Catalog
Gender and Sexuality Studies
Professors Herzig (Gender and Sexuality Studies, chair), Kane (Sociology), and Rand (Art and Visual Culture and Gender and Sexuality Studies); Associate Professors Beasley (American Studies), Hill (Politics), and Houchins (African American Studies); Visiting Associate Professor Plastas (Gender and Sexuality Studies); Assistant Professors González Valencia (Art and Visual Culture) and Robert (Geology)
The Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies analyzes local and global entanglements of knowledge, power, pleasure, and resistance. Drawing on histories of anti-racist, decolonial, feminist, queer, and trans work, courses examine shifting dynamics of privilege, exclusion, and marginalization. The program also cultivates action, practice, and reciprocal engagement with the many communities of which we are part. To study gender and sexuality in these ways is to refute simple assertions about identity in favor of richly detailed accounts of the specific conditions through which particular social positions are maintained and transgressed. Students may choose to either major or minor in gender and sexuality studies.
The Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies was formerly the Program in Women and Gender Studies. Students who entered the college before fall 2017 and who major or minor in this program are women and gender studies majors or minors. Students entering the college in fall 2017 and thereafter are gender and sexuality studies majors or minors. The program codes that accompany course numbers have changed from WGS to GSS and from WS to GS. More information on the gender and sexuality studies program is available on the website (bates.edu/gender).
Major Requirements
Students must complete ten courses, including:1) All of the following:
GSS 100. Introduction to Gender and Sexuality Studies.
AA/GS 201. Race, Ethnicity, and Feminist Thought.
INDS 250. Interdisciplinary Studies: Methods and Modes of Inquiry.
GSS 400. Junior-Senior Seminar.
Majors should try to take GSS 100 and INDS 250 before the end of the sophomore year.
2) Additional Courses. Five additional courses offered by gender and sexuality studies or program-approved courses offered by other departments and programs. At least two of these five courses must be at the 300 or 400 level. No more than one Short Term course may be counted toward the major. The list below includes committee-approved first-year seminars and courses from other departments and programs that may also be used to fulfill major or minor requirements:
ENG 238. Jane Austen: Then and Now.
FYS 135. Women in Art.
FYS 177. Sex and Sexualities.
FYS 305. Corporal Culture: Body and Health in America.
FYS 346. Desire, Devotion, Suffering.
FYS 483. The Death of Democracy?
PLTC 297. The Household and Political Theory.
RHET 260. Lesbian and Gay Images in Film.
RHET 265. The Rhetoric of Women's Rights.
3) GSS 457, 458. Senior Thesis.
Students should consult the program chair about transfer credits or other courses that may be used toward fulfillment of major or minor requirments.
The gender and sexuality studies course list represents only those courses which are currently part of the Bates curriculum. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the program, many courses in gender and sexuality studies have prerequisites in other departments. 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.
Senior Thesis
Planning for the senior thesis should begin in the junior year. In consultation with the chair of the program, each student chooses a thesis advisor according to the subject matter of the thesis. With the assistance of the thesis advisor, each major submits a thesis proposal to the faculty Committee on Gender and Sexuality Studies according to a schedule determined by the program. Students should consult the program website for thesis guidelines and a schedule of deadlines.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.Minor
A minor in gender and sexuality consists of GSS 100, AA/GS 201, INDS 250, GSS 400, at least one other 300- or 400-level gender and sexuality studies course, and two other committee-approved courses. No more than one Short Term course may be counted toward the minor.Pass/Fail Grading Option
There are no restrictions on the use of the pass/fail option within the minor. CoursesGSS 100. Introduction to Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Interdisciplinary, intersectional study of gender and sexuality in cross-cultural and historical perspective. Emphasis is given to the diversities of race, class, ethnicity, age, (dis)ability, sexuality, nationality, and religion. Not open to students who have received credit for WGST 100. Enrollment limited to 39. Normally offered every year. Staff.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC 107. Wilde Times: Scandal, Celebrity, and the Law.
Oscar Wilde, an icon today, was popular in his own time as well. His relationship with Alfred Douglas was an open secret despite the fact that homosexuality was at the time a criminal offence. Indeed, Wilde’s sexuality was tolerated until he sued Douglas' irascible father for libel. This course begins with the 1895 trials, seeking to understand cultures of sexuality in a period notorious for sexual repression, and contextualizing issues they raise of scandal and the law, celebrity, gender, and sexuality. Designed to encourage independent research, the course guides students through the research process, drawing to the fore histories often hidden from view. Cross-listed in European studies, gender and sexuality studies, and history. Not open to students who have received credit for INDS s18. Enrollment limited to 39. C. Shaw.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
EN/GS 121G. Asian American Women Writers.
This course examines from a sociohistorical perspective fictional, autobiographical, and critical writings by Asian American women including Meena Alexander, Sui Sin Far, Gish Jen, Maxine Hong Kingston, Tahira Naqvi, Cathy Song, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Hisaye Yamamoto. Students explore their concerns with personal and cultural identity, as both Asian and American, as females, as minorities, and often as 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. Not open to students who have received credit for EN/WS 121G. Enrollment limited to 25. T. Salter.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 130. Food in Ancient Greece and Rome.
