Gender Studies Courses

Semester specific course descriptions

Because gender studies is interdisciplinary, the majority of its courses are taught in several academic departments. These courses are approved by the curriculum committee and are listed in the Class Schedule with both gender studies and the relevant department(s). Since approximately 15 departmental courses count toward the minor, students are advised to consult each semester's Class Schedule and secure the listing of genders studies cross-listed elective courses from the program coordinator for complete course descriptions.

103. Gender and Society.
This interdisciplinary course examines how being male or female is translated into the social relationships of gender. It explores the ways gender roles, identities and institutions are constructed in relation to race, ethnicity, class and sexuality.

201. Gender in Global Perspective.
Gender constructs cultural, political and socio-economic relations across class and racial lines in the Western world and throughout the rest of the world, although the concepts and structures that define gender roles can and do differ significantly. This course examines the global constructions of gender through examples chosen from indigenous and diasporic communities in Asia, Africa and the Americas; discusses the variable impacts that these constructions have had particularly on women’s lives; and introduces theories of transnational feminism. Also offered through Global Studies.

280. Sexuality, Society and Culture.
An exploration of the cultural facets of our sexuality and how we come to understand sexuality in our everyday lives. Are sexual feelings biological, or do they emerge from particular historical and social formations? How does sexuality come to operate as something that is just natural? What does love have to do with it? How has the concept of sexuality shifted from sex acts to sexual identities? How is sexuality linked to race, class and gender? How is sexuality linked to the political? The answers to these questions provide a broad understanding of gender and sexuality studies. We will rigorously examine the concept of sexuality through theoretical, empirical and creative frameworks.

290. Gender and Feminist Theory.
This course examines theoretical explanations of gender, gender difference and gender inequality in society. The course includes introductions to some of the questions that shape contemporary feminist theory, feminist writings in multiple disciplines and feminist movements inside and outside the academy. The course focuses on how an awareness of intersections of race, class, sexuality, gender and ethnicity is vital for disciplinary and interdisciplinary study in feminist theory. Theoretical works are drawn from the humanities, arts and literature and the social sciences. Prerequisite: Gender Studies 103.

301. Studies in Masculinities
This course calls on students to investigate their own lives in relation to historically and locally dominant prescriptions of what men and women “should” be. Combining readings of “great books” with a wide range of material from the burgeoning field of critical studies of masculinity, the course also includes a field research methods component that enables students to design and carry out creative research projects into the local gender systems in which they attempt to forge their own identities.

334. Feminist Philosophy.
An introduction to some of the questions that shape feminist philosophy today. What connections are there between feminist philosophy and feminist writing in other disciplines and feminist movements inside and outside the academy? Does feminist philosophy transform traditional philosophical discourse and the academy? The course focuses on how an awareness of intersections of race, class, sexuality, gender and ethnicity is vital for disciplinary and interdisciplinary study in feminist philosophy. Also offered as Philosophy 334.

367. Feminist Post-Colonial Theory
Postcolonial theory addresses issues of identity, culture, literature and history arising from the social context of colonization, resistance to colonization, liberation from colonization and the formation of new nations. It crosses the boundaries of the social sciences and humanities in its approach to theory and analysis of the discourses used to constitute colonial and postcolonial subjects. We begin with some classic texts of postcolonial theory before moving to a focus on specifically feminist debates and texts within postcolonial studies. Literature and film are used in dialog with theoretical texts to examine questions about gender and women’s issues in various societies. Also offered as Global Studies 367, English 367 and Philosophy 367.

369. Making Sexualities.
Sexuality culturally operates as a central trope by which we come to “know” ourselves as sexed people (that is female or male) and how we come to understand our desire. In this course we unpack sexuality from a culturally and gendered perspective—we discuss how we have come to know sexuality culturally, materially and in our everyday lives. In doing so, we explore topics such as the invention of modern notions of sexualities, queer identity, love, pornography and sex work through reading, writing, artistic expression and research. This course is reading- and writing-intensive.

460. SYE: Senior Seminar: Feminism and the Construction of Knowledge.
In this capstone course for the minor, we explore how feminist perspectives (such as socialist, poststructuralist/French, queer, transnational, psychoanalytic, postcolonial) inform both the construction of the interdisciplinary field of gender studies and the work that feminist scholars do as they transform traditional disciplines and disciplinary ways of knowing and thinking. After discussions with a number of gender studies faculty about how feminism influences their work, students reflect on how their gender studies minor influences the ways by which they approach their academic majors.

479,480. SYE: Internships.
Students are required to spend eight hours per week in an internship at an agency that deals with gender-related issues and problems, such as sexual identity, domestic violence, sexual assault, the feminization of poverty, conceptions of masculinity and femininity among students, etc. Students reflect on their experiences in a journal that applies gender studies concepts to the experiences, attend bi-monthly service learning workshops with other campus interns, and prepare a research paper related to the gender studies issues relevant to the internship. Prerequisite: Gender Studies 103 and permission of the instructor.

489,490. SYE: Independent Study.
Individual study of a topic, which must be approved by the gender studies advisory board in the semester prior to be undertaken. Independent study may be used to satisfy the sixth course research requirement. Prerequisite: Gender Studies 103 and permission of the instructor.