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College Catalog 2020-2021 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Courses

 

Theatre and Dance
  

  • THDA 631 - Preceptorship

    Through a preceptorship, an advanced student assists a faculty member in the planning and teaching of a course. Prerequisite(s): Junior or Senior majors. Permission of instructor and department. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • THDA 632 - Preceptorship

    Through a preceptorship, an advanced student assists a faculty member in the planning and teaching of a course. Prerequisite(s): Junior or Senior majors. Permission of instructor and department. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • THDA 633 - Preceptorship

    Through a preceptorship, an advanced student assists a faculty member in the planning and teaching of a course. Prerequisite(s): Junior or Senior majors. Permission of instructor and department. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • THDA 634 - Preceptorship

    Through a preceptorship, an advanced student assists a faculty member in the planning and teaching of a course. Prerequisite(s): Junior or Senior majors. Permission of instructor and department. Work with Academic Programs. Every semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • THDA 641 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Offered every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • THDA 642 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Offered every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • THDA 643 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Offered every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • THDA 644 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Offered every semester. (4 Credits)

Womens, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
  

  • WGSS 100 - Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

    This course is an introduction to the range and importance of 20th century as well as current feminist and queer theories and practices to our understanding of positive social change. It will analyze feminist and queer histories of resistance and alternatives to economic and political control, in the U.S. and elsewhere. The framework for the course is the intersection of gender and sexuality with race, class, nationality, and dis/ability; it will address such issues as economic marginalization, social movements, the institutions of family and marriage, migration and the role of the state/nation among others. Depending on the instructor, the course generally focuses on either LGBTQI studies or on transnational perspectives of these issues. Every semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 101 - Feminist Sex Wars

    This course examines the challenges that sexuality and sexual practice brings to feminism, by exploring feminisms’ involvement in so-called anti-sex/pro-sex debates. We explore the stance of second-wave feminism, lesbian feminism, radical feminism, and queer theory and activism on issues like prostitution and sex work, pornography, butch/femme aesthetics, gender performativity, non-monogamies, sadomasochism, bisexuality, and transgenderism and transsexuality. Throughout, we study the divide between sexual agency and sexual exploitation, which emerges when thinking about the complexities of sex and desire. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 102 - Gender and Sport

    This course views sport as a social institution and a microcosm of the longer social processes that stage, reinforce, and perpetuate myriad inequalities in society. In this course we analyze the gendered aspects of sport, and relationship among gender, sexuality, and sport. We consider the ways that sport reinforces, and potentially undermines, heteronormality, as well as hegemonic notions of masculinity and femininity. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 117 - Women, Health, Reproduction

    Cross-Listed as BIOL 117  
    This course will deal with aspects of human anatomy and physiology of special interest to women and/or those who identify as women, especially relating to sexuality and reproduction. Biological topics covered will include menstruation and menopause, sexuality, conception, contraception, infertility, abortion, pregnancy, cancer, and AIDS. Advances in assisted reproductive technologies, hormone therapies, and genetic engineering technologies will be discussed. Three lecture hours each week. Every semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 127 - Women, Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome

    Cross-Listed as CLAS 127 
    This course investigates contemporary approaches to studying women, gender and sexuality in history, and the particular challenges of studying these issues in antiquity. By reading ancient writings in translation and analyzing art and other material culture, we will address the following questions: How did ancient Greek and Roman societies understand and use the categories of male and female? Into what sexual categories did different cultures group people? How did these gender and sexual categories intersect with notions of slave and free status, citizenship and ethnicity? How should we interpret the actions and representations of women in surviving literature, myth, art, law, philosophy, politics and medicine in this light? Finally, how and why have gendered classical images been re-deployed in the modern U.S. - from scholarship to art and poetry? Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 141 - Latin America Through Women’s Eyes

    Cross-Listed as   and  
    Latin American women have overcome patriarchal “machismo” to serve as presidents, mayors, guerilla leaders, union organizers, artists, intellectuals, and human rights activists. Through a mix of theoretical, empirical, and testimonial work, we will explore issues such as feminist challenges to military rule in Chile, anti-feminist politics in Nicaragua, the intersection of gender and democratization in Cuba, and women’s organizing and civil war in Colombia. Teaching methods include discussion, debates, simulations, analytic papers, partisan narratives, lecture, film, poetry, and a biographical essay. This class employs an innovative system of qualitative assessment. Students take the course “S/SD/N with Written Evaluation.” This provides a powerful opportunity for students to stretch their limits in a learning community with high expectations, but without a high-pressure atmosphere. This ungraded course has been approved for inclusion on major/minor plans in Political Science, Latin American Studies, and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 150 - Language and Gender in Japanese Society