Participants in this course study food in ancient Greece and Rome: the history of the food supply for agrarian and urban populations; malnutrition, its probable impact on ancient economies, and its uneven impact on populations; famine; the symbolism of the heroic banquet—a division of the sacrificial animal among ranked members of society, and between men and gods; cuisine and delicacies of the rich; forbidden food; the respective roles of men and women in food production, and their unequal access to food supply; dietary transgression; and sacred food. Cross-listed in classical and medieval studies, gender and sexuality studies, and history. Not open to students who have received credit for CMS s28. Enrollment limited to 49. D. O'Higgins.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
FR/GS 151. Gender, Race, and Social Class in French and Francophone Film.
This course explores representations of gender, race, and class including the intersectionality and historical evolution of these categories of difference. Students acquire analytical tools to better appreciate and contextualize French and Francophone films and look critically at their various aesthetic frameworks. How do classic French cinema, surrealism, avant-garde cinema, the New Wave, and postcolonial cinema question social norms and values? How do French and Francophone films represent personal memory, national history, gender relations, and colonial and postcolonial gazes? How do filmmakers address social change and capture shifting identities within French and Francophone history and cultures? Course and reading materials are in English; films are in the original with English subtitles. Enrollment limited to 39. Normally offered every year. L. Balladur.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GS/PT 155. Gender, Power, and Politics.
This course scrutinizes several sites where power is produced—constitutions, international politics, political theory, voting, social movements, and globalization— in order to assess the impact of gender on the status, behavior, and authority of different political actors. Recognizing how race, class, sexuality, and citizen status matter, students consider why women are under-represented in nearly all governments and how women make more of a difference in national and global politics than the images of "men in suits" imply. Students examine questions, concepts, and theories which acknowledge women's political agency and help assess their influence across a range of political systems. Not open to students who have received credit for PT/WS 155. Enrollment limited to 39. J. Longaker.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AA/GS 201. Race, Ethnicity, and Feminist Thought.
While all courses in the gender and sexuality studies program examine gender in relation to other critical categories of social identity and experience, this course focuses on race, ethnicity, and national power at their intersections with gender. Using perspectives from the social sciences, the humanities, and critical-race, womanist, feminist, and queer theories, students examine feminist efforts at self-definition and self-sufficiency as well as feminist contributions to knowledge, social and political activism, and theorizing. Not open to students who have received credit for AA/WS 201. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. Instructor permission is required. Normally offered every year. L. Hill.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GSS 202. Queer and Trans Sports Studies.
This course brings queer studies and trans studies perspectives to sport, looking at practice, representation, discourse, and relations among them. Topics include the reach into the lives of all athletes of gender binarism and gender segregation; the regulation of transgender, gender nonconforming, and intersex athletes, including through the delineation of those categories, in the context of other discourses around human variation in sport; the roles of raced masculinities, femininities, heteronormativities, and homonormativities in the valuation of athleticism, athletes, and sports; and issues from pleasure to pink-washing. Recommended background: one course on the study of gender, sexuality, queer studies, trans studies, and/or sports studies. Not open to students who have received credit for WGST 202. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. [W2] E. Rand.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GS/RE 203. Women, Gender, and Islam.
The course introduces normative Islamic traditions and Islamic discourses about women and gender from inception of the religion in the seventh century C.E. to the present day. It surveys Muslim women's experiences across a broad span of historical periods and cultural arenas, from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa to Europe and North America. Encouraging a critical postcolonial reflexive perspective and emphasizing Muslim women's voices and historical agency, the course draws on a range of scholarly disciplines and methods including historical, anthropological, literary, and art historical studies to explore understandings beyond common stereotypes of "the oppressed Muslim woman." Recommended background: GSS 100. Not open to students who have received credit for RE/WS 203. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
CM/GS 204. Gender and the Body in Ancient Greece.
How did people in ancient Greece think about the categories of male and female? How did these categories intersect with others, such as social status, age, and ethnicity? This course considers issues of gender in archaic and classical Greece and looks at how Greek people thought about the body, sexuality, and "transgressive" behavior and individuals. Students analyze literary texts (in translation) as well as medical, religious, and legal evidence—inscriptional and textual—and modern scholarship. Not open to students who have received credit for CM/WS 204. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 35. D. O'Higgins.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GS/RE 207. Eve, Adam, and the Serpent.
This course examines the historical formation of Genesis 1–3 against the background of its literary, cultural, and historical context and its subsequent interpretation and use in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. Special attention is given to the ways in which the biblical texts have been interpreted and used to imagine, promote, and justify social orders — both hierarchical and egalitarian — as well as how the construction of gender relations links to the ways in which other social institutions are articulated and justified. Topics include the creation of the cosmos, characterizations of the Creator, the origins and perfection of humanity, the origins of evil, and the nature of the garden. Not open to students who have received credit for RE/WS 207. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. C. Baker.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 210. Technology in U.S. History.
Surveys 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 sexual and racial divisions of labor, theories of invention and innovation, and the ecological consequences of technological change. Cross-listed in American studies, gender and sexuality studies, and history. Course reinstated beginning Fall 2019. Enrollment limited to 29. R. Herzig.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GS/PT 219. Social Movements in Latin America.
Social movements have often played key roles in Latin American politics. In the 1980s, grassroots movements against dictatorships raised hopes that poor and marginalized groups might spur processes of democratization and development. In the new democratic regimes, however, significant social and economic inequalities persist, marking political and social space in acute ways. This course explores the struggle by poor and marginalized groups for space, both theoretically and literally, through examination of rural landless movements, urban squatter movements, LGBT movements, and women's movements in the region. Not open to students who have received credit for PLTC 219. Enrollment limited to 29. J. Longaker.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GS/PT 220. Gender, War, and Peace.
