Courses
WGST-101C CC Women&Gender Studies (3)
Designed to introduce students to the academic study of the relationship between gender roles and power. By examining the topic from a variety of disciplinary perspectives (social, literary, historical, and scientific) students gain an insight into the degree to which gender is a biological fact of human existence and the degree to which gender is socially constructed. In addition, students investigate the effects of gender on the lives of men and women in diverse cultures and in contemporary American society, as well as the ways in which our understanding of gender has changed over time.
Attributes: AMSS CC WGST YLIBWGST-120 Visions of Social Change (3)
This course will look at various writings that address the need for radical change in the struggle to achieve equality. Works by past and present activists will be read alongside fictional imaginings of a world without sexism and discrimination. While the primary focus will be gender, this course will also consider related categories of oppression such as race, ethnicity, religion, and ability. In reading a variety of genres including memoirs, novels and essays, students will explore how literature might be used to shape the world.
Attributes: WGST YLIBWGST-150 LC Equity and Access (3)
This course explores gender as a factor that influences individuals’ opportunities in the world. Students will learn about relationships between gender and power and about struggles to achieve equality. Course content will vary according to the interest and discipline of the instructor.
Attributes: LC WGST YLIB
Restrictions: Including: -Class: FreshmanWGST-199C RW Research-Based Writing (3)
Students learn the basics of writing an academic research paper in this discipline. Emphasis is on elements of persuasive argumentation, the inclusion of more than one perspective on an issue, the proper use and documentation of sources, and revision. Students also learn how to make an effective oral presentation of their research. Department-determined topic may change from semester to semester and is likely to include literary texts as primary materials.
Restricted to freshmen and transfers.
Note: 199C courses may not be taken for credit more than once.
» Spring Research-based Writing (199) Courses & Topic Descriptions [pdf]
Attributes: RW YLIB
Restrictions: Including: -Class: Freshman, SophomoreWGST-201 Gender in My Life (1)
Seminar designed to provide students with an opportunity to participate in in-depth discussions on gender topics. Includes readings, guest presentations, and experiential activities designed to explore the correlates of gender in students’ everyday lives. Topics may include: communication between genders, the role of gender in self-esteem issues, gender-related health issues, issues of power between the sexes, and alternatives to traditional gender roles. Graded S/U.
Attributes: YLIB
Pre-requisites: WGST-101C Y D-WGST-203P CC Intro to Queer Studies (3)
An introduction to queer studies from a wide range of orientation and gender perspectives. Relying upon theoretical, historical, and cultural studies texts, we will consider the representation and constructions of sexuality-based and gender-based identities as they have been formed within the contemporary United States. We will use Queer Theory to critically examine the way power works to institutionalize and legitimate certain forms and expressions of sexuality and gender while stigmatizing others. We will explore the idea of sexuality as a category of social identity and interrogate the ways that sexuality and gender interact, and how this interaction informs the meanings of each of these identity categories. We will also ask central questions: How do other social categories of identification (race, ethnicity, class, etc.)affect the ways in which we understand expressions of queerness? What does studying queerness tell us about the workings of contemporary political, cultural, and social life? What is normal and who/what is it that defines and controls normalcy?
Attributes: AMSS CC WGST YLIBWGST-214D P1 Reading Gender (3)
This course is an introduction to feminist literary theory. Students will learn some of the major schools of feminist thought over the centuries and learn to apply these perspectives to a number of literary works. Major issues will include concepts of authorship and voice, representations of gender roles, and ideas of identity and agency. In addition, students will develop skills in close reading and critical analysis. Cross-listed with ENGL 214D.
Attributes: ENLT P1 WGST YLIBWGST-216 P2 Feminist Theory (3)
This course explores historical foundations of American feminisms and charts three waves of feminist movements, discussing the evolution of feminist theories from 19th through 21st century America. We discuss how other social movements, such as the abolitionist movement, have informed and contributed to American feminisms. Contemporary themes include multicultural feminism, Black feminism, youth activism, and feminist teaching theories. Cross-listed with AMST 216.
Attributes: P2 WGST YLIBWGST-220 P1 Women and Film (3)
This course will examine film as art form in its cultural context, its formal features, and its many meanings, with consistent attention to gender. We will explore the concept of “women and film” in several ways throughout this course, including: (1) women looking behind the camera (as makers of film, such as directors, producers, writers, camera crew, etc.), (2) women in front of the camera (as subjects of film, such as actors, characters, featured persons in documentaries, etc.), and (3) women and men, looking at film as viewers and audience members. Throughout the semester, we will watch films made primarily by and about women, including award-nominated/winning films and documentaries as well as lesser-known independent features.
