Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Faculty and students in the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies use an interdisciplinary approach to examine the construction of women, gender, and sexuality throughout the world. The interdisciplinary research and training in our department position our students to be thought leaders and agents in addressing inequality in all of its forms. Our graduates have gone on to work in fields such as business, entertainment, law, medicine, and social work. This community of scholars and activists is committed to doing the critical work of reimagining and producing a more inclusive future.
Among the first of its kind in the nation (est. 1972), the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington University has emphasized the importance of gender and sexuality to such disciplines and interdisciplinary programs as philosophy, psychology, history, education, law, architecture, art history and archaeology, anthropology, political science, international studies, American culture studies, and studies in culture and languages.
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies students are often leaders in campus organizations that deal with issues concerning women, gender relations, sexuality, and health.
Contact Info
Phone: | 314-935-5102 |
Email: | wgss@wustl.edu |
Website: | http://wgss.wustl.edu |
Chair
Rebecca Wanzo
Professor, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
PhD, Duke University
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Co-Directors of Graduate Studies
Marlon M. Bailey
Professor
PhD, University of California, Berkeley
African and African American Studies; Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Heather Berg
Assistant Professor
PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Feminist Studies
Co-Directors of Undergraduate Studies
Amy Cislo
Teaching Professor
PhD, Washington University
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; German
Cynthia Barounis
Senior Lecturer
PhD, University of Illinois Chicago
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Department Faculty
Jami Ake
Senior Lecturer
PhD, Indiana University Bloomington
Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities; Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Rachel Brown
Assistant Professor
PhD, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Political Science
Shefali Chandra
Associate Professor
PhD, University of Pennsylvania
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; History
René Esparza
Assistant Professor
PhD, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; American Studies
Tamsin Kimoto
Assistant Professor
PhD, Emory University
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Andrea Nichols
Lecturer
PhD, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Criminology
Allison S. Reed
Postdoctoral Fellow
PhD, University of Chicago
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Trevor Sangrey
Lecturer
PhD, University of California, Santa Cruz
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; History of Consciousness
Elisabeth Windle
Lecturer
PhD, Washington University in St. Louis
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; English
Professors Emeritas
Mary Ann Dzuback
Professor Emeritas
PhD, Columbia University
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Education; History
Linda Nicholson
Profesor Emeritas
PhD, Brandeis University
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; History
Affiliate Faculty
Jean Allman
J.H. Hexter Professor in the Humanities
PhD, Northwestern University
History
Susan Frelich Appleton
Lemma Barkeloo and Phoebe Couzins Professor of Law
JD, University of California, Berkeley
Law
Nancy Berg
Professor
PhD, University of Pennsylvania
Modern Hebrew Languages and Literatures
Elizabeth Childs
Etta and Mark Steinberg Professor of Art History
PhD, Columbia University
Art History
Caitlyn Collins
Assistant Professor
PhD, University of Texas at Austin
Sociology
Rebecca Copeland
Professor
PhD, Columbia University
Japanese
Marion Crain
Wiley Rutledge Professor of Law
JD, University of California, Los Angeles
Law
Adrienne Davis
William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law
JD, Yale University
Law
Tonya Edmond
Associate Professor
PhD, University of Texas at Austin
Social Work
Vanessa Fabbre
Assistant Professor
PhD, University of Chicago
Social Work
R. Marie Griffith
John C. Danforth Distinguished Professor
PhD, Harvard University
Director, John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics
Christine Johnson
Associate Professor
PhD, Johns Hopkins University
History
Elizabeth Katz
Associate Professor
JD, University of Virginia
Law
Stephanie Kirk
Associate Professor
PhD, New York University
Romance Languages and Literatures
Rebecca Lester
Associate Professor
PhD, University of California, San Diego
Anthropology
Erin McGlothlin
Associate Professor
PhD, University of Virginia
Germanic Languages and Literatures
Rebecca Messbarger
Professor
PhD, University of Chicago
Romance Languages and Literatures
Melanie Micir
Associate Professor
PhD, University of Pennsylvania
English
Angela Miller
Professor
PhD, Yale University
Art History
Patricia Olynyk
Florence and Frank Bush Professor of Design and Visual Arts
MFA, California College of the Arts
Art
Shanti Parikh
Associate Professor
PhD, Yale University
Anthropology; African and African-American Studies
Anca Parvulescu
Professor
PhD, University of Minnesota
English
Nancy Reynolds
Associate Professor
PhD, Stanford University
History
Jessica Rosenfeld
Associate Professor
PhD, University of Pennsylvania
English
Julie Singer
Associate Professor
PhD, Duke University
Romance Languages and Literatures
Peggie Smith
Charles F. Nagel Professor of Employment and Labor Law
JD, Yale University
Law
Gaylyn Studlar
David May Distinguished University Professor in the Humanities
PhD, University of Southern California
Film and Media Studies
Lynne Tatlock
Hortense and Tobias Lewin Distinguished Professor in the Humanities
PhD, Indiana University
Germanic Languages and Literatures
Karen Tokarz
Charles Nagel Professor of Public Interest and Public Service Law
JD, Saint Louis University
LLM, University of California, Berkeley
Law
Corinna Treitel
Associate Professor
PhD, Harvard University
History
Akiko Tsuchiya
Professor
PhD, Cornell University
Romance Languages and Literatures
Anika Walke
Associate Professor
PhD, University of California
History
Gerhild Scholz Williams
Barbara Schaps Thomas and David M. Thomas Professor in the Humanities
PhD, University of Washington
Germanic Languages and Literatures
Adia Harvey Wingfield
Professor
PhD, Johns Hopkins University
Sociology
Colette Winn
Professor
PhD, University of Missouri-Columbia
Romance Languages and Literatures
Visit online course listings to view semester offerings for L77 WGSS.
L77 WGSS 100B Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
This course will provide an introduction to the major and concepts in the interdisciplinary field of women, gender and sexuality studies. We will examine the meanings attached to terms such as "man," "woman," "gay," and "sex." Topics discussed may include the history of feminist movements, masculinity, biological frameworks for understanding gender, intimate violence, sexual identities, and intersectionality. In each section, five seats are reserved for first-year students and sophomores, four seats are for juniors, and five seats are for seniors.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA, HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 102 Women in Science: An Introduction
Throughout the centuries, women were interested and involved in the sciences. Their scientific contributions, however, have often been overlooked and their abilities questioned. The 2205 proposition by Harvard's President Larry Summers that women's innate differences explain why fewer women succeed in math and science suggests that women continue to face assumptions about their scientific competence. In addition to examining the history of women's participation in science, this class explores the continuing cultural and economic barriers to women interested in science. Starting with a historical overview of women in science, we look at the contributions of women scientists. We review the numbers of women in various fields with good representation, such as biology, and those with few women, such as physics and computer science. Like the prestigious journal Science, we also explore whether women do science differently. This course is restricted to Women in Science Focus program participants.
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L77 WGSS 103 First Sem: Sex & Gender in the Gutter: An Intro to Gender and Sexuality Studies Through Comics
This freshman seminar serves as an introduction to some of the history and concepts important in the field of gender and sexuality studies through graphic storytelling. Topics include the history of feminism in the United States, violence against girls and women, queer theory, intersectionality, and transnational feminism. Please be advised that while we will read comics-most of these texts are not for kids. We discuss traumatic issues and will look at some disturbing images. Please spend some looking at descriptions of the required texts and think about whether or not this class is for you.
Credit 3 units. A&S: FYS A&S IQ: HUM, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 104 First-Year Seminar: Gender, Sexuality and Settler Colonialism
This course examines settler colonial societies through the lens of gender and sexuality. Central questions of the course include: How is colonialism a fundamentally gendered process? What is settler colonialism and how is it different from/similar to "extractive" or "franchise" colonialism? How does the political, legal and social construction of indigeneity intersect with other social categories such as race, gender, class and sexuality? How have social movements mobilized against land dispossession globally in ways that incorporate diverse understandings of gender? Looking at various global case studies, we will examine how indigenous feminist scholars and organizers think about and respond to resource extraction, economic exploitation, gender violence, and land theft. Drawing on anti-colonial, queer, indigenous feminist, two-spirit, transnational feminist and anti-capitalist traditions, we will compare settler colonial regimes and modes of organizing across economic, cultural, political, and environmental spheres. This course is for first-year, non-transfer students only.
Credit 3 units. A&S: FYS A&S IQ: LCD, SSC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA, ETH EN: S
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L77 WGSS 106 First-Year Seminar: Feminist and Queer Science and Technology Studies
This course will introduce students to key concepts and ideas emerging from the fields of feminist and queer science and technology studies. Science and scientific practice are commonly understood to proceed from a neutral, objective perspective aimed at producing universal truths. Similarly, technological innovation is understood to be an unquestioned good for human development. Feminist and queer thinkers have critiqued these views along epistemological, methodological, and socio-political lines. They have consistently pointed to both the gaps in scientific knowledge production and the risks of uncritical technological development for reproducing marginalization and oppression. At the same time, feminist and queer thinks have critically imagined the possibilities of both science and technology as potential forces for addressing social injustice. We will survey a number of these interventions while considering how this work might inform our present contexts. Course is for first-year, non-transfer students only.
Credit 3 units. A&S: FYS A&S IQ: HUM, SC EN: H
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L77 WGSS 1135 First-Year Seminar: The World of Cleopatra
Cleopatra -- the last queen of ancient Egypt -- captivated her contemporaries and has fascinated the Western world ever since her famous suicide by asp in 31 BCE. She was a woman of contrasts: Pharaoh of Egypt and Greco-Macedonian queen; seductive woman and shrewd political strategist; a ruthless monarch using every means available to consolidate her position in the face of the encroaching power of the Roman Empire. Through texts and material culture, the seminar will seek to understand Cleopatra in the context both of her native Egypt and of the wider Mediterranean world. We will thus examine the traditions of Pharaonic Egypt; the historical events that brought Egypt under the control of the Macedonian Ptolemies (Cleopatra's dynasty); the wider stage of East-West tension and conquest in which Cleopatra struggled to maintain her power; her relationships (political and personal) with famous men of her day (Caesar, Herod, Mark Antony); her capital city of Alexandria, the largest metropolis of its day; Cleopatra's brilliant court and its luxury arts; and finally the many Cleopatras that have populated art and literature of later times. We will emerge with a sense of Cleopatra, both as a unique individual and as a product of her time.
Same as L08 Classics 1135
Credit 3 units. A&S: FYS A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Art: CPSC BU: IS EN: H
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L77 WGSS 205 Introduction to Queer Studies
This course offers an introduction to the topics, questions, and approaches that characterize the rapidly growing field of lesbian/gay/bisexual/trans/queer studies. Using an interdisciplinary approach, we will explore such topics as the relation between gender and sexual identity, the history of same-sex relations, homophobia and heterosexism, queer cultures, and LGBTQ politics, particularly in the United States. Our focus will be on asking whether and how "LGBTQ" functions as a coherent category of analysis or identity, and we will pay particular attention to differences (of race, age, gender, sexual practice, class, national origin, temperament, and so on) that are contained within and that often disrupt that category. This course is not open to students who have taken L77 203 or L77 3031.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 206 Sexuality and the State: Introduction to Sexuality Studies
Taking Michel Foucault's idea of biopolitics as a starting point. This course examines the ways in which sexuality has been produced and regulated by the state. Drawing on history, theory, and literature, we will look at contemporary examples of the relationship between the state and sexuality. What assumptions lie behind our ideas of sexuality? How are bodies linked by the prevailing logic of sexuality? How does sexuality inform the way that we see bodies as gendered, raced, or able-bodied. In addition to looking at the relationship between sexuality and capitalism, religion, and nation, this course asks how these ideas are embodied in particular raced and gendered ideologies.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 207 Constructions of Black Womanhood and Manhood in the Black Community
This course introduces students to everyday and representational experiences of Black women and men. We will explore different understandings of Black gender through engaging scholarly work and creative texts/performances/visual representations. How is the construction of gender informed by race and other categories of difference (e.g., sexuality, class)? How might we gain a better understanding of how gender is (re)constructed within American society? What role does gender play in Black community politics and issues? This course is for first-year and sophomore students only.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 2118 First Year Seminar: Angels, Prostitutes and Chicas Modernas: Women in Latin American History
Women have been active players in the construction of Latin American nations. In the last two decades, leading scholars in the field have taken up the challenge of documenting women's participation. This research explosion has produced fruitful results to allow for the development of specialized courses. This course looks at the nation building process through the lens of Latin American women. Students will examine the expectations, responsibilities and limitations women confronted in their varied roles from the Wars of Independence to the social revolutions and dictatorial regimes of the twentieth century. Besides looking at their political and economic lives, students will explore the changing gender roles and relations within marriage and the family, as well as the changing sexual and maternal mores.
Same as L22 History 2118
Credit 3 units. A&S: FYS A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM, IS EN: H
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L77 WGSS 214C Gender and Texts
Discussion of canonical and non-traditional texts, most by women. Emphasis on how these texts represent gender, how literature contributes to identity-formation, and how women have used the written word to change their social and imaginative conditions.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 2232 Gender and Sexuality in the African Diaspora
This course is an interdisciplinary examination of gender and sexuality in the Africa Diaspora. We will study the complexities of gender and sexual experiences, practices, identities, and community formations within select cultural contexts. Through lectures, and discussion and creative activities, films, and reading materials, both fiction and nonfiction, we will examine how genders and sexualities are constructed, experienced, and lived in various socio/cultural geographies throughout the Black world.
Same as L90 AFAS 2232
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 270A Sophomore Seminar: Globalization and its Discontents
The metanarrative of globalization and global inter-connections privileges the story of markets, growth, and mobility. That story is relentlessly optimistic, and simultaneously, devoid of an understanding of gender, sexual difference or race. In this course, we take a different approach. We discard the more conventional "metrics" of globalization by focusing instead on another equally global story: the manner by which human beings have been gendered and racialized over time. Doing so allows us to revisit globalization through its own deceptions, its interconnected secrets. We confront a different set of questions: how has intimacy shaped global mobility, what is the relationship between caste and MAMAA, between custom and the movement of capital, between "slums" and scale, between outsourcing and incarceration, how does the normative family propel global racial regimes? Most crucially, how and why is the emotional and intimate story of globalization concealed? The seminar class utilizes a wide array of sources, historical documents, scholarly critiques, novels and film and largely considers the longer, global history of India as the case study. Our specific focus will be on the secretive interconnections of slavery, seclusion, settlers, servitude, surrogacy, and scholarship, as we take a deep dive into the disguises, and the more hidden aspects, of globalization.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD BU: BA, IS EN: H
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L77 WGSS 280A Sex in Italian Culture and Media
From XIXth century hotbed of sexual tourism to XXist century idyllic scenario of Guadagnino'ssteamy romance "Call Me by Your Name," Italy has been cast globally as an imaginary site of sexual freedom. Throughout the 20th century, Italy's sexual culture and mores have been shaped more by a climate of discretion, secrecy, and scandals than by overt identity politics. However, between the early 70s and the first Rome Pride in 2000, an Italian movement of sexual activism featuring activists, writers, and artists have impacted globally the ways in which we experience and talk about bodies, desires, and sexual identities nowadays. How do we think, represent, and talk sex in Italian culture? What is queer about Italian culture and how does "queer" translate into Italian language? This course introduces students to the study of Italian cultural productions on sexuality between discretion and identity politics spanning early sexological work, accounts of homosexuality under Fascism, "transessualita" Italian-style, sexual manifestos, photographic archives, AIDS fiction, LGBTQI films and YouTube videos, transnational queer comedies, drag king performances, etc. The class is taught in English with no prerequisite necessary. No Final.