This course uses gender as an analytical tool to examine the history of war and peace. How do war and militarization construct masculinities and femininities? What types of roles have women played in the making of war and in the making of peace? How has gender socialization influenced people's analysis of and participation in war and in peace activism? What are the gender politics of the politics of war and of peacemaking? How is gender deployed in current war zones and in current movements for peace? Recommended background: GSS 100. Not open to students who have received credit for GS/PT s12, or PT/WS 220 or s12. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. M. Plastas.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 238. Queer Power: Political Sociology of U.S. Sexuality Movements.
This course introduces students to social movement theory and interest group politics in the United States via the case study of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) politics from the immediate post-World War II period to the present, and examines the relationship of sexuality to the racial and gender dynamics of American identity-based social movements. The course traces the development of research methodologies to study collective action from early rational choice models to resource mobilization theory to new social movement models and political opportunity and process models. How the LGBTQ movements drew upon, expanded, and challenged foundations established by both African American civil rights and feminism is also explored. A range of source materials includes political science, sociology, and history monographs and articles, primary source documents, literature, and film. Cross-listed in gender and sexuality studies, politics, and sociology. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. S. Engel.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GS/PT 245. Democratizing States and Gender Politics.
How do gender politics shape democracy? Does political change create opportunities for increasing women's representation in politics, leadership, and access to decision making? Under what circumstances do women oppose authoritarian regimes? How does gender affect the development of democractic governance? This course uses a comparative approach to investigate cases of regime change and democratization in Latin America, Eastern and Central Europe, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa in order to understand whether and how political change creates possibilities for democratizing gender relations and politics. Not open to students who have received credit for PT/WS 245. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. L. Hill.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GSS 248. Queer Studies.
This course considers the production and regulation of gender and sexuality in relation to norms of identity, social organization, and embodiment, and the interconnections of queer sexualities and queer genders with each other and with race, economic status, citizenship, and other axes of difference. While the course engages the body of scholarship understood in the 1990s and beyond to form a field called "Queer Theory," it also focuses on activist and scholarly work generated before, outside, and against its boundaries, especially in queer of color critique and trans studies, with central attention to lives and thinking of people embodying or associates with marginalized genders and sexualities. Recommended background: one course on the study of gender, sexuality, queer studies, and/or trans studies. Not open to students who have received credit for EN/WS 248. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Community-Engaged Learning.) [W2] Normally offered every year. S. Engel, E. Osucha, E. Rand.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC 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. Cross-listed in African American studies, American studies, and gender and sexuality studies. Prerequisite(s): AAS 100, AMST 200, or GSS 100, and one other course in African American studies, American studies, or gender and sexuality studies. Enrollment limited to 39. Staff.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GS/PT 254. Gender and Sexuality Matter(s) in U.S. Politics.
What difference does women's presence in U.S. politics make? Idealized notions of masculinity and femininity, along with sexual norms, have molded politics since America's founding. Politics today continues to gender citizenship, political discourse, labor, parenting, and a host of policy issues. How do gender and sexuality matter in leadership selection, policy agenda setting, and resource allocation? Do women's participation and influence—as decisive voters, social movement activists, persuasive legislators, and presidential candidates—alter the conduct of politics and decision making? This course studies women and LGBTQ persons—variously positioned in racial, class, sexual, and cultural communities—as political subjects and reviews concepts, frameworks, and theories used to make sense their political status, participation, and activism. Not open to students who have received credit for PT/WS 254. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. L. Hill.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 257. African American Women's History and Social Transformation.
This course examines the political, social, and cultural traditions African American women have created from slavery to the current moment, notably the influence of African American women on the major social movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries including abolition, woman's suffrage, the club movement, women's liberation, the black arts movement, the civil rights movement, and Black Power. Through novels, plays, autobiography, music, and nonfiction produced by and about African American women, students explore a range of intellectual and cultural traditions. Recommended background: one course in gender and sexuality studies and/or one course in African American studies. Cross-listed in African American studies, gender and sexuality studies, history, and politics. Enrollment limited to 30. M. Plastas.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GS/PL 262. Philosophy and Feminism.
One central project of feminist philosophy is the use of philosophical methods to think carefully about important and distinctive features of the lives of women, and also about the concepts employed in the feminist political movement and similar social movements, such as those centered around race, class, disability, and sexuality. Topics include: what it is to be a woman; what it is to face discrimination or oppression; science and society, particularly genders in science; sex and sexuality; reproduction; the family; gender in popular culture; and the body and appearance, including the fashion and beauty industries. Not open to students who have received credit for PHIL 262 or PL/WS 262. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. Normally offered every year. S. Stark, L. Ashwell.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 267. Blood, Genes, and American Culture.
Places recent popular and scientific discussions of human heredity and genetics in broader social, political, and historical context, focusing on shifting definitions of personhood. Topics include the ownership and exchange of human bodies and body parts, the development of assisted reproductive technologies, and the emergence of new forms of biological citizenship. Recommended background: course work in biology and/or gender and sexuality studies. Cross-listed in African American studies, American studies, and gender and sexuality studies. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. R. Herzig.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GS/SO 270. Sociology of Gender.
