a final portfolio. We will do some contemplative work and will engage with choreographer to explore movement in conversation with writing, gender, and sex.

Feminist Joy In this course we will examine a range of discourses about pleasure, happiness, and joy as well as explore these topics more experientially. How have feminists interrupted gendered, raced, and ableist notions of happiness? As Sara Ahmed asks, can there be joy in being the “killjoy”? What is the role of laughter and joy in survival, anti-oppression work, and healing from trauma? We will trace the "pleasurable feminisms" of leading Black feminists and sex positive feminists such as Audre Lorde, adrienne maree brown, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Gayle Rubin, Betty Dodson, as well as investigate our own inherited and intentional perceptions of pleasure. Assignments will include research, writing and workshops.

Writing Race and Class In this course we will take a literary and intersectional approach to topics of race and class. Readings include stories, essays, poems and videos by writers such as James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldúa and Kelly Tsai. Students will respond to critical and creative writing prompts, conduct fieldwork, and design two writing projects of their own. The class format will include conversations with guest writers, writing workshops, contemplative activities, and individual conferences with the instructor. Students will preferably have prior experience in discussing issues of race and class, although introductory theories will be made available to provide frameworks for discussion.

Outlaw Women In this course we will read and discuss literary texts that feature women who defy social norms: daring survivors, scholars, “whores,” queers, artists, servants, revolutionaries. Texts include Powell’s The Pagoda, Duras’s The Lover, Lorde’s Zami, and Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran. The course will take postcolonial and global approaches to desire and difference and to narratives of resistance, rescue and freedom. We will discuss rhetorical practices, such as écriture féminine, and readerships, such as women’s book groups, through a transnational lense. Students will develop their critical imaginations through discussion, contemplation, research, and analytical and creative writing.

Catharine Wright

Reviews and ratings for Catharine Wright at Middlebury College.Catharine Wright teaches Writing Gender & Sexuality, Feminist Joy, Writing Race and Class and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Catharine Wright good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

It was a course that was very much "put in the amount of effort you want to". If you didn't do the weekly readings and didn't participate in discussion, that was okay, as some of the topics were rather heavy and Catherine understood. Lots of liberty on the one paper and one final project, which was really nice.

The course was split into three major sections, each of which you were expected to turn in a "folder" of creative writing for. The sections were nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. The weekly assignments consisted of some readings and short written reflections, as well as workshopping the writing of others. You should expect to be working on your "folders" throughout the semester in anticipation of their deadlines.

Very open, warm, and accepting classroom environment.