    Cross-Listed as ASIA 150 , JAPA 150  and LING 150  
    Japanese is considered to be a gendered language in the sense that women and men speak differently from each other. Male characters in Japanese animation often use “boku” or “ore” to refer to themselves, while female characters often use “watashi” or “atashi.” When translated into Japanese, Hermione Granger (a female character in the Harry Potter series) ends sentences with soft-sounding forms, while Harry Potter and his best friend Ron use more assertive forms. Do these fictional representations reflect reality? How are certain forms associated with femininity or masculinity? Do speakers of Japanese conform to the norm or rebel against it? These are some of the questions discussed in this course. Students will have opportunities to learn about the history of gendered language, discover different methodologies in data collections, and find out about current discourse on language and gender. Offered alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 185 - Masculinities

    Cross-Listed as SOCI 185  
    We have seen a burst of writing and thinking about men in the past several decades. Many of these writings argue that as more women are excelling professionally, earning more college degrees than their male counterparts and acting as the family breadwinner, the traditional gender landscape is quickly fading into what they identify as a matriarchy. According to this view, men, having falling from their privileged place in society, are being out competed by women for the most prestigious occupations and are now becoming emasculated in the process. We will critically explore the debate that this perspective has engendered, looking at not only the facts of whether this is true or not, but the cultural anxieties and fantasies such a perceived closure of the alpha male trope has produced. We will begin with the idea that manhood has a history, that it is a human creation rather than an edict from above or from nature. Some of the key questions we will ask are: How has manhood changed in the United States since the 19th century? Are there different forms of masculinities, especially when we take into account social indicators like class, race, and ethnicity? Can masculinity take on chameleon forms that in the past seemed antithetical to masculinity, like geeks, cosmopolitans, metrosexuals, or in upper-class gentlemanly cultures? Are we experiencing an emerging hybrid or inclusionary forms of masculinities or are these simply a repackaging of the old? Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 194 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 200 - Feminist/Queer Theories and Methodologies

    This course is a historical survey of theories and methodologies used in feminist and queer studies. Course material highlights the unique and intertwined knowledges feminist and queer scholars have produced; these include the re-makings of liberal, Marxian, antiracist, poststructuralist, and postcolonial theories, and their uses in humanities and social science methods. The course centrally examines how feminist and queer studies transform societies and are transformed through struggle over their gender/sexual identities, racial formations, and global/transnational locations. The course considers how feminist and queer studies have arisen in close relationships-of union, tension, and antagonism-and how feminist and queer work today may link. Prerequisite(s): Intermediate level courses require sophomore standing or permission of the instructor, and at least one introductory-level women’s, gender, and sexuality studies core course. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 201 - History of U.S. Feminisms

    Cross-Listed as  
    This is an introductory course about the history of U.S. feminism as it was articulated and experienced in the United States from roughly 1800-1970. We will focus on only on the experience of those who worked for the cause of women’s rights but also the ideologies at home and abroad that influenced feminist thought. In so doing, we will interrogate the myths about feminism and the backlash against it that are central to the history, culture, and politics of the United States. This course is especially concerned with the multiple and contradictory strains within feminism. Topics that the class will consider include: the roots of feminism as it took shape in the anti-slavery movement, the overlap of women’s rights and the civil rights movement of the twentieth century, and the women’s health movement, among others. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 210 - 20th Century Anglophone Women Writers

    The term “Anglophone Literature” refers to writings in English from countries connected to Britain by imperial rule or by the presence of British immigrants, yet does not include England itself. This course variously studies India, the Caribbean, South Africa, the United States, and England as locations of Anglophone Literature produced by their natives, immigrants, and cosmopolitans. Writers include Virginia Woolf, Una Marson, Anita Desai, Doris Lessing, Suniti Namjoshi, Angela Carter, Ravinder Randhawa, Bharati Mukherjee, and Zadie Smith, among others. We will explore how concepts of nation, race, citizenship, gender, ownership of the language, and English/British literary canons are constructed, in written and visual media. Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing or permission of instructor, and at least one introductory-level WGSS core course. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 217 - Gender and Race Theory in Performance