This course focuses on the social construction of gender through a consideration of a series of interrelated social institutions and practices central to gender stratification. Emphasis is placed on the intersections between gender inequality and inequalities of race/ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, and nation. Recommended background: one previous course in gender and sexuality studies or sociology. Not open to students who have received credit for SO/WS 270. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Community-Engaged Learning.) E. Kane.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AN/GS 275. Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality.
Comparative analysis of the social construction of gender in a wide range of contemporary societies, focusing on the contrast among African, South American, and North Atlantic notions of gender identity and gender relations. Students work toward a deeper understanding of gender diversity, confronting their own cultural assumptions. Not open to students who have received credit for AN/WS 275. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Community-Engaged Learning.) Normally offered every year. E. Eames.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GS/PT 282. Constitutional Law II: Rights and Identities.
This course introduces students to constitutional interpretation and development in civil rights and race equality jurisprudence, gender equality jurisprudence, sexual orientation law, and matters related to privacy and autonomy (particularly sexual autonomy involving contraception and abortion access). Expanding, contracting, or otherwise altering the meaning of a right involves a range of actors in a variety of venues, not only courts. Therefore, students consider rights from a "law and society" perspective, which focuses on analyzing judicial rulings as well as evaluating the social conceptualization, representation, and grassroots mobilization around these rights. Recommended background: PLTC 115, 191, or 216. Not open to students who have received credit for PT/WS 282. Enrollment limited to 29. S. Engel.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/GS 287. Gender and Visual Culture.
This course concerns gender in the making and viewing of visual culture, with emphasis on the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and the roles of visual culture in the construction of gendered identities. Topics include the use of the visual in artistic, political, and historical representations of gendered people; queer and trans genderings; 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. Not open to students who have received credit for AV/WS 287. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. [W2] E. Rand.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GS/PT 292. Political Freedom.
Is freedom a concept, a principle, or a practice? Is capitalism the scene of human domination, human freedom, or both? What is the relationship between one’s social identity and freedom—is it liberating or imprisoning? What is the relationship of political freedom to power, equality, and community? In this course, students consider these kinds of questions by reading classics in Western political theory, including Dostoyevski, Rousseau, and Marx, and by analyzing contemporary writings on feminist and queer politics, Black Lives Matter, contemporary capitalism, and more. Recommended background: PLTC 191. Not open to students who have received credit for PT/WS 292. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. N. Hagel.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/GS 299. Gender in African Art.
This course examines the complex role of gender in African art and visual culture. Focused topics include gender divisions in artistic production, women in royal traditions, gender restrictions in viewing sacred arts, arts and visual culture celebrating women’s power, performative cross-dressing, gender identities in cultural performance, the personification of spirit spouses, and cis- and transgender expressions in contemporary art. Enrollment limited to 29. A. Bessire.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 301A. Sex and the Modern City: European Cultures at the Fin-de-Siècle.
Economic and political change during the 1800s revolutionized the daily lives of Europeans more profoundly than any previous century. By the last third of the century, the modern city became the stage for exploring and enacting new roles, new gender identities in particular. This course examines the cultural reverberations of these cataclysmic changes by focusing on sex, gender, and new urban spaces the decades around the turn of the twentieth century. Students consider the writings of Zola and Freud, investigate middle-class flirtations with the occult, and read about sensational crimes like those of Jack the Ripper. Cross-listed in European studies, gender and sexuality studies, and history. Enrollment limited to 15. [W2] C. Shaw.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC 301Z. Race and U.S. Women's Movements.
This course focuses on how racial formations develop in women's movements and how gender ideologies take shape through racialization. Some of the movements examined include the woman's suffrage movement, the anti-lynching movement, the civil rights movement, moral reform movements, the welfare rights movement, the women's liberation movement, and the peace movement. Students analyze how the intertwined categories of race and gender shape various women's responses to debates about issues including citizenship, U.S. foreign policy, reproductive rights, and immigration. Students consider current theoretical and methodological debates and examine the topic through the perspectives of women in various ethnic and racial groups. Cross-listed in gender and sexuality studies, history, and politics. Enrollment limited to 15. [W2] M. Plastas.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC 302. Black Feminist Activist and Intellectual Traditions.
This junior-senior seminar examines the intersections of gender with black racial and ethnic identities as they have been and are constructed, expressed, and lived throughout the African/Black diaspora. Special attention is given to the United States but substantial consideration is given to Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Canada, Europe, and Australia. The course combines approaches and methodologies employed in the humanities, social sciences, and arts to structure interdisciplinary analyses. Using Black feminist (womanist), critical-race, and queer theories, students examine African-descended women’s histories, activism, resistance, and contributions to culture, knowledge, and theorizing. Prerequisite(s): one course in African American studies, American studies, or gender and sexuality studies. Crosslisted in African American studies, American studies, and gender and sexuality studies. Enrollment limited to 15. S. Houchins.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC 306. Queer Africana: History, Theories, and Representations.
This course examines the debates among authors, politicians, religious leaders, social scientists, and artists in Africa, the African Americas, and Afro-Europe about the very existence of same-sex desire and relationships—any non-normative sexualities, in general—throughout the African world. While the class analyzes histories of sexualities, legal documents, manifestos by dissident organizations, anthropological and sociological treatises, it focuses primarily on textual and cinematic representations, and it proposes methods of reading cultural productions at the intersection of sexualities, race, ethnicities, and gender. Recommended background: at least one course in African American studies, gender and sexuality studies, or literary analysis. New course beginning Winter 2019. Enrollment limited to 15. S. Houchins.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GS/PY 309. The Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.
