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Department of Women’s and Gender Studies
Professor: Bailey, Hertz, Reverby
Associate Professor: Creef (Chair)
Adjunct Associate Professor: Marshall
Assistant Professor: Cheng, Galarneau, Mata
Women’s and Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that places gender and its intersections with race, social class, sexuality and ethnicity at the center of rigorous academic inquiry. These structural forces shape the individual and collective lives of all persons across diverse cultures and times as well as provide analytical categories for critically examining the worlds in which we live. The Wellesley Women’s and Gender Studies major offers particular attention to the lives and experiences of women and girls via the critical scholarship of the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Department faculty endeavor to provide intellectually rich student-centered learning environments via limited class sizes, collaborative research opportunities, and summer internship support.
Goals for the Major
- Studying “gender” within a critical and theoretical interdisciplinary and cross-cultural framework.
- Building specialized knowledge in one of the following concentrations: global feminism; families and work; healthcare, science and bioethics;
gay/lesbian/transgender/sexuality studies; body politics; ethics and rights; gender and cinema; public policy; intersectionalities of race, class, gender, and sexuality; Asian/American women.
- Learning how to craft a feminist critical inquiry framework. Benefiting from a unique capstone experience in their senior year where they can explore a provocative topic in Women’s and Gender Studies with either their peers or a faculty member.
WGST 108 The Social Construction of Gender
Marshall
NOT OFFERED IN 2009-10. This course discusses the ways in which gender is socially constructed through social interactions and within social institutions. The relationship among gender, race, ethnicity, and social class will be stressed. The processes and mechanisms that construct and institutionalize gender will be considered in a variety of contexts: political, economic, religious, educational, and familial.
Prerequisite: None. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 108].
Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: N/O Unit: 1.0
WGST 108/WRIT 125 The Social Construction of Gender
Marshall
This course discusses the ways in which gender is socially constructed through social interactions and within social institutions. The relationship among gender, race, ethnicity, and social class will be stressed. The processes and mechanisms that construct and institutionalize gender will be considered in a variety of contexts: political, economic, religious, educational, and familial. This course satisfies the WRIT 125 requirement and counts toward the major in women’s and gender studies. Includes a third session each week.
Prerequisite: None. Open only to first-year students.
Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: Fall, Spring Unit: 1.0
WGST 120 Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies
Cheng, Galarneau, Mata, Reverby
Introduction to the interdisciplinary field of women’s and gender studies with an emphasis on an understanding of the “common differences” that both unite and divide women. Beginning with an examination of how womanhood has been represented in myths, ads, and popular culture, the course explores how gender inequalities have been both explained and critiqued. The cultural meaning given to gender as it intersects with race, class, ethnicity, and sexuality will be studied. This course also exposes some of the critiques made by women’s studies’ scholars of the traditional academic disciplines and the new intellectual terrain currently being mapped.
Prerequisite: None. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 120].
Distribution: Language and Literature or Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: Fall, Spring Unit 1.0
WGST 121 Reading Elvis Presley and 1950s America
Creef
Some have argued that Elvis Presley was the greatest cultural force in twentieth century America. This course will consider the early career of Elvis Presley as a unique window for the study of race, class, gender, and heteronormative sexuality in postwar popular American culture. Specifically, we will look at the blending of African American and other forms of musical style in Presley's music, the representation of masculinity and sexuality across a sampling of his films and television performances, at key cultural film texts from the 1950s, and end with evaluating Presley's lasting impact as a unique icon in American cultural history.
Prerequisite: None. Open only to first-year students.
Distribution: Arts, Music, Theatre, Film and Video
Semester: Fall Unit: 1.0
WGST 205 Love and Intimacy: A Cross-Cultural Perspective
Cheng
This course examines the system of meanings and practices that evolved around notions of love and intimacy as well as their political significance. The course seeks to demonstrate how these “private” emotions and desires are embedded in social structures such as gender, networks of kinship, class, race, ethnicity, and religion. How do intimate relations challenge patriarchy and heteronormativity? The course invites students to interrogate the public/private divide, examine both the reproductive role in ideologies of love and intimacy, as well as their transformative potential. In demonstrating how “the personal is political,” this course also hopes to open possibilities for systemic transformation.
Prerequisites: WGST 108 [WOST 108], WGST 120 [WOST 120], or a course on gender in anthropology, history, sociology, psychology, or political science. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 205].
Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: Spring Unit: 1.0
WGST 206 Migration, Gender, and Globalization
Cheng
This course will explore the dimensions, debates, and histories which pertain to economic migration. Contemporary economic migration must be placed within the context of globalization and, more specifically, the effects of neoliberal economic policies (including ‘free trade’ agreements) have had globally. Building on the work of feminist theorists who have argued that both neoliberalism and migration are gendered phenomena, we will focus our readings and discussions on using gender as a critical category of analysis for understanding the ways in which globalization has fundamentally altered wealth, production, and movement throughout the world.
Prerequisite: WGST 108 [WOST 108], WGST 120 [WOST 120], or a course on gender, migration, or globalization in anthropology, history, sociology, political science. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 206].
Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: Fall Unit: 1.0
WGST 211/SOC 205 American Families and Social Equality
Hertz
American families are undergoing dramatic changes in social, political, and economic arenas: the rise of the dual-worker family, the increasing number of single mothers, the demands of family rights by gay and lesbian families, and the growing numbers of couples having children at older ages. The new economy poses real challenges for American parents as the social and economic gaps between families continues. As women dedicate a greater proportion of their time to the workplace, more children are cared for outside the home. How do children view parents’ employment? How do families function when they have only limited hours together? What does fatherhood mean in these families? Using a provocative blend of social science, novels, and memoirs, we will examine how gender, race, ethnicity, and social class shape the experience of family life in the contemporary United States. Students may register for either WGST 211 or SOC 205 and credit will be granted accordingly.
Prerequisite: None. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 211/SOC 205].
Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: Fall Unit: 1.0
WGST 212 Feminist Bioethics
Galarneau
How would bioethics differ if it took seriously the experiences and needs of women and other marginalized social groups? This course engages the works of feminist theorists and practitioners in philosophy, religion, law, medicine, public health, and the social and biological sciences – works that develop more inclusive bioethical theories and practices in the service of the health and well-being of all persons and communities. Feminist bioethics is both critical and constructive in its attention to moral frameworks, principles, norms, and values related to the conditions for human health including health care’s professions, practices, and institutions. Also addressed are gender, race, and class disparities in health status, clinical care, and biomedical research.
Prerequisite: WGST 108 [WOST 108], WGST 120 [WOST 120], or PHIL 249 or permission of instructor. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 212].
Distribution: Religion, Ethics, and Moral Philosophy
Semester: Fall Unit: 1.0
WGST 214 Women, Reproduction, and Health
Galarneau
This multi-disciplinary course introduces a broad range of concepts and issues related to contemporary women, health, and health care in the United States. Conventional indicators of women’s health, recent research in economic inequality and poverty, and the women’s health movement help us understand women’s health status beyond simple morbidity and mortality. The course incorporates foci on reproductive health (including midwifery and new technologies), relational violence (with attention to historical responses and prevention efforts), and HIV/AIDS (including global inequities in risk, incidence, and treatment).
Prerequisite: None. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 214].
Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: Fall Unit: 1.0
WGST 216 Women and Popular Culture: Latinas as Nannies, Spitfires, and Sex Pots
Mata
This course proposes an analysis of popular cultural productions and the ways in which they represent Chicanas and Latinas. Cultural productions go beyond just entertaining an audience; they help to inform how we see ourselves and the world around us. These productions often support traditional stereotypes about marginalized groups. The course will encourage students to question the ways in which Chicana/Latinas are reduced to stereotypes that reinforce hierarchies of race and gender. By critically reading popular productions as analyzable cultural texts, we will ask: How do cultural productions perpetuate the “otherness” of Chicana/Latinas? What role does sexuality play in the representation of the Chicana/Latina subject? In what ways do cultural productions by Chicana/Latinas resist/challenge negative images?
Prerequisite: None. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 216].
Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis or Arts, Music, Theatre, Film, Video
Semester: Fall Unit: 1.0
WGST 217 Growing Up Gendered
Marshall
NOT OFFERED IN 2009-10. This course focuses on childhood and the teen years in the United States. How do we become gendered? What are the experiences of children and teens in families, schools, and peer groups that contribute to that process? What is the relationship between pop culture and the gendered lives of children and teens? How does gendering vary by race/ethnicity and social class? We will explore the core issues in the field, including the importance of including the voices of children and teens, the ways in which gender is constructed in social interactions, the intersections of gender, sexuality and peer status, and the importance of collective and individual agency.