    Cross-Listed as THDA 217  
    This course introduces students to debates, methods, and conceptual frameworks in race and gender, as represented in performance. It engages students in an interdisciplinary exploration of key terms - such as corporeality, embodiment, intersectionality, and performativity - that remain central to the fields of gender and sexuality, critical race theory, and performance. Through drafts and revisions of written work, critical dialogues and oral presentations in small groups, peer feedback, and analytical reading, students will engage in questions around identity formation, structural inequality, and the politics of citizenship.  Fall semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 220 - Feminist Reconstructions: Indian

    A historical accident has led to the creation and use of ‘Indian’ in very different geographies-North America and South Asia. We will study what happens when these diverse cultural and political depictions of ‘Indian’ are juxtaposed. Through an intersection of gender with nation, race, class, and sexuality, we will discuss the connections between the concepts of native, ancient, and modern, nation and citizenship, hyphenated and hybrid identities, global cultural consumption, and old/new forms of marginalization, to name some issues. Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing or permission of instructor; at least one introductory-level WGSS core course or cross-listed course recommended. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 225 - Women and the Bible

    Cross-Listed as RELI 225  
    In this course we will examine the roles, identities, and representations of women in the Tanakh/ Old Testament, New Testament, and Jewish and Christian apocrypha.  We will explore how biblical writers used women “to think with,” and we will consider how gender is co-constructed alongside religious, social, and sexual identities.  We will ask the following sorts of questions: What opportunities for social advancement and leadership were open to women in ancient Israelite, early Jewish, and early Christian communities, and how did these opportunities differ from those open to women in other religious formations in the ancient Mediterranean?  How did biblical regulations of bodies, sexuality, marriage, and family life shape women’s lives? What are the social and material effects of biblical representations of women? And how might current feminist theories inform our interpretation of biblical texts about women? Alternate spring semesters. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 228 - Gender and Sexuality in Colonial America and the Early Republic

    Cross-Listed as   
    Since the 1960s historians have revisited early American history to identify populations on the margins and historical actors whose stories and experiences were neglected in the traditional canon of history. Historians of women made some of the first forays into this important work of recovery. Building up the foundations produced by women’s historians, the field of gender and sexuality studies have flourished and enriched the narratives of American history. This course examines American peoples and cultures from the 16th through early 19th centuries to uncover the ways in which gender and sexuality shaped the formation of an early American society. Particular attention will be given to the way that ideologies of gender and sexuality shaped early concepts of race and the development of North American political institutions. Occasionally. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 229 - Narrating Black Women’s Resistance

    Cross-Listed as AMST 229  and HIST 229  
    This course examines traditions of 20th century African American women’s activism and the ways in which they have changed over time. Too often, the narrative of the “strong black woman” infuses stories of African American women’s resistance which, coupled with a culture of dissemblance, makes the inner workings of their lives difficult to imagine. This course, at its heart, seeks to uncover the motivations, both personal and political, behind African American women’s activism. It also aims to address the ways in which African American women have responded to the pressing social, economic, and political needs of their diverse communities. The course also asks students to consider narrative, voice and audience in historical writing, paying particular attention to the ways in which black women’s history has been written over the course of the twentieth century. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 240 - Comparative Feminisms: Whiteness and Postcolonialisms

    This course brings together discourses that have remained somewhat parallel and unrelated–Whiteness Studies and Postcolonial Studies.  It is based on the premise that ‘whiteness’ as an academic/social framework stems from and is intertwined with social and political identity-based movements (feminist, critical race, etc.).  In other words, studies of the intersection of gender, race, class, and nation initiated in the post-colonizing imagination seeks to shake up paradigms of power, and whiteness studies shares in this effort.  This course explores where and how the notion of ‘whiteness’ converges and diverges from post-colonialism.  