This course examines the experiences of LGBTQ people from a psychological perspective. Topics include identity development, coming out, LGBTQ relationships and communities, prejudice toward LGBTQ people, mental health outcomes and disparities, and resilience and thriving in LGBTQ people. Emphasis is placed on psychological experiences at intersections of sexual orientation/gender identity and other social identities, including ethnicity, religion, age, and ability status. Prerequisite(s): ED/PY 262 or PSYC 261. Enrollment limited to 19. Normally offered every year. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GS/RE 310. Gender and Judaism.
In this course, students explore aspects of Jewish culture and images of Jews and Judaism through the lenses of gender and sexuality. They examine ideologies, images, and practices from Jewish traditions with an eye to the ways in which gender and sexuality are constructed, maintained, contested, and/or transformed through them. Feminist Jews and Judaism serve as sources for insight and critique as well as constructive resources for religious reflection, ritual, and visions of Judaism's future. Not open to students who have received credit for RE/WS 310. Enrollment limited to 15. C. Baker.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GS/RE 311. Buddhism and Gender.
This course examines the role of gender in Buddhist communities from the inception of the religious tradition to the modern day. How has gender identity influenced the development of this tradition? Where do we see gender in Buddhist literature, doctrine, and art? How do modern ideas of what "Buddhism" is affect change in the North American context, and how is this different from the Buddhist past? The course draws on a variety of sources, including literary, cinematic, and visual materials, to answer these questions. Special attention is given to how gender is presented in doctrinal texts, and the (dis)connection between these documents and the lived experiences of Buddhist people, as presented in interviews and autobiographies by Buddhist practitioners from a variety of moments and communities. Not open to students who have received credit for RE/WS 311. Enrollment limited to 15. [W2] A. Melnick.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GS/RE 322. Gender and Power in Christianity.
This course traces the relationship between constructions of gender, sexuality, and religious power from Christian antiquity, through medieval mystical traditions, and within the contemporary American church. This course maps the diverse logics of gender construction in early, medieval, and contemporary Christian texts and contexts with specific attentiveness to their relationship with religious power. Recommended background: at least one course in gender and sexuality studies or religious studies. Enrollment limited to 15. One-time offering. L. Carlson.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GS/SP 323. Gendered Experiences in the Américas Borderlands.
Students become acquainted with film, comics, music, fiction and nonfiction narratives that engage border tensions and issues of immigration in English and Spanish. Concepts such as sense of place, mobility, and permanence; histories of place; place of enunciation; transnational historical memory of migration; and transnational historical networks are utilized as critical lenses to analyze gendered experiences of migration. All discussions, presentatioms, and written assignments are in Spanish. Recommended background: SPAN 230. Prerequisite(s): one 200-level Spanish course above SPAN 211. Only open to juniors and seniors. Not open to students who have received credit for SP/WS 323. Enrollment limited to 15. C. Aburto Guzmán.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GS/PL 323D. Feminist Epistemology.
In this course, students read feminist accounts and critiques of how we know what we know as well as how and what we value, and why. Students consider questions such as: Is rationality gendered? Are conceptions of philosophy "masculine"? What role do "subjects" play in knowledge production? What epistemic role does ignorance play in knowing and unknowing? What role does epistemic responsibility play in being justified? What is epistemic injustice and how can such injustice be addressed? Recommended background: PHIL 236 and GS/PL 262. New course beginning Winter 2019. Enrollment limited to 15. [W2] L. Ashwell.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 325. Black Feminist Literary Theory and Practice.
This seminar examines literary theories that address the representation and construction of race, gender, and sexuality, particularly, but not exclusively, theories formulated and articulated by Afra-diasporic women such as Spillers, Ogunyemi, Henderson, Carby, Christian, Cobham, Valerie Smith, McDowell, Busia, Lubiano, and Davies. Students not only analyze theoretical essays but also use the theories as lenses through which to explore literary productions of women writers of Africa and the African diaspora in Europe and in the Americas, including Philip, Dangarembga, Morrison, Herron, Gayl Jones, Head, Condé, Brodber, Brand, Merle Collins, and Harriet Wilson. Cross-listed in African American studies, English, and gender and sexuality studies. Strongly recommended: at least one literature course. Enrollment limited to 15. S. Houchins.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GS/PT 326. The Politics of Authenticity.
Is there such a thing as an authentic self? If so, can politics help us realize it? In this writing-attentive course, students discuss what the politics of authenticity is or might be, how it has been conceptualized in American politics and Western political theory, and why it has become an object of widespread suspicion and continuing appeal. Students examine how authenticity has been posited and contested in three different domains: in the history of Western political thought; in feminist, queer, and transgender writings; and in discussions of race. Authors include Rousseau, Freud, Butler, Malcolm X, Yoshino, and Coates. Not open to students who have received credit for PT/WS 326. Enrollment limited to 15. [W2] N. Hagel.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GSS 335. Tobacco: Gender Matters.
In the opening episode of the television show Mad Men, entitled "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," cigarettes feature as the primary signifier of mid-twentieth-century social norms and cultural divides. As Mad Men suggests, tobacco matters to our ability to understand the formation of cultural values and divides. In this reading- and research-intensive seminar, students use gender and queer theory to examine the global history of tobacco production, consumption, and control. Through historical and comparative study they consider the role of tobacco in shaping ideas about gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and class. Topics include the political economy of tobacco, tobacco control movements, tobacco and human rights, and health equity. Prerequisite(s): GSS 100. Not open to students who have received credit for GS/PT s14, PT/WS s14, or WGST 335. Enrollment limited to 15. (Community-Engaged Learning.) M. Plastas.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC 342. Performance, Narrative, and the Body.