Same as L36 Ital 280
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 299 Independent Study: Internships
This course number is to be used for internships only.
Credit variable, maximum 3 units.
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L77 WGSS 2991 Undergraduate Teaching Assistant
In this course an advanced undergraduate can assist a faculty member in the teaching of an introductory level Women and Gender Studies course. Students can enroll in one course only after having obtained permission from a faculty member who is willing to supervise. Students will not engage in any grading but may serve in a variety of other capacities - as discussion leaders, in providing logistical support, or in otherwise assisting with the transmission of course material.
Credit variable, maximum 3 units.
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L77 WGSS 3002 Feminist Fire!: Radical Black Women in the 20th Century
Black women have been at the forefront of the Black radical tradition since its inception. Often marginalized in both the scholarship and the popular memory, there exists a long unbroken chain of women who have organized around the principles of anti-sexism, anti-racism, and anti-capitalism. Frequently critical of heterosexist projects as well, these women have been the primary force driving the segment of the Black radical tradition that is commonly referred to as Black Feminism. Remaining cognizant of the fact that Black Feminist thought has also flourished as an academic enterprise -- complete with its own theoretical interventions (e.g., standpoint theory, intersectionality, dissemblance) and competing scholarly agendas -- this course will think through the project of Black Feminism as a social movement driven by activism and vigorous political action for social change. Focusing on grassroots efforts at organizing, movement building, consciousness raising, policy reform, and political mobilization, this course will center Black Feminists who explicitly embraced a critical posture toward capitalism as an untenable social order. We will prioritize the lives and thoughts of 20th-century women like Claudia Jones, Queen Mother Audley Moore, Frances Beal, Barbara Smith, Audre Lorde, and Angela Davis as wellas organizations like the Combahee River Collective, the Chicago's Black Women's Committee, and the Third World Women's Alliance. At its core, this course aims to bring the social movement history back into the discourse surrounding Black Feminism.
Same as L90 AFAS 3002
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HT, HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3003 Writing Intensive in Ancient Studies
This is a Writing Intensive course involving the study of selected topics in Classics. Recent topics include The Banquet in Antiquity; The Art of Reading and Writing an Ancient Greek Vase; and Golden Ages, Nostalgia, and the Idealized Past.
Same as L08 Classics 3003
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3012 Gender and Politics
This course surveys central topics in the study of gender and politics, covering such issues as women's participation in political parties and social movements, women as voters and candidates in political elections, feminism and the state, and gender and international politics. It will draw on examples from various world regions and time periods to analyze similarities and differences across cases around the globe.
Same as L32 Pol Sci 3010
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 3013 On Love and Intimacy: Theorizing Kinship in the Multiple
Love and Intimacy are terms that have a lot of cultural cache. In this course, we will analyze the ways in which intimacy has been embedded within certain discourses of privacy, rights, and individuality. In addition to the couple form, we will examine friendship, celibacy, therapy and relationships people form with pets and with objects to flesh out intimacy's multiplicities to see how these forces impact these affective tides. This course will bring together history, critical theory, and film to think through various expressions of intimacy and what it means to relate to the other. Prerequisites: Any 100- or 200- level Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course or permission from the instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Art: HUM BU: BA, ETH EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3014 Queering Citizenship: Gender/Abolition
"Queering Citizenship: Gender/Abolition" asks how the struggle for gender self-determination overlaps with struggles to refigure, transform, and abolish political institutions. We will ask: How have queer thinkers/social movements in the last four decades helped create collective forms of life and social organization beyond the state and the prison-industrial complex? Global resistance to citizenship, borders, carceral violence and gender injustice makes these question unavoidable for queer and feminist thinkers and activists. Through our study of queer theory and abolitionist politics, we will consider the costs of exclusion from, as well as inclusion in, citizenship regimes transnationally and state discourses of LGBT recognition. The course considers connections between heteronormativity and citizenship; carceral and gender violence; state support for the white, middle-class nuclear family; the policing of intimacy; queer liberation and abolition democracy; gender anarchy and political anarchism; and the surveillance of gender and the political economy of prisons and policing. In each of these areas, we will attend to the politics of transgender recognition; gay imperialism; campaigns to defund the police; legislative violence against transgender youth; and overlaps between global abolitionist movements and the struggle for bodily autonomy and sovereignty. Pre-Requisite: L77 100B or consent of instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: LCD, SSC, SD Arch: SEM, SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 302A Black Feminist Theory
What makes Black feminist theory unique? Whose theorizing is considered "theory" worthy of canonizing? What are the different strands of Black feminist thought ? What has Black feminist thought contributed to academic and popular culture? Through engaging with primary text and producing their own text, students in this seminar will develop answers to these questions through exploration of (contemporary) Black feminist thought. The course has no specific prerequisites, but students should be prepared for intensive study of challenging ideas and the application of these ideas in new contexts relevant to modern society. This course counts toward the program's Theory component which Sociology majors and minors must complete to fulfill degree requirements.
Same as L40 SOC 3002
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC Arch: SSC Art: SSC EN: S
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L77 WGSS 303 Gender and Education
An examination of educational experiences, practices, and institutions across multiple levels (PK-university) using gender as a critical lens. Key topics include common beliefs, practices, and expectations related to gender in educational spaces, as well as the intersections between gender and other identities that may influence educational experiences and outcomes. Readings are drawn from multiple disciplines, including sociology, history, psychology, and philosophy. Students should be prepared to analyze their own gendered educational experiences in the context of the scholarship explored in the course, while also listening respectfully and reflecting on the experiences shared by classmates. Enrollment Note: Undergraduate students must enroll in Educ. 303, and graduate students must enroll in Educ. 5003.
Same as L12 Educ 303
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 3031 Queer Theory
This course provides students with an interdisciplinary examination of the history, politics, and cultural expressions of gay and lesbian communities in American culture. It explores the ways lesbians, gay men, and bisexual and transgender people construct, participate in, and resist various constructions of gender and sexuality. We question desire and social/cultural power, the nature and power of social change, and so on. Particular attention is paid to examining the roots and effects of heterosexism and homophobia, the call for hate crime legislation, the ethics of "outing" and "passing," the impact of AIDS, partnership recognition, and domestic violence in LGBT communities. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to examine the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, and social class with sexual orientation.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3032 Music and Queer Performance
This course examines how music serves as a delightful site for performing, negotiating, and living queerness. Some questions we will ask include: How does queer musical performance inhabit the full gamut between conformity and subversion, irony and sincerity, or camp and authenticity? How do performers use or resist tropes of belonging, passing, and coming out to constitute queer performance? How do singers manipulate the sound of their voice, the gendered associations carried by that sound, and the assumptions about the body which produces it? Are queer musical acts a mode of performance or a way of being, and who decides? We will analyze a range of examples from the past and from contemporary popular culture: soft masculinities, cowboy and country personas, cross-dressing in music theater, lip-syncing drag queens and kings, high-femme divas, and performers of androgynous, cyborg, and post-human aesthetics. The parameters for what counts as queer performance are capacious, and students will have plenty of opportunities to contribute their own examples and case studies to the course.
Same as L27 Music 3035
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3041 Making Sex and Gender: Understanding the History of the Body
This course provides an overview of history of the body in Europe and the United States from medieval to modern times using feminist and queer theoretical frameworks. We explore the shifting authority in defining a "normal" body as the fields of medicine and science become professionalized, the cultural interaction with science and medicine in the modern era, and how aesthetics and popular perception of science inform the notion of ideal body, gender, race, sex, and sexuality in the modern era. Prerequisite: Any -100 or -200 level Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course or permission of instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA, HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3051 Culture and Identity: Indigenous Feminisms
Topics vary by semester; see semester listing for course description.
Same as L98 AMCS 330D
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: CPSC, HUM BU: BA, HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 305A Literature and Consent
Same as L14 E Lit 305
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 308 Masculinities
This course critically examines the subject of masculinity through a number of themes including history, society, politics, race, gender, sexuality, art and popular culture. Interdisciplinary readings are drawn from the fields of sociology, anthropology, literature, history, art history and cultural studies. We will examine the challenges presented to 'masculinity' (and a variety of responses) by the late-twentieth century emergency of gender studies. Our goal is to come to a working definition of masculinity/ies and gain an understanding of some past, current and possible future masculine behaviors, mythologies, ideologies, experiences and identities. Previous coursework in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies strongly recommended but not required. ATTENDANCE MANDATORY FIRST DAY IN ORDER TO RESERVE YOUR CLASS ENROLLMENT.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 30GS "I Know It When I See It." A History of Obscenity & Pornography in the United States
When Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart was asked to describe his test for obscenity in 1964, he responded: "I know it when I see it." But do we? What is pornography and how has it changed over the last two and a half centuries? What role does pornography play in our society and how is our society reflected in its contents? This course seeks to explore these questions and more and actively engages in the debate and controversies inherent to discussions of pornography in America. In this course we will engage with primary sources to track the changing nature of pornographic material- written, physical, and visual- and to recognize the way pornography reflects changes in the wider social milieu, as well as secondary and theoretical sources to contextualize and provoke our understanding of patterns of pornography use and regulation. It is likely that our definition of pornography will change over the semester- our initial definition is broadly bounded by material considered pornographic by its contemporaries and that which is created with the intent of erotic simulation.
Same as L22 History 30GS
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 310 From Hysteria to Hysterectomy: Women's Health Care in America
This course examines issues surrounding women's health care in America. While the scope is broad, the major emphasis will be on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through an examination of popular writing, scientific/medical writing, letters, diaries, and fiction, we will look at the changing perceptions and conceptions of women's bodies and health in America.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 3101 An Intellectual History of Sex and Gender: Text and Traditions
When did sexuality begin? Is it safe to assume that gender constructions are universal and timeless? In this course, we will engage with a broad range of readings that serve as primary texts in the history of sexuality and gender. Our aims are threefold: (1) to analyze the literary evidence we have for sexuality and gender identity in Western culture; (2) to survey modern scholarly approaches to those same texts; and (3) to consider the ways in which these modern theoretical frameworks have become the most recent set of primary texts on sexuality and gender.
Same as L93 IPH 310
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3103 Sex and Money: Economies of Desire
This interdisciplinary course explores the connections between sexuality and money. First, we investigate the role of money in sexual life that appears to exist outside of the market. How does heterosexuality reproduce capitalism, and are there sexual formations that escape capitalism's reach? Can there be meaningful consent so long as there is rent to pay? How do economics, race, and colonialism shape desire? What is the role of money in dating and marriage, and should these be understood as forms of legalized prostitution, as Marxist feminists and sex workers have long suggested? Next, we turn to sex work to explore how explicit economic exchange shapes sexuality. What power dynamics does money engender, and how do sex workers navigate and subvert them? Is sex work merely an extension of the "work we do as women," as sex worker activists wrote in a 1977 manifesto? Finally, we close with the question of whether women have better sex under socialism. What economic systems make way for sexual liberation, and how might projects for economic justice center demands for better sexual futures?
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC Arch: SSC, SSP Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 3121 Topics in American Literature: Girls' Fiction
Topic varies. Writing intensive.
Same as L14 E Lit 316W
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H UColl: ENL
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L77 WGSS 312W Topics in English and American Literature: 30 Years of Queer
Starting with Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind, a book that helped re-ignite the Culture Wars, this course will consider the debates and problems that pervaded American culture during the 1990s. From the end of the Cold War to the sexual scandals that rocked Bill Clinton's presidency, from the emergence of the Internet to the rise of grunge and rap, the 1990s were a time of vast change in American culture. It was period when we, as a nation, reconsidered the legacy of the 1960s, the Reagan revolution, and the end of the Cold War, a time of economic expansion and cultural tension. In our consideration of this period, we will take a multidisciplinary approach when tackling a variety of materials-ranging from literary fiction (Philip Roth's The Human Stain, Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections) and popular films (Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and The Cohen brothers' The Big Lebowski) to the music of Nirvana and Public Enemy-in an attempt to come to a better understanding of our recent history. Throughout the semester, we will pursue the vexed cultural, political, and historical questions that Americans faced in the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, and consider how literary texts imagined this period of American history.
Same as L14 E Lit 312W
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3130 Sexuality in Early Christianity
What did Jesus of Nazareth and his early followers teach about sexuality in terms of marriage, adultery, divorce, the virtues of procreation and celibacy, same-sex relationships, and erotic desire? How and why did ancient Christians take different stances on these issues, and how do these traditions continue to inform sexual ethics and gender roles today? In this course, we will study these questions by examining key passages from the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels, Paul's letters, writings of early church leaders, martyr propaganda, monastic literature, and apocryphal books deemed heretical. We will also consider the interpretations of contemporary historians of religion informed by recent trends in sexuality and gender theories.
Same as L23 Re St 3130
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA, ETH EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3141 The Racial and Sexual Politics of Public Health
Race and sexuality have long been concerns of public health. From hygienic campaigns against Mexican immigrants in early-1900s California to the 1991 quarantine of Haitian refugees with HIV at Guantanamo Bay, race and sexuality have proven crucial to how society identifies health and, by extension, determines who is fit to be a citizen. This interdisciplinary course interrogates the intersections of race, sexuality, and medicine, discussing how each domain has been constitutive of the other in the American context. Via feminist and queer theorizing, we will examine the political and economic factors under which diseases, illnesses, and health campaigns have impacted racial and sexual minorities over the last two centuries. An orienting question for the course is the following: How has the state wielded public health as a regulatory site to legitimatize perceived racial differences and to regulate ostensible sexual deviations? Through primary and secondary sources, we will likewise explore the various forms of "health activism" undertaken by these very same targeted populations. Themes to be addressed will include the medicalization of racial and sexual difference; activism both in and against health institutions; and the roles of race, class, gender, sexuality, and disability in contemporary health issues. Case studies include the Tuskegee syphilis experiment; the sterilization of black, Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Native American women; the medicalization of homosexuality during the Cold War; and the role of mass incarceration in the diffusion of HIV. At a moment in time when access to health continues to be shaped by categories of social difference, understanding the role of public health in the normalization and subversion of racial and sexual hierarchies in the West is more pertinent than ever.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC Arch: SEM, SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 3152 Sex and Gender in Greco-Roman Antiquity
In this course, we will explore how ancient Greeks and Romans thought about gender and sexuality. We will consider questions such as: which traits and behaviors did the Greeks and the Romans associate with masculinity and with femininity? What can we tell from our sources about those who did not fit neatly into this binary? How did ancient Greeks and Romans think about male and female anatomy and psychology? How did the Greeks and the Romans construct sexuality and how did they approach homosexual and heterosexual relationships? How did they think about erotic desire? How did ancient laws and institutions circumscribe the lives of men and women, and how did they contribute to the construction of gender and sexuality? How did class, ethnicity, and age intersect with ideas about gender and sexuality in antiquity? We will read an array of ancient texts in translation, we will consider various theoretical viewpoints, and we will move toward a better understanding of how gender and sexuality were constructed in antiquity. Ultimately, we will reflect on how our exploration of ancient ideas about these issues can help us understand better how we think about them today.
