The material on this page is from the 2001-02 catalog and may be out of date. Please check the current year's catalog for current information.
Women and Gender Studies
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Associate Professors Malcolmson (English) (on leave, fall semester), Eames (Anthropology), Rand (Art), F. López (Spanish) (on leave, 2001-2002), Shulman (Mathematics) (on leave, 2001-2002), and Hill (Political Science), Chair; Assistant Professors Shankar (English), Herzig (Women and Gender Studies), and Asher (Political Science) (on leave, 2001-2002) Women and Gender Studies at Bates is an interdisciplinary program of study. In addition to offering courses in methodology, specialized topics in science studies, as well as women and gender studies, the program draws its curriculum from courses taught by faculty members across from the disciplines and programs. Faculty with expertise in a wide range of fields, including anthropology, art, classics, economics, languages, history, mathematics, political science, psychology, rhetoric, sociology, and interdisciplinary studies, contribute to the program's curriculum. The goal of the Program in Women and Gender Studies is to enable students to recognize and use gender as an effective analytical tool. This approach to analysis can help us understand the realities and meanings of women's lives in many cultures and historical periods. Women and gender studies not only increases what we know about women, it enriches what we know about men, enabling us to understand how gender relationsthe roles assigned to men and womenstructure our societies, shaping our personal interactions and public policies. The courses offered provide a cross-cultural comparison and encourage students to view women's experiences and gender relations from the perspectives of a variety of fields. Students may choose either to major or to pursue a secondary concentration in women and gender studies. Major requirements. Any student considering a major in women and gender studies should take Women and Gender Studies 100 and Women and Gender Studies 250 before the end of the sophomore year. Students must complete the following set of requirements: a total of ten courses, including Women and Gender Studies 100, 201, 250, 400, and 458 (senior thesis). In addition, one of the ten courses must be a 300- or 400-level core course. The remainder must be chosen from the list of women and gender studies courses that follows. Beginning with students entering in Fall 2000, major and secondary concentration requirements can be fulfilled only through women and gender studies core courses. Students graduating in 2002 and 2003 can continue to use component courses, but they are encouraged to choose primarily core courses as well. Core courses focus directly on women, gender, and/or sexuality. Component courses include approximately one-third (or more) women's studies or gender studies content. The women and gender studies course list represents only those courses that are currently part of the Bates curriculum. Students may use coursesincluding first-year seminars and topics courseswhich were listed as women and gender studies core or component courses in a previous year, provided the catalog year is one in which the student was matriculated. No more than one Short Term unit may be counted toward the major. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the program, many courses in women and gender studies have prerequisites in other departments. Many majors also develop a focus in one division or group of departments, and need to supplement their women and gender studies courses with other courses in that area of focus. Majors should plan their schedules carefully and are urged to consult regularly with the chair to ensure that their program has both breadth and depth. Majors should consider taking Women and Gender Studies 400 in the junior year because this course includes theoretical thinking, which can help prepare them for the senior thesis. A thesis advisor is chosen by each student, in consultation with the chair, according to the subject matter of the thesis. Planning for the senior thesis and choosing a thesis advisor begin in the junior year. Majors normally write a thesis in the second semester of the senior year and, with the assistance of their advisor, submit a thesis proposal to the Committee on Women and Gender Studies during the semester before thesis writing begins, that is, before Thanksgiving break to enroll in 458 (or, for those beginning to write the thesis in the fall semester, by 1 April). Pass/Fail Grading Option. Aside from the thesis, which must be taken for a grade, there are no restrictions on the use of the pass/fail option within the major. Secondary Concentration. Students submit a secondary concentration proposal consisting of seven courses, to the program committee in the fall of their junior year. Normally, a secondary concentration in women and gender studies consists of Women and Gender Studies 100, 201, 250, at least two 300-level women and gender studies courses, and two other committee-approved courses. Pass/Fail Grading Option. There are no restrictions on the use of the pass/fail option within the secondary concentration. Courses 121G. Asian American Women Writers. This course examines fictional, autobiographical, and critical writings by Asian American women including Sui Sin Far, Gish Jen, Maxine Hong Kingston, Trinh Minh-ha, Bharati Mukherjee, Tahira Naqvi, Cathy Song, Marianne Villanueva, and Hisaye Yamamoto from a sociohistorical perspective. Students explore their issues, especially with concerns of personal and cultural identity, as both Asian and American, as females, as minorities, as (often) postcolonial subjects. The course highlights the varied immigration and social histories of women from different Asian countries, often homogenized as "Oriental" in mainstream American cultural representations. This course is the same as English 121G. Enrollment limited to 25 per section. L. Shankar. 