This course examines the politics of the body through the inter/transdisciplinary frames of the narrative and performance, including the specific ways performance and narrative theories of the body and cultural practices operate in everyday life and social formations. Students examine how the "body" is performed and how narrative is constructed in a variety of different contexts such as race, gender, disease, sexuality, and culture. The course places narrative and performance at the center (rather than the margins) of inquiry, asking how far and how deeply performativity reaches into our lives and how performances construct our identities, differences, and our bodies: who we are and who we can become. Cross-listed in African American studies, anthropology, and gender and sexuality studies. Prerequisite(s): GSS 100. Recommended background: course work in African American studies, American studies, anthropology, gender and sexuality studies, politics, or sociology. Enrollment limited to 15. M. Beasley.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GS/PY 343. Women, Culture, and Health.
This course examines a variety of perspectives on women's health issues, including 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): AS/PY 260; NS/PY 160 or 200; or PSYC 211, 215, 235, 242, or 303. Not open to students who have received credit for PY/WS 343. Enrollment limited to 19. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GS/SP 344. Gendering Social Awareness in Contemporary Spain.
In this course, students use gender as the main category of analysis, paying particular attention to its interconnectedness with power. Carefully examining texts written by women in contemporary Spain, students explore the deliberate use of gender as a lens through which to understand different forms of domination—economic, political, and social. Taught in Spanish. Prerequisite(s): one 200-level Spanish course above SPAN 211. Recommended background: SPAN 231. Only open to juniors and seniors. Not open to students who have received credit for SP/WS 344. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission is required. F. López.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/GS 345. Trans Studies in the Politics of Visibility.
Many people have welcomed the increased visibility of trans and/or gender-nonconforming people as a sign of progress. Yet who is visible, what constitutes visibility, and whom do particular visibilities benefit? This course uses a trans studies framework to consider both the products and the politics of visibility. Topics include the representation of queer gender and trans and/or gender-nonconforming people in contemporary visual culture; critiques of visibility in relation to state surveillance and white supremacy; and the interconnected roles of norms regarding race, sexuality, ethnicity, class, and ability in perceptions and practices of gender normativity and transgression. Recommended background: at least one course with substantial work in gender, queer, or trans studies or the study of visual culture. Enrollment limited to 15. E. Rand.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GS/PT 347. Gender and the State.
Two key questions provide the focus for this course: How does gender define citizenship, politics, and the state? How do states shape and use notions of manhood and womanhood to pursue their goals? Theoretical framings of gender and politics form the basis for reviewing processes through which gender constructions shape governace and policy as well as how state rulers manipulate gender norms in pursuit of development, war, or political control. Using case studies from various national contexts, the course investigates how women diversely identified (re)define their political roles, seek access to state power, and thus pursue visibility and authority within the state. Recommended background: one course in gender and sexuality studies or politics. Enrollment limited to 15. L. Hill.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 352. Preserving the Vibration: Digitizing the Legacy of Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor.
This course introduces public and digital humanities through the life and work of noted journalist, food anthropologist, and public broadcaster Vertamae Grosvenor. Public humanities is concerned with expanding academic discourse beyond academia and facilitating conversations on topics of humanistic inquiry with the community at large. Digital studies provide a plethora of unconventional ways to engage community in public dialogues for the greater good. Drawing from books, operas, NPR audio segments, interviews, cookbooks, and other artifacts of Grosvenor, students create and curate a digital archive. Themes include Gullah culture, African American migration, foodways, memoir, public memory, and monuments. Leading theories and methods of black feminism, material culture, race, food studies, new media and digital humanities are foregrounded. Cross-listed in African American studies, American studies, digital and computational studies, and gender and sexuality studies. Prerequisite(s): one of the following: AA/AM 119; AA/HI 243; AAS 100; AMST 200; AM/AV 340; AM/EN 395B; AV/GS 287; GSS 100; INDS 250 or 267; REL 255 or 270. Enrollment limited to 15. M. Beasley.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
AM/GS 353. Critical Theory/Critical Acts.
Critical theory unravels streams of repressive discourses and hierarchies in our contemporary world, and artists have fostered ruptures and fissures in everyday life. This seminar ponders the concept of "cultural worker" and laments the domain of theory by exploring the intersections between critical theory, art, and cultural politics. Students engage in the ruptures, the fragments of knowledge, and making sense of the residue of "social change" while not forgetting the problematization of the aesthetic. They consider U.S.-based interdisciplinary artists such as Thiong'o, Fusco, Ana Mediata, Tania Bruguera, David Hammon, Jay-Z, Pope.L, and Lady Gaga with critical theorists such as Fanon, Butler, Foucault, Phalen, Muñoz, Moten, Adorno, Barthes, Olkowski, and Benjamin. This seminar is based on close readings of theoretical texts and connecting those texts with contemporary cultural politics. Prerequisite(s): AA/AM 119, AMST 200, AM/AV 340, AM/EN 395B, AV/GS 287, GSS 100, or INDS 250 or 267. Not open to students who have received credit for AC/WS 353. Enrollment limited to 15. M. Beasley.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GSS 355. Gender and Technology.
