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WMST 12/ Introduction to Women's Studies (4)
An interdisciplinary course designed to lay the groundwork for the women's studies major and minor. Focused principally on the lives and experience of U.S. women, the course has several objectives: first, to consider some fundamental questions (What is a woman? What is gender? What is sex? How does culture construct gender and gender difference? How do gender, race, class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation intersect and interact?); second, to think about individual women's lives using these questions; and third, to introduce analytical and critical concepts and approaches for understanding particular women's lives within larger social, political, and cultural structures-skills that form the basis of further work in women's studies. Required for women's studies majors and minors. Offered spring semester annually.
WMST 52/Global Feminisms (4)
This course examines women's movements internationally and globally. It explores the variations in constructions of sex, gender and gender difference as well as the range of feminisms and women's movements that have emerged from these differing cultural, economic and political situations. Such topics as women and development, the sexual division of labor, health, the environment, the international traffic in women and human rights may be among those explored in the course. Offered fall semester annually. Same as: PSCI 154.
WMST 111/History of Feminist Thought (4)
An interdisciplinary course that explores the development of feminist theories principally in the United States and Europe from Mary Wollstonecraft through "the Second Wave. The course examines the work of such theorists as Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Anna Julia Cooper, Emma Goldman, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Mary Church Terrell, Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan, as well as feminism's evolving conversations with liberalism, Marxism, and psychoanalysis and its dialogues with the anti-slavery/civil rights movements and the gay/lesbian rights movements. Signature of instructor required for registration. Prerequisite: WMST 12. Offered fall semester in alternate years.
WMST 112/Contemporary Feminist Theory and Methodology (4)
An interdisciplinary course focused on contemporary feminist theory. The objectives of the course are first, to explore the broad range of theories that make up the body of contemporary scholarship referred to as "feminist theory"; second, to examine feminist critiques and innovations in methodologies in many fields; and third, to consider some of the fundamental questions these theories raise about the origins of gender difference, the nature and origins of patriarchy, the intersections between gender, race, class, sexuality, and nationality as
categories of analysis and bases of oppression or empowerment. Signature of instructor required for registration. Prerequisite: WMST 12. Offered fall semester in alternate years.
WMST 150/Independent Study in Women's Studies (4)
A tutorial course. Independent investigation of a topic, preferably interdisciplinary, chosen in consultation with the instructor and the director of women's studies. Regular meetings by arrangement with the instructor. Oral and written work. Course may be repeated. Signature of instructor required for registration. Prerequisite: WMST 12. Offered every fall and spring semester.
ANTH 10/Culture, Gender, and Family (4)
A comparative, cross-cultural study of social organization with specific attention to kinship, gender, marriage, and family systems. Includes a survey of the basic concepts and traditional approaches used by anthropologists combined with an examination of contemporary issues that challenge basic understandings of gender and family. Prerequisite: ANTH 4 or permission of instructor. Offered spring semester annually.
ANTH 131/Gender and Culture (4)
What does it mean to say that gender is culturally constructed? This course examines this question by looking at two related issues. (1) How do conceptions of male and female gender vary cross culturally? (2) In what
ways has “culture” become a political issue in debates about gender, and why is it that those debates so often concern women’s--but not men’s--behavior? These issues are traced through analysis of contemporary issues regarding work, violence, and health in areas such as Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Mexico.
ECON 136/Political Economy of Race, Class, and Gender (4)
A study of race, class, and gender using the political economic approach to the study of economics. The course will investigate the impact of introducing the categories of race, class, and gender into political economic theory and will also undertake some empirical analyses of the roles of race, class, and gender in producing economic outcomes for minorities and majorities in the U.S. Prerequisite: ECON 25 and 26; junior or senior standing. Offered alternate years.
ENGL 32/Women and Literature (4)
Perspectives on the work of women writers in the Anglo-American tradition. Focuses on such themes as creativity, community, work, sexuality, or autonomy, in works chosen from a variety of periods and genres. Offered fall semester annually.
ENGL 132/Women's Literary Tradition (4)
Examines works by women writers through the historical and theoretical approaches to literature that have emerged from recent feminist scholarship. May focus on a particular genre, period, author or authors, or on the literature in its social and cultural contexts. Offered spring semester annually.
FREN 50/Francophone Literature in Translation: Women Novelists (4)
Taught in English. A critical reading of novels written in French by women from the late 17th through the 20th centuries. The study of 20th-century authors also includes women writers from the Francophone world (Quebec, Africa, and the Caribbean). Course may be repeated.
HIST 126/American Women's History (4)
A survey of the social, economic, political, and intellectual history of women in America from the colonial period to the present, with a special emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Considers the diversity of women's experience as a result of race, class, ethnicity, and geographic location. Emphasizes developing skills in the use of primary sources-written, artifactual, and oral. Topics vary annually. May be repeated for credit as topic changes. Offered fall semester annually.
HIST 135/Women in Modern European History (4)
A topical survey of the social, economic, and political history of women in Europe from the 15th century to the present, emphasizing work, family, religion, sexuality, feminism, politics, and the state. Examines geographical and cultural variations in women's roles in history. The focus of the course varies annually and may include such topics as class and gender, work and family, women and politics, institutions and power, or rural and urban experiences. May be repeated for credit as topic changes. Offering to be determined.
HIST 171/History of Sexuality (4)
This research seminar explores some of the major themes and milestones in the modern history of sexuality in the United States and Europe, focusing special attention on the role of medicine in these developments. Following a theoretical introduction to the field, the seminar will address, among other topics, the "invention" of homosexuality and the regulation of prostitution; the impact of thinkers like Krafft-Ebbing, Freud, and Kinsey; and such recent controversies as the new diagnosis of sex addiction and the search for a gay gene. Special emphasis will be placed on evaluating the role of class, race, gender, and ethnicity upon constructions of sexuality. In addition to a substantial research paper, students will be required to write three shorter response papers and deliver class presentations based upon their readings. Signature of instructor required for registration. Offering to be determined.