Prerequisite: WGST 108 [WOST 108] or WGST 120 [WOST 120]. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 217].
Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: N/O Unit: 1.0
WGST 219 Gender in the Workplace
Marshall
NOT OFFERED IN 2009-10. Women now make up almost half of the U.S. workforce; 75% of employed women work full-time and 62% of mothers of infants are employed. This course explores the experiences of women and men in the changing U.S. workplace. The course will address key issues related to gender, race and class in the workplace, with a focus on (1) the social organization of work—the nature of work, division of labor, social inequality—and its consequences for women and men; and (2) gendered organizations and processes of gender discrimination, including sexual harassment.
Prerequisite: WGST 108 [WOST 108], WGST 120 [WOST 120], or SOC 102. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 219].
Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: N/O Unit: 1.0
WGST 220 American Health Care History in Gender, Race, and Class Perspective
Reverby
Traditional American medical history has emphasized the march of science and the ideas of the “great doctors” in the progressive improvement in American medical care. In this course we will look beyond just medical care to the social and economic factors that have shaped the development of the priorities, institutions, and personnel in the health care system in the United States. We will ask how have gender, race, and class affected the kind of care developed, its differential delivery, and the problems and issues addressed.
Prerequisite: WGST 108 [WOST 108], WGST 120 [WOST 120], WGST 222 [WOST 222], or permission from instructor. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 220].
Distribution: Historical Studies
Semester: Spring Unit: 1.0
WGST 222 Women in Contemporary American Society
Reverby
This course examines the transformations and continuities in the lives of women in the United States since World War II. We will look critically at the so-called “happy days” of the 1950s, the cultural and political “revolutions” of the 1960s and early 1970s, and the shifts in consciousness over the last five decades. The rise and changes in feminisms and the women’s movement will receive special attention. Emphasis will be placed on the differing communities of women and how they have balanced the so-called “private,” “public,” and “civic” spheres of their lives.
Prerequisite: None. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 222].
Distribution: Historical Studies or Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: Spring Unit: 1.0
WGST 223/CAMS 240 Gendering the Bronze Screen: Representations of Chicanas/Latinas in Film
Mata
The history of Chicanas and Latinas on the big screen is a long and complicated one. To understand the changes that have occurred in the representation of Chicanas/Latinas, this course proposes an analysis of films that traces various stereotypes to examine how those images have been perpetuated, altered, and ultimately resisted. From the Anglicizing of names to the erasure of racial backgrounds, the ways in which Chicanas and Latinas are represented has been contingent on ideologies of race, gender, class and sexuality. We will be examining how films have typecast Chicanas/Latinas as criminals or as “exotic” based on their status as women of color, and how Chicano/Latino filmmakers continue the practice of casting Chicanas/Latinas only as support characters to the male protagonists. Students may register for either WGST 223 or CAMS 240 and credit will be granted accordingly.
Prerequisite: None. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 223].
Distribution: Arts, Music, Theatre, Film, Video
Semester: Fall Unit: 1.0
WGST 225 Politics and Sexuality
NOT OFFERED IN 2009-10. This interdisciplinary course will provide an overview of the key texts, topics, debates, and politics that inform the field of sexuality studies. Students will use critical thinking skills to discern how gender and sexuality inform social, political and historical ways of knowing and being. Because this field of inquiry has developed within the context of many different movements for social change, we will be discussing sexuality with respect to its intersections with feminist and LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) movements. We will place these alongside critiques of race, nationalism, fundamentalism, and uneven economic development, and will aim to articulate foundational questions about the relationship between power and sexual subjectivity.
Prerequisite: One 100 level course or permission of instructor. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 225].
Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: N/O Unit: 1.0
WGST 235 Cross Cultural Sexuality
NOT OFFERED IN 2009-10. This course will examine and explore sexuality from cross-cultural perspectives, focusing on the production of sexuality in the context of different disciplines—literature, anthropology, history, and sociology. The course will address the intersections between sexual and socio-cultural, political, and economic discourses. How is sexuality constructed in relation to ideological, social, and political considerations? How are sexual “norms” established, circulated, and maintained in different cultures and at different historical junctures? What, if anything, constitutes sexual otherness in different cultures? How is this negotiated in a global economy and how is it represented under variable conditions? How do different descriptions of sexual behavior interact with the discourses of identity politics and queerness as constituted in the United States?