Attributes: P1 YLIBWGST-230 Special Topics in WGST (3)
This course offers special topics in Women and Gender Studies, not offered on a regular basis. Course content may vary with each offering and may be repeated for credit with different content. Fall 2012 Topic: Women and the Unfinished Revolution This special topic will explore the ever changing role of women in issues of human rights and human security. Using some historical foundations, the course will explore how women are integral in the continuing quest for equality in many areas of society and the world.
Attributes: YLIBWGST-237P P3 Hope, Survival & Spirit (3)
This course examines theories of resistance as they apply to three areas of identity: nation, race, and gender. We examine interlocking systems of power and investigate institutions that have historically oppressed the “Other.” We read a range of texts (fiction, history, essays) on issues like the following: universality and difference, patriotism and nationalism, prison and torture, struggle and survival, hope and human spirit, language and culture, and writing and activism. Julia Alvarez calls fiction “a way to travel through the human heart,” so we analyze how fiction creates space for us to re-imagine history and apply theory. Cross-listed with AMST 237P.
Attributes: AMHU P3 WGST YLIBWGST-240D CC Women in East Asia (3)
An introductory comparison of the historical experiences of women in East Asia with an emphasis on China and Japan. Class time is split equally between traditional times (before 1800) and the modern period. Additional recommended reading for students with no background in Asian history. Cross-listed with HIST 240D.
Attributes: CC WGST YLIBWGST-243 Creating Families (3)
This course investigates the roles of law, culture and technology in creating families. It focuses on the ways in which systems of reproduction reinforce and/or challenge inequalities of class, race, gender and sexuality. We examine the issues of entitlement to parenthood, LBGTQ families, access to reproductive healthcare, international adoption, surrogacy, birthing and parenting for people in prison, and the uses, consequences and ethics of new reproductive technologies. The questions addressed included: How does a person’s status affect their relation to reproductive alternatives? What is the relationship between state reproductive policies and the actual practices (legal, contested, and clandestine) which develop around these policies? How are notions of family and parenting enacted and transformed in an arena that is transnational, interracial, intercultural, and cross-class? Students are required to write three analytical reflections, give an oral presentation, and write a final research essay based on independent research.
Attributes: YLIB ZCIVWGST-257D Gender Roles and Society (3)
A systematic study of gender roles in modern social systems. The course includes the historical evolution of gender roles and current issues surrounding the changing nature of gender roles in modern society. Cross-listed with SOCI 257D.
Attributes: WGST YLIB
Pre-requisites: SOCI-101D D- OR SOCI-101T D-WGST-258 P1 Gender in Popular Media (3)
In this course students will learn a variety of cinematic techniques to analyze popular films, television programs, and internet videos. We will consider ways gender, race, and sexuality have been represented in various US and international media productions. Our investigation of popular media will include Hollywood and independent feature films, network and cable television programs, and internet webisodes and videos.
All works will be in English or subtitled in English. No prior experience with media studies is required.
Attributes: P1 YLIBWGST-265 P3 Human Sexuality (3)
The study of human sexuality will certainly challenge your attitudes, beliefs and feelings. Sexuality pervades the world around us. It is difficult to turn on the television, open a newspaper or magazine, or peruse the internet without being confronted with sexuality in some form. During the course of the semester we will study many aspects of human sexuality including: physiology of the sexual response, sexual development, gender roles, sexual orientation, cultural differences in sexuality, the politics of sexuality, and atypical sexual behavior. We will discuss topics that some of you may find difficult to discuss. We will discuss topics that are controversial. We will discuss topics that may be amusing. Course material will be presented primarily through discussion and some lecture. You will get more out of this course if you do the work and are active in class. It is absolutely necessary that you come to class as material discussed in class may not be in your text. You will be held responsible for all material presented in class as well as material from the required readings. Cross listed with PSYC 265.
Attributes: P3 WGST YLIB
Pre-requisites: PSYC-100C CWGST-270 P5 Gender & Culture (3)
This course is intended to provide students with an understanding of gender as a culturally variable creation and to broaden students’ understanding of genders and sexualities by focusing on specific cultures within the LGBTQIA+ communities. The course explores the ways in which cultures, Western as well as non-Western, construct and provide meanings to gender roles as they intersect with sexual orientation, race, class, ability, and other aspects of identity. Since gender is so often considered a stable and “natural” biological rather than cultural category, this course seeks to destabilize this perception and broaden students’ understanding of gender as a socially and culturally constructed category. A central goal of the course is to provide a greater level of respect and understanding for the specific cultural groups that are addressed.