200. Women's Journey: Still Waters Run Deep. Women in biblical literature, post-biblical literature, and in the oral literature of the Middle East are not silent bystanders. They actively define the world around them and pursue their own relationship with the divine, their environment, and the search for perfection. This course is the same as Religion 200. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 50. M. Caspi. 201. African American Women and Feminist Thought. African American history, like white American history, omits the struggles and contributions of its women. Using historical perspectives, the individual and collective experiences of African American women are examined. Particular attention is given to developing knowledge and understanding of African American women's 1) experiences of enslavement, 2) efforts at self-definition and self-sufficiency, 3) social and political activism, and 4) forging of Afra-American/multicultural/womanist/feminist thought. Open to first-year students. This course is the same as African American Studies 201. Staff. Cross-listed with African American Studies as of 11/02/01. 210. Technology in U. S. History. A survey of the development, distribution, and use of technology in the United States from colonial roadways to microelectronics, using primary and secondary source material. Subjects treated include the emergence of the factory system; the rise of new forms of power, transportation, and communication; sexual and racial divisions of labor; and the advent of corporate-sponsored scientific research. Enrollment limited to 40. Open to first-year students. Beginning fall 2001. R. Herzig. 219. Greek Myths and the Psychology of Gender. Ever since Freud argued that Sophocles' Oedipus Rex revealed the most important feature of human development, the Oedipal crisis, psychologists have used Greek myths to understand the human psyche and sexual difference. What do myths tell us about men, women, femaleness, maleness, in ancient Greece or today? Students examine and criticize how influential psychologists such as Freud have interpreted Greek myths and thereby influenced Western notions of gender and sex. This course emphasizes psychological interpretations of Greek myths. It therefore differs from and compliments CMS 218, "Greek and Roman Myths." Open to first year students. This course is the same as Classical and Medieval Studies 219. L. Maurizio. New course beginning 2002-2003. 234. Third World Women and Gender in Economic Development. This course is designed to give students a critical introduction to the central issues within the field of women/gender in economic development in developing countries. Students approach this topic by exploring three broad themes. First, they examine the conceptual literature related to economic development and gender. Second, they explore praxis-oriented strategies to include women in economic development projects. Finally, they explore how mainstream discourses and practices of development are being critiqued and influenced by Third World feminism. Recommended background: one course each in economic development and women and gender studies. This course is the same as Political Science 234. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 40. K. Asher. 239. Black Women in Music. Angela Davis states, "Black people were able to create with their music an aesthetic community of resistance, which in turn encouraged and nurtured a political community of active struggle for freedom." This course examines the role of black women as critics, composers, and performers who challenge externally defined controlling images. Topics include: black women in the music industry; black women in music of the African diaspora; and black women as rappers, jazz innovators, and musicians in the classical and gospel traditions. This course is the same as African American Studies 239 and Music 239. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. L. Williams. 250. Interdisciplinary Studies: Methods and Modes of Inquiry. Interdisciplinarity involves more than a meeting of disciplines. Practitioners stretch methodological norms and reach across disciplinary boundaries. Through examination of a single topic, this course introduces students to interdisciplinary methods of analysis. Students examine what practitioners actually do, and work to become practitioners themselves. Prerequisite(s): any two courses in women and gender studies, African American studies, or American cultural studies. This course is the same as African American Studies 250 and American Cultural Studies 250. Enrollment limited to 40. R. Herzig. 252. A Woman's Place: Region and Gender in the United States, 1800-1950. We often take the northeast as a given perspective in American history, thereby marginalizing people and events of other places. This course undermines the northeastern standard in women's history, by considering not only the social construction of region and gender, but by giving attention to the histories of diversely "placed" women. Using a case study approach, this course looks at women from the early 1800s through to the present and the way they shape, traverse, and contest the American geographies they inhabit or are assigned, whether public or private, rural or urban, temporary or life-long. Enrollment is limited to 25. Open to first-year students. This course is the same as History 252. M. Creighton. New course beginning 2002-2003. 255. Modern Japanese Women Writers. In its beginnings, Japanese literature was considered a female art; the greatest writers of the classical period were women, while men at times assumed a female persona in order to write. How do Japanese women writers of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries portray the complexities of today's world? How do they negotiate the gendered institutions of the society in which they live? What values do they assign to being a woman, to being Japanese? What significance does the female canon hold for them as modern and postmodern writers? Students consider issues such as family, power, gender roles, selfhood, and the female body in reading a range of novels, short stories, and poems. Authors may include Enchi and Fumiko, Ohba Minako, Kurahashi Yumiko, Tsushima Yuko, Tawara Machi, Yamada Eimi, and Yoshimoto Banana. Readings and discussion are in English. Open to first-year students. This course is the same as Japanese 255. Not open to students who have received credit for Japanese 250. S. Strong. New title, re-numbered from 250 and cross-listed beginning 2002-2003. 