      Prerequisite(s): Sophomore or junior standing, or permission of instructor; one introductory core or cross-listed course in the department recommended. Every other year. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 242 - Economics of Gender

    Cross-Listed as   
    This course uses economic theory to explore how gender differences lead to different economic outcomes for men and women, both within families and in the marketplace. Topics include applications of economic theory to 1) aspects of family life including marriage, cohabitation, fertility, and divorce, and 2) the interactions of men and women in firms and in markets. The course will combine theory, empirical work, and analysis of economic policies that affect men and women differently. Counts as Group E elective for the Economics major. Prerequisite(s): ECON 119  (with miminum grade of C-). (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 250 - Race, Gender, and Medicine

    Cross-Listed as HIST 350  
    This seminar-style class examines the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality in the history of medicine and health in the U.S. Our diverse topics for study include eugenics, sexuality, midwifery, cultural/spiritual healing methods, pandemics, race- and gender-based ailments and medical experiments (such as the science and politics of the birth control pill and the infamous Tuskegee syphilis experiment), gender reassignment surgery, and sex-testing in the Olympics. This wide range of topics will prepare students to explore a research topic of their own choosing for a final paper. Offered alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 252 - Gender, Sexualities and Feminist Visual Culture

    Cross-Listed as ART 252  
    This course examines the ways in which gender and sexuality are understood in modern visual culture. It also covers a wide range of feminist approaches in the 20th and 21st century art and as they have been articulated in theory. Students explore social constructions of gender and sexualities, their visible and invisible representation, and discuss the impact of feminism and the changing role of women in society. The course will also cover some of the most recent global feminist trends and new directions in the feminist theory. Feminist work from Africa, India, Asia and Eastern and Central Europe and various marginalized cultural centers in Western Europe and the United States will be addressed. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 258 - Gender and Sexuality in China

    Cross-Listed as ASIA 258  and CHIN 258  
    How are masculinity and femininity defined and transformed in modern and contemporary Chinese culture? How is the culturally constructed gender related to a larger social context? Through a rigorous analysis of the content and structure of modern and contemporary novels and films, this course examines the literary representation of gender and sexuality and its relation to the tumultuous social transformations, and engages with a variety of themes including: May Fourth enlightenment, anti-Japanese war, Socialist construction, the Cultural Revolution, and the liberalization of the post-Mao era. This course seeks to help students develop critical views of Chinese society and culture from gendered perspective, and gain familiarity with major authors, genres, and literary movements. This course assumes no prior knowledge of China or Chinese, and all reading materials are in English. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 259 - Women, Gender, and the Family in Contemporary Europe

    Cross-Listed as HIST 259  
    This course will explore the ways in which the major events and processes in contemporary European history shaped the lives of women and families as well and the way that both individual women and women’s movements have shaped the history of contemporary Europe. Much of our discussion will revolve around the themes of equality and inequality and their evolution over the course of the last two centuries. Our exploration will begin with the French Revolution in 1789 and end with the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe in the late twentieth century. We will focus on issues such as family policy, reproductive rights, labor, immigration, women’s political representation, and LGBTQ equality in Europe. We will also explore the importance of children and childhood in the context of contemporary European society and the role that the state has played in shaping the lives of young people. Whenever possible, we will approach the topics at hand by exploring the voices of our historical actors themselves and we will consider the experiences of people from a wide range of identities. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 261 - Feminist Political Theory

    Cross-Listed as POLI 261 
    Analysis of contemporary feminist theories regarding gender identity, biological and socio-cultural influences on subjectivity and knowledge, and relations between the personal and the political. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 262 - Performing Feminisms

    Cross-Listed as   
    Feminisms in performance - whether on an actual theater stage or in offstage force fields of politics, history and culture - are the concern of this course. Through feminist, queer and performance theories of the body, representation, identification and spectatorship, and through the reading of plays, students will engage with the historic and contemporary practices of feminisms and performance-making. Attending performances, viewing films and performance documents will contribute to students’ capacities to write critically about feminist performance practices. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 263 - Muslim Women Writers

    Cross-Listed as ENGL 263  and INTL 263  
    Against the swirling backdrop of political discourses about women in the Islamic world, this course will engage with feminist and postcolonial debates through literary works by Muslim women writers. The course will begin with an exploration of key debates about women’s agency and freedom, the Islamic headscarf, and Qur’anic hermeneutics. With this in mind, we will turn to the fine details of literature and poetry by Muslim women. How do these authors constitute their worlds? How are gendered subjectivities constructed? And how do the gender politics of literary texts relate to the broader political and historical contexts from which they emerge? Themes will include an introduction to Muslim poetesses and Arabic poetic genres, the rise of the novel in the Arabic speaking world, and Muslim women’s literary production outside of the Middle East: from Senegal to South Asia, and beyond. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 264 - Psychology of Gender