Attributes: P5 WGST YLIBWGST-272 P2 Digital Feminisms (3)
Reliance on technologies is, and has been for some time, an essential component of daily life in contemporary America. However, while we frequently treat the technological artifacts around us as simple tools, doing so ignores the complex cultural forces that shape our technologies. This course will use feminist theory to explore the co-production of identity and technology, examining how each helps to shape the other. Indeed, first-wave feminism emerged at a time of great technological upheaval, and as technology has continued to change rapidly over time, so to has feminism.
Cross-listed with ENGL 272.
Attributes: ENWR P2 WGST YLIBWGST-275 P5 IndigenousWomenGlobally (3)
This course is designed to expose the students to the richness of the culture and literatures of women from indigenous communities, such as Native Americans, Australian Aborigines, and Dalit women from India. We will consider the systemic oppression that they have been and continue to be subject to due to race, caste, gender, and class. The traditional and historical status of these women in relation to their social, economic and political status today will be discussed. These silenced voices will be presented and analyzed in the individual stories, memoirs, songs, poetry, and fiction of women from specific indigenous communities.
Attributes: P5 WGST YLIB ZCIVWGST-280 CC Gender&Identity S Asia (3)
This course will focus on specifications of identities related to gender norms and gender roles in South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Heterogeneity within these countries will be discussed within social, cultural and religious realms. The various historical, political and cultural effects on ideologies that surround notions of gender due to colonialism and post-colonialism will be discussed. We will look at the various images of women as culturally symbolic embodiments of rigid efforts in preserving tradition and nation. Three major identities of religion, caste, and politics will be focused upon as major forces that inform experiences related to gender, sexuality, class, and caste, which in turn form identities. The realities that surround gender identities and representations of those identities among fast-changing cultural nodes will be examined in a South Asia that is radically changing, economically, culturally, politically, and spiritually. Explorations on women and gender will be made through exposure to South Asian histories, literatures, politics, economics, and media.
Attributes: CC WGST YLIBWGST-295 P2 Gender, Sci & Society (3)
This course examines the relationship between gender, science and society in historical and contemporary contexts. Drawing on the ethical philosophical traditions of feminist studies, queer studies, and critical race studies, this examination will highlight how the making of scientific knowledge in bound up with societal norms about gender, race, class and sexuality. We will ask such questions as: How do societal norms about gender, sexuality, race and class influence how scientists conduct their work, make knowledge, and develop a community of scientists? How have women and minorities engaged with science and its mostly male-dominated traditions? We will engage topics such as the historical and contemporary positions of women and minorities in science and engineering; the ethics involved in the relationship between science and the social construction of gender and race; the feminist critique of sexist science; scientific representation of sexual difference and identity; representations of science and scientists in popular culture; and ethical issues raised by medical science and new reproductive technologies.
Attributes: P2 WGST YLIBWGST-400P Senior Seminar in WGST (3)
Spring 2011 Topic: Gender and the Media The capstone class this semester will explore media representations of gender identity and the effects of media images on identity construction. Through reading and discussion we will consider the idea that, although our understandings of the ideas “masculine” and “feminine” have come to seem natural and unchanging, these concepts may alternatively be understood as flexible and as socially created, in part through media influence. We will examine some of the ways in which this creation of ideas about gender is accomplished through various media genres (these might include films, advertisements, children?s cartoons, soap operas, music videos, video games, talk shows, and reality television). We will explore the complex relationships among media images, cultural values, and the development of identities and self-images, debating the extent to which our sense of self is impacted by popular media images. A central goal of the course will be to recognize how our own communicative practices can condone, contribute to, or resist the cultural construction of gender stereotypes in the media. The course will utilize a number of theoretical approaches to media criticism, including feminist analysis, masculinity studies, audience reception theory, textual analysis, and queer theory.
Attributes: WGST YLIB
Pre-requisites: WGST-101C D-WGST-470 Senior Research Seminar (3)
This capstone course is a research-intensive seminar in which students will engage in research projects of their own choosing. The beginning of the semester includes exercises in research methodology and identification of appropriate research topics. The second half of the semester includes class presentations and research paper workshop exercises. Cross-listed AMST WGST 470.
Attributes: WGST YLIB
Pre-requisites: AMST-370 D-WGST-496 Independent Study (1 TO 3)
An opportunity for in-depth study of an area not regularly offered. Completion of the Independent Study/Tutorial Authorization form is required.
Attributes: WGST YLIB
Pre-requisites: WGST-101C D-
Restrictions: Including: -Class: Junior, Senior