Same as L08 Classics 3152
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC, SD Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3153 The Women of Greek Tragedy
This course examines the role of women in Athenian drama. Students will read English translations of the works of the three major tragedians -- Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides -- and their near contemporary, the comedian Aristophanes. Direct engagement with ancient texts will encourage students to develop their own interpretations of and written responses to the political, social, and ethical manipulation that these mythological women were compelled to endure and the subtle ways in which they appear to exercise power themselves. Selected scholarly articles and book chapters will help students to contextualize these ancient dramas in their culture of origin. Because such issues continue to preoccupy both sexes today, students will see how Greek tragedy addresses perennial historical and cultural concerns through the examination of adaptations of Greek tragedies ranging from Seneca in ancient Rome to Spike Lee's "Chi-Raq" and Luis Alfaro's "Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles." The final research paper will encourage students to consider how a specific female character from antiquity is transformed for a "modern" dramatic audience.
Same as L08 Classics 3153
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 315E Topics in Literature: Queer Love in Public
Topics: themes, formal problems, literary genres, special subjects (e.g., the American West, American autobiographical writing). Consult Course Listings for offerings in any given semester.
Same as L14 E Lit 315
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 316 Feminist Health Studies
In this class, we will identify and study a broad range of health issues and experiences within the context of gender and sexuality. The course will focus both on the health care system and lived, lay experiences of health and wellbeing. Topics will include discussions on mental health, reproductive issues, caregiving, and survivorship, as well as the politics of health and gender, the role of health and care in activism, gender differences in health status, and the impact of race and socioeconomic status on health. Prerequisties: any 100- or 200-level Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course or permission from the instructor. If you have taken L77 316 Contemporary Women's Health, you may not register for this course. Waitlists controlled by Department; priority given to WGSS majors. Enrollment capped at 20.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 3171 Community-Engaged Learning: Gender and Incarceration
Since President Reagan declared the war on drugs in the 1980s, the numbers of women in prison have increased dramatically. Due to mandatory minimum sentencing requirements and increasingly harsh sentences for nonviolent offenses, the U.S. prison population has swelled to unprecedented numbers over the last few decades. While women are the fastest growing population in prison, men still make up the vast majority of prisoners, and the system is largely geared toward men and their needs. In this course, we will explore the historical treatment of and contemporary issues related to women and girls who get caught up in the criminal justice system. Through readings, films, reflective writings, and facility tours, we will explore the impact of incarceration on women and their families. Although our scope will be national, we will focus on the corrections system in Missouri. Note: This is a community-engaged learning class, which means that it combines classroom learning with outside work at a community organization. In addition to regular class time, there is a service requirement that will necessitate an additional four to five hours per week. There are several organizations with which we are partnering, and students will be assigned to one of these groups to work with for the entire semester. Moreover, there is a required all-day field trip to visit the women's prison in Vandalia, Mo., and the men's prison in Bowling Green, Mo. If students cannot commit to these out-of-class obligations, which are required to pass the course, they should not register for this course. Prerequisite: Intro to Women and Gender Studies or Intro to Sexuality Studies. Juniors and seniors only. Waitlists controlled by Department; priority given to WGSS majors.
Credit 4 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 3172 Queer Histories
Queer history is a profoundly political project. Scholars and activists use queer histories to assert theories of identity formation, build communities, and advance a vision of the meanings of sexuality in modern life and the place of queer people in national communities. This history of alternative sexual identities is narrated in a variety of settings-the internet as well as the academy, art and film as well as the streets-and draws upon numerous disciplines, including anthropology, geography, sociology, oral history, fiction and memoir, as well as history. This discussion-based course will examine the sites and genres of queer history, with particular attention to moments of contestation and debate about its contours and meanings.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HT BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3173 Community-Engaged Learning: Documenting the Queer Past in St. Louis
Around the United States and the world, grassroots LGBTQ history projects investigate the queer past as a means of honoring the courage of those who have come before, creating a sense of community today as well aas building an understanding of the exclusions and divisions that shaped these communities and that continue to limit them. In this course, we participate in this national project of history-making by helping to excavate the queer past in the greater St. Louis region. Course readings will focus on the ways that sexual identities and communities in the United States have been shaped by urban settings since the late 19th century, with particular attention to the ways that race, class, and gender have structured queer spaces and communities. In their community service project, students will work with local LGBTQ groups, including the St. Louis LGBT History Project, to research St. Louis's queer past. Each student will also conduct an oral history interview with an LGBTQ community member. Note: This is a community-engaged learning class, which means that it combines classroom learning with outside work at a community organization. In addition to regular class time, there is a service requirement, which necessitates an additional three to five hours per week. Before beginning the community service component, students must complete required training. Prerequisite: Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Introduction to Queer Studies; or permission of instructor.
Credit 4 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3174 Community Engaged Learning: Feminist and Queer Community Praxis
Using St. Louis as a lens, the course focuses on examining the imbrication of class, gender, race, and sexuality in the US and the variety of community efforts that use feminist and queer principles to enact social change. Course readings present theories of class, gender, race, and sexuality as well as visions of community response. Service work in community engagement placements enables students to ask how their understanding of social change is challenged when put into practice and how communities can and should shape academic discourse. Course assignments ask students to evaluate both academic and community praxis (theory in practice) with the goal of creating a more just and equitable St. Louis. Students can do engagement hours with a group with which they already have established a relationship, but must notify instructor when enrolling in the course. Course enrollment is limited to Juniors and Seniors. Course expects significant community work outside of class meeting hours and thus carries 4 credits.
Credit 4 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3180 The Abuse Crisis in Modern Christianity
For over a quarter-century, journalists have broken story after story about sexually abusive clergy in the U.S., many of them serial abusers of children and adolescents. While most accounts have focused on Catholic priests, many have also emerged of abusive evangelical and other Protestant ministers. The stories have illuminated how church bureaucrats have consistently protected abusers and subverted the efforts of victims and their families to seek recompense, accountability, and justice. These protections have often succeeded because of churches' political connections to law enforcement and legislators who have helped hide perpetrators and stymie survivors. Together we will analyze this cautionary tale about religion and politics by contextualizing it within the broader history of Christianity in the United States and beyond. Is this a case simply of a few bad apples or of institutional corruption? How has the church's response been shaped by fear of scandal, antipathy toward secularism, and theological teachings on gender and homosexuality? How does sexual abuse fit into the history of the church as a hierarchical institution? What challenges has the crisis posed to people of faith who are committed to the church, and can trust be repaired? Readings include legal case studies, internal church correspondence, victims' statements and criminal justice reports, documentary films and memoirs, and both journalistic and scholarly analysis of the clergy sex abuse crisis in the U.S. church. WARNING: Many of our readings contain difficult accounts of abuse as well as the subsequent trauma most victims suffer. If this subject matter is triggering for you and you'd like to speak with me about whether or not to take it, I'll be glad to help you think through it.
Same as L57 RelPol 3180
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3181 Gender, Sexuality and Power in Brazil
This course examines the nexus of gender, sexuality, and power in Brazil through an interdisciplinary lens. We will aim to understand how varying understandings of gender and sexuality have impacted the development of Brazilian society in history and continue to shape contemporary society and politics. We will pay special attention to the ways in which the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity, and so on impact people's lived experiences and how heteronormativity and homophobia shape current politics. We will take an intersectional feminist approach to analyze topics such as slavery in colonial Brazil, national aspirations to modernity, authoritarian repression and "moral panics," domestic labor, motherhood, sex tourism, Brazilian feminisms, and LGBTQ+ activism. Scholarly work from various fields of study -- with an emphasis on gender studies, history, and anthropology -- will be supplemented by documentaries, film, podcasts, and other media. This is a Writing Intensive and a Social Contrasts class in the IQ curriculum. Prerequisite: L45 165D, or two courses on Latin American or Women and Gender Studies, or permission of instructor.
Same as L45 LatAm 318
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA, IS
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L77 WGSS 3191 Contemporary American Women Poets
An introduction to the work of contemporary American poets who are women; extensive reading of both poetry and prose. Readings include the work of poets such as Bishop, Rich, Plath, Sexton, Clampitt, Gluck, Moss, Graham, Howe, Dove, Oliver, Forche, Lauterbach.
Same as L14 E Lit 3191
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM
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L77 WGSS 319A The Body in Brazil: Race, Representation, Ontologies
This course is an introduction to various ways of understanding, representing, and performing the body in Brazil. Course materials will draw on insights from anthropology, the medical humanities, and science and technology studies in order to approach the body not just as biological material but also in its social, cultural, and spiritual dimensions. We will cover topics such as the importance of race and ethnicity since the time of colonization, sexualized media representations of gendered bodies, how some bodies are cast as disposable or "out of place" in contexts of social inequality, indigenous ways of viewing the body in relation to the natural and spiritual world, the politics of disability and access, and constructions of the "body politic" in the formation of national identity through ideas such as "antropofagia" (cultural cannabalism). Throughout, we will pay particular attention to how race, gender, sexuality, and disability shape the lived experiences of Brazilians. Topics will include the impact of slavery in the construction of the body in Brazil, the role played by race in the construction of discourses of corporality, and the development of beauty stereotypes and practices such as the medical industry of plastic surgery, among others. Students will analyze visual materials, ethnographies, historical texts, and internet sources in dialogue with critical theories from the social sciences and humanities, assessing how the body "matters" in a variety of ways that reflect Brazil's cultural diversity while also starkly highlighting its persistent racialized and gendered social inequities. These materials will form the basis of our class discussions and written assignments. The course will be taught in English. Prerequisite: L45 165D, L45 304, or another course on Latin America suggested.
Same as L45 LatAm 319
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM, IS EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3203 Bodies Out of Bounds: Feminist and Queer Disability Studies
For many, "disability" seems like a concept with a relatively stable definition and a fairly straightforward relationship to questions of health and well-being. But in the past few decades, scholars and activists have begun to challenge the notion that disability is a tragedy to be medically prevented or inspirationally "overcome." These scholars have instead focused their attention on the social aspects of disability: how it came to be constructed as a category of identity, the physical and institutional barriers that have excluded disabled people from public life, and the distortion of disabled lives within the mainstream representation. More recently, writers have turned their attention to the way disability has been defined though norms of race, gender, and sexuality. These intersections will be the focus of this course. From the diagnoses of hysteria to debates over selective abortion and the recent proliferation of breast cancer memoirs, we will consider how the politics of disability has both complemented and complicated the usual goals of feminism. We will also explore some of the ways that disability studies as a discipline has redefined and in turn been shaped by the fields of queer theory, masculinity studies, and critical race theory. We will consider how deviant genders have been the target of medicalization, the relationship between "corrective surgery" and compulsory gendering, the desexualization and hypersexualization of disabled bodies, and the role that medicine has played in justifying colonial conquest and perpetuating racial inequalities. Prerequisite: any 100- or 200-level Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3206 Global Gender Issues
This course compares the life experiences of women and men in societies throughout the world. We discuss the evidence regarding the universal subordination of women, and examine explanations that propose to situate women's and men's personality attributes, roles and responsibilities in the biological or cultural domains. In general, through readings, films and lectures, the class will provide a cross-cultural perspective on ideas regarding gender and how gendered meanings, practices, performances serve as structuring principles in society.
Same as L48 Anthro 3206
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: LCD, SSC Art: SSC BU: BA, IS EN: S
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L77 WGSS 3221 Girls' Media and Popular Culture
This course will analyze girls as cultural consumers, mediated representations, cultural producers, and subjects of social anxiety. Readings will cover a range of media that have historically been associated with girlhood, including not only film, television, and digital media but also dolls, magazines, literature, and music. We will explore what role these media texts and technologies have had in the socialization of girls, the construction of their gendered identities, and the attempts at regulation of their behavior, sexuality, and appearance. Although the course will focus on girlhood media since the 1940s, we will consider how constructions of girlhood identity have changed over time and interrogate how girlhood identity intersects with race, sexuality, and class. The course will examine important debates and tensions arising in relation to girls' media. We will evaluate concerns and moral panics about girls and their relationship to or perceived overinvestment in media and compare and contrast this with accounts of girls as active media consumers and producers. We will critically analyze how girls have been understood to negotiate agency in relation to commercialized culture -- how they have been represented as wielders of "girl power," as passive or active consumers, as fans, and as media producers themselves. We will also analyze attempts to intervene in girls' media and popular culture and consider how these interventions have attempted to empower, inspire, or regulate girls or how they have worked to reinforce or challenge gendered understandings of childhood.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 3226 A Rainbow Thread: A History of Queer Identities in Judaism and Islam
The notion that gender and sexuality minorities are forbidden or simply do not exist within traditional judaism and islamic traditions is an assumption that has been questioned in recent years. For these scholars and activists, it is not up for debate whether someone can be queer and Jewish or queer and Muslim. Therefore, what follows is an exploration of how to resurrect gender non-conforming interpretations of religious texts and rediscover the spectrum of gender and sexual identities that have always existed within Judaism and Islam. The course is divided into three parts. First, we will examine the religious textual traditions of both faiths to establish the space for queer identities in both the Qur'an and Torah as well as the traditions of Hadith and Talmud. Second, we will study key communities such as medieval Iberia, the Ottoman Mediterranean, Hasidic communities in Eastern Europe, Qajar Iran, and the colonial empires of the Middle East. This survey will show the influence European christian dominance had (or did not have) on the evolution of jewish and islamic gender and sexual norms from pre-modern times through the 20th century. Finally, we will examine the 21st century by reading the memoirs of trans muslims and trans Jews in order to analyze the ways in which contemporary queer jewish and islamic individuals frame their experiences and tell their stories of faith with agency, in their own words.
Same as L75 JIMES 3184
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 323 Selected American Writers: James Baldwin Now
Intensive study of one or more American writers. Consult Course Listings for offerings in any given semester.
