Fall 2015 Courses

Introduces students to the field of Women & Gender Studies. Examines gender issues in the United States from interdisciplinary, multicultural, and feminist perspectives. Covers such topics as sexuality, beauty ideals, women’s health, violence against women, work, the economy, peace and war, and the environment. Meets MAPS requirement for social science: general. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity.

Examines contemporary experiences of people around the world as they negotiate dominant and subversive understandings of gendered identities. Focuses on the ways in which the material and discursive circumstances of people’s lives shape their opportunities for resistance and creative construction. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity.

Explores diverse cultural forms such as film, popular fiction and non-fiction, music videos, public art, websites, blogs and zines which are shaped by, and in turn shape popular understandings of gender at the intersections of race, class, ability, religion, nation, and imperialism. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity.

Introduces the contributions of women to literature and the performing arts from a historical and cross-cultural perspective. Emphasizes the cultural contexts in which artworks are created, as well as representations of gender and sexuality. Stresses issues of structure, content, and style, along with the acquisition of basic techniques of literary and arts criticism. Recommended prereq., WMST 2000

Examines the positionality of women in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, class, and power relations in a global context. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: contemporary societies.

Surveys psychological theory and research concerning contemporary American women. Deals with such issues as masculine bias in American culture, sex difference in cognitive functioning and personality, psychological conflict for women between career and home, and, finally, specific areas pertaining to women’s mental health. Recommended prereq., WMST 2000 or PSYC 1001. Same as PSYC 2700.

Provides an overview and critical examination of women as political actors within the United States. Students will examine the gendered components of citizenship, election, political office, and public policy. Furthermore, students will explore the ways in which gender intersects with class, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and other identities in U.S. politics. Same as PSCI 3311.

Introduces global gender issues, such as the gendered division of labor in the global economy, migration, women’s human rights, environmental issues, gender violence in war, women in the military, nationalism and feminism, and the representation of the Third World in the United States. Offers students the opportunity to broaden their perspectives beyond the borders of the United States. Recommended prereq., WMST 2000 or WMST 2050 or WMST 2600. Requisites: Restricted to students with 27-180 credits (Sophomores, Juniors or Seniors) only.

This class explores the multifaceted relationships of sexuality and space/place. We will focus on sexuality in particular spaces (such as prisons, boarding schools, and highway rest areas) as well as the ways that sexuality (or its absence) creates particular spaces (such as gay neighborhoods, churches, and red light districts). We will look at the relationships of sexualities to public/private distinctions, as well as rural/urban, sacred/profane, and home/away. We will explore global issues around sexuality such as the role of sexuality in colonization, contemporary sex tourism and sex trafficking, and sexuality and nationalism more broadly. After reflecting on methodological considerations in studying sexuality and place (such as access, trust, and insider/outsider dynamics), you will have the opportunity to apply what you’ve learned about the ways that sexuality and place shape one another in the midst of broader discourses of nation, gender, religion, race, class, and generation as you undertake a field research project on campus or in the local community.
May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Recommended prereq., WMST 2000 or 2600. Restricted to sophomores/juniors/seniors.

It comes as no surprise that the mediated world in which we live is awash in Disney products. From theme parks to films to a television channel to a global media presence, Disney’s reach is extensive. Disney’s media products are, for the most part, uncritically accepted as good, clean entertainment and, most importantly, good for children. Indeed, Disney-branded productions are seen as a kind of media “safe haven,” praised both for not pandering to the sex and violence crowd and for offering content that provides positive role models for young girls, introduces audiences to important moments in history, and offers culturally diverse characters.
In this course we will examine these assumptions. Working from the perspective of media literate consumers looking through a feminist lens, we will take a critical look at a representative sample of Disney’s animated films, paying particular attention to Disney’s representations of gender, race, class and sexual orientation. Too, we will examine some of the practices of the corporation itself in order to better understand the Disney phenomenon in its totality.
May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours for different topics. Recommended prereq., WMST 2000 or 2600.

Provides field experience in local and national government and non-governmental agencies focusing on women and gender-related issues. Supervision by approved field instructors. Students must relate their academic experience to their field work experience though a portfolio and a final paper. Recommended prereq., 6 hours of course work in Women and Gender Studies and 30 cumulative credit hours. Please contact the Women & Gender Studies Program for enrollment information.

Enriches the academic experience of majors and minors within the Women and Gender Studies program. This course usually will combine readings from books with lectures and discussions, community outreach and in-house publications spanning the interdisciplinary focus of the program. May be repeated up to 4 total credit hours. Restricted to WMST majors or minors.
Contact WGST Office to enroll.

Studies the persistence of genocide and the effects of mass trauma on women and girls. Within the framework of political and social catastrophe, the course examines cataclysmic world events and the traumatic consequences for women of religious persecution, colonialism, slavery, and the genocides of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. Recommended prereq., SOCY 1016 or WMST 1016 or WMST 2000 or SOCY 3314 or WMST 3314. SOCY 4000 and WMST 4010 are the same course.

May be repeated up to 7 total credit hours. Please contact the Women & Gender Studies Program for enrollment information.

For qualified WMST majors working on the research phase of departmental honors. Prereq., junior/senior standing and 3.30 overall GPA.
Please contact the Women & Gender Studies Program for enrollment information.

Qualified Women and Gender Studies majors may write an honors thesis, an in-depth research paper, on a topic of choice. Thesis hours available to majors only after successfully completing the research phase.
Please contact the Women & Gender Studies Program for enrollment information.

Explores feminist methodology across a range of disciplines. Themes include experience and interpretation, the social position of the researcher, language and argument structure, knowledge and power, bias and objectivity, and the ethics and politics of research. Meets the requirements for the WGST certificate. Same as COML 6190. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.

Provides a wide-ranging introduction to the history of sexuality from the late eighteenth century to the present day through engagement with very best and most recent interdisciplinary research into what sexuality has meant in the everyday lives of individuals; in the imagined communities formed by the powerful bonds of shared religion, ethnicity, language, and national citizenship; and on the turbulent global stage of cultural encounter, imperialist expansion, transnational migration, and international commerce. The course is organized around four interrelated processes: the formation of sexual identities, the regulation of sexuality by societal norms, the regulation of sexuality by institutions, and the intersection of sexuality with global/transnational processes. Course topics include sexuality and the nation-state, sexuality and modern imperialism, sex and disease, sexuality and international migration, sex trafficking, sexuality and mass media, and contemporary sexual rights movements.
May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Meets the requirements for the WGST certificate. Requisites: Restricted to graduate students only.