GWS - Gender and Women's Studies

GWS Class Schedule

Courses

GWS 100   Intro Gender & Women's Studies   credit: 3 Hours.

Interdisciplinary introduction to the study of gender, women, and sexuality. Addresses issues such as social experience, representation and popular culture, femininities and masculinities, family structure, education, employment, economics, literature and the arts, religion, history, and technology. Explores interrelationships of race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, ability, and age from a transnational perspective. Same as HDFS 140 and SOC 130.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Social & Beh Sci - Soc Sci

GWS 103   Black Women in the Diaspora   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as AFRO 103 and AFST 103. See AFRO 103.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Cultural Studies - US Minority

GWS 199   Undergraduate Open Seminar   credit: 0 to 5 Hours.

Approved for letter and S/U grading. May be repeated.

GWS 201   Race, Gender & Power   credit: 3 Hours.

Presents multiple windows into perceptions and perspectives upon gender, sexuality, power, identity and culture, and their multiple intersections. The concept of race in its many manifestations is used to examine relationships of self to society, state institutions and cultures. By paying greater attention to race and power, nuanced understandings of the way the gender systems are maintained, patrolled and formed will be examined. Topics may include: film, media, technology, culture, religion, identities, sexualities. Same as SOC 201.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Cultural Studies - Western

GWS 202   Sexualities   credit: 3 Hours.

Surveys sexualities from multiple perspectives, standpoints, disciplines, and theories. How have different cultures, different people, and different viewpoints understood, shaped, and interpreted sex, sexualities and genders? Course places the concept of sexuality at its core to examine citizenship, education, reproduction, science, tourism, urban/rural space, and politics. Topics may include: gender, race, identities, power, transformation, reproduction. Same as SOC 202.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Cultural Studies - Western

GWS 204   Gender in Gaming   credit: 3 Hours.

Examines the history of gender in videogames, focusing on how movements like #GamerGate, #RaceFail09, internet bullying, doxing and trolling emerged as the coordinated effort to consolidate and maintain videogames and geek culture as the domain of masculinity and whiteness. We also consider how the embodied elements of play as well as the spatial logics of games function to promote and resist representation, and we will end by looking at how games designed by women and people of color are transforming how and why we play games. Same as ENGL 277 and MACS 204.

GWS 215   US Citizenship Comparatively   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as AAS 215, AIS 295, AFRO 215, and LLS 215. See AAS 215.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Humanities - Hist & Phil
Cultural Studies - US Minority

GWS 230   Latina/o Genders & Sexualities   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as LLS 230. See LLS 230.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Cultural Studies - US Minority

GWS 240   Gender & Sexuality in Greco-Roman Antiquity   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as CLCV 240 and CWL 262. See CLCV 240.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Humanities - Lit & Arts
Cultural Studies - Western

GWS 245   Wives, Workers and Witches in Pre-Modern Europe   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as HIST 245 and MDVL 245. See HIST 245.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Humanities - Hist & Phil
Cultural Studies - Western

GWS 250   Gender and Representation   credit: 3 Hours.

Focusing primarily on gender, race, sexuality, and their intersections, this introductory course analyzes the politics of representation drawn from popular culture, painting, television and film, literature, music, religion, and new media.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Social & Beh Sci - Soc Sci

GWS 255   Queer Lives, Queer Politics   credit: 3 Hours.

Investigates queer lives in relation to dominant ideas about "deviance" and "equal rights." Drawing on case studies, the course investigates questions related to nation, race, economy, bodies, drugs, health, identities, agency and action as they intersect with contemporary queer politics. Students will learn conceptual and qualitative methods to investigate issues related to queer lives. Same as SOC 255.

GWS 262   Women's Lives   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as ANTH 262. See ANTH 262.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Social & Beh Sci - Soc Sci

GWS 263   History of Medicine in the United States   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as HIST 263. See HIST 263.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Humanities - Hist & Phil
Cultural Studies - US Minority

GWS 270   Sexuality and Literature   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as GER 270 and CWL 272. See CWL 272.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Humanities - Lit & Arts

GWS 275   The Politics of Fashion   credit: 3 Hours.