Same as L14 E Lit 323
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 323A Sex Trafficking
Sex trafficking is a complex social problem with multiple contributing factors largely rooted in intersecting inequalities. Both in the United States and on a global level, interrelated inequities in gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, power, class, opportunity, education, culture, politics, and race are among the social phenomena that contribute to sex trafficking/CSE victimization. In this course, we will examine the dynamics of sex trafficking on a local and global level from various feminist and political perspectives, with particular attention given to the sexed and gendered social and structural conditions that impact sex trafficking. This course will cover the extent and nature of the problem, as well as current debates in the field, including demand, prevalence, experiences of survivors, types of sex trafficking, methods of traffickers, the role of weak social institutions, cultural dynamics, and global power dynamics. The course will also examine international, federal, and state legislation as well as organizational and grassroots efforts to prevent and respond to sex trafficking victimization. The aim of this course is to provide students with a holistic understanding of sex trafficking drawing from interdisciplinary sources and presenting a variety of perspectives.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S UColl: CD
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L77 WGSS 3282 Sexuality in Africa
An examination of various themes of African sexuality, including courtship, marriage, circumcision, STDs and AIDS, polygamy, homosexuality, child marriages, and the status of women. Course materials include ethnographic and historical material, African novels and films, and U.S. mass media productions. Using sexuality as a window of analysis, students are exposed to a broad range of social science perspectives such as functionalist, historical, feminist, social constructionist, Marxist, and postmodern.
Same as L90 AFAS 3282
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA
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L77 WGSS 3290 American Religion, Law, and Sexual Politics
Following philosopher Michel Foucault's vital insight that "sexuality is a major transfer point in the relations of power," this course will explore the complex ways in which theological ideas and religious movements have shaped legal doctrines relating to sex, gender, and sexuality in the United States from roughly the turn of the twentieth century to the present. It will examine how and why religious groups have mobilized within the legal arena at various points in US history, the devotional commitments that influence their activism, the constitutional claims and counterclaims that have emerged over time as a result of legal contestation, and the lived impact of various judicial decisions. To do so, the course will be structured thematically around three overlapping constitutional domains: (1) equal protection rights for women and sexual minorities, (2) substantive due process commitments to privacy and bodily autonomy, and (3) free speech principles related to sexual self-expression. The impact of religious advocacy on contemporary controversies such as drag show bans, restrictions on reproductive healthcare, religious exemptions to LGBT non-discrimination laws, pornography regulation, gender-affirming care access, and more will all be covered. By applying the theories and methods of critical religious studies, this course also takes questions of American religion and sexual politics as a starting point for introducing undergraduate students to legal studies more generally. Through classroom conversations and course texts, students will become familiar with the structure of the American legal system, different methods of constitutional interpretation, theoretical concerns that shape legal thinking, and critical reading skills that may be used to approach legal texts such as judicial opinions. Students from all academic backgrounds interested in gaining increased literacy in American law are encouraged to enroll-no prior exposure is required.
Same as L57 RelPol 321
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: ETH EN: H
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L77 WGSS 330A Native American/Euro-American Encounters: Confrontations of Bodies and Beliefs
This course surveys the history and historiography of how Native Americans, Europeans, and Euro-Americans reacted and adapted to one another's presence in North America from the 1600s to the mid-1800s, focusing on themes of religion and gender. We will examine the cultural and social implications of encounters between Native peoples, missionaries and other European and Euro-American Protestants and Catholics. We will pay particular attention to how bodies were a venue for encounter-through sexual contact, through the policing of gendered social and economic behaviors, and through religiously-based understandings of women's and men's duties and functions. We will also study how historians know what they know about these encounters, and what materials enable them to answer their historical questions.
Same as L57 RelPol 330
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 330S Topics in Gender and American Culture
This topics course introduces students to gender as a category of analysis. Students investigate why and how gender becomes infused with cultural meanings. Through various methodological approaches, they explore how these socially constructed meanings shape Americans' everyday lives and societal dynamics more broadly. The topic varies by semester; common focal points include the intersection of gender with race and ethnicity, social class, health care, education, and politics. This course fulfills the Social Differential requirement. Please see the course listings for a description of the current offering.
Same as L98 AMCS 330S
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3313 Topics in Gender & Religion
This course examines the ways in which issues pertaining to gender are salient in U.S. politics. The course is divided into four parts. First, we will examine theoretical approaches to the study of gender and politics, including the use of gender as an analytical category, and the relationship between gender, race, ethnicity and power. Second, we will study gender-based social movements, including the suffrage and woman's rights movements, women's participation in the civil rights movement, the contemporary feminist and anti-feminist movements, the gay rights/queer movement and the women's peace movement. Third, we will examine the role of gender in the electoral arena, in terms of how it affects voting, running for office and being in office. Finally, we will examine contemporary debates about public policy issues, including the integration of women and gays in the military, sexual harassment, pornography and equal rights.
Same as L32 Pol Sci 331B
Credit 3 units. BU: BA, ETH
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L77 WGSS 335 Feminist Theory
This course begins by examining the 19th and early 20th century historical context out of which contemporary feminist theory emerged. We then turn to the 1960's and the emergence of the "Second Wave" of Feminism. We focus on some of the major theories that developed during the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's and the conflicts and internal problems these theories generated. We then examine some of the ways these problems were resolved in feminist theory of the 1990's. The last part of the course focuses on topics of concern to contemporary feminists -- such as the family, sexuality and globalism -- and the contributions feminist theory brings to these topics. Open to graduate students by enrolling in L77 WS 500; contact the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies office for details.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 337 Women's Literature: Before Thelma and Louise: American Women's Adventure Stories
American literature is filled with adventurers and adventure stories. Some of the most exciting tales were written by women. Their adventures include Mary Rowlandson's autobiography of her capture by and life with the Indians, E.D.E.N. Southworth's story of a nineteenth-century heroine who rescues imprisoned maidens and fights duels, and Octavia Butler's science fiction account of a twentieth-century black woman who is transported back through time to an antebellum plantation. Until recently, American women authors and their stories were largely dismissed because they were perceived to focus on domestic concerns, which were seen as narrow and trivial. But the works of many women authors are far different from sentimental domestic fiction. In addition to looking closely at the historical and cultural conditions in which the narratives were written, we examine the ways in which these writers conform to and rebel against cultural prescriptions about femininity. Finally, we read some contemporary and current criticism about these works and American women's writing and discuss the politics of canon formation. Tentative Reading List: Mary Rowlandson, The Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson (1682); The Journal of Madam Knight (1704); Catharine Maria Sedgwick, Hope Leslie (1827); E.D.E.N. Southworth, The Hidden Hand (1858); Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937); Octavia Butler, Kindred (1979); Paule Marshall, Praisesong for the Widow (1983). Writing intensive.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD, WI Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 338 Women and Technology
Examination of the effect of technology on women's lives and the power of technology from a feminist perspective. Focuses primarily on three areas: the effects of technology on women's experience in domestic and occupational settings, (e.g., housework technologies, the feminization of office work); the effects of reproductive technology on women, including artificial insemination, in-vitro fertilization, surrogate "motherhood," and fetal sex selection; the effects of current and future technologies on the concepts of gender, sex, and relationships, including sex change/gender reassignment operations and prosthetics. Prerequisite: one course in women's studies, social thought and analysis, or philosophy, or permission of instructor.
Credit 3 units.
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L77 WGSS 340 Israeli Women Writers
Study of selected novels and shorter fiction by women. Attention to the texts as women's writing and as products of Israeli literature. No knowledge of Hebrew necessary; all readings in English translation.
Same as L74 HBRW 340
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC, SD, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3401 Performing Gender
This course investigates an array of contemporary performances to explore manifestations of and challenges to gender norms in American culture. An initial reading of crucial performance theories by Judith Butler, Jill Dolan, and others will help set the stage for our examination of a diverse collection of contemporary texts, including plays, solo performances, stand-up, and pop culture phenomenon. We'll raise questions about feminist performance strategies, butch/femme performance, camp, cross-dressing, feminist spectatorship, multi-media performances, and the representation of lesbian desire. Prereq: Any 100 level Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course
Same as L15 Drama 3301
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 341 Constructing Masculinities
The course will demonstrate the social construction of masculinities and men's lives in specific social and historical circumstances in Europe and America. Attention to various disciplines' contributions to the study of masculinities. Prerequisite: either WS100B or WS208B or permission of instructor. Credit 3 units.
Credit 3 units. BU: BA
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L77 WGSS 3410 Gender in Society
This course acts as an introduction to the sociological study of gender. The primary focus of the course will be on U.S. society, but the course will also discuss gender in an international context. From the moment of birth, boys and girls are treated differently. Gender structures the experiences of people in all major social institutions, including the family, the workplace, and schools. Students will explore how gender impacts lives and life chances. The central themes of the course are historical changes in gender beliefs and practices; socialization practices that reproduce gender identities; how race/ethnicity, class, and sexuality shape the experience of gender; and the relationship between gender, power, and social inequality. Prerequisite: successful completion of an introductory Sociology course or consent of the instructor.
Same as L40 SOC 3410
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 3416 War, Genocide and Gender in Modern Europe
This course explores the way in which gender and gender relations shaped and were shaped by war and genocide in 20th century Europe. The course approaches the subject from various vantage points, including economic, social and cultural history, and draws on comparisons between different regions. Topics covered will include: new wartime tasks for women; soldier's treatment of civilians under occupation, including sexual violence; how combatants dealt with fear, injury and the loss of comrades; masculilne attributes of soldiers and officers of different nations and in different wartime roles; survival strategies and the relation to expectations with regard to people's (perceived) gender identity; the meanings of patriotism for women and men during war; and gender specific experiences of genocide.
Same as L22 History 3416
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM, IS EN: H
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L77 WGSS 343 Understanding the Evidence: Provocative Topics of Contemporary Women's Health and Reproduction
Contemporary topics of women's health and reproduction are used as vehicles to introduce the student to the world of evidence-based data acquisition. Selected topics span and cross a multitude of contemporary boundaries. Issues evoke moral, ethical, religious, cultural, political and medical foundations of thought. The student is provided introductory detail to each topic and subsequently embark on an independent critical review of current data and opinion to formulate their own said notions. Examples of targeted topics for the upcoming semester include, but are not limited to: Abortion, Human Cloning, Genetics, Elective Cesarean Section, Fetal Surgery, Hormone Replacement, Refusal of Medical Care, Medical Reimbursement, Liability Crisis and Gender Bias of Medical Care.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: ETH EN: S
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L77 WGSS 345A Sexual Politics in Film Noir and Hard-boiled Literature
Emerging in American films most forcefully during the 1940s, film noir is a cycle of films associated with a distinctive visual style and a cynical worldview. In this course, we will explore the sexual politics of film noir as a distinctive vision of American sexual relations every bit as identifiable as the form's stylized lighting and circuitous storytelling. We will explore how and why sexual paranoia and perversion seem to animate this genre and why these movies continue to influence "neo-noir" filmmaking into the 21st century, even as film noir's representation of gender and sexuality is inseparable from its literary antecedents, most notably, the so-called "hard-boiled" school of writing. We will read examples from this literature by Dashiell Hammett, James Cain, Raymond Chandler and Cornell Woolrich, and discuss these novels and short stories in the context of other artistic and cultural influences on gendered power relations and film noir. We will also explore the relationship of these films to censorship and to changing post-World War II cultural values. Films to be screened in complete prints or in excerpts will likely include many of the following: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Murder My Sweet, Phantom Lady, Strangers on a Train, The Big Sleep, The Killers, Mildred Pierce, The High Wall, Sudden Fear, The Big Combo, Laura, The Glass Key, The Big Heat, Kiss Me Deadly, The Crimson Kimono, Touch of Evil, Alphaville, Chinatown, Taxi Driver, Devil in a Blue Dress, The Bad Lieutenant, and Memento. Required Screenings.
Same as L53 Film 345
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 347 Gender and Citizenship: Writing-Intensive Seminar
In this writing-intensive course we examine how ideas about gender have shaped the ways Americans understand what it means to be a citizen. We focus on a variety of cases in the past and present to explore the means by which women and men have claimed the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. The types of questions that we will ask include: What rights or duties devolve from the status of citizen? Who qualifies for citizenship and what qualifies them? What distinct models of citizenship have been available to Americans? How have individuals used notions of gender identity to make claims to political subjectivity? And finally, how do gendered claims to citizenship intersect or conflict with claims based on race, class, ethnicity, or humanity? PREQ: Previous coursework in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies or permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken L77 210
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L77 WGSS 348 "Revolutionize It!" The Radical History of Second-Wave Feminisms
In this discussion-based course, we explore the complex, contradictory and profoundly multiracial history of the so-called "second wave" of the feminist movement (1960s-1980s). We will focus on those activists who understood themselves to be radicals and revolutionaries -- women's liberationists, women of color (or third-world) feminists, and lesbian-feminists -- as they collaborated and collided with each other. Among the questions we will ask are the following: What happens to our understanding of the second wave when we center the activism of African-American, Latinx, indigenous and anti-capitalist feminists? What were the promises and the pitfalls of a politics of "sisterhood"? How did sexual desire and sexual conflict shape both notions of identity and the movement on the ground? We will also consider the legacy of second-wave feminism for the politics of our time, including #MeToo, reproductive freedom, and the struggle for trans liberation. Prerequisite: L77 100B or permission of instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 350B Topics: Global Italy: Race, Gender, Migration and Citzenship
Traditionally represented as a land of emigrants and exiles from the south, 21st-century Italy has become the destination of many immigrants and a place of encounter of different cultures and races. In "Cara Italia" [Dear Italy], a rap hymn by the famous artist Ghali, Italy is both a dear and a contested space of belonging where many children of migrants feel both at home and out of place. Exploring the cultural and historical roots of this feeling, the course asks the following: What does it mean to culturally belong? Why are certain people denied the status of Italian citizens? What does it mean to be Black in Italy? How are interracial younger generations reshaping Italy and Italian-ness? This course is an introduction to cultural productions at the intersection of migration, race, gender, and citizenship in contemporary Italy. In the course, students will critically engage a variety of issues such as the relation between Italian colonialism and recent migration, border politics and civic mobilization, gender struggles and networking, xenophobia and racism, and social protests and activism. Although African migration and Italians of Afro-descent are at the core of the course, students will also explore representations by/of other migrant communities such as the Asian and the Albanian ones. The course will be conducted in English, and screenings will be in the original language with English subtitles.
Same as L36 Ital 350
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM, IS EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3522 Topics in Literature: Drama Queens: Cleopatra in Elizabethan England
Same as L14 E Lit 3524
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3523 Topics in Literature: Queer Studies and Literature
Credit 3 units. EN: H
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L77 WGSS 354 No Boys Allowed: Girlhood and Programming for Girls in 19th and 20th Centuries, United States
This course takes an intersectional feminist approach to studying girlhood in 19th and 20th Century United States using fictional accounts of girlhood, conduct books for girls, the history of girls' education, psychological theories of girlhood, girls' toys, and the development of extracurricular programming for girls. Each topic will allow us to study the way stereotypical girlhood of a particular historical moment serves a political purpose in articulating American identity. At the end of the course students will understand how the concept of girlhood is socially constructed, which means that understanding historical context is a core component of the course. The title of the course is a play on words because in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, most schools and boys' clubs excluded girls. All are welcome to enroll in the course. L77 100B Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies recommended, but not required.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 3548 Gender, Sexuality & Communism in 20th-Century Europe
This upper-division course examines the role of gender and sexuality for the establishment of communist societies in Europe in 20th century. We will explore to what extent societies built on the communist model succeeded with the achievement of gender equality and allowed for sexual relations liberated from religious or economic constraints. Class materials examine how state socialism shaped gender roles and women's and men's lives differently as well as how gays and lesbians struggled against social taboo and state repression. Students analyze the impact of modernization, industrialization, war and other conflicts on concepts of femininity and masculinity as well as on the regulation of sexuality and family relations in several Eastern European countries. We will place these dynamics within the context of broader political and cultural developments, ending with an analysis of the breakdown of socialism in the early 1990s and its impact on gender relations and the freedom of expression. The course provides students with a basic knowledge of the history of Eastern Europe and of left-wing movements active in the area, emphasizing the effects of communist ideas on women, gender equality, and non-normative sexual orientations.