    Cross-Listed as  
    This class is an introduction to feminist psychological theory and research dedicated to understanding and critiquing biological, psychological, social, and cultural meanings and implications of gender and its intersections with class, race, physical ability, sexual orientation, etc. Examples of research and theory will come from a wide variety of areas in psychology and related disciplines, and will address such issues as socialization and social development, stereotypes, bodies and body image, social relationships, identity, language, violence, sexuality and sexual behavior, well-being, work, etc. We will also learn about the historical, cultural, and epistemological underpinnings of psychological research on gender. Counts as a UP3 course. Prerequisite(s):  PSYC 100  or permission of the instructor. Offered yearly. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 294 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 300 - Worlds Upside Down: Revolutions in Theories and Practices

    Are we living in revolutionary times?  How do we know? This course takes a journey through the last 50 years of some large upheavals across the world-in language, politics, economics, culture, and media-to find some answers of how we are similar and different.  It uncovers how and why the struggles, in theories and practices, for power and representation have created the conditions in which we exist today. We travel through all kinds of ‘post’ and ‘neo’-liberalism, humanism, feminism, nationalism, and colonialism-and how they intertwine in our own lived experiences.  Some topics: protest against gender, sexual, race, economic, and linguistic bio-regimes, revolts of the colonized and marginalized, and resistant/ liberatory creations in art, technology, and media. Authors include Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Michel Foucault, Theresa Cha, Silvia Federici, Noam Chomsky, Ta-Nehisi Coates, bell hooks, Chela Sandoval, and Gayatri Spivak, among others.  At the end of the course, we will all know a little more about where we stand. People from all disciplines welcome.

      Prerequisite(s): Sophomore or junior standing or permission of instructor, and at least one course in the department (core course recommended, cross-listed accepted). Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 305 - Race, Sex and Work in the Global Economy

    Cross-Listed as AMST 305 
    This seminar presents feminist and queer studies of global capitalism, which examine power relations under contemporary globalization in terms of the racial and sexual dynamics of labor, citizenship, and migration. Course material considers the local and transnational dynamics of free trade, labor fragmentation, and structural adjustment, as these shape industrial and informal labor, and community organizing around gender, sexuality, and HIV/AIDS. The material foregrounds ethnographic analyses of the everyday conditions of people situated in struggles with the effects of global capitalism. Prerequisite(s): Junior standing or permission of instructor, and at least one intermediate-level WGSS core course. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 306 - Women’s Voices in Politics

    Cross-Listed as   
    This course examines significant women who have used various forms of persuasion to shape society and women’s role in Western history, politics, and culture. We concentrate on women’s efforts to participate in public affairs and the social, political, religious, scientific, and rhetorical obstacles that have restricted women’s access to public life. Students will analyze how women have used speaking, writing, and protesting in their attempts to overcome such obstacles, influence public policy and/or win elective office. The course pays particular attention to the experiences of female heads of state in countries throughout the world and how they have used their powers once in office. Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 308 - Literature and Sexuality

    Cross-Listed as  
    This course examines ways in which literary works have represented desire and sexuality. It looks at how constructions of sexuality have defined and classified persons; at how those definitions and classes change; and at how they affect and create literary forms and traditions. Contemporary gay and lesbian writing, and the developing field of queer theory, will always form part, but rarely all, of the course. Poets, novelists, playwrights, memoirists and filmmakers may include Shakespeare, Donne, Tennyson, Whitman, Dickinson, or Henry James; Wilde, Hall, Stein, Lawrence, or Woolf; Nabokov, Tennessee Williams, Frank O’Hara, Baldwin, or Philip Roth; Cukor, Hitchcock, Julien, Frears, or Kureishi; White, Rich, Kushner, Monette, Lorde, Allison, Cruse, Morris, Winterson, Hemphill, or Bidart. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 310 - Gendered, Feminist, and Womanist Writings

    Cross-Listed as ENGL 362  
    This course investigates how women’s writing from different parts of the world (Asian, English, African-American, to name a few) convey visions of the present and future, of the real and the imagined, beliefs about masculinity and femininity, race and nation, socialist and capitalist philosophies, (post) modernity, the environment (ecotopia), and various technologies including cybernetics. Topics may change based on instructor. Prerequisite(s): Junior standing or permission of instructor, and at least one intermediate-level Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 315 - Comparative (Neo/Post) Modernities