Clothing is a medium for fashioning identities from commodities, and it is hardly surprising that political and social tensions are embodied in its fabrications. The politics of dress indicates inseparable links between cultures, aesthetics, and politics, as demonstrated in debates about Muslim practices of veiling, the role of clothing in colonialism’s "civilizing" mission, immigrant and "third world" sweatshop labor, fashion policing and subcultural style, and the fashion and modeling industries. Clearly manifest throughout these politics is the role of gender, race, nation, and sexuality, as relations of power and as critical factors for social life and creative imagination. This course requires weekly written reflections on the required readings; a written midterm; and a final project, which can be either a research paper or a creative project. The course also requires in-class participation (which will include pop quizzes, group discussion, and other exercises) and one individual or group presentation. The course thus provides students an opportunity to develop their critical skills in both oral and written form. Same as AAS 275.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Cultural Studies - US Minority

GWS 282   Feminist and Queer Activisms   credit: 3 Hours.

From anti-lynching campaigns to Black Lives Matter, Wages for Housework to domestic worker organizing, ACT UP to queer migration politics, this course examines the history of feminist, queer, and anti-racist movements. We will pay particular attention to women of color theorists and activists, and the ways in which they develop interdisciplinary and intersectional approaches to activism and advocacy. Same as AAS 282 and LLS 282.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Cultural Studies - US Minority

GWS 285   US Gender History to 1877   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as HIST 285. See HIST 285.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Humanities - Hist & Phil
Cultural Studies - US Minority

GWS 286   US Gender History Since 1877   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as HIST 286. See HIST 286.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Humanities - Hist & Phil
Cultural Studies - US Minority

GWS 287   African-American Women   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as AFRO 287 and HIST 287. See HIST 287.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Humanities - Hist & Phil
Cultural Studies - US Minority

GWS 288   Global Islam and Feminisms   credit: 3 Hours.

Examines gender and sexuality in Muslim-majority societies and diasporas. Introduces students to transnational feminist theories and methodologies in order to examine key issues and debates. Topics include constructions of femininity and masculinity, imperialism and neo-imperialism, Islamic feminisms and exegesis, nationalisms, war and violence, sexuality, diaspora and transnationalism, and race and racialization. Same as AAS 288.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Cultural Studies - Non-West

GWS 295   Beginning Topics GWS   credit: 3 Hours.

Approved for letter and S/U grading. May be repeated in the same term to a maximum of 9 hours; may be repeated in separate terms to a maximum of 12 hours.

GWS 305   Theories of Race, Gender, and Sexuality   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as AAS 300 and LLS 305. See AAS 300.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Advanced Composition

GWS 317   Gender and Human Rights   credit: 3 Hours.

Examines the complex relationship between culture, gender roles, and gender-based human rights and violations. Addresses topics such as the evolution of the human rights framework, strategies and ethical dilemmas of human rights work, and transnational feminist activism. Students will discuss case studies of rights violations and local change-making strategies and will construct a human rights campaign on a gender-based issue. Prerequisite: GWS 100, GWS 201, or GWS 202 are highly recommended.

GWS 333   Memoir & Autobiography   credit: 3 Hours.

Explores the phenomenon of autobiography in the contemporary world. Students will read theories of autobiography, and ask questions about how writing about the self is gendered, and how representations of the self fare in the outside world. An important aspect of the course will be examinations of how changing media such as film, television talk shows and the Internet shape these representations. Students will be assigned to read and make a presentation on one of the supplementary texts of autobiographies chosen from authors in the First and Third worlds. Same as ENGL 333.

GWS 335   Film, TV, and Gender   credit: 3 Hours.

Examines the history and theory of film, television, and their interrelationship through one or more specific case studies. Topics may include: film and feminist movements; girl films; queer TV; gender, sport and TV. Focuses attention on gender and related issues such as race, ethnicity, sexuality, age, ability and disability, class, and nationality. Addresses issues of representation, narrative, genre, industry, audience, exhibition, media convergence, new and mobile media, and social space. Same as MACS 335.

GWS 337   Interrogating Masculinities   credit: 3 Hours.

Explores the social construction of gender as it pertains to masculinities in conjunction with analyses of race, class, gender, ability, and sexuality. Masculinities, in its various forms, shapes and lives of both women and men and this course will examine the construction, reproduction, and impact of masculinities on the institutions of politics, education, work, religion, sports, family, media, and the military to name a few. Paying careful attention to the conjunctions between materiality and culture, this course will interrogate how masculinities shape individual lives, groups, nationalisms, organizations, and institutions and will analyze the ways in which power functions within local transnational contexts. Above all, this course offers a road map for forging new, progressive models of masculinity.