Same as L22 History 3548
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SD BU: HUM, IS EN: H
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L77 WGSS 355 Marxist Feminist Theory
From early single-issue approaches through current multicultural studies. For students with no background in literary theory the course introduces some major issues (e.g., discourse, identity, historicity); it focuses, however, on the difficult relations between constructions of class and of gender. Readings from Olive Schreiner, Sojourner Truth, Marx, and Engels to Chantal Mouffe, Ernesto Laclau, Susan Willis, and Catherine MacKinnon, including "nontheoretical" texts (fiction, verse, street murals, etc.) for relief and counterpoint.
Credit 3 units.
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L77 WGSS 355A Topics in Korean Literature and Culture
Topics course in Korean literature and culture; subject varies by semester. Premodern course; fulfills premodern elective for EALC major. No background in Korean language, history, or culture is required.
Same as L51 Korean 355
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H UColl: CD
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L77 WGSS 3560 Black Women Writers
When someone says, black woman writer, you may well think of Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison. But not long ago, to be a black woman writer meant to be considered an aberration. When Thomas Jefferson wrote that Phillis Wheatley's poems were "beneath the dignity of criticism," he could hardly have imagined entire Modern Language Association sessions built around her verse, but such is now the case. In this class we will survey the range of Anglophone African American women authors. Writers likely to be covered include Phillis Wheatley, Harriet Wilson, Nella Larsen, Lorraine Hansberry, Octavia Butler, and Rita Dove, among others. Be prepared to read, explore, discuss, and debate the specific impact of race and gender on American literature.
Same as L90 AFAS 3651
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3561 Law, Gender, and Justice
This course explores how social constructions of gender, race, class, and sexuality have shaped traditional legal reasoning and American legal concepts, including women's legal rights. We will begin by placing our current legal framework, and its gender, race, sexuality, and other societal assumptions, in an historical and Constitutional context. We will then examine many of the questions raised by feminist theory, feminist jurisprudence, and other critical perspectives. For example, is the legal subject gendered male, and, if so, how can advocates (for women and men) use the law to gain greater equality? What paradoxes have emerged in areas such as employment discrimination, family law, or reproductive rights, as women and others have sought liberal equality? What is the equality/difference debate about and why is it important for feminists? How do intersectionality and various schools of feminist thought affect our concepts of discrimination, equality, and justice? The course is thematic, but we will spend time on key cases that have influenced law and policy, examining how they affect the everyday lives of women. Over the years, this course has attracted WGSS students and pre-law students. This course is taught by law students under the supervision of a member of the School of Law faculty.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S UColl: ML, SSC
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L77 WGSS 3563 Queering the History of Health
This course identifies the key conceptual and methodological terrain pertinent to the historical development of the concepts of "health" "disease," and "ability." We will use an intersectional lens to trace various contingencies that produce a set of false binaries, including healthy, slender, responsible self v. the medically diseased, disabled, fat, and irresponsible other. Historically, these binaries have created and maintained social, political, and cultural inequalities and have been used as a powerful ideological weapon against queer and trans people of color, people with disabilities, people living with HIV/AIDS, fat people, and other people who do not/cannot embody normative race, gender, sexuality, and ability. However, as we will see, these inequalities, somehow counterintuitively, also enable a predisposition for a resistance, world-making, and political agency. While the course serves as an introduction to the key terms that surround the construction of "health" from the establishment of modern nation-states in the 19th century to the present, it is structured as a history of the present-it assesses how different notions pertinent to "health" shape our daily lives and inform the choices we make still today(?).
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 357B Gender and Politics in Global Perspective
This course surveys central topics in the study of gender and politics, covering such issues as women´s participation in political parties and social movements, women as voters and candidates in political elections, feminism and the state, and gender and international politics. It will draw on examples from various world regions and time periods to analyze similarities and differences across cases around the globe.
Same as L32 Pol Sci 357B
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SD Arch: SEM, SSC Art: SSC BU: HUM
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L77 WGSS 358 Scribbling Women: 19th-Century American Women Writers
In 1855, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote to his publisher, William Tichnor, that "America is now wholly given over to a damned mob of scribbling women and I should have no chance of success while the public taste is occupied with their trash." In this class, we examine works of those scribbling women of the nineteenth century. We read one of the best selling novels of the century, one that created a scandal and ruined the author's literary reputation, along with others that have garnered more attention in our time than their own. In addition to focusing on these women writers, we also explore questions about the canon and American literature: What makes literature "good"? What constitutes American literature? How does an author get in the canon and stay there? Finally, in this writing intensive course, there are frequent writing assignments and a strong emphasis on the essential writing process of drafting and revising.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 359 Topics in European History: Modern European Women
This course examines the radical transformation in the position and perspective of European women since the eighteenth century. The primary geographical focus is on Britain, France, and Germany. Topics include: changing relations between the sexes; the emergence of mass feminist movements; the rise of the 'new woman;' women and war; and the cultural construction and social organization of gender. We will look at the lives of women as nurses, prostitutes, artists, mothers, hysterics, political activists, consumers, and factory hands.
Same as L22 History 359
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM, IS EN: H
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L77 WGSS 360 Trans Studies
This course surveys the interdisciplinary field of trans studies by emphasizing how trans identities, activism, and scholarship are intertwined with broader histories of gender, sexuality, race, disability, and class. Students will explore the vibrant intellectual, political, and cultural productions of trans people. The primary geographic focus for the course is the United States, but we will situate U.S. trans studies within broader conversations about gender variance transnationally. While attention will be paid to understanding how transphobia operates, the course emphasizes thinking through the possibilities afforded by trans histories of resistance and refusal.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 361 Women and Social Movements: Gender and Sexuality in U.S. Social Movements
This course examines the history of grassroots activism and political engagement of women in the United States. Looking at social movements organized by women or around issues of gender and sexuality, class texts interrogate women's participation in, and exclusion from, political life. Key movements organizing the course units include, among others: the Temperance Movement, Abolitionist Movements, the Women's Suffrage Movements, Women's Labor Movements, Women's Global Peace Movements, and Recent Immigration Movements. Readings and discussion will pay particular attention to the movements of women of color, as well as the critiques of women of color of dominant women's movements. Course materials will analyze how methods of organizing reflect traditional forms of "doing politics," and we will also examine strategies and tactics for defining problems and posing solutions particular to women. Prerequisites: any 100- or 200-level Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course or permission from the instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3622 Women, Health, and Media
This course examines how gender and sexuality have been represented in a variety of media and genres that have played a role in truth regimes about about medicine and health and also looks at responses to such representations. This course predominately focuses on the United States, and will introduce students to varied interdisciplinary approach to the study of media.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 362A Islam, Gender, Sexuality
In this course, we examine discourses of gender and sexuality across historical period and geographical region. We analyze encounters with Western imperialism, investigating how gender informs social, political, religious, and family life in Islamic cultures. Our course materials include histories, ethnographies, graphic novels, and films, and we examine how these sources approach the study of Islam, gender, and sexuality through the lens of various topics: from women in the earliest years of Islam in 7th century Arabia to revolutionary Iran and American Muslim women in the 21st century. Throughout the course, we examine how notions of gender and sexuality have changed over time and played various roles in the political and social life of Muslim nations, societies, and communities. By the end of the course, students will be able to critically assess scholarly and non-scholarly (media) discussions of gender in Islam.
Same as L57 RelPol 362
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA, HUM, IS EN: H
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L77 WGSS 365A Topics in Modern Japanese Literature: Mirrors and Masks: Gender and Sexuality in Japanese Literature
Topics course in modern Japanese literature. Subject matter varies by semester; consult current semester listings for topic.
Same as L05 Japan 365
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 366 Caste: Sexuality, Race and Globalization.
Be it sati or enforced widowhood, arranged or love marriage, the rise of national leaders like Indira Gandhi and Kamala Harris, or the obsession with "fair" skin, caste shapes possibilities and perceptions for billions. In this class we combine a historical understanding of the social caste structure with the insights made by those who have worked to annihilate caste. We will re-visit history with the analytic tools provided by the concepts of compulsory endogamy, "surplus woman," and "brahmanical patriarchy," and we will build an understanding of the enduring yet invisible "sexual-caste" complex. As we will see, caste has always relied on sexual difference, its ever-mutating power enabled by the intersectionalities of race, gender and class. We'll learn how caste adapts to every twist in world history, increasingly taking root outside India and South Asia. We will delve into film and memoir, sources that document the incessant injustices of caste and how they have compounded under globalization. The class will research the exchange of concepts between anti-race and anti-caste activists: how caste has shaped the work of prominent anti-racist intellectuals and activists in the United States such as W.E.B. DuBois and Isabel Wilkerson and in turn, the agenda and creativity of groups such as the Dalit Panthers. Finally, the course will build a practical guide to engaging with and interrupting caste in the context of the contemporary global world today. Waitlists controlled by Department; priority given to WGSS majors. Enrollment cap 15.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA, IS
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L77 WGSS 3666 Women and Film
The aim of this course is primarily to familiarize students with the work of prominent women directors over the course of the twentieth century, from commercial blockbusters to the radical avant-garde. Approaching the films in chronological order, we will consider the specific historical and cultural context of each filmmaker's work. In addition we will be discussing the films in relation to specific gender and feminist issues such as the status of women's film genres, representations of men and women on screen and the gender politics of film production. Required screenings.
Same as L53 Film 366
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 369A Reading Sex in Premodern England
This course introduces students to the literary representation of gender and sexuality in England from the medieval period to the eighteenth century. To understand a tradition that addressed the intractable problem of human sexuality in terms very different from ours, we will ask: how does pre-modern culture imagine gendered identities, sexual difference, and erotic desire? How do various contexts-medical, religious, social, private, public-inform the literary representation of gender and sexuality? What are the anatomies and economies of the body, the circuits of physical pleasure, and the disciplines of the self that characterize human sexuality? Students will have the opportunity to study romances, saints' lives, mystical writings, diaries, plays, sex guides, novels, and scientific treatises. By learning how to "read sex" in pre-modern literature, students will acquire a broad cultural and historical understanding of English sexualities before the descent of modern sensibilities.
Same as L14 E Lit 369
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 371 Confronting Capitalism: Feminism, Work and Solidarity
This course explores the relationship between gender, the ideological construction of work and workers, and feminist and queer mobilizations against labor exploitation. To examine how notions of the "ideal worker" shape and are shaped by gender, sexuality, and race, we will study various forms of work, including care work and reproductive labor; affective and emotional labor; migrant labor; service work; and sex work. Considering what is "new" and old about late (or neoliberal) capitalism, we will explore how the relationship between citizenship, the state and political economy has shifted over the last four decades. Across each of these registers, we will engage thinkers spanning Marxist feminist, radical feminist, liberal feminist, indigenous feminist, Black feminist, and disability justice traditions. We will ask how these interwoven genealogies grapple with U.S. imperialism and the relationship between race, class, and patriarchy, while mapping out various visions of solidarity economies, internationalism, and anti-work politics. Prerequisite: Intro to WGSS or permission of instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3725 Topics in Renaissance Literature
Topics course in Renaissance Literature
Same as L14 E Lit 3725
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3751 Topics in Women's History: Women, Gender and Sexuality in Postwar America
We will explore the history of the United States since 1945 by focusing on the ways that gender and sexuality have shaped the lives of Americans, particularly the diverse group of women who make up more than half the nation's population. Topics will include: domesticity and the culture of the 1950s; gendering the cold war; the gender politics of racial liberation; the sexual revolution; second-wave feminism and the transformation of American culture; the new right's gender politics; and the impact of new conceptions of sexual and gender identity at century's end. Course texts will include scholarly literature, memoirs, novels and film.
Same as L22 History 3751
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 379 Gender, Religion and Secularism
This course considers how gender is constructed in the processes of distinguishing between religion and secularism. Students will be exposed to a variety of case studies that examine the specific dynamics of producing an oppositional difference between religion and secularism through attitudes toward gender roles, values, and commitments. This course is designed to help students examine how the assumptions about secularism as necessarily more freeing and equalizing for women become normative and make many religious women's claims to freedom, equality, and agency illegible.
Same as L23 Re St 379
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 383 Topics in Women,Gender, and Sexuality Studies: Spectacular Blackness, Race, Gender, & Visual Culture
Topic varies. See semester course listings for current offering.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Art: AH, GFAH BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 383A Topics in Women,Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Topic varies. See semester course listings for current offering.
Credit 3 units. BU: BA
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L77 WGSS 384 Gender & Consumer Culture in U.S. Fiction of the Late 19th and Early 20th Century
The decades between the end of the Civil War and the 1930s saw the rise of a mass consumer culture that would dramatically reshape America. The fiction writers of this period, keen to capture the spirit of the age, helped to create the enduring idea that consumerism and an orientation toward material acquisition are at the heart of gendered concepts of American identity. Their stories documented, and sometimes celebrated, the emergence of recognizable "types" of American womanhood and manhood-such as self-made millionaires, ambitious "working girls," bargain-hunting middle-class housewives, and the commercially minded women and men of the social and intellectual elite. At the same time, their stories articulated anxieties about U.S. consumer culture and its impact on the world. Students in this course will read, discuss, and write about novels and short stories by writers such as Henry James, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Kate Chopin, Theodore Dreiser, Edith Wharton, Nella Larsen, Langston Hughes, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Students in the course will also examine primary materials such as magazine advertisements, and will read and respond to relevant scholarship on the period. Writing Intensive Course
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 385A Topics in Jewish Studies
Consult Course Listings for current topics. Please note: L75 585A is intended for graduate students only.