    This course addresses the major historical, political, and cultural formations of the ideas of Modernity in various eras and countries. Building on this concept, the course explores what the prefixes ‘post’ (as in ‘postmodernity’) and ‘neo’ (as in neo-modernity) mean in contemporary contexts, i.e., in the 20th and 21st centuries. Texts may include political speeches, historical analyses, literary genres, and representations from film, video, and music. Specific topics may change based on instructor. Prerequisite(s): junior standing or permission of instructor, and at least one intermediate-level WGSS core course. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 320 - Gender, Sexuality and Film

    Cross-Listed as  
    This course explores a variety of critical approaches to the representation of gender and sexuality in film and video, including psychoanalytic feminist film theory and criticism, gay and lesbian studies, queer theory, narrative analysis, ideological critique and cultural studies of gender and sexuality in relation to race, nation, and class. How have social constructs about gender and sexuality been promulgated and/or contested in film and video within both mainstream and avant-garde contexts of cultural production? How have these constructs functioned to uphold and/or challenge other forms of social stratification or privilege? In asking these questions, the course considers a wide range of issues, including drag, camp, spectatorship, identity and identification, the gaze, assimilation, social change, body politics, realism, and pornography. Written work emphasizes the close analysis of film texts. Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing and previous experience with one of the following fields: Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, cultural studies and/or media studies, or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 325 - Conquering the Flesh: Renunciation of Food and Sex in the Christian Tradition

    Cross-Listed as RELI 325  
    This course explores how bodily practices of fasting and sexual abstinence have shaped Christian identities from the first century, C.E. to today. From Paul of Tarsus’ instructions about sexual discipline to the True Love Waits® campaign, from the desert fathers’ rigorous bodily regimens to the contemporary Christian diet movement, Christians have often understood the practice of renunciation as a necessary feature of spiritual perfection. In this course we will consider several ascetic movements in Christian history, including the development of ascetic practice in late antiquity, the rise of fasting practices among women in medieval Europe, and the culture of Christian dieting and chastity in the U.S. We will pay special attention to how Christian practices of piety both draw upon and contribute to cultural understandings of gender and the body. Every other year. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 330 - Democracies, Feminisms, Capitalisms

    Through the organizing notion of Object, we will study the intertwining of democracy and capitalism, with a brief historical overview of both but looking primarily at formations in the 20th and 21st centuries - from liberal nation-state versions through postsocialisms to neoliberal-neocolonial globalization. In this transnational comparative context, we will focus on how various feminisms have negotiated these intertwined political/economic theories, at once emerging from them, claiming a place in them, as well as self-defining against their different formations. We will explore how liberal, second- and third- wave, socialist, women of color, radical transnational, and indigenous feminisms deploy the notion of Object in addressing issues of citizenship, violence, labor, the environment, cultural representation, etc., as ways of tackling this complicated relationship with diverse forms of capitalism and democracy. Prerequisite(s): One 100- or 200- level Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course. Every other year. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 346 - Constructions of a Female Killer

    Cross-Listed as LATI 386  and SPAN 386  
    Explorations of the relationship between women and violence typically take place from the perspective of women as victims. However, how does the discourse change when the traditional paradigm is inverted and we explore women as perpetrators of violence? This seminar examines representations of women who kill in Latin American and Latino narratives (including novels, short stories, films, and newspapers). Drawing on feminist theory, media studies, criminology, and literary criticism, we will seek to understand the ways women’s violence has been read and framed in contemporary society as well as how their violence intersects with discussions of nationalism, race, class, and gender. This course satisfies the Area 2 requirement for the Spanish major. Prerequisite(s): SPAN 307  or consent of the instructor. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 354 - Music and Gender

    Cross-Listed as MUSI 354  
    This course explores issues concerning gender in a variety of American and European musical styles, with an emphasis on popular genres. Taking a topical approach, we will examine the ways in which gender is constructed in various musical contexts and explore the ways in which gender relates to and is informed by other apsects of identity formation, including class, race, and sexuality. We will investigate issues that have affected women’s participation in musical life, such as musical canons, gendered musical discourse, and gender stereotypes. In addition, we will explore contributions of trans* musicians, as well as issues that affect their musical lives. We will also interrogate constructions of gender, masculinity, and femininity as they relate to music. An ongoing goal will be to develop reading comprehension and critical thinking skills through a series of short summary/response papers and discussion in class. Finally, as this course emphasizes writing and research skills, several class periods will be devoted to research techniques and the writing process, and accordingly you will be required to write and revise a substantial paper. Once a year. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 364 - Lives in Context: Psychology and Social Structure