GWS 350   Feminist & Gender Theory   credit: 3 Hours.

Interdisciplinary survey of feminist and gender theory. Traces developments in feminist theory and LGBT/Q approaches and explores contemporary debates.

GWS 355   Beauty and Culture   credit: 3 Hours.

Examines beauty and culture, in particular how tropes, ideologies, and politics bolster the construction of beauty as an aesthetic value. Looks at the ways in which beauty is imagined, visualized, narrated, naturalized, reproduced, privileged, and contested through various venues such as art, performance, philosophy, media, history, and popular culture. Attention will be given to race, class, gender, sexuality, and the implications thereof.

GWS 356   Sex & Gender in Popular Media   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as MACS 356. See MACS 356.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Cultural Studies - Western

GWS 361   Gender and Women in East Asia   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as EALC 361. See EALC 361.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Advanced Composition

GWS 363   Gender, Health & Pop Culture   credit: 3 Hours.

Aspects of popular culture, including television, magazines, newspapers, social networking sites, and internet sources to name a few, are ways that health information is disseminated. Students will examine how we define health and understand disease as related to popular culture. Discusses how people resist or reinforce these messages about health, well being, fitness, and diet. Also discusses how understandings of race, sexuality and class affect the ways that we think about sickness, health and constructions of gender.

GWS 366   Feminist Disability Studies   credit: 3 Hours.

Explores the complex relationship between gender and disability. Approaching disability as a social and political category rather than a strictly medical one, we will ask: how is the language of disability used to produce and police a variety of gender, sexual, and racial identities as non-normative? How might debates over medicine, technology, and the concept of "natural" pit gender and disability against one another? How have feminist, queer, and transgender scholarship and activism engaged disability? Prerequisite: One of the following: GWS 100, GWS 201, GWS 202.

GWS 370   Queer Theory   credit: 3 Hours.

Traces the development of queer theory as a mode for understanding queer studies methodologies and the changing intellectual landscape of key issues in the field. As part of the course, students will review key concepts and theoretical schools of thought, navigating important debates guiding the field. Theories will engage questions of the social and cultural through topics including race, gender, nation, family, history, identity formation, sexology, the state, and capital. Same as SOC 320. Prerequisite: GWS 100, GWS 201, GWS 202, or consent of instructor.

GWS 378   Fairy Tales & Gender Formation   credit: 3 Hours.

Discusses how femininity and gender formation are related through fairy tales. As children grow they are taught the difference between male and female roles. One of the main ways this instruction takes place is through the pleasurable media of fairy tales in books, poems, and more recently, films. Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Beauty and the Best, and the Little Mermaid, among others, will be examined to understand how sexual identity is constructed differently in different cultures, and how issues such as rape and incest are addressed within the narratives. The readings explore the ways that fairy tales work to express psychological reactions to maturation while conditioning both characters and readers to adopt specific social roles in adulthood. Same as ENGL 378.

GWS 380   Black Women Hist & Cultures   credit: 3 Hours.

Interdisciplinary study of black women's multiple histories and varied cultures including black women from North America, Africa, and the Caribbean. Same as AFRO 380. Prerequisite: AFRO 100 or GWS 100 or GWS 250 or consent of instructor.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Cultural Studies - Non-West

GWS 382   Black Women & Popular Culture   credit: 3 Hours.

Explores how Black women have been are currently portrayed in popular media, such as television, internet, movies, and popular mediums such as magazines, popular fiction, newspapers, and other cultural phenomenon. Examines what these portrayals reveal about Black women's role in society and how black women as consumer and participants respond to these stereotypes, and create alternative oppositional images.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Cultural Studies - US Minority

GWS 385   Transnational Sexualities   credit: 3 Hours.

Investigates the ways in which sexual identities change as national contexts change, as borders are imagined, valued, and crossed, and as definitions of race, gender, and religion shift. Interrogates how national and transnational identities (at home and abroad), modernites, histories, and colonial and global narratives are built on ideas of racialized sexualities, and as such, is particularly interested in the study of queer diaspora. Importantly, this course utilizes transnational feminist frameworks for re-thinking issues related to sexuality, immigration, nation-building, race and gender. Areas of inquiry include imperialism, immigration, war, tourism and globalization. Same as HIST 385. Prerequisite: GWS 100, GWS 201 or GWS 202 or consent of instructor.