Same as L75 JIMES 385
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: IS EN: H
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L77 WGSS 3861 Psychology of Black Women
This course is designed to provide a critical analysis of the distinctive experiences of Black women through a psychological lens. We will explore topics relating to Black women's experiences in home, school, and community contexts, such as identity development, socialization experiences, and misogynoir. The class will also consider how Black women draw on individual strengths and cultural assets to support their personal wellbeing. This course will heavily center the narratives of Black women, and focus on mixed methods and qualitative research approaches. We will draw upon interdisciplinary frameworks (e.g., intersectionality, Black feminist thought, and liberation psychology) to help us understand Black women's experiences. PREREQ: L33 Psych 100B
Same as L33 Psych 386
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC Arch: SSC Art: SSC EN: S
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L77 WGSS 3884 Regulating Reproduction: Morality, Politics and (In)justice
This course centers on the burgeoning corpus of anthropological scholarship on reproduction, with special attention to the regulation of reproductive behaviors and population management in cross-cultural perspective. Anthropologists and feminist scholars have shown how reproduction-which links individual bodies to the body politic-is a privileged site for processes of governance. Scholars have also shown how seemingly personal reproductive choices made in the micro units of families, are always bound up with broader, if obscured, economic, national, and political projects. In this course, we will cover how diverse entities, including the state, the Church, NGO's and feminist groups, seek to manage reproductive behaviors and politics across the world. We will discuss population control campaigns (such as China's notorious one-child policy) and pronatalist population policies (like those seen in Israel) in order to underscore how the management of fertility becomes a crucial site for nationalist and state-building projects. In this course we examine processes of "reproductive governance" around topics including pregnancy and birth, family planning, abortion, and adoption. We also examine how the global proliferation of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (such as in vitro, sonogram, abortifacient pills, amniocentesis) intersects with efforts to govern reproduction. Crucially, we take class and race as key axes through which reproduction is experienced and stratified in diverse contexts. At the end of this course students should have a solid grasp of key topics and themes in the anthropology of reproductive governance, as well as more in-depth knowledge of a particular controversial reproductive issue that they choose to focus on for their final research paper.
Same as L48 Anthro 3884
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD EN: S
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L77 WGSS 389 The Global History of HIV/AIDS
Most (if not all) of us have never known a world without HIV/AIDS. The potential risk of seroconversion has been integrated into sexual health education and popular media for more than three decades. At the same time, HIV has often been portrayed as either an issue of a minority (e.g., gay men, intravenous drug users, sex workers) or as existing "over there" in the Global South, overlooking the major crisis within the United States. This course tackles the history of HIV/AIDS as a global history of gender and sexuality between the Global North and the Global South. Throughout the course, we will consider major ethical questions regarding disease and control. Who gets to be a victim, and who is labeled a culprit? What actions should be pursued in the midst of an epidemic? Who controls the narrative about disease? We will look at international biopolitical practices by tracing the downward flow of researchers and specialists from the Global North to the Global South and the upward flow of scientific knowledge and capital. In this way, we will see how the Global South has played a crucial role in the perceptions, treatment, and profiting of HIV/AIDS in the United States and the Global North through the recent breakthrough in pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), sold on the market as Truvada/Descovy. The course has three thematic sections: Discovery and Reaction, Politics and Activism, and Research and Health.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: LCD, SSC, SC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA, IS
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L77 WGSS 389A Furies and Die-Hards: Women in Rebellion and War
Furies and Die-Hards: Women in Rebellion and War juxtaposes contemporary social science perspectives on women and war with the history and testimonies of Irish women during the Irish revolutionary period (1898-1922), the Irish Civil War (1922-1923), and the Free State. Under English rule from the 12th-century Norman invasions to the establishment of the Irish Free State and the partition of Northern Ireland in 1922, Ireland presents a compelling historical laboratory to deliberate on the relationship between gender and political conflict. Intentionally transdisciplinary, the course draws from across disciplinary discourses and highlights perspectives across race, gender, class, ethnicity, religion, and sexuality. Topics include political organizing, nationalism, rebellion, radicalization, militarism, terrorism, pacifism, and peacebuilding. Rooted in Cynthia Enloe's enduring question of "Where are the women?" and drawing on sociologist Louise Ryan's landmark essay by the same name, we inquire how and why Irish nationalist women, who were integral to building the revolutionary movement, became "Furies" and "Die-hards" in the eyes of their compatriots when the Free State was established (Bishop Doorley, 1925; President Cosgrave, 1923). Taking advantage of the plethora of archival resources now available through the Irish Decade of Centenaries program, the course incorporates the voices of Irish women through their diaries, military records, letters, interviews, speeches, newspapers, and memoirs.
Same as L97 GS 389
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA, IS EN: H
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L77 WGSS 393 Gender Violence
This course explores the issue of violence against women within families, by strangers in the workplace, and within the context on international and domestic political activity. In each area, issues of race, class, culture, and sexuality are examined as well as legal, medical and sociological responses. Readings cover current statistical data, research, and theory as well as information on the history of the battered women's movement, the rape crisis center movement, violent repression of women's political expressions internationally, and the effect of violence on immigrant and indigenous women in the U.S. and abroad. NOT OPEN TO STUDENTS WHO HAVE TAKEN U92 363 WoSt. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 3942 Community-Engaged Learning: Projects in Domestic Violence
In this course, students explore the links between the theories and practices of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies through a combination of research and direct community engagement. Course readings focus on the ways that poverty and violence -- along with race and gender expectations -- shape the lives of women. A required community service project for this course asks students to examine the relationship between the course readings and the lives of actual women in St. Louis. Over the course of the semester, students design and execute programming for women at a local community agency. This is a writing-intensive course. Prereq: Intro to Women and Gender Studies or Intro to Sexuality Studies and Gender Violence (L77 393) or by permission of instructor.
Credit 4 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD, WI Arch: SSC Art: SSC EN: S
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L77 WGSS 3943 Violence Against Women Court Project
The seminar will explore the links between the theories and practices of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies through a combination of readings, discussion and direct community engagement. Readings focus on the legal system and the ways domestic violence is confronted and how criminal justice interventions have responded to new theories and research about the nature of intimate partner violence. Particular attention will be directed to the ways that issues of race, poverty, parenthood, and sexual orientation influence the criminal justice response and shape the lives of abused women. Students will participate in a court advocacy program to investigate the important discrepancies between theory and practice in the field. Students are required to take L77 393 or have taken L77 393 to enroll in the seminar.
Credit 1 unit. A&S IQ: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 396 Gender and Social Class
Using St. Louis as a lens, the course focuses in on the development of class in the US and attempts to trace historically how class, race, sexuality, and gender influence each other and how this mutual influence shapes our society through immigration, gentrification, welfare, and work. Course readings present classical understandings of class and asks how these understandings are challenged when these other categories of identity are made prominent. Prerequisites: L77 100B, Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, or permission of instructor. Attendance on the first day mandatory.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 397 History of Sexuality in the United States
Class will survey major themes in the history of sexuality in the U.S., from colonial era to present. Themes include conquest and sexuality; the relationship between sexual ideologies and practices; racial hierarchy and sexuality; the construction of sexual identities and communities; and sexual politics at the end of the century. Prerequisite, None. Previous course work in U.S. history or Women's Studies helpful. Enrollment limited to 35.
Credit 3 units. BU: BA
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L77 WGSS 3981 Undergrad Seminar in Gender & Literature: Junior Honors Seminar: Becoming Emily Dickinson
Credit 3 units.
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L77 WGSS 3991 Undergraduate Teaching Assistant
In this course an advanced undergraduate can assist a faculty member in the teaching of an introductory level Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course.
Credit variable, maximum 3 units.
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L77 WGSS 39F8 Gender and Sexuality in 1950s America: Writing Intensive Seminar
Historians have recently begun to reconsider the dominant view of the 1950s as an era characterized by complacency and conformity. In this writing intensive seminar we will use the prism of gender history to gain a more complex understanding of the intricate relationship between conformity and crisis, domesticity and dissent that characterized the 1950s for both women and men.
Same as L22 History 39F8
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 39SC Imperialism and Sexuality: India, South Asia, and the World: Writing-Intensive Seminar
What is the connection between the appropriation of other people's resources and the obsession with sex? Why is 'race' essential to the sexual imperatives of imperialism? How has the nexus between 'race,' sexuality, and imperial entitlement reproduced itself despite the end of formal colonialism? By studying a variety of colonial documents, memoirs produced by colonized subjects, novels, films and scholarship on imperialism, we will seek to understand the history of imperialism's sexual desires, and its continuation in our world today.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM, IS EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4006 Advanced Topics in Trans Theories: Femme
In the current moment, "femme" is used to index a variety of gender and sexual expressions. This course explores the aesthetics and politics of femme through the lens of trans theories. A quick search for "femme" in relation to gender and sexuality will show that one of its origin stories is within lesbian communities often in relation to the butch/femme relationship. The lipstick lesbian is the figure who emerges here as exemplifying a kind of adherence to "traditional" forms of femininity even while being queer. Trans women are often criticized for attachments to similar forms of gender expression. Femininity is often derided as unserious or, worse, hopelessly entangled in the dynamics of heteropatriarchy. To be feminine, then, is often taken as a sign of a retrograde politics or submission to normative ideals of gender. This course will take up this problem as a way of beginning to think through what interventions femme might make into our ordinary ways of understanding gender and sexuality.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4013 Queer of Color Critique: Sense and Sexuality
That sensation produces surplus, often uncontainable knowledge, is something that is beginning to be explored in various arenas of queer theory as an important component of queer of color critique. This seminar will explore different sensational arenas, the different possible critiques that they produce, and what this means for thinking about sexuality, gender, and queer theory. Throughout the course of the semester, we will explore sensation in multiple ways 1) as a diagnostic tool for understanding some of the different ways that race, gender, and sexuality intersect 2) as a way to trouble the dichotomy between interiority and exteriority to understand the ways in which orders of knowledge become imprinted on the body 3) as a mode of producing alternate forms of knowledge about gender, race, and sexuality. In addition to reading about different sensations and their relationships to politics and sexuality, this course will require students to think creatively as they attempt to write about sensation, sexuality, and politics. Ultimately, the purpose of this class is to examine sexuality and sensation as collections of embodied and politicized experiences. Prerequisite: Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (L77 100B) or permission of instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4014 Feminist and Queer Media Studies
This seminar serves both as an introduction to some of the foundational texts in feminist and queer media studies and a snapshot of recent scholarship in the field.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4018 Seminar in Video Games: Video Games, Gender and Sexuality
This seminar considers different topics that illuminate the relationship of video games to culture. Topics vary by semester. The course may have a variety of analytical frames: gender and sexuality, interactivity and reception, narrative and aesthetic theory, industrial or technological history. Prerequisite is graduate status or completion of a 300-level FMS or WGSS course and permission of the instructor. Credit 3 units. REQUIRED LAB/SCREENING TIME weekly.
Same as L53 Film 425
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 402 Transnational Reproductive Health Issues: Meanings, Technologies, Practices
This course covers recent scholarship on gender and reproductive health, including such issues as reproduction and the disciplinary power of the state, contested reproductive relations within families and communities, and the implications of global flows of biotechnology, population, and information for reproductive strategies at the local level. We will also explore how transnational migration and globalization have shaped reproductive health, the diverse meanings associated with reproductive processes, and decisions concerning reproduction. Reproduction will serve as a focus to illuminate the cultural politics of gender, power, and sexuality.
Same as L48 Anthro 4022
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: LCD, SSC, SC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 403 Race, Sex, and Sexuality: Concepts of Identity
This course examines changes in the meanings of three concepts of identity -- race, sex, and sexuality -- from the early modern period to the present. The course begins by looking at early modern constructions of these concepts in Western Europe. We then focus on changes occurring during the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Europe and the United States and at how such changes were similar and different among these three concepts. We then examine twentieth century challenges to nineteenth century constructions. The course concludes by studying the relationship between these challenges and twentieth century identity political movements organized around these concepts. Prerequisite: Completion of at least one Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course or permission of the instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SD Art: SSC BU: BA
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L77 WGSS 406 Queering Theory: Collaborating, Solidarity, and Working Together
This class aims to use theory to destabilize the concepts of race, sexuality, gender, disability, and academic methodology. This class will submerge you in some of the most influential texts in queer theory. The selected readings range across many disciplines, including biology, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, history, and cultural studies. The core premise of this class is that to queer something is to destabilize it. Therefore, not all of the readings will specifically be about gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender people. However, these readings will help any scholar in their future work in queer theory. Prerequsitie: Any 300 level WGSS class or equivalent or permission from instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 409 Gender, Sexuality, and Change in Africa
This course considers histories and social constructions of gender and sexuality in sub-Saharan Africa during the colonial and contemporary periods. We will examine gender and sexuality both as sets of identities and practices and as part of wider questions of work, domesticity, social control, resistance, and meaning. Course materials include ethnographic and historical materials and African novels and films. PREREQUISITE: Graduate students or undergraduates with previous AFAS or upper level anthropology course.
Same as L90 AFAS 409
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC, SD, WI Arch: SSC Art: SSC EN: S
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L77 WGSS 4102 Everyday Unruliness: Feminist and Queer Resistance
This course is interested in the ways ordinary people break rules, flout norms, and make trouble. We know that resistance manifests in social movements, militant activism, and direct confrontation, but it also comes through quieter acts of unruliness and noncompliance. Looking at power "from below," readings focus on everyday interventions in systems of control. Garment workers threaten "good pay or bum work," queers "fail" at reproductive heterosexuality, and shiftless people steal moments of leisure from a system that wants us either productive or dead. These acts may not be obviously political, but because people at the margins have so often been left outside (and also opt out) of formal politics, subtle resistance is particularly interesting for feminist and queer scholars. Everyday acts do threaten the status quo -- otherwise, why would they be so rigidly policed? But questions remain. Throughout the semester, we will ask the following: What counts as resistance? What are its ethics? When is a bad attitude an act of rebellion, and does it matter if that rebellion is conscious? Does survival constitute resistance for those not meant to survive? On the other hand, for those subjects whose active engagement sustains the status quo, is withdrawal the more radical choice? Does the refusal of sociality constitute a form of resistance? Or are there ways to forge communities of mutual care that erode the status quo rather than reproduce it? Prerequisite: L77 110B (Intro to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies) or permission of instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 4112 Body and Flesh: Theorizing Embodiment
This seminar explores a wide range of readings on "the body" as a site of theoretical analysis in social scientific and humanistic inquiry. Issues include: How do we think about the body as simultaneously material (flesh and bone) and constructed in and through social and political discourse? How do we think about the relationship between these contingent bodies and subjective experiences of "self" in various contexts? The course focuses upon the different ways in which these questions have been posed and engaged, and the implications of these formulations for the theorizing of human experience. Prerequisite: Anthropology 3201, or permission of instructor.
Same as L48 Anthro 4112
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC Art: SSC EN: S
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L77 WGSS 4134 The AIDS Epidemic: Inequalities, Ethnography, and Ethics
In the year 2000, HIV became the world's leading infectious cause of adult death. In the next 10 years, AIDS killed more people than all wars of the 20th century combined. As the global epidemic rages on, our greatest enemy in combating HIV/AIDS is not knowledge or resources but rather global inequalities and the conceptual frameworks with which we understand health, human interaction, and sexuality. This course emphasizes the ethnographic approach for the cultural analysis of responses to HIV/AIDS. Students will explore the relationships among local communities, wider historical and economic processes, and theoretical approaches to disease, the body, ethnicity/race, gender, sexuality, risk, addiction, power, and culture. Other topics covered include the cultural construction of AIDS and risk, government responses to HIV/AIDS, origin and transmission debates, ethics and responsibilities, drug testing and marketing, the making of the AIDS industry and "risk" categories, prevention and education strategies, interactions between biomedicine and alternative healing systems, and medical advances and hopes.