Prerequisite: WGST 108 [WOST 108], WGST 120 [WOST 120], or WGST 222 [WOST 222]. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 235].
Distribution: Historical Studies or Language and Literature
Semester: N/O Unit: 1.0
WGST 249/CAMS 241 Asian/American Women in Film
Creef
NOT OFFERED IN 2009-10. This course will serve as an introduction to Asian American film, and begin with the premise that there is a distinct American style of Asian “Orientalist” representation by tracing its development in classic Hollywood film over the last 75 years. We examine the politics of interracial romance, the phenomenon of the “yellow face” masquerade, and the different constructions of Asian American femininity, masculinity, and sexuality. In the second half of the course, we look at the production of what has been named “Asian American cinema” where our focus will be on contemporary works, drawing upon critical materials from film theory, feminist studies, Asian American studies, history, and cultural studies. Students may register for either WGST 249 or CAMS 241 and credit will be granted accordingly.
Prerequisite: One course in women’s and gender studies or film/visual arts or Asian American topics; or permission of instructor. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 249].
Distribution: Arts, Music, Theatre, Film, Video
Semester: N/O Unit: 1.0
WGST 250 Research or Individual Study
Prerequisite: Open to juniors and seniors who are majors or minors by permission.
Distribution: None
Semester: Fall, Spring Unit: 1.0
WGST 250H Research or Individual Study
Prerequisite: Open to juniors and seniors who are majors or minors by permission.
Distribution: None
Semester: Fall, Spring Unit: 0.5
WGST 305 Seminar. Representations of Women, Natives, and Others
Creef
A comparative feminist cultural studies approach to the history of African American, Native American, Latina, Asian American, and Pacific Islander representations of men and women of color in American visual culture. We will examine both historical representations and contemporary “counterrepresentations” in photography, ethnographic performance, literature, film, and art.
Prerequisite: Open to juniors and seniors only. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 305].
Distribution: Arts, Music, Theatre, Film, Video or Language and Literature
Semester: Spring Unit: 1.0
WGST 306/SOC 306 Seminar. Women and Work
Hertz
The biggest force for change in the U.S. economy has been the growing diversity of the American labor force. The first half of the course emphasizes the impact of gender and racial diversity on the nature of work in America. We will discuss four key aspects: (1) the dynamics of gender and race in the workplace; (2) the tensions between work/family and gender equity; (3) the struggle to integrate women into male-dominated occupations and professions; and (4) the challenges for women in leadership roles. The second half of the course will focus on women as critical to the “new” global workforce in selected regions. We will discuss: (1) women’s migration and domestic work; (2) the paradox of caring for others while leaving one’s children behind; (3) women in global factories; and (4) women’s activism in their home communities. Students may register for either WGST 306 or SOC 206 and credit will be granted accordingly.
Prerequisite: One course in ANTH, SOC, ECON, or WGST [WOST] at the 200-level or permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 306/SOC 306].
Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: Spring Unit: 1.0
WGST 311/SOC 311 Seminar. Family and Gender Studies: The Family, the State, and Social Policy
Hertz
Analysis of problems facing the contemporary U.S. family and potential policy directions for the new millennium. Discussion of the transformation of the American family including changing economic and social roles for women and expanding varieties of family types (such as single mothers by choice and lesbian/gay families). Sexuality, teen pregnancy, reproductive issues, day care, the elderly, divorce, welfare, the impact of work on the family, equality between spouses, choices women make about children and employment, and the new American dreams will be explored. Comparisons to other contemporary societies will serve as a foil for particular analyses. Students are expected to work in groups to analyze the media’s portrayal of family/gender stories and selected legal cases. Students may register for either WGST 311 or SOC 311 and credit will be granted accordingly.
Prerequisite: One 200-level course in family or gender in SOC, ANTH, HIST, POLS, PSYC or WGST [WOST], or by permission of instructor. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 311].
Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: Fall, Spring Unit: 1.0
WGST 312 Capstone Seminar. Feminist Inquiry
Cheng
Topic for 2009-10: Global Feminism. This seminar is structured as a critical engagement with the notion of “global feminism” with particular focus on the subject of “sex trafficking.” It starts with an examination of some key feminist concerns and debates—feminist epistemology, issues of representation, agency and subjectivity, capitalism and patriarchy post-colonialism and nationalism, globalization, development, and migration. With a grasp of these analytical tools and issues, we move on to examine the formation of transnational women’s movements that has mobilized around women’s human rights. In the last part, we will see why and how “sex trafficking” has become the convergent point of feminist debates, and the policy implications these differences and politics are having on the lives of women around the world.
Prerequisite: Open to WGST seniors and WGST juniors/minors by permission of instructor.
Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: Spring Unit: 1.0
WGST 313 Fieldwork in Women’s Studies
Staff
This is a supervised, independent fieldwork project resulting in a research paper, documentary policy initiative, creative arts presentation, or other research product approved by the student’s advisor. This project, developed in conjunction with the student’s advisor, will have a significant experiential component focusing on women’s lives. Students are required to spend either the summer before their senior year or the first semester of their senior year gathering data on a topic of their choice. Topics should be part of the student’s area of concentration. Students may (1) work in an organization, (2) work with activists or policy makers on social change issues or social policy issues, (3) design their own fieldwork experience.
Prerequisite: Open to majors and minors only. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 313].
Distribution: Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: Fall, Spring Unit: 1.0
WGST 317 Seminar. History of Sexuality: Queer Theory
NOT OFFERED IN 2009-10. This course will cover terms, concepts, and writers central to the elaboration of queer theory. We will begin by situating the concerns of queer theory within the historical development of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender movements for social change around the world, and within institutional contexts, including those of higher education. We will read some of the works that have come to be framed by the rubric of queer theory, including those works by Foucault, Warner, Jagose, and Butler, and, more generally, works produced under the aegis of cultural studies, anthropology, history, literary studies, philosophy, performance studies, and gender and sexuality studies. Through film, visual art, literature, and theoretical essays, students will be asked to engage with questions of intersectionality, intersubjectivity, governmentality and power that are raised by this theoretical line of inquiry.
Prerequisite: Open to juniors and seniors who have taken any course on gender, race, or sexuality. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 317].
Distribution: Epistemology and Cognition or Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: N/O Unit: 1.0
WGST 321 Seminar. Gender Justice and Health Policy
Galarneau
Various understandings of justice vie for dominance in contemporary health policy debates, especially debates about health care reform and universal access to health care. Yet “just” health care is not limited to reform discussions or to distributive notions of justice which typically ignore social structures (gender, race, class, culture, citizenship), social processes (decision-making, division of labor) and social contexts (poverty, unequal risk for poor health). This seminar explores multiple constructions of justice drawn from moral and political philosophy, religious social ethics, and Catholic social thought (feminist and otherwise). Social, participatory, and distributive justices are examined as normative guides for health and health care policies intended to meet the health care needs of all persons.
Prerequisite: Open to juniors or seniors who have taken WGST 108 [WOST 108], WGST 120 [WOST 120], or WGST 212 [WOST 212], or with permission of instructor. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 321].
Distribution: Religion, Ethics and Moral Philiosophy
Semester: Spring Unit: 1.0
WGST 324 Seminar. History, Memory, and Women’s Lives
Reverby
If a woman speaks of her experiences, do we get closer to the “truth” of that experience? How can oral history provide a window into the lives of women in the past and what does it close off? Analysis of methodological and theoretical implications of studying women’s lives through oral histories as a way to end the silences in other historical forms. Special attention to be paid to other genres—history, fiction, ethnographies—as a foil to explore the strengths, and limitations, of the oral history approach.
Prerequisite: WGST 108 [WOST 108], WGST 120 [WOST 120], WGST 222 [WOST 222] or HIST 257. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 324].
Distribution: Epistemology and Cognition or Historical Studies
Semester: Fall Unit: 1.0
WGST 326 Seminar. Crossing the Border(s): Narratives of Transgression
Mata
This course examines literatures that challenge the construction of borders, be they physical, ideological, or metaphoric. The theorizing of the border, as more than just a material construct used to demarcate national boundaries, has had a profound impact on the ways in which Chicana/Latinas have written about the issue of identity and subject formation. We will examine how the roles of women are constructed to benefit racial and gender hierarchies through the policing of borders and behaviors. In refusing to conform to gender roles or hegemonic ideas about race or sexuality, the Chicana and Latina writers being discussed in the course illustrate the necessity of crossing the constructed boundaries of identity being imposed by the community and the greater national culture.
Prerequisite: WGST 108 [WOST 108], WGST 120 [WOST 120], and a 200 level WGST [WOST] course, or by permission of instructor. Not open to students who have previously taken [WOST 326].
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Spring Unit: 1.0
WGST 350 Research or Individual Study
Prerequisite: Open to seniors by permission.
Distribution: None
Semester: Fall, Spring Unit: 1.0
WGST 350H Research or Individual Study
Prerequisite: Open to seniors by permission.
Distribution: None
WGST 360 Senior Thesis Research
Prerequisite: By permission of the department. See Academic Distinctions.
Distribution: None
Semester: Fall, Spring Unit: 1.0
WGST 370 Senior Thesis
Prerequisite: 360 and permission of department.
Distribution: None
Semester: Fall, Spring Unit: 1.0
Related Courses
For Credit Toward the Major
AFR 212 Black Women Writers
AFR 222 Images of Women and Blacks in American Cinema
AMST 151 The Asian American Experience
AMST 286/ENG 286 New Literatures. Lesbian and Gay Writing from Sappho to Stonewall
AMST 315 Beats, Rhymes, and Life: Hip-Hop Studies
ANTH 238 The Vulnerable Body: Anthropological Understandings
ANTH 269 Anthropology of Gender, Marriage, and the Family
ARTH 230 Frank Lloyd Wright and the American Home
ARTH 330 Seminar. Italian Renaissance Art: Women Artists in Renaissance and Baroque Italy
ARTH 342 Seminar. Domesticity and Its Discontents
ARTH 364/CAMS 328 Women Filmmakers: History and Theory of Subversion
CAMS 203/CHIN 240 Chinese Cinema (in English)
CAMS 317 Film Theory: Spectatorship and Women in Cinema
CAMS 328/ARTH 364 Women Filmmakers: History and Theory of Subversion
CHIN 230/330 Writing Women in Traditional China (in English)
CHIN 232/332 Writing Women in Modern China (in English)
CHIN 240/CAMS 203 Chinese Cinema (in English)
CLCV 213 Gender in Antiquity
CPLT 330 Seminar. Comparative Literature: Girls, In Theory
CLPT 334 Literature and Medicine
ECON 243 The Political Economy of Gender, Race, and Class
ECON 343 Seminar. Feminist Economics
EDUC 312 Seminar. History of Childhood and Child Welfare
ENG 269 Asian American Literature
ENG 272 The Victorian Novel
ENG 286/AMST 286 New Literatures: Lesbian and Gay Writing from Sappho to Stonewall
ENG 383 Women in Literature, Culture, and Society
ENG 387 Authors: Charlotte Bronte and Virginia Woolf: Victorian and Modern Feminisms
EXTD 106 Women in Science: Their Lives and Work
FREN 208 Women and Literary Tradition
FREN 216 Mothers and Daughters
FREN 218 Negritude, Independences, Women’s Issues: Francophone Literature in Context
FREN 304 Male and Female Perspectives in the Eighteenth-Century Novel
FREN 313 George Sand and the Romantic Theater
FREN 319 Women, Language, and Literary Expression
FREN 327 A Fascination with Bodies: The Doctor’s Malady
FREN 329 Colette/Duras: A Pleasure unto Death
FREN 331 Desire, Sexuality, and Love in the African Francophone Cinema
GER 329 Readings in Enlightenment and Romanticism
HIST 215 Gender and Nation in Latin America
HIST 243 Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Europe
HIST 257 Women, Gender, and the Family in American History
HIST 301 Seminar. Women of Russia: A Portrait Gallery
HIST 364 Seminar. Women in Islamic Society: Historical Perspectives
ITAL 212 Italian Women Directors. The Female Authorial Voice in Italian Cinema (in English)
ITAL 274 Women in Love: Portaits of Female Desire in Italian Culture
JPN 111 Gender and Popular Culture of Japan (in English)
JPN 353 Lady Murasaki and the Tale of Genji (in English)
KOR 256 Gender and Language in Modern Korean Culture (in English)
ME/R 248 Medieval Women Writers
MUS 224/REL 224 Hildegard of Bingen
MUS 222/322 Music, Gender, and Sexuality
PHIL 217 Philosophy of Science: Traditional and Feminist Perspectives
PHIL 249 Medical Ethics
POL1 324S Seminar. Gender and Law
POL2 307S Seminar. Women and Development
POL3 322 Seminar. Gender in World Politics
POL4 344 Seminar. Feminist Political Theory
PSYC 303 Psychology of Gender
REL 209 Women, Sexuality, and Patriarchalism in the New Testament
REL 224/MUS 224 Hildegard of Bingen
REL 225 Women in Christianity
REL 226 The Virgin Mary
REL 243 Women in the Biblical World
REL 323 Seminar. Feminist Theologies
SOC 209 Social Inequality
SOC 277 Masculinities
SOC 233 Gender and Power in South Asia
SOC 234 Gender and International Development
SOC 275 The Sociology of the Body
SPAN 245 Ethnic Passions
SPAN 260 Women Writers of Spain, 1980 to the Present
SPAN 271 Intersecting Currents: Afro Hispanic and Indigenous Writers in Latin American Literature