GWS 387   History of Sexuality in U.S.   credit: 3 Hours.

Explores a wide variety of sources to understand how notions of sexuality have emerged and been contested at key moments in U.S. history. Our guiding questions include: How have "official" or governing discourses of sexuality (in law, medicine, religions, science) been formulated? In turn, how have "ordinary" people understood and practiced their sexuality? How has the meaning of particular sexual practices changed over time? How have ideas about race, gender, and/or class been embedded within the discourse of sexuality at different moments in U.S. history? What methods of reading and interpretation are most useful for the historical study of sexuality? Also emphasizes skills such as critically analyzing primary sources within their historical context; interpreting different types of primary sources; locating, understanding, and evaluating scholarly secondary sources; and presenting historical arguments, based on both primary and secondary sources. Same as HIST 387.

GWS 390   Individual Study   credit: 0 to 3 Hours.

Special topics not treated in regularly scheduled classes. Approved for letter and S/U grading. May be repeated to a maximum of 6 hours if topics vary. Prerequisite: One course in Gender and Women's Studies; consent of instructor.

GWS 392   Chicanas&Latinas: Self&Society   credit: 3 Hours.

Same as LLS 392 and SOC 392. See LLS 392.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Advanced Composition

GWS 393   Policing Latinx Immigrant Communities   credit: 3 Hours.

Examines key historical episodes and range of state institutions that have shaped and justified policing of Latinx communities throughout the United States. Centers the ways that gender and sexuality shape the diversity of Latinx experiences. Addresses topics such as formation of US-Mexico border, turn to urban policing, rise of crimmigration, and activist strategies. Interdisciplinary course materials include legal studies, cultural studies, and ethnography.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Cultural Studies - US Minority

GWS 395   Intermediate Topics GWS   credit: 3 Hours.

Approved for letter and S/U grading. May be repeated in the same term to a maximum of 9 hours; may be repeated in separate terms to a maximum of 12 hours.

GWS 399   GWS Internship   credit: 3 Hours.

Directed internship experience for GWS students. Students will complete course requirements in addition to holding a semester long internship. Students must have consent of the Internship Coordinator. Approved for Letter and S/U grading. Prerequisite: GWS major or minor; junior or senior standing and completion of six hours of coursework in GWS, or consent of the instructor.

GWS 416   Latinx Feminisms   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

Examines historical and contemporary Latinx feminist thinking in its complex and uneven genealogies. Considers the multiplicity of Latinx identities and their complex relationship to Latinidad by attending to transnational issues of anti-Blackness; anti-Indigeneity; gender-based violence and femicides; colonization, colonialism, and coloniality; and feminist and LGBTQ struggles for liberation. Same as LLS 416. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: At least one previous course in either GWS or LLS, or consent of instructor.

GWS 459   Gender, Sex, & Postcoloniality   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

Explores the relationship of imperialism, sexuality, and race through the lens of postcolonial theory. Same as HIST 459. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: GWS 100 or GWS 250 and GWS 350 or GWS 370; or consent of instructor.

GWS 462   Hip Hop Feminism   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

Explores how hip hop has shaped the culture, aesthetics, experiences, and perspectives of an emergent generation of artists, scholars, and writers with several aims: 1) To challenge systemic social inequalities. 2) To articulate new visions of justice that depend on the power young people possess. To better understand how and why the relationship between hip hop and feminism is coherent, meaningful, and compelling, students will become familiar with artists working within and beyond various elements of hip hop (rap, graffiti, emceeing, dee-jaying, etc.), social critics concerned with documenting hip hop's cultural practices, and critical educator (broadly defined). 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours.

GWS 464   Theories & Theologies of Liberation   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

Examination of theories and theologies of liberation, from Latin American liberation theologies and Islamic feminisms and anticolonial movements to Third World liberation struggles, the Gay Liberation Front, and the Black Freedom movement. Uses an expansive feminist lens to discuss these histories, theories, and theologies in relation to issues of violence/nonviolence; religion/secularity; art and aesthetics; gender, sex, and sexuality; and power. Same as AAS 464, ANTH 464, and REL 464. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: GWS 100 or GWS 250 and GWS 350 or GWS 370; or consent of instructor.