Same as L48 Anthro 4134
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: LCD, SSC, SC, SD Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: IS EN: S
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L77 WGSS 414 Gender, Religion, Medicine and Science
Have you ever wondered why some topics are argued using religion as a guide, while others may approach the topic from what is perceived as a strictly scientific point of view? This course explores how and why gender and sexuality tend to be at the center of debates that pit Medicine and Science against Religion. Using feminist and queer scholarship, this course explores five hundred years of rhetorical strategies related to defining, or regulating, gender and sexuality. We will consider how much debates have changed from sixteenth-century Europe to 21st century United States by asking when, why and how either Medicine & Science or Religion influenced social thought and laws. Finally, we will consider how, and if, contemporary debates on vaccines are either part of the long history of debating bodily autonomy (as is the case with the other topics addressed in class), or if the conflict between religion, medicine and science in the modern era is new and distinctly different from past rhetorical strategies. Prerequisite: Introduction to Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: IS EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4140 Topics in Feminist Philosophy: Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science
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L77 WGSS 4154 Decolonization to Globalization: How to End an Empire
The conventional markers of the twentieth century - imperialism, decolonization and globalization - are acutely compromised if we mobilize gender and sexuality as modes of analysis. In this course we bring questions of sexual difference and gender to the wider stories of colonialism, nationalism, decolonization, neocolonialism, US imperialism, neoliberalism, globalization, WoT, and majoritarianism. We "engender" the contradiction between enormous turning points and the lived experiences of billions. We probe how the non-profit industrial complex, development aid, and the normative family have shaped and given shape to the very idea of gender. Finally, we examine the capacious power of gender to interrupt the power of the state and to reorganize extractive relations of race and caste.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 416 The Politics of Pleasure
This 400 level seminar interrogates the concept of pleasure. Pleasure occupies a fraught space in feminist and queer theory. This course examines several ways that people have theorized pleasure as a space for politics, a space for conservatism, or a way to think about racialized difference. This course is not interested in defining what pleasure is, but it interrogates what the stakes of talking about pleasure have been within contemporary theory and culture. Beginning with an examination of pleasure in the context of early twentieth century sexology, this course looks at the sex wars of the 1970s, the turn toward pleasure as a space of protest, and ends by thinking of ways to imagine pleasure outside of current paradigms of sexuality. The course takes gender, race, and sexuality as central analytic components to understand how pleasure is defined and who has access to it. Either Introduction to Sexuality Studies or Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies are prerequisites.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD EN: H
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L77 WGSS 417W Feminist Research Methodologies
What does it mean to do research through the lens of feminist and queer politics? This course surveys key methodological approaches to feminist and queer research. Interdisciplinary at its core, it draws from methodological traditions across the humanities and social sciences while focusing on forms of inquiry that resist these boundaries. We explore how feminist and queer politics inform the work of knowledge production. We ask how scholars, organizers and artists engage and repurpose various research methodologies and how they reflect on the politics of power, experience, domination, and resistance in the research encounter. We ask who research is for, parsing the political stakes of scholarship that archives the stories of collective resistance, survival, collaboration, and domination, at the same time as it authorizes hierarchies of expertise, builds institutional power, and (too often) extracts from those studied. What might a redistributive approach to feminist and queer research look like? Prerequisite: At least 2 courses in WGSS, including Introduction to WGSS or Sexuality Studies at the 100 or 200-levels and one 300-level WGSS course, preferably in feminist or queer theory. This class is a writing intensive course. Waitlists controlled by Department; priority given to WGSS majors.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SC, SD, WI
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L77 WGSS 418C Sexuality and Gender in East Asian Religions
In this course we will explore the role of women in the religious traditions of China, Japan and Korea, with a focus on Buddhism, Daoism, Shamanism, Shinto and the so-called "New Religions." We will begin by considering the images of women (whether mythical or historical) in traditional religious scriptures and historical or literary texts. We will then focus on what we know of the actual experience and practice of various types of religious women - nuns and abbesses, shamans and mediums, hermits and recluses, and ordinary laywomen - both historically and in more recent times. Class materials will include literary and religious texts, historical and ethnological studies, biographies and memoirs, and occasional videos and films. Prerequisites: This class will be conducted as a seminar, with minimal lectures, substantial reading and writing, and lots of class discussion. For this reason, students who are not either upper-level undergraduates or graduate students, or who have little or no background in East Asian religion or culture, will need to obtain the instructor's permission before enrolling.
Same as L23 Re St 418
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 419 Feminist Literary and Cultural Theory
This course provides a historical overview of feminist literary and cultural theories since the 1960s and 70s, acquainting students with a diversity of voices within contemporary feminism and gender studies. Readings will include works of French feminism, Foucault's History of Sexuality, feminist responses to Foucault, queer (LGBTQ+) theory, postcolonial and decolonial feminism, feminist disability theory, and writings by US feminists of color (African-American, Asian-American, Latina, Native-American). The reading list will be updated each year to reflect new developments in the discipline. We will approach these readings from an intersectional and interdisciplinary perspective, considering their dialogue with broader sociopolitical, cultural, and philosophical currents. By the end of the course, students are expected to have gained a basic knowledge of the major debates in feminist literary and cultural studies in the last 50 years, as well as the ability to draw on the repertoire of readings to identify and frame research questions in their areas of specialization. The class will be largely interactive, requiring active participation and collaborative effort on the part of the students. Students will be encouraged to make relevant connections between the class readings, everyday social and political issues, and their own research interests. NOTE: This course is in the core curriculum for the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies graduate certificate. Prerequisite: advanced course work in WGSS or in literary theory (300 level and above) or permission of the instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 421 From Mammy to the Welfare Queen: African American Women Theorize Identity
How do representations of identity affect how we see ourselves and the world sees us? African American women have been particularly concerned with this question, as the stories and pictures circulated about black female identity have had a profound impact on their understandings of themselves and political discourse. In this course we will look at how black feminist theorists from a variety of intellectual traditions have explored the impact of theories of identity on our world. We will look at their discussions of slavery, colonialism, sexuality, motherhood, citizenship, and what it means to be human.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4212 Work, Family, and Gender Inequality in the Contemporary US
Despite dramatic increases in women's education and employment over the past century, progress toward gender equality in both the public and private sphere has slowed or stalled in recent decades. Drawing on research in sociology, economics, and demography, this course examines why gender inequality persists in the workplace and in family life. Students focus primarily on the contemporary U.S. context but also draw on historical and cross-national comparisons. In addition, the course considers the role of cultural norms and work-family policy in shaping gender inequality. Prerequisite: successful completion of an introductory-level Sociology course or consent of the instructor. Graduate students should enroll in the 500-level offering.
Same as L40 SOC 4212
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC Arch: SSC Art: SSC EN: S
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L77 WGSS 4221 Topics in Women and French Literature
In our modern interconnected society, it is not always easy for young people to define who they really are or to discover and fulfill their potential, but it is encouraged and facilitated through education, travels, social contacts, and even technology. But it was not always so. In earlier times, individuals were often constrained by the prevalent social and moral values of their worlds and had a much harder time discovering their persona or fulfilling their needs and aspirations. This seminar explores the issues of self-discovery, initiation, and self-realization in the modern novel, including Balzac's EUGENIE GRANDET, Stendhal's LE ROUGE ET LE NOIR, Falubert's MADAME BOVARY, Mauriac's THERESE DESQUEYROUX; and Phillippe Grambert's UN SECRET. Prereq: Fr. 308.
Same as L34 French 4221
Credit 3 units. Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: IS
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L77 WGSS 4231 Topics in American Literature I
Same as L14 E Lit 4231
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 427 Technology and Feminist Practice: Gender Violence Prevention Tools
How can we best use technology, and the tools and insights of the Digital Humanities in particular, to promote effective approaches to addressing gender-based violence? What are the most effective ways to bridge the innovations of the research university with the everyday work of practitioners seeking to prevent violence or intervene in its aftermath? What are the ethics involved in constructing tools for public and professional use? Which interests should govern the choices in content, design, and dissemination of information? This course will introduce students to the strategies and challenges of devising technological tools for violence prevention for use beyond the classroom. Class readings and discussions will be supplemented by hands-on project work with Washington University's Gender Violence Database and lab sessions that focus on skill-building in digital project construction. Prerequisite: For undergraduate students, L77 393 01 or previous work experience with the Gender Violence Database. Graduate students by permission of instructor.
Same as L93 IPH 427
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA, ETH EN: H
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L77 WGSS 429 Feminist Political Theory
This course asks how feminist thinkers from various political and intellectual traditions critique,adopt and transform political theories of justice, citizenship, property and the state. To uncover how different feminist theories have been adopted in the struggle for political transformation and social justice, we will pursue two main lines of inquiry. The first asks how feminist thinkers from various traditions critique and engage the history of political thought within the social contract tradition. We will ask, in particular, how gender, race, slavery, colonialism and empire shape conceptions of citizenship and property. We will also examine transnational feminist critiques of the public/private division in the Western political theory canon as it impacts the role of women and the social construction of women's bodies. During the second half of the semester, we will ask how various transnational social movements have engaged and adopted feminist theories in efforts to resist state violence, colonialism, labor exploitation and resource extraction. In following these lines of inquiry we will draw from postcolonial, decolonial, liberal, Black, radical, Marxist and Chicana feminist perspectives. Part of our goal will be to uncover how various feminist theories treat the relationship between politics and embodied experience, how gendered conceptions of family life affect notions of political power and how ideas about sexuality and sexual conquest intersect with empire-building. Majors and minors in WGSS receive first priority. Other students will be admitted as course enrollment allows.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 430A Divergent Voices Italian Women Writers
This course engages the fictional and political works of Italian women writers from the seventeenth century to the present day. We will read one of the acclaimed Neapolitan novels of Elena Ferrante, who is considered by many to be the most important Italian fiction writer of her generation. We will examine a cloistered Venetian nun's defiant 1654 indictment of the misogynist society that forced her into the convent. We will confront the reality of a woman writer who in 1901 was compelled to choose between her child and her literary career. Among other contemporary writers, we will study the humorous and radical feminist one-acts of playwright Franca Rame. Taught in English. No Final.
Same as L36 Ital 430
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC, SD EN: H
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L77 WGSS 432 Women Writers of the 20th Century
This course will examine select novels, poetry, and political writings by such noted authors as Sibilla Aleramo, Dacia Maraini, Luisa Muraro, and Anna Banti. Special attention will be paid to the historical, political, and cultural contexts that influenced authors and their work. Textual and critical analysis will focus on such issues as historical revisionism in women's writing, female subjectivity, and the origins and development of contemporary Italian feminist thought and practice. Taught in English.
Same as L36 Ital 432
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SD Art: HUM
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L77 WGSS 433 Feminist Theory
Advanced course in feminist theory. For specific content in a particular semester, consult Course Listings.
Credit 3 units.
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L77 WGSS 4333 Women of Letters
We investigate the representation of women in eighteenth-century texts. Why did the novel and epistolary fiction became so closely associated with women as writers, heroines, and readers in the course of the century? Why were women considered exemplary and yet, at the same time, a threat? The eighteenth century saw the last of the salons led by women well-versed in philosophy, literature, art, and politics. It saw the reinforcement of the opposition between the public and the private sphere. Woman was the incarnation of the ideal of liberty and yet excluded from the "Rights of man." Rousseau praised women's role as nurturers and peace-makers but cast into doubt their capacity for genius. Literary texts that feature women became a sparring ground for two of the century's major literary trends: SENSIBILITE and LIBERTINAGE, for a woman's sensitivity was thought to contain the seeds of virtue and licentiousness. We investigate philosophical discourses on the senses and emotions and political discourses on republican responsibility. We read these texts in conjunction with the literary works of men and women authors, including Prévost, Marivaux, Graffigny, Riccoboni, Diderot, Rousseau, Charrière, Laclose, Sade, and Staël. Prereq: Fr 325 and Fr 326 or one of these courses and the equivalent WU transfer literature course from Toulouse or Paris. One hour preceptorial required for undergraduates.
Same as L34 French 4331
Credit 3 units. Art: HUM
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L77 WGSS 433A Performing Gender and Sexuality in America
This course examines how the performance of gender and sexuality has shaped the social, cultural, and political history of the United States from the early nineteenth century to the present. While performance happens in everyday life, we will primarily focus on how the stage has been a potent space to debate issues about gender and sexuality. This course will put forth the argument that the stage has historically not only reflected broader social concerns, but also actively helped to shape those social dynamics. After an introduction to foundational ideas, we will start the semester with minstrelsy, signaling that the performance of gender and sexuality in America is deeply intertwined with race, class, and national belonging. Reading and viewing assignments bring together feminist theory, queer theory, American social history, and performance texts to build robust seminar discussions.
Same as L29 Dance 433
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Arch: HUM Art: CPSC, HUM BU: BA, HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4350 Queer and Feminist Geographies
There is a tendency to see space and place as backdrops, mere stages where human social interactions simply play out. Yet when we fail to interrogate the processes behind the social production of space, we run the risk of naturalizing space as heteronormative and obfuscating its inherent exclusions. This upper-level seminar seeks to challenge such assumptions by treating space and place as dynamic formations that actively influence our identities, behaviors, and politics. Using queer and feminist perspectives within the realm of geography, we will explore how spaces, places, and boundaries are shaped, experienced, and contested through diverse gender identities and sexual formations. Questions driving our inquiry include: How do queer and feminist geographies intersect to shape landscapes- both urban and rural in the United States and abroad? What role do geographic spaces play in the construction of LGBTQ identities across different social milieus? And in what ways can queer and feminist perspectives contribute to decolonial and environmental justice movements? In addition to queer and feminist spatial theories, topics will include sexuality and place-making, transnational queer migrations, queer ecologies and environmental justice, and the queering of the "public" and "private" divide at the heart of spatial taxonomies in the West. By mobilizing queer and feminist forms of spatial analysis, this seminar will equip you with tools to identify the ways in which spaces, places, and boundaries can further social inequalities and the opportunity to theorize alternative geographies that promote inclusion and more just worlds.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 437 Transnational Feminisms
This course engages contemporary feminist theories from diverse transnational contexts, as well as the social movements and local resistances they inspire. Through engagement with key works of feminist theory, political manifestos, and creative works of resistance, we will explore how transnational feminist alliances and coalitions have contested and responded to gendered and racialized forms of exploitation, navigating and reshaping territorial and social boundaries. We will engage with debates around the notion of a "global sisterhood"; tensions between universal and local feminist practice; the role of difference, nationality and culture in navigating the possibility of solidarity; the role of the Internet in forging cross-border alliances; human rights-based activism; "women's" work; transgender inclusivity and transfeminisms. Part of our goal will be to ask how feminist theories from diverse geographical locations have influenced the politics of borders, movements for environmental justice, migrations and mobility, resistance to imperialism and the forging of alternative economies. We will also explore the gray areas existing in between binaries such as feminist/anti-feminist; local/global; home/away; global South/North; victim/agent; domination/dependency. Finally, we will ask how processes of knowledge-production take shape within different intellectual and political movements such as post-colonial feminism, decolonial and indigenous feminism, liberal and radical feminism, Marxist feminism and religiously-based feminisms.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: LCD, SSC, SD Arch: SEM, SSC Art: SSC BU: BA EN: S
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L77 WGSS 441A Gender Analysis for International Affairs
In this transdisciplinary course, gender is not a synonym for women, as Terrell Carver reminds us; rather, students take gender seriously as both an analytical category and a lived experience, examining how masculinities, femininities, gender identities, and sexualities shape international affairs. Traversing from the macro to the micro level, the course functions as a learning community in which students are exposed to diverse voices from around the world, and students conduct gender analyses in case studies and simulations. Throughout, the class will be mindful of 1) how gender functions in tandem with other aspects of identity, such as race, religion, class, sexuality, and more (intersectionality) and 2) how multidimensional identities morph historically, regionally, and culturally. Students build a gender analysis toolkit and practice what Cynthia Enloe describes as "feminist curiosity," exploring the relationship between gender and power in international affairs.