    Cross-Listed as PSYC 364  
    In this seminar we will explore the relationship between individual lives and broad social systems in the United States. We will read theory, research, and case material from psychology and related disciplines about individual and interpersonal implications of social organization/social structure (in the domains of social class, gender, race, physical ability, sexuality, etc., and their intersections). We will pay particular attention to how and why it matters psychologically that U.S. society is organized hierarchically.  We will also address how to study the relation between individual lives and social structure. How can we really understand lives in their myriad contexts? What’s the best strategy for doing this? Is it even possible? What are some of the methodological, conceptual, and ethical dilemmas and challenges involved in such an undertaking? Because feminist psychologists have played a critical role in shaping methodology and research in these areas, we will read a considerable amount of work by feminist psychologists and other feminist academics. Counts toward the UP3 requirement. Prerequisite(s): PSYC 100 , PSYC 201  and one other intermediate psychology course. Every other year. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 394 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 400 - Senior Seminar: Linking Theory and Practice

    The relationship between academic theorizing and community organizing for positive social and political change is a vital, complex, and an ever-changing source of feminist inquiry. This course builds on that relationship by juxtaposing activist social work with theoretical writings on globalization, gender, race, class-relations, sexuality, community, democracy, and civil society, and exploring how these arenas inform and transform each other. The issues in this seminar are related ultimately to the student’s “location,” personally and professionally, at the threshold of the future, in search of a space of her/his own. One substantial research paper and a formal oral presentation on its ideas are the primary assignments. Prerequisite(s): At least three WGSS core courses and senior standing, or permission of instructor.  Preferred: a working relationship with a local women’s or minority organization, established the spring or summer prior to enrollment in the course. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 405 - Senior Seminar: Topics

    Capstone or integrative experience centering on a topic that will vary from year to year. The focus will be to develop a deeper understanding of theory and action in relation to women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. Prerequisite(s): At least three WGSS core courses and senior standing, or permission of instructor. Spring semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 494 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 611 - Independent Project

    Individual projects are supervised by women’s, gender, and sexuality studies faculty. Prerequisite(s): Two courses approved for credit in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 611 - Independent Project

    Individual projects are supervised by women’s, gender, and sexuality studies faculty. Prerequisite(s): Two courses approved for credit in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 612 - Independent Project

    Individual projects are supervised by women’s, gender, and sexuality studies faculty. Prerequisite(s): Two courses approved for credit in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 613 - Independent Project

    Individual projects are supervised by women’s, gender, and sexuality studies faculty. Prerequisite(s): Two courses approved for credit in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 614 - Independent Project

    Individual projects are supervised by women’s, gender, and sexuality studies faculty. Prerequisite(s): Two courses approved for credit in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 621 - Internship

    Internships, supervised by women’s, gender, and sexuality studies faculty, bring together theoretical and practical concerns that are primarily connected with women or have feminist/queer studies as their central perspective. An internship outline plan will be developed individually between the student and the faculty sponsor. Prerequisite(s): Two courses approved for credit in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 622 - Internship

    Internships, supervised by women’s, gender, and sexuality studies faculty, bring together theoretical and practical concerns that are primarily connected with women or have feminist/queer studies as their central perspective. An internship outline plan will be developed individually between the student and the faculty sponsor. Prerequisite(s): Two courses approved for credit in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 623 - Internship

    Internships, supervised by women’s, gender, and sexuality studies faculty, bring together theoretical and practical concerns that are primarily connected with women or have feminist/queer studies as their central perspective. An internship outline plan will be developed individually between the student and the faculty sponsor. Prerequisite(s): Two courses approved for credit in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 624 - Internship

    Internships, supervised by women’s, gender, and sexuality studies faculty, bring together theoretical and practical concerns that are primarily connected with women or have feminist/queer studies as their central perspective. An internship outline plan will be developed individually between the student and the faculty sponsor. Prerequisite(s): Two courses approved for credit in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 631 - Preceptorship

    Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. (1 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 632 - Preceptorship

    Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. (2 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 633 - Preceptorship

    Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. (3 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 634 - Preceptorship

    Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. (4 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 641 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 642 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 643 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • WGSS 644 - Honors Independent

    Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (4 Credits)
 

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