264. Voice and Gender. This course focuses on the gender-related differences in voice from the beginning of language acquisition through learning and development of a human voice. A variety of interdisciplinary perspectives are examined according to the different determinants of voice productionphysiological, psychological, social interactional, and cultural. Students explore how race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, and age affect vocal expression. Students also analyze "famous" and "attractive" human voices and discuss what makes them so. Recommended background: Theater 263 and/or Women and Gender Studies 100. This course is the same as Theater 264. Open to first-year students. K. Vecsey. 266. Gender, Race, and Science. Examines the intersections of gender and race in the norms and practices of modern science. Using methods drawn from philosophy, history, sociology, and anthropology, the course investigates: 1) participation in the sciences by white women and people of color; 2) the formation of scientific concepts of racial and sexual difference; and 3) the influence of gender and race on key scientific categories such as nature, objectivity, and experimentation. Open to first-year students. R. Herzig. 267. Blood, Genes, and American Culture. The course places recent popular and scientific discussions of human heredity and genetics in social, political, and historical context. Topics include racial categories of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, eugenics, the "gay gene," cloning, reproductive rights, the patenting and commercialization of genetic material, The Bell Curve, and the Human Genome Project. Recommended background: course work in biology. Enrollment limited to 40. This course is the same as History 267. R. Herzig. New cross-listing with History as of Winter semester 2002. 275. Gender Relations in Comparative Perspective. A comparative analysis, utilizing new feminist approaches in anthropology and women's studies, of the social construction of gender in contemporary societies, with a focus on West African, East Asian, and North American notions of gender identity and gender relations. This course is the same as Anthropology 275. Open to first-year students. E. Eames. 287. Women, Gender, Visual Culture. This course concerns women as makers, objects, and viewers of visual culture, with emphasis on the later twentieth century, and the roles of visual culture in the construction of "woman" and other gendered identities. Topics include: the use of the visual in artistic, political, and historical representations of gendered and transgendered subjects; the visualization of gender in relation to race, ethnicity, nationality, class, age, sex, and sexuality; and matters of censorship, circulation, and resources that affect the cultural production of people oppressed and/or marginalized by sex and/or gender. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 50. This course is the same as Art 287. E. Rand. New cross-listing with Art as of Winter semester 2002. 343. Women, Culture, and Health. This course examines a variety of perspectives on women's health issues. Issues include reproductive health, body image, sexuality, substance use and abuse, mental health, cancer, AIDS, heart disease, poverty, work, violence, access to health care, and aging. Each topic is examined in sociocultural context, and the complex relationship between individual health and cultural demands or standards is explored. Prerequisite(s): Psychology 211 or 303. This course is the same as Psychology 343. Open to first-year students. K. Low. 350. Walking the Edge: About Borders. What happens to identity when we move beyond conventional definitions of space, region, territory, or nation? What happens when a hybrid or mestiza subject defies traditional categories of nationality, ethnicity, race, or gender? This seminar explores the fluid, unpredictable dynamic of "borderlands," those places where identity and relationships are always in process. The course raises questions about representations and expressions of those who inhabit the borderlandswomen of color, women of mixed heritage, women of multiple nationalityin order to reconceptualize notions of the self. Prerequisite(s): one women and gender studies or literature course. Enrollment limited to 20. C. Aburto Guzmán, M. Rice-DeFosse. 360. Independent Study. Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair is required. Students may register for no more than one independent study per semester. Staff. 365. Special Topics. A course or seminar offered from time to time and reserved for a special topic selected by the Committee on Women and Gender Studies.
395S. Asian American Women Writers, Filmmakers, and Critics. This seminar studies from a literary and a sociohistorical perspective the fiction, memoirs, and critical theories of Asian American women such as Meena Alexander, Rey Chow, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Ginu Kamani, Maxine Hong Kingston, Lisa Lowe, Bapsi Sidhwa, Cathy Song, Shani Mootoo, Jhumpa Lahiri, Joy Kogawa, and HisayeYamamoto. It explores their constructions of personal and national identity, as hybridized Asians and Americans, and as postcolonial diasporics making textual representations of real and "imaginary" homelands. Films by Trinh T. Minh-ha, Indu Krishnan, Deepa Mehta, Mira Nair, Jayasri Hart, and Renee Tajima are also analyzed through critical lenses. This course is the same as English 395S. Enrollment limited to 15. Written permission of the instructor is required. L. Shankar. 400. Junior-Senior Seminar. This seminar is an advanced inquiry into feminist theories and methods. Drawing on work in several disciplinary fields, students ask how using gender as a category of analysis illuminates and/or changes the questions of other disciplines. Students also investigate the development of core theories and methods within women and gender studies. Required of all majors.
457, 458. Senior Thesis. The research and writing of an extended essay or report, or the completion of a creative project, under the supervision of a faculty member. Majors normally register for 458 in the winter semester. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both women's Studies 457 in the fall semester and 458 in the winter semester. Staff. Short Term Units s26. Felicia Skene. This unit examines the life and writings of the largely forgotten Victorian novelist and social reformer, Felicia Skene (1821-1899). Students investigate Skene's life story and read a number of her works, including The Inheritance of Evil, Or, the Consequence of Marrying a Deceased Wife's Sister (1849) and Penitentiaries and Reformatories (1865). Focusing on the novel Hidden Depths (1866), students research the subject of Victorian prostitution, the book's primary theme, and engage in the research necessary to produce a new edition of that work. Enrollment is limited to 15. This unit is the same as English s26. L. Nayder. New unit beginning Short Term 2002. s30. Scientific Knowledge, Culture, and Political Economy in Latin America. How does "scientific knowledge"which purports to be "free" of the social underpinnings of race and gendershape much of the discourse about knowledge production in the natural and social sciences? How is scientific knowledge deployed within political economies of development in Latin America? What are the implications of these scientific, cultural, and economic modes of production considering the power inequity between global markets and regional interests? These are the questions that shape the discussions in this interdisciplinary unit. Recommended background: one 200-level course in political science and women and gender studies. This unit is the same as Political Science s30. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 20. K. Asher. s32. Global Flows: Sex, Politics, and War. Globalization processes underlie profound changes in politics from the state to "private" lives. This unit focuses on sexas an aspect of international trade, war, and politicsto uncover how power is structured, used, and challenged in the global age. Sex trafficking, militarized prostitution, birth control, and human rights campaigns are some of the topics through which students examine flows of people, ideas, capital, and political strategies. In doing so, students ask: How do gender relations and gender ideology affect global restructuring? How does globalization shape notions of manhood, womanhood, and the ways people live out those ideas in sex lives, politics, and war? Recommended background: any of the following: Political Science 168, 171, 222, 232, 234, 235, 243, 245, 289, 329, 345, 346, 347, 352, 383, Women and Gender Studies 234 or s25. This unit is the same as Political Science s32. Enrollment limited to 20. L. Hill. s50. Independent Study. Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair is required. Students may register for no more than one independent study during a Short Term. Staff. The following courses meet the 2001-2002 requirements for the women and gender studies major. Core Courses African American Studies/Music/Women and Gender Studies 239. Black Women in Music. Anthropology/Women and Gender Studies 275. Gender Relations in Comparative Perspective. Art 287. Women, Gender, Visual Culture. Chemistry 132. Women in Chemistry. Classical and Medieval Studies 201. Women
in Antiquity. Economics 230. Economics of Women, Men, and Work. Education 240. Gender Issues in Education. English/Women and Gender Studies 121G. Asian
American Women Writers. French 352. French Literature of the Seventeenth Century. History/Women and Gender Studies 210. Technology
in United States History. Japanese 250. Modern Japanese Women's Literature. Music/African American Studies/Women and Gender
Studies 239. Black Women in Music. Philosophy 262. Philosophy and Feminism. Political Science 155. Women, Power, and
Political Systems: Introduction to Women and Politics. Psychology/Women and Gender Studies 343.
Women, Culture, and Health. Religion/Women and Gender Studies 200. Women's Journey: Still Waters Run Deep. Rhetoric 260. Lesbian and Gay Images in Film. Russian 240. Women and Russia. Sociology 270. Sociology of Gender. Spanish 264. Contemporary Mexican Women Writers. Theater 110. Women in Film. Component Courses African American Studies 140A. Introduction to African American Studies. Anthropology 101. Social Anthropology. Art 225. Iconography: Meaning in the Visual
Arts from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance. Classical and Medieval Studies 200. Ancient Comedy and Satire. Dance 250. Twentieth-Century American Dance
I. Economics 336. Population Economics. English 209. Introduction to Medieval and
Renaissance Culture. French 250. Introduction to French Literature
I. German 230. Individual and Society. History 141. America in the Nineteenth Century. Japanese 240. Japanese Literature: A Survey. Music 102. Composers, Performers, and Audiences. Philosophy 211. Philosophy of Science. Political Science 191. Western Political
Theory. Psychology 202. Human Sexuality. Religion 235. Ancient Israel: History, Religion,
and Literature. Rhetoric 331. Rhetorical Theory and Practice. Sociology 120. Race, Gender, Class, and Society. Theater 226. Minority Images in Hollywood Film. |
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