Same as L97 GS 4414
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: LCD, SSC, SC Arch: SSC Art: SSC BU: BA, IS EN: S
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L77 WGSS 444 Sex and Gender in Public
This two-semester course is a research capstone class combined with hands-on workshops designed to help students produce a public project related to gender and/or sexuality studies. It is designed as a capstone that allows students to build on their coursework in WGSS, and it may speak to specific professional goals, but that is not a requirement. It is open to both majors and minors but required for students in the health or politics tracks. Topics covered will include exhibition, podcasts, website design, storymaps, comics, and community education. However, students are not limited to these methods in their final projects.
Credit 1.5 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 444B Sex and Gender in Public
This two-semester course is a research capstone class combined with hands-on workshops designed to help students produce a public project related to gender and/or sexuality studies. It is designed as a capstone that allows students to build on their coursework in WGSS, and it may speak to specific professional goals, but that is not a requirement. It is open to both majors and minors. Topics covered will include exhibition, podcasts, website design, storymaps, comics, and community education. However, students are not limited to these methods in their final projects.
Credit 1.5 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4454 Irish Women Writers: 1800 to Present
Same as L14 E Lit 4454
Credit 3 units. Art: HUM
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L77 WGSS 445A Japanese Fiction
The Meiji Period (1868-1912) in Japan was a time of tumultuous change. During the era Japan made sweeping reforms to its government, educational system, and social structures. Meiji men were encouraged to "modernize" along Western lines, while women were expected to serve as "repositories of the past." Most women prized the elegant traditions and saw these as important markers of cultural identity. But not all were willing to completely abdicate their place in the modernizing impulse. This writing intensive course will examine these women's literary works, paying attention to the way they developed strategies to both "serve the nation" and find an outlet for their own creative voice. Works to consider include the short fiction of Higuchi Ichiyo, Shimizu Shikin, and Tamura Toshiko, the poetry of Yosano Akiko, the essays of Kishida Toshiko, and the translations of Wakamatsu Shizuko. All readings are available in English translation and students need not be familiar with Japanese, though background in Japanese Studies, Women's Studies, or literary studies will be helpful. This is a Writing-Intensive Seminar. Prerequisite: junior level or above or permission of instructor.
Same as L05 Japan 445
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, WI Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4479 Senior Seminar in Religious Studies: Contemporary Approaches to the Study of Women and Religion
The topic for this seminar differs every year. Previous topics include Religion and Violence; Governing Religion; Saints and Society; and Religion and the Secular: Struggles over Modernity. The seminar is offered every spring semester and is required of all Religious Studies majors, with the exception of those writing an honors thesis. The class is also open, with the permission of the instructor, to other advanced undergraduates with previous coursework in Religious Studies.
Same as L23 Re St 479
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SD Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: ETH EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4494 Modern Japanese Women Writers
Japanese women have been scripted by Western (male) imagination as gentle, self-effacing creatures. From their (re)emergence in the late 19th century to their dominance in the late 20th, Japanese women writers have presented an image of their countrywomen as anything but demure. Struggling to define their voices against ever-shifting expectations and social contexts, the women they create in their fiction are valiant, if not at times violent. This course examines the various manifestations of the female image in female-authored modern Japanese fiction. Writers to be considered are Higuchi Ichiyo, Hirabayashi Taiko, Uno Chiyo, Enchi Fumiko, Yamada Eimi, and others. A selection of novels and shorter fiction will be available in English translation, and students need not be familiar with Japanese. Prior coursework in literature/women's studies may be helpful. This is a Writing Intensive course. Prerequisite: junior level or above or permission of instructor.
Same as L05 Japan 449
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SD, WI EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4496 Modern Japanese Women Writers
Japanese women have been scripted by Western (male) imagination as gentle, self-effacing creatures. From their (re)emergence in the late 19th century to their dominance in the late 20th, Japanese women writers have presented an image of their countrywomen as anything but demure. Struggling to define their voices against ever-shifting expectations and social contexts, the women they create in their fiction are valiant, if not at times violent. This course examines the various manifestations of the female image in female-authored modern Japanese fiction. Writers considered are Higuchi Ichiyo, Hirabayashi Taiko, Uno Chiyo, Enchi Fumiko, Yamada Eimi, and others. A selection of novels and shorter fiction are available in English translation, and students need not be familiar with Japanese. Prior coursework in literature/women's studies may be helpful. Prerequisite: junior level or above or permission of instructor.
Same as L05 Japan 4491
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SD EN: H
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L77 WGSS 455 Topics in Korean Literature and Culture: Gender in Korean Literature and Film
Topics course in Korean literature and culture; subject varies by semester. Undergraduates enroll in the 400-level section; 500-level section is for graduate students only. Prerequisite: junior level or above or permission of instructor.
Same as L51 Korean 455
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: LCD EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4551 Intersectional Identities in Medieval France
Were medieval French identities "intersectional"? What cultural evidence is there -- in literature, theatrical performance, the visual arts, and the artifacts of everyday life -- for such identity categories as "race," "sexuality," or "disability"? In this course, we will investigate medieval French imaginaries of the racialized, gendered, classed, and abled/disabled body, seeking to do the following: (1) understand the systems of power and privilege that undergirded medieval identities; (2) critique the contemporary perception of medieval Europe as an all-"white," male-dominated space; and (3) explore how contemporary critical identity studies can deepen our comprehension of medieval culture and how medieval materials can offer new insights into contemporary identity formations. This course will be taught in English, with a weekly discussion section in French for undergraduates enrolling for French credit. Prerequisite: French 325, French 326, Thinking-It-Through, or In-Depth.
Same as L34 French 4550
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SC Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: BA EN: H
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L77 WGSS 457 Gender and Modernity in Latin America
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the particular forms modernity assumes in Latin American countries and to the ways in which national cultures, identity politics, and gender issues interweave during the 20th-century. The course will discuss three particular articulation of this topic: 1) Gender and the national question in Argentina: Eva Peron; 2) Gender and Visual Arts: Frida Kahlo; and 3) Gender and Ethnicity: Rigoberta Menchu. Through these iconic figures students will be introduced to the specific features that characterized three very different but representative cultural scenarios in Latin America. In each case, the context for the emergence of these highly influential public figures will be studied from historical, social and cultural perspectives. In order to explore the cultural and political significance of Eva Peron, Frida Kahlo and Rigoberta Menchu, the course will utilize literary texts (speeches, letters, diaries, etc.), visual materials (photography, films, and paintings) and critical bibliography.
Same as L45 LatAm 457
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4601 Taboo: Contesting Race, Sexuality, and Violence in American Cinema
Pushing the envelope or going too far? What is the boundary between films that challenge us and films that offend us? This is a course about films that crossed that boundary, most often by presenting images of race, sexuality and violence, images that could attract audiences as much as they offended moral guardians and courted legal sanctions. Because they were denied the First Amendment protection of free speech by a 1915 Supreme Court decision, movies more than any prior art form were repeatedly subject to various attempts at regulating content by government at federal, state, and even municipal levels. Trying to stave off government control, Hollywood instituted forms of self-regulation, first in a rigid regime of censorship and subsequently in the Ratings system still in use. Because taboo content often means commercial success, Hollywood could nonetheless produce films that pushed the envelope and occasionally crossed over into more transgressive territory. While control of content is a top-down attempt to impose moral norms and standards of behavior on a diverse audience, it also reflects changing standards of acceptable public discourse. That topics once barred from dramatic representation by the Production Code - miscegenation, homosexuality and "lower forms of sexuality," abortion, drug addiction - could eventually find a place in American movies speaks to changes in the culture at large. In trying to understand these cultural changes, this course will explore films that challenged taboos, defied censorship, and caused outrage, ranging from films in the early 20th Century that brought on the first attempts to control film content through to films released under the Ratings system, which has exerted subtler forms of control. REQUIRED SCREENING:
Same as L53 Film 460
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, SC, SD Art: CPSC EN: H
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L77 WGSS 461A Topics in English Literature: Queer Youth: LGBTQ Narratives of Coming-of-Age and Coming Out in the U
Same as L14 E Lit 4621
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H UColl: ENL
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L77 WGSS 4675 Beyond the Harem: Women, Gender, and Revolution
This course examines the history and current situations of women in Middle Eastern societies. The first half of the course is devoted to studying historical changes in factors structuring women's status and their sociopolitical roles. The second half of the course will focus on several case studies of women's participation in broad anticolonial social revolutions and how these revolutions affected the position of women in those societies.
Same as L22 History 4675
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD BU: BA, HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4700 Ancient Greek and Roman Gynecology
This course examines gynecological theory and practice in ancient Greece and Rome, from about the 5th century BCE to the 3rd century CE. The task is complicated by the nature of our evidence. Our surviving textual sources are authored exclusively by men, mainly physicians. They have a pronounced tendency to conceptualize the health and disease in terms of a single body, which was male by default. They distinguished female bodies from male primarily in reproductive aspects. How exactly did these physicians understand diseases of women and, as far as can be recovered, to what extent were their views represented among laypeople? What form did treatment take and what was the social status of practitioners, both that of our extant sources and female practitioners whose voices have largely been silenced by the textual tradition? We will approach the study of Greek and Roman gynecology, first from the perspective of Greco-Roman medical views, then from the point of view of contemporary Western biomedicine. The limited nature of our sources will allow students to read the majority of surviving material. These primary readings will be accompanied by current secondary scholarship that explores these fascinating and often frustrating questions about the female body in ancient medical thought. All primary materials will be available in English translation. There will be an option for students with a background in Greek or Latin to form a satellite reading group. The course does not assume familiarity with Greek and Roman medicine more broadly.
Same as L08 Classics 4700
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4711 Gender and Religion in China
In this course, we explore the images, roles, and experience of women in Chinese religions: Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and so-called "popular" religion. Topics discussed include: gender concepts, norms, and roles in each religious tradition; notions of femininity and attitudes towards the female body; biographies of women in Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist literature; female goddesses and deities; and the place of the Buddhist and Daoist nun and laywoman in Chinese society. All readings are in English or in English translation. Prerequisite: Senior/Graduate Standing. Students with no previous background in Chinese religion, literature or culture need to obtain instructor's permission before enrolling.
Same as L23 Re St 4711
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD
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L77 WGSS 4720 Race, Reproduction, and Justice
Reproduction is biological, economic, political, and social. Of course, individuals reproduce, but when, how, why, and with whom we do (or do not) is also a matter of public policy and social concern. Drawing on readings from sociology, law and other fields that engage continually with these key questions: Why is reproduction an important site through which to understand sociology? How do statuses such as race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability influence people's reproductive possibilities? How have communities supported or resisted efforts at reproductive control? Why is reproductive justice central to these answers? Students will review theoretical pieces, empirical research, media and more to explore the answers. This course primarily focuses on the US but will expose students to global reproductive concerns. Class sessions include lecture, in-class discussion and online discussion, media analysis and other activities. This upper-level seminar presumes an understanding of the basic concepts in sociology such as sociological imagination and social construction. Prerequisite: successful completion of an introductory-level Sociology course or consent of the instructor. Graduate students should enroll in this 500-level offering.
Same as L40 SOC 4720
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: SSC, SC EN: S
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L77 WGSS 480 Topics in Buddhist Traditions: Gender and Sexuality in Buddhism
This course focuses on a selected theme in the study of Buddhism. Please refer to the course listings for a description of the current offering.
Same as L23 Re St 480
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Art: HUM BU: ETH, HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 481 Selected English Writers I
Concentrated study of one or two major English writers, e.g., Spenser, Dickens, Blake, Yeats. Consult Course Listings.
Same as L14 E Lit 481
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4918 Advanced Seminar: Sexuality in the United States
Does sex have a history, and if so, how can we study it? This seminar examines important themes in the history of sexuality: the relationship between sexual ideologies and practices; racial hierarchy and sexuality; the policing of sexuality; construction of sexual identities and communities; and sexual politics at the end of the century. Students will also spend time discussing theoretical approaches to the history of sexuality, as well as methodological issues, including problems of source and interpretation.
Same as L22 History 4918
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 498 Supervised Reading and Research
This course is designed for students who are pursuing an independent study project as part of the Department Honors Program. Students must apply to the Department. May be repeated once. Prerequisite: Senior Standing and permission of the department.
Credit 3 units.
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L77 WGSS 4982 Advanced Seminar: Women and Confucian Culture in Early Modern East Asia
This course explores the lives of women in East Asia during a period when both local elites and central states sought to Confucianize society. We will focus on Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) China, but will also examine these issues in two other early modern East Asian societies: Yi/Choson (1329-1910) Korea and Tokugawa (1600-1868) Japan.
Same as L22 History 4982
Credit 3 units.
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L77 WGSS 499 Honors Thesis: Research and Writing
Enrollment in this course is limited to students accepted into the Honor's Program. Petition for permission to enroll is available in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Office, 210 McMillan Hall.
Credit 3 units. EN: H
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L77 WGSS 4993 Advanced Seminar: Women and Religion in Medieval Europe
This course explores the religious experience of women in medieval Europe and attempts a gendered analysis of the Christian Middle Ages. In it, we will examine the religious experience of women in a variety of settings - from household to convent. In particular, we will try to understand how and why women came to assume public roles of unprecedented prominence in European religious culture between the twelfth century and the sixteenth, even though the institutional church barred them from the priesthood and religious precepts remained a principal source of the ideology of female inferiority.
Same as L22 History 4993
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD Arch: HUM Art: HUM EN: H
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L77 WGSS 49MB Advanced Seminar: Women and Gender in Modern Caribbean History
This course will highlight women in the "making" of Caribbean history, and it will consider how "men" and "women" were made in the English-speaking Caribbean from emancipation (1838) to the present. We will explore women and gender issues within the context of significant political shifts including the transition from slavery to wage and indentured labor, the labor rebellions of the 1930s, the rise of labor unions and political parties, anti-colonial activism, decolonization and nationalism. The course will also situate the Caribbean within an international context, paying attention to migration, black internationalism and the Third World movement.
Same as L22 History 49MB
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM, LCD, SD BU: IS EN: H
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