This advanced reading seminar examines historical and contemporary relationships among masculinities, femininities, and technologies. Throughout, the seminar seeks to illuminate structured relations of inequality, investigating the ways in which everyday material objects come to generate, enforce, and transform patterns of social stratification. Prerequisite(s): GSS 100 and two other courses listed in gender and sexuality studies. Not open to students who have received credit for WGST 355. R. Herzig.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GSS 356. Marriage in America.
This reading-intensive seminar delves into the surprising history of ideas and practices of marriage in the United States and U.S. territories from the colonial era to the present. Paying special attention to the idealization of intimate romantic love in contemporary popular culture, readings and discussions explore the interplay of citizenship, religion, consumption, labor, reproduction, sexuality, and racialized gender in an institution long at the center of American life. Prerequisite(s): GSS 100. Not open to students who have received credit for WGST 356. Enrollment limited to 19. R. Herzig.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GSS 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 are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study per semester. Normally offered every year. Staff.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GSS 365. Special Topics.
A course or seminar offered from time to time and reserved for a special topic selected by the Committee on Gender and Sexuality Studies.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
FR/GS 377. Colon/Colonisé: Récits de l'Expérience Nord-Africaine.
This course studies the colonial, postcolonial, and immigrant experience of North Africans as portrayed in Francophone literature. Readings include narratives and journals from the beginning of the colonial period in Algeria (1830), as well as the contemporary novels and discourse of feminists such as Assia Djebar, Malika Mokeddem, and Leïla Sebbar. Gender is often highlighted as a category of analysis. Prerequisite(s): FRE 240, 250, or 251. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ED/GS 384. Education in a Globalized World.
We live in an era characterized by global flows of ideas and information, commodities, and people. In this course students examine the impacts of globalization on education policy and practice. Students explore how these transformative forces influence schools and schooling in different geographical, national, and cultural contexts. Topics address a set of concerns with enduring resonance to the field of educational studies, including social inequity and change; relations of power; and constructions of race, gender, and social class. A thirty-hour field experience is required. Not open to students who have received credit for ED/WS 384. Enrollment limited to 28. (Community-Engaged Learning.) [W2] P. Buck.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GS/SO 395I. Race, Class, Gender, and Family.
This seminar focuses on current debates in the research and policy literatures on social inequality and family. Potential topics include family policy, poverty, domestic violence, the division of labor in households, reproduction, partnerships, parenting, children's experiences within families, and the integration of work and family. All of these topics are addressed with attention to the role of intersecting social inequalities in structuring family experiences, including race, class, gender, sexuality, and nation. Prerequisite(s): INDS 250 or SOC 205. Not open to students who have received credit for SO/WS 395I. Enrollment limited to 15. [W2] E. Kane.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GS/SO 395K. Knowledge, Action, and Social Change.
This seminar explores the politics of knowledge and the potential role of research in advancing social justice and social change. Students consider competing perspectives on the public relevance of academic research, including debates within sociology and feminist studies. With those debates as context, students conduct publicly-engaged work through community-based research projects on issues related to social inequality. Prerequisite(s): INDS 250 or SOC 205. Enrollment limited to 15. (Community-Engaged Learning.) [W2] E. Kane.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
EN/GS 395P. Worldly Women as Artists: Transnational Women Writers.
This course explores the question of what (or who) qualifies a woman to be regarded as an artist. Students also create an "artist portfolio" in the medium of their choice (visual arts, music, performance, photography, writing, etc.). In her novel, To the Lighthouse (1927), Virginia Woolf resisted the prevailing sentiment that "women can't paint, women can't write." How do twentieth- and twenty-first-century women writers represent female artists? How have transnational female painters and writers described their own creative journeys either visually or in writing? How are the female artists’ personae, themes, and challenges different from male perspectives on art? This seminar examines the fiction, paintings, poetry, and memoirs by Woolf, Dickinson, Kate Chopin, Christina Rossetti, Georgia O’Keeffe, Mary Cassatt, Frida Kahlo, Mary Oliver, Cathy Song, Gogi Saroj Pal, Siona Benjamin, Shani Mootoo, and others. Not open to students who have received credit for EN/WS 395P. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission is required. [W2] Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
EN/GS 395Z. Arab-American Feminisms.
This course develops students' ability to look at the intersection of gender, ethnicity, politics, and sexuality. Students read theoretical and literary material as a catalyst for discussions of fiction, focusing on the way Arab American feminists articulate their unique theoretical concerns. Students read such scholars as Mohja Kahf, Rabab Abdulhadi, Nadine Naber, and Randa Jarrar. Students consider the critical triumphs and limitations of creative and theoretical work in discussing these subjects. Recommended background: previous course work in American cultural studies or gender and sexuality studies. Not open to students who have received credit for EN/WS 395Z. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission is required. [W2] T. Pickens.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GSS 400. Junior-Senior Seminar.
This seminar is an advanced inquiry into feminist and queer theories and methods. Drawing on work in several disciplinary fields, students ask how using gender and sexuality as categories of analysis illuminates and/or alters work in other disciplines. Students also investigate the development of core theories and methods within gender and sexuality studies. Required of all majors and minors. Normally, one 400-level seminar is offered each year.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GSS 400C. Understanding Disease.