MUS 112/Women in Music (4)
A study of women composers/performers through the ages emphasizing their changing roles and society's changing attitudes. The seminar focuses on selected works of Hildegard von Bingen, Clara Schumann, Fanny Hensel, Maria Grandval, Ellen Taafe Zwilich, and Laurie Anderson, among others. Offered fall semester annually.

PSCI 155/Gender and Politics (4)
An analysis of the relationship between gender and politics from various theoretical perspectives. Focuses on the multiple ways that gender, race, and class have influenced political participation and political institutions at the at the grass roots, state, and national levels. Explores the construction of women's political interests and how those interests are, and have been, represented in political life in the United States. Offered spring semester annually.

PSCI 155 / Gender and U.S. Politics (4)
An analysis of the relationship between gender and politics from various theoretical perspectives. Focuses on the multiple ways that gender, race, and class have influenced political participation and political institutions at the at the grass roots, state, and national levels. Explores the construction of women's political interests and how those interests are, and have been, represented in political life in the United States. Offered spring semester annually.

PSCI 156/Seminar on Gender and International Politics (4)
An analysis and examination of gender issues in international politics with either a regional or thematic focus. The central goal of the course will be to explore how gender, race, class, nation and sexuality are core components of the discourse and practice of international politics. Such topics as gender and Latin American politics, gender and international political economy, international women's organizing, and gender and postcolonial theory will be among those regularly presented. Offered annually.
PSYC 142/Seminar in the Psychology of Women (2-4)
A review of research focusing on women. Draws upon findings from the various subfields of psychology, including stereotyping, the social construction of gender, female personality development, women and mental health, gender differences in brain lateralization, hormonal influences on behavior, the psychology of women's health, and coping with victimization. Considers how psychological methodology enhances (or obfuscates) our knowledge about women's lives and experiences. The interface between psychology of women as a subfield of psychology
and mainstream psychology is explored. Amount of credit established at time of registration. Signature of instructor required for registration. Prerequisite: PSYC 3. Offered spring semester in even-numbered years.
SOC 25/Sociology of Gender (4)
An analysis of contemporary gender roles from a variety of theoretical perspectives. Focuses on the social construction of gender and how gender affects our most intimate relationships. An examination of the implications of gender stratification for family and workplace. Explores historical and cross-cultural variations in gender roles, as well as variations by race, ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation. Prerequisite: SOC 1 or permission of instructor. Offered annually.
SPAN 138/Contextualizing Gender in 19th-Century Spain (4)
A study of gender roles and their permutations in Spanish literature and other cultural productions from the Romantic period to the turn of the century. Works to be read may include plays such as Don Juan Tenorio, and the fiction of Pérez Galdós and Emilia Pardo Bazán. Offered fall semester in odd-numbered years.
SPAN 156/Ethnicity, Class, and Gender in Spanish-American Society (4)
A study of diverse aspects of the social history of Spanish-America with special attention to those of race, class, and gender. Readings include literary, sociological, and political selections. Offered fall semester in even-numbered years.
THEA 65/Women in the Theatre (4)
A selected study of the contributions of women in the theatre, with special focus on plays by women. Course may be organized by historical period(s) or appropriate theme. Also could include study of other women theatrical artists and practitioners: actors, directors, designers, artistic directors, producers. May be repeated for credit as topic changes. offering to be determined.
Course Descriptions

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

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