SOAN/GSFS 0191 Introduction to the Sociology of Gender

What is gender and what would a sociology of it look like? When did gender become a category of inquiry and more importantly why? We will look at how the meaning and performance of gender changed over time, from Classical Greece to Victorian England, to the contemporary U.S. We will also look at how gender changes depending on one’s position in social space, e.g. one’s race, class, sexuality, and nationality. Finally, we will consider how the need to look at gender is the result of a variety of discourses, from psychoanalysis to capitalism to movements of liberation such as feminism. 3 hrs. lect. CMP, SOC

ENAM/GSFS 0102 Introduction to Gender, Sexuality and Literature
This course offers an introduction to the ways in which literature reflects, influences, creates, and reveals cultural beliefs about gender and sexuality. We will read a wide range of novels, poems, and plays from a diversity of eras and national traditions; we will also study seminal works in feminist theory, queer studies, and the history of sexuality, from early thinkers to today’s cutting-edge theorists. Throughout the course, we will explore the ways in which gender intersects with other crucial cultural issues such as race, nationhood, globalization, and class. 3 hrs. lect. CMP, LIT

PHIL/GSFS 0234 Philosophy and Feminism

This course will examine the contributions of various feminists and feminist philosophers to some of the central problems of philosophical methodology, epistemology, philosophy of science, metaphysics, and ethics. Are there gendered assumptions in operation in the way particular philosophical problems are framed? For example, do the politics of gender contribute to accounts of objective knowledge and rationality? Are some philosophical perspectives better suited to the goals of feminism than others? We will also examine the general relationship between feminism and philosophy, and we will reflect on the relevance of theorizing and philosophizing for feminist political practice.  CMP PHL Fall 2012 Heidi

WAGS 0200 Foundations in Women and Gender Studies
This course provides an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of women and gender studies. Examining gender always in conjunction with the categories of race and class, the course foregrounds how inequalities are perpetuated in different fields of human activity and the creative ways in which groups have resisted these processes. The course is organized in sections to illuminate the effects of particular social institutions and structures on our gendered lives. Each section will introduce a broad overview of feminist interventions in different fields of inquiry. Cumulatively, the course reveals the importance of gender as an analytical category to understand social reality and to comprehend important areas of culture. 3 hrs. lect.CMP, SOC

WAGS 0320 Topics in Feminist Theory
The course offers an overview of some key feminist texts and theories that have shaped the analysis of gender and sexuality. How have feminist theories addressed the issues of — (depending on topic of the semester).  In each section the readings will locate feminist theories in relation to histories of colonialism and postcolonialism, as well as theories of nationalism and globalization. (WAGS 0200 or SOAN 0191) 3 hr. lect. CMP, SOC