Intensive reading seminar examining the nature, causes, and consequences of human disease and illness. Students consider biomedicals model of disease; the professionalization of medical care; and the role of class, nation, gender, sexuality, and race in disease research and treatment. Prerequisite(s): five core courses in gender and sexuality studies. Not open to students who have received credit for WGST 400C. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission is required. R. Herzig.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GSS 400D. Global Feminisms.
A seminar exploring feminist movements in an international context. Topics include divisions of labor and the "global assembly line," immigration and transnationalism, postcolonialism, and cultural imperialism. Students analyze local and international feminist activism and examine multiple definitions of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and nationhood. Prerequisite(s): five core courses in gender and sexuality studies. Not open to students who have received credit for WGST 400D. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission is required. R. Herzig, L. Hill, M. Plastas.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GSS 457. 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 GSS 458 in the winter semester. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both GSS 457 and 458. [W3] Normally offered every year. Staff.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GSS 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 GSS 458 in the winter semester. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both GSS 457 and 458. [W3] Normally offered every year. Staff.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GS/PT s12. Gender, War, and Peace.
This course uses gender as an analytical tool to examine the history of war and peace. How do war and militarization construct masculinities and femininities? What types of roles have women played in the making of war and in the making of peace? How has gender socialization influenced people's analysis of and participation in war and in peace activism? What are the gender politics of the politics of war and of peacemaking? How is gender deployed in current war zones and in current movements for peace? Recommended background: GSS 100. Not open to students who have received credit for GS/PT 220, or PT/WS 220 or s12. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. M. Plastas.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
ES/GS s13. Infrastructures.
Popular representations of digital technologies often present them as somehow independent of material constraints—as inherently clean, "green," and ethereal as a cloud. Those images belie the realities of the information economy's myriad environmental impacts, from resource depletion to water pollution to massive energy consumption. This course, an introduction to the history and politics of technological infrastructure, directs attention to relationships between human and nonhuman nature, using everyday personal computing as a point of departure. Throughout, students engage with activists, regulators, and maintainers working toward justice and sustainability in the digital age. Not open to seniors. New course beginning Short Term 2019. Enrollment limited to 18. R. Herzig.GS/PT s14. Gender and Tobacco.
This course explores the sociohistorical complexities of tobacco and the political economies of tobacco production, consumption, and regulation. The course focuses on how gender, race, and class influence tobacco industry policies, tobacco control procedures, the health and economic impact of tobacco on communities, and the strategies of grassroots and transnational activists in tobacco regulation movements. Recommended background: course work in gender and sexuality studies. Not open to students who have received credit for GSS 335, PT/WS s14, or WGST 335. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. M. Plastas.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC s18. Wilde Times: Scandal, Celebrity, and the Law.
Oscar Wilde, an icon today, was popular in his own time as well. His relationship with Alfred Douglas was an open secret despite the fact that homosexuality was at the time a criminal offence. Indeed, Wilde’s sexuality was tolerated until he sued Douglas' irascible father for libel. This course begins with the 1895 trials, seeking to understand cultures of sexuality in a period notorious for sexual repression, and contextualizing issues they raise of scandal and the law, celebrity, gender, and sexuality. Designed to encourage independent research, the course guides students through the research process, drawing to the fore histories often hidden from view. Cross-listed in European studies, gender and sexuality studies, and history. Not open to students who have received credit for INDS 107. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. C. Shaw.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC s27. Feminisms of the 1970s and 1980s.
This course explores the rise of multiple feminist theories and forms of activism during the 1970s and 1980s. Students critically examine the genealogy of the conceptualization of "second-wave feminism," and explore the role of gay, Chicano, and black liberation, civil rights, and labor struggles on the development of feminist thinking and action. The course pays particular attention to how feminists of this period addressed questions of U.S. foreign policy in Vietnam, Central America, and South Africa; the nuclear arms race; and U.S. domestic race relations. Students read from primary source material and study the literature produced by Marxist feminisms, black feminisms, lesbian feminisms, liberal feminisms, and radical feminisms. Recommended background: GSS 100. Crosslisted in gender and sexuality studies, history, and politics. Not open to students who have received credit for PT/WS s27. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 25. M. Plastas.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GS/PT s32. Global Flows: Work, Sex, and Care.
Globalization refers to processes underlying profound changes in contemporary life from the corporate boardroom to the family bedroom. What do women, sex and sexuality have to do with the global political economy? How does gender—the social organization of sexual difference—shape the future "world without borders"? In what ways might global restructuring depend on women and gender relations? This course examines how gendered divisions of labor, power, and decision making shape flows of money, jobs, goods, technology, and people across borders. Students examine interdisplinary perspectives from political economy, gender and sexuality studies, and film studies to consider gender as a critical dimension of global processes of change and transformation in international flows, connections, production, and consumption. Not open to students who have received credit for PT/WS s32. Enrollment limited to 19. L. Hill.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
GSS 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 are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study during a Short Term. Normally offered every year. Staff.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
GSS s51B. Rethinking Technology in US History.
Students help renovate an existing course, Technology in U.S. History. This effort focuses on 1) integrating new technological capabilities into both the content and format of the course; 2) updating the scholarship reflected in the syllabus, with particular attention to new work in technology studies centered on global issues of social equity and environmental justice; and 3) working with colleagues and course alumni to better align Technology in U.S. History with the curricular and pedagogical needs of our diverse community. New course beginning Short Term 2019. Enrollment limited to 3. Instructor permission is required. R. Herzig.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)