SPAN 279 Jewish Women Writers of Latin America
SPAN 305 Seminar. Hispanic Literature of the United States
SPAN 327 Seminar. Latin American Women Writers: Identity, Marginality, and the Literary Canon
THST 212 Representations of Women on Stage
Requirements for the Major
A major in women’s and gender studies offers an opportunity for the interdisciplinary study of women from the perspectives of the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Women’s and gender studies majors seek an understanding of the new intellectual frameworks that are reshaping thought about the meaning and role of gender in human life. Majors pursue knowledge of gendered experiences in diverse cultures and across time, examining the ways in which race, social class, sexuality, and ethnicity are constitutive of that experience.
A major in women’s and gender studies requires nine units taken both within the department and through the related courses taught in other departments. Of these, two units must be 300-level courses (not counting 350, 350H, 360, or 370). Not more than two units can be 100-level courses.
Students are encouraged to enter the department through one of the three core units: WGST 108 [WOST 108] (The Social Construction of Gender), WGST 120 [WOST 120] (Introduction to Women’s Studies), or WGST 222 [WOST 222] (Women in Contemporary American Society). Majors must take one of these units as a required course. Apart from this one required unit (108, 120 or 222), majors must elect at least three other units offered within the women’s studies department, of which one should be a seminar. Courses at the 100 level are introductions to topics in women’s and gender studies. They are taught from the perspective of each faculty member’s specialty. Courses at the 200 level are overviews to substantive areas. Courses at the 300 level provide in-depth examination of material covered in 200-level courses. Students majoring in women’s and gender studies must elect four of the nine units in such a way that they form a “concentration,” i.e. have a focus or central theme in common. Such concentration should include relevant method and theory units in the area of concentration, and must be discussed with and approved by a women’s and gender studies faculty advisor. Priority in all courses above the 100 level will go to majors and minors. Students selecting 300-level courses must have one course listed in the department.
The Capstone Experience in Women’s and Gender Studies
All majors will be required to select a capstone experience, with the guidance of their advisor, from the following three options offered in 2009-10. Students should begin to think about which option would best fit their concentration when they declare the major. They must declare their option by the end of their junior year.
Option 1: WGST 312 [WOST 312] (Seminar. Feminist Inquiry). Each year the seminar will be a different special topic. For 2009-10, the topic is “Global Feminism” taught by Professor Cheng.
Option 2: WGST 313 [WOST 313](Fieldwork in Women’s Studies).
Option 3: WGST 360/370 [WOST 36/370](Senior Thesis).
Option three is the traditional senior honors thesis which requires two units during the senior year. See Academic Distinctions in this catalog for requirements. A thesis does not need to have an experiential component but typically it is based on some original research. Option 2 must involve an experiential component.
Requirements for the Minor
A minor in women’s and gender studies consists of five courses, of which one must be chosen from among 108, 120, or 222, and of which one must be a 300-level course (not 350 or 350H) offered within the department. A total of at least three courses must be taken within the women’s and gender studies department. Minors must devise a three-course “concentration” (see above) in consultation with a women’s and gender studies faculty advisor (the chair or any of the four women’s and gender studies faculty members). Not more than one unit can be a 100-level course.
Honors
The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100-level; the department may petition on her behalf if her GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. See Academic Distinctions.
Advanced Placement Policy
Women’s and Gender Studies does not allow students to count AP credits towards the fulfillment of the major or minor.
As of 5/13/2009
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