Course description
The Gender Studies Minor:
The minor requires a minimum of twenty credits to include Gender Studies 100 and at least four hours of coursework at the 100 or 200 levels and at least eight hours at the 300 or 400 levels. The student, in consultation with a gender studies adviser, will plan a program which will meet requirements of special interest and intellectual coherence, and will include courses in the social sciences, humanities and, when possible, the sciences.
Courses:
Note: A course cannot be used to satisfy both major and minor requirements, e.g., History 370 cannot be used to apply toward the thirty-eight credit requirement for the gender studies major and history minor or vice versa. Regularly offered Gender Studies courses and applicable variable-topic courses offered 2009-10 include:
GndS 100 Introduction to Gender Studies (Fall: Morrissey; and Spring: Wilcox) This interdisciplinary course is designed to introduce students, particularly those intending to complete a gender studies major or minor, to questions in which gender is a significant category of analysis. Topics will include the construction of gender identity and sexuality and the relationship of gender to past and present social and cultural institutions, gendered representations in the arts and literature, and feminist and related theoretical approaches to various disciplines.
GndS 291, 292 Independent Study (Fall and Spring; 1-4 credits)
Discussion and directed reading on a topic of interest to the individual student.
GndS 380 Special Topics: Courses that explore selected topics in gender studies.
Fall 2008: 380 A: Queer Theory; Wilcox
Queer theory developed in the early 1990s out of the conjunction of feminist theory, sexuality studies, and queer activism. This course introduces students to some of the key authors and texts in queer theory, as well as applications of queer theory in a variety of academic fields and critiques of queer theory as androcentric, Eurocentric, overly intellectual, and impractical. It is recommended that students who take this class have previous exposure to theoretical writing in either the humanities or the social sciences.
Spring 2009: 380 A: French Feminism; Zalloua
This course will explore the movement of French Feminism as articulated by its leading representatives, Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, and H??e Cixous. Taking a genealogical approach to the investigation of "feminism", we will compare these theorists' understanding of the concept with that of Simone de Beauvoir, as well as that of their Anglophone contemporaries (such as Judith Butler and Diana Fuss). Particular attention will be given to the representations of gender and sexual difference in relation to language and pleasure, essentialism, and accounts of the body, as well as French Feminism's critical dialogue with psychoanalysis, Marxism, and poststructuralism.
GndS 490 Senior Seminar (Fall: Morrissey)
Taught by a gender studies faculty member with guest participation by others, this seminar is intended to engage senior majors in sustained discussion of contemporary gender issues. Readings, discussion, and papers, including a proposal for the thesis. Required of and limited to senior gender studies majors. (Fall degree candidates should plan to take this seminar at the latest possible opportunity.)
GndS 491,492 Independent Study (Fall and Spring; 1-4 credits)
Discussion and directed reading on a topic of interest to the individual student.
GndS 497 Thesis (Spring)
Completion of a thesis based on the previous semester's plan.
GndS 498 Honors Thesis (Spring)
Completion of an honors thesis. Required of and limited to senior honors candidates in gender studies.
Anthropology 358 (SS), Sex and Gender in Anthropological Perspective (Not offered 2009-10)
Classics 140 (Hi), Women in Antiquity (Fall 2009)
Education 360 / Sociology 370 (SS), Issues of Educational Equality (Not offered 2009-10)
English 337A (Hu), Studies in Renaissance Literature: Love, Sex, and Power in Tudor England (Fall 2009)
History 254 (Hi) The Social History of Stuff: The United States from Industialization to the Internet (Spring 2010)
History 300 (Hi), Gender in Chinese History (Fall 2009)
History 310 (Hi), Women in Africa (Spring 2010)
History 325 (Hi), Women and Gender in Islamic Societies (Not offered 2009-10)
History 370 (Hi), Interrogating Sisterhood: Women and Gender in the United States (Not offered 2009-10)
History 383 (Hi), Women in Latin America (Not offered 2009-10)
History 393 (Hi), Constructions of Gender in the Middle Ages (Not offered 2009-10)
Music 354 (Hu), Women as Composers (Not offered 2009-10)
Philosophy 235 (Th), Philosophy of Feminism (Not offered 2009-10)
Philosophy 332 (Hu), Reproduction (Not offered 2009-10)
Physics 101A, Women in Physical Science (Spring 2010)
Politics 254 (SS), Gender and Race in Law and Policy (Fall 2009)
Politics 307 (Th), Political Theory and the Body Politic (Not offered 2009-10)
Politics 325 (SS), Queer Politics and Policy (Not offered 2009-10)
Politics 328 (Th), Contemporary Feminist Theories (Not offered 2009-10)
Politics 359 (SS), Gender and International Hierarchy (Not offered 2009-10)
Politics 365 (SS), Political Economy of Care / Work (Spring 2010)
Psychology 239 (SS), Psychology of Women and Gender (Not offered 2009-10 )
Religion 287 (Hu), Queer Religiosities (Not offered 2009-10)
Religion 358 (Hu), Feminist and Liberation Theologies (Not offered 2009-10)
Religion 359 (Hu), Gender, Body and Religion (Not offered 2009-10)
Rhetoric and Film Studies 240 (Hu), Rhetorical Explorations: Gender, Class and Race (Not offered 2009-10)
Sociology 257 (SS), Sociology of the Family (Not offered 2009-10)
Sociology 258 (SS), Gender and Society (Fall 2009)
Sociology 287 (SS), Sociology of the Body (Not offered 2009-10)
Spanish 428 (Hu), The Spanish Civil War in Film, Literature, and Art (Fall 2009)
Spanish 439 (Hu), Gore, Sex, and Politics in Peninsular Film and Literature (Spring 2010)
Spanish 447 / World Lit 329 (Hu), Familias y Fronteras: Contemporary Chicana Literature (Not offered 2009-10)
Spanish 450 (Hu), Night Chicas: Sex Workers in Contemporary Film from Spain, Mexico, and Brazil (Not offered 2009-10)
Spanish 451 (Hu), The Theatre and Poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca (Not offered 2009-10)
Spanish 452 (Hu), Pedro Almodovar's Spain (Not offered 2009-10)
SSRA 328 Women and Sport (Fall 2009)
Note: Variable topic courses (e.g., English 181-182) may also be applicable to the Gender Studies major / minor, depending on the subject.