GWS 467   Locating Queer Culture   credit: 3 Hours.

Our goal is to learn different methods for researching "queer culture," with a special focus on the local context. Explores two research methods in depth: history and ethnography. Students will produce their own original research based on genuine gaps in existing knowledge. Provides an opportunity to learn both received knowledge about queer culture, as well as that which we do not yet know. By the end of this course, the class will collectively produce new knowledge about queer culture using local stories. Same as HIST 468. 3 undergraduate hours. No graduate credit.

GWS 470   Transgender Studies   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

What are the issues and politics related to transgender and transsexual identities? Students will examine and critically evaluate historical and contemporary debates that contest normative male/female binaries and traditional categorizations of sexuality. The course moves beyond these initial inquiries into gender theory to consider the effects of institutional discourses produced through stage and civil society. Taught with particular attention given to questions of race, national formations, medical, and legal discourses. Areas of inquiry may include gender theory, transnational identities, gendered and racial performances, medical and psychological diagnoses, violence, the law, and the Prison Industrial Complex. Through these topics, students will be asked to consider important questions over political and legal representation, autonomy, the rights of citizenship, and the practice of everyday life. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: One course in Gender and Women's Studies at the 200- or 300-level, or consent of instructor.

GWS 475   Queering Legal Cultures   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

Exploration of the many forms of address that legal language can take, and how these legal forms affect subjects who are barely legible before the law. We will look at state laws, supreme-court decisions, policy publications, literature and social commentaries, fictional texts - as mobbed through social media platforms - to try to understand how queer (as verb, noun, adjective) emerges as a way in and out of legal spaces. Topics will include historical formations, current debates, and landmark cases in both national and transnational contexts. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours.

GWS 478   Sex, Power and Politics   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

Examines representations of the relationship between sex, power, and subjectivity and how they have shaped feminism. Explores critical approaches to feminist analyses of women's oppression and debates about sexuality, including issues such as consent, rape and prostitution. Same as PS 413. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: One course in Gender and Women's Studies at the 200- and 300-level or consent of instructor.

GWS 490   Individual Study   credit: 2 to 4 Hours.

Supervised reading and research in Gender and Women's Studies chosen by the student with instructor approval. 2 to 4 undergraduate hours. 2 to 4 graduate hours. May be repeated to a maximum of 6 hours. Prerequisite: Two courses in Gender and Women's Studies at the 200-400 levels; or junior standing; or consent of instructor.

GWS 495   Advanced Topics GWS   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Approved for letter and S/U grading. May be repeated in the same term to a maximum of 9 undergraduate hours or 12 graduate hours; may be repeated in separate terms to a maximum of 12 undergraduate or 12 graduate hours.

GWS 498   Senior Seminar   credit: 3 Hours.

Considers the relationship between theory and research in Women's Studies. Reviews and examines the key issues of feminist scholarship. Provides students with the methodological knowledge and opportunity to carry out a research project. 3 undergraduate hours. No graduate credit. Prerequisite: Senior standing and enrollment as a major in Gender and Women's Studies, or consent of instructor.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Advanced Composition

GWS 540   Intersectional Pedagogies   credit: 4 Hours.

Examines the link between political movements and pedagogies, including feminist, critical, critical multicultural, critical race, and queer pedagogies. Students will analyze pedagogical theories and implement practical techniques and strategies. 4 graduate hours. No professional credit. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and previous coursework in Gender and Women's Studies; or consent of instructor.

GWS 550   Feminist Theories & Methods   credit: 4 Hours.

Interdisciplinary study in diverse feminist theories and methods produced in and across various disciplines. Contemporary philosophical and theoretical developments in the study of gender to specific histories of class, race, ethnicity, nation and sexuality. Prerequisite: At least one graduate-level humanities course or consent of instructor.

GWS 575   Transnational Feminisms   credit: 4 Hours.

Study of the terms, methodologies and theoretical interventions of transnational feminist studies. Transnational is a term that calls attention to circuits of political, economic, and social phenomena across the boundaries of nation-states. Emerging as a response to the shortcomings of overarching, economic theorizations of globalization as well as Western versions of "global feminism," transnational feminist studies is an interdisciplinary critical field that draