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Spring 2007 Courses
Interdisciplinary Perspectives of Women
Trysh Travis
Anita Anantharam
Ana Liberato
WST 3015 – Section 1358
WST 3015 – Section 4454
WST 3015 – Section 6895
T 6, R 6-7; MAT 119; 3 Credits
MWF 3; TUR 1315; 3 Credits
MWF 4; TUR 2333; 3 Credits
Drawing on materials and methodologies from a variety of disciplines, this class explores the diverse experiences of women, both in past eras and in the present, in the U.S. and abroad. Required for the Women's Studies major and minor; fulfills the General Education requirement in international studies and diversity. (H, S, I)
Transnational Feminisms
Anita Anantharam
WST 3415– Section 5401
MWF 5; TUR 2333; 3 Credits
This course places women and feminism in a transnational perspective, focusing on various theories and movements engendered by women in contemporary national contexts. Development, reproductive politics, women’s health, etc., will be examined.
Sex Rights
Angel Kwolek-Folland
WST 3930– Section 1170
W 8-10 UST 108; 3 Credits
This course places women and feminism in a transnational perspective,
focusing on various theories and movements engendered by women in
contemporary national contexts. Development, reproductive politics,
women’s health, etc., will be examined.
Women of Color in the US
Stephanie Evans
WST 3930 – Section 1390
T 4 and R 4-5; TUR 2306;3 Credits
This course is designed to provide an overview of the intersection of race, ethnicity, sex, and gender presence, oppression, and creative resistance in the historical and contemporary experience of Native American, Asian American, African American, and Latina women. The course seeks to enhance understanding of how racism and sexism function in the political, social, and economic systems of the U.S. Women of color in the U.S. have formed communities of resistance that will be explored in their writings.
Modern Brazilian Literature
Charles Perrone
WST 3930 – Section 5331
T 5-6, LIT 233; R 6, MAT 2; 3 Credits
Joined with PRT 2490/1531
Studies in Brazilian literature since modernism (1920s) emphasizing national identity, gender issues, urbanization, and internationalization. Fiction, and some poetry, considered in aesthetic, sociocultural and geohistorical contexts. A general goal is to discover creativity and diversity, dispelling common stereotypes and uncritical images of the land and the people. (H, I)
Women and Development
Ana S.Q. Liberato
WST 3930 – Section 1421
MWF 8; TUR 1315; 3 Credits
This course is based on two important assumptions: 1) development
policies and politics have specific historical and political
backgrounds, and 2) economic development affects diverse groups of
women and men differently. We will study some of the theories behind
development paradigms and strategies and explore the experiences of
women in different development situations. The meaning of gender roles,
international development, and empowerment are explored from a feminist
perspective. The course considers the ways in which women have been
marginalized in the development process and explores feminist work on
this subject. As part of the course work, we will evaluate case study
examples from the readings and have discussion sessions, class
presentations, and writing and internet assignments.
20th Century Women's Poetry
Marsha Bryant
WST 3930 – Section 4929
T 7, R 7-8, WEIM 1070; 3 Credits
Joined with Lit 3383/7177
The term “women’s poetry” isn’t as simple as it appears. It is the same thing as “feminist” poetry? Does domesticity restrict or expand women's poetry? Does women’s poetry always challenge literary tradition, or counter popular culture? How does the "women’s poetry" label affect the ways we read, and how should it? In this course we will study poetry by Edna Saint Vincent Millay, Gertrude Stein, H.D., Stevie Smith, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sylvia Plath, Rita Dove, and Julia Alvarez. We will also place the poems in biographical and cultural contexts. Assignments include 3 analytical papers (explication, anthology review, cultural analysis), a panel presentation, and a parody
Women's Autobiographies
Amanda Davis
WST 3930 – Section 6828
R 9-11; TUR 2306;3 Credits
This class will focus on women's autobiographical texts and the ways in which female authors explore and problematize issues surrounding identity, subjectivity, power, and resistance in their narratives. Given the diversity of the genre and the sheer number of texts that have been produced, this course will concentrate specifically on women's memoirs of activism and their (often announced) autobiographical accounts of living on various borders.
Drawing from Gloria Anzaldua's description of the borderland as a "place of contradictions" that emerges "wherever two or more cultures edge each other," we will look closely at how writers respond to the various social, historical, and political conditions that surround them and inform their writing. Texts will be drawn from writers situated in different disciplines and regions who choose varying formats to position themselves as writing subjects. Particular attention will be directed to how these writers conceptualize issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, and often most important, their intersection. In addition to other course requirements, students will have the opportunity to compose their own edited collection of women's autobiographical writings throughout the term.
Gender Representation in Visual Art
Melissa Hyde
WST 3930 - Section 2893
T 5-6, LIT 233; R 6, MAT 2; 3 Credits
Joined with ARH 3423/2893
This course will offer an examination of selected European works, (especially by women) from the Renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century. Our aim will be to consider ways historians can understand the gendering of pictorial practice, and interpret the practices of representing gendered subjects. Particular consideration will be given to the historical contexts, conceptions of gender and cultural attitudes towards women that conditioned their experiences and artistic practices. Themes addressed in the course include: women’s self-representation, work and leisure as they relate to notions of the public and private in art, the ways in which women have negotiated the structures of art institutions, their relationship to patronage and the art market. Also important for this course are issues having to do with the sexual politics of looking (particularly looking at the nude). We will be exploring the ways in which women as artists and beholders have produced or assumed a range of different positions in relation to representing, looking and being represented. The aim of this course then, is not simply to substitute a “feminized” history of art for the traditionally “masculine” one, but to consider critically case studies of women as artists, beholders and subjects of art in dynamic contact with the artistic production and viewing by men. Readings will focus on specific artists and paintings, but will also involve some theoretical inquiry into larger categories of gender, sexuality and “otherness.” Issues of the gaze will figure prominently. The course will thus include materials from the fields of history, literary and film theory, gender and cultural studies. Pre-req: ARH 2051 or permission of instructor.
Women and Film
Maureen Turim
WST 3930 – Section 8954
T 4 and R 4-5; W E1-E3 and TUR 2322; 4Credits
Joined with ENG 4134/6447
This course will examine how women have been represented in
film, how they have participated in film production, and how they
consume film images. We will look at various feminist approaches and
the range of debates as to how to address these issues.
The course will have several goals; to introduce you to the history of
women in film, to increase your skills in reading film, in reading
critical writing about film, and in understanding the relation between
writing critical analysis and feminist theory. Emphasis will be on such
basic issues as viewer identification and cultural context as currently
formulated through various feminist and post-structuralist
methodologies. We will explore how feminism intersects with
psychoanalysis, ideology, deconstruction and related approaches. We
will examine the conjuncture of theoretical issues with an experience
of specific texts, and the function of these texts in the past and
present workings of history.
Course Requirements:
Two papers of 8 pages each (35% and 35%), plus class discussion and miscellaneous assignments (30%). Participation in class discussion is essential. WebCT participation as well. Students must attend scheduled screenings.
Independent Study
Faculty
Variable Credits 1-3
WST 4905 – Section Department Controlled
Can be repeated up to 6 credits
For advanced undergraduate students who desire to supplement the regular courses by independent reading or research. Online application.
Women and Islam
Gwendolyn Simmons
WST 4930 – Section 0623
R 8-10,TUR B310; 3 Credits
Joined with REL 4936/6077
This course will cast a feminist insider perspective on the volatile subject of “Women and Islam.” Most non-Muslims credit Islam as being the root cause of the oppression of women in the Muslim world. However, a growing number of Muslim women scholars and activists have begun to challenge the notion that Islam is synonymous with the oppression of women. In this course we will review the history of the religion and women’s place in it, bringing to the foreground the significant role women played in Islam’s early history. We will also examine the situation of Muslim women contemporarily from both the perspectives of Islamic Nationalists and Islamists. Both groups see that women are a crucial component for the preservation of Islamic societies.
Women in German Literature
Jennifer Coenen
WST 4930 – Section 1847
MWF 6, TUR 2333; 3 Credits
Joined with GEW 4750/1352
This course serves as an introduction to literature, film, and hypermedia by 20th century women writers and directors from German speaking countries. The course will utilize an interdisciplinary approach based on feminist film, literary, and cultural theory. We will read texts by Rosa Luxemburg, Marieluise Fleißer, Veza Canetti, Marlen Haushofer, Christa Wolf, Ingeborg Bachmann, Ulrike Meinhof, Verena Stefan, and Elfriede Jelinek, among others, and discuss theoretical writings by Anglo-American, French, and German feminists. We will also view the films Girl in Uniform, Germany, Pale Mother, Rosa Luxemburg, and Nobody Loves Me, as well as explore the CD-ROM Bilder der Berührungen. Students will become acquainted with the main themes and structures found in the works and understand the unique contribution that these artists have made to “German” culture. All texts and media originally published in German are read and viewed in translation.
African Women Writers
Rose Lugano
WST 4930 – Section 5110
T 7-8, Rinker 215; R 7, Flint 113; 3 Credits
Joined with 3382/2843
The course will enable students to explore African women writers and
critics, look at their theoretical priorities, literary themes and
cultural positions. It is designed to provide students with both a
specific and a general view of the status, achievements and experiences
of African women in fiction. Using different genres (novels and plays)
we will endeavor to understand how women’s literary expression has been
shaped by history, culture, and their experiences, as well as see how
they are addressing issues of gender in their respective societies.
Discussions will focus on issues of identity, oppression, resistance,
exile, language, translation and colonialism, using as points of entry
a diverse set of texts. Finally, students will examine how African
women writers are using writing itself as a tool for social
transformation and critique
US Empire and Gender
Malini Schueller
WST 4930– Section 6089
T 5-6, TUR 2305, R 6, TUR 2318; 3 Credits
Joined with LIT 4183/2687
Taking imperialism as central to the construction of the United States’ national imaginary, this course will raise a number of questions about the intersection of empire and gender. How is the language of empire gendered? How does gender structure metaphors such as the frontier? How are representations of colonized spaces and racial others invested with discourses of gender? How does the captivity narrative persist in the narrative of contemporary imperialism? We will focus on specific sites of empire such as Hawaii, Mexico, the Philippines, and Vietnam and examine the literary and cultural texts that emerge from those sites. Most of our readings will be from the twentieth century, but there will be some nineteenth century and eighteenth century works as well. Possible texts include Norman Taurog’s Blue Hawaii, Lois-Ann Yamanaka’s Blu’s Hanging, Le Ly Hayslip’s When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, John Luther Long’s Madame Butterfly, Hwang’s M. Butterfly, John Rollin Ridge’s The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta, and Sarah Josepha Hale’s Liberia. We will also read the work of critics such as Edward Said, Anne McClintock, and Ann Laura Stoler.
Women, Work, and Pop Culture
Susan Hegeman
WST 4930 – Section 8949
T 8-9 and R 9, TUR 2333; 3 Credits
Joined with LIT 4535/3362
Arguably one of the biggest changes affecting American women over the last century has been their entry in unprecedented numbers into the public world of wage labor. This course will examine women’s labor, both paid and unpaid, through the lens of popular culture including films, popular literature, and fashion. In our discussions we will consider popular cultural materials not simply as evidence of dramatic historical changes involving women and work, but as attempts to make sense of these changes as well. Readings will include historical and critical studies, popular nonfiction, and novels.
Capstone Seminar in Women’s Studies
Trysh Travis
WST 4935 – Section 1883
T 3-4, UST 108; R 4, NSC 225; 3 Credits
This course (required for all majors) is the culmination of the Women’s Studies major. It explores some examples of past and present scholarship to reaffirm the interdisciplinary nature of the field and to highlight the relationships among feminist theory, intellectual practice, and social change. The bulk of the semester is devoted to a full-length independent project on a topic of student’s own choosing.
Internship
Milagros Peña
WST 4940 – Section Department Controlled
Can be repeated up to 6 credits
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor and program chair
This course is designed for students desiring practical experience in the community. Students intern with a local agency, group or business involved in women’s issues. Online Application
Feminist Ethnography
Florence Babb
WST 5933– Section 5488
T 8-10, UST 108; 3 Credits
Joined with ANG 6930 Sect 3468
This graduate seminar will consider issues in qualitative research methodology through reading and discussing feminist ethnographies as well as critical assessments of feminist scholarship and methods. We will ask challenging questions about interdisciplinarity and the ethics of field research, including the fundamental question of whether there is indeed a feminist ethnographic methodology. Moreover, we will discuss the feminist politics of ethnographic representation (by the researcher depicting the researched) and of positionality (of the researcher in relation to the researched). Case studies from a wide range of societies will present opportunities for students to consider the relative merits of various approaches in feminist anthropology and related fields in the social sciences. Seminar participants will be expected to try out their own feminist ethnographic writing, which will be shared with others in the course as a way to refine analytical and writing skills
Independent Study
Faculty
Variable Credits 1-3
WST 6905 – Section Department Controlled
Can be repeated up to 6 credits
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor and department chair and 1 Women's Studies course or course that counts for women's studies Independent reading or research under guidance. Online application.
Women and Islam
Gwendolyn Simmons
WST6935– Section 7187
R 8-10,TUR B310; 3 Credits
Joined with REL 5365/6073
This course will cast a feminist insider perspective on the volatile subject of “Women and Islam.” Most non-Muslims credit Islam as being the root cause of the oppression of women in the Muslim world. However, a growing number of Muslim women scholars and activists have begun to challenge the notion that Islam is synonymous with the oppression of women. In this course we will review the history of the religion and women’s place in it, bringing to the foreground the significant role women played in Islam’s early history. We will also examine the situation of Muslim women contemporarily from both the perspectives of Islamic Nationalists and Islamists. Both groups see that women are a crucial component for the preservation of Islamic societies.
International Human Rights: Women in the Americas
Berta Hernandez-Truyol
WST6935– Section 8453
M 5-7; Holland Hall Rm 350; 3 Credits
Joined with LAS 6938/8437 and LAW 6936/8440
In this seminar, we will study the rights afforded to women by the international human rights regime and the inter-American regional system (including the OAS), as well as the trade regimes – WTO, NAFTA, MERCOSUR and the proposed FTAA. Our focus is to explore how women's lives have fared in the Americas in numerous contexts including how they affect the lives of women, women and the family, the state (representation, democracy), the global economy (labor, trade, etc.), armed conflict, globalization, education, the environment, intersectionalities (gender, race including indigenous populations, class, sex, sexuality, religion), culture, property, violence, and health. Specific topics will coincide with students’ writing projects.
Feminist Challenges to Traditional Paradigms:Race Perspectives
Milagros Peña
WST 6936 – Section 6481
M 8-10, UST 108; 3 Credits
Joined with SYA 7933/DEPT
Major feminist thinkers of theoretical movements. Topics include French feminist Luce Irigaray, Marxism and feminist theory, feminism and postmodern theory, African-American feminist theorists, construction of gender identity.
Internship in Applied Women's Studies and Gender Research
Faculty
1-3 Credits
WST 6946 – Section Department Controlled
Can be repeated up to 6 credits
Prerequisite: Permission of program director
Practical experience in community. Internship with local agency, group, or business in women’s issues. Online Application
Master's Research
Faculty
WST 6971 – Section Department Controlled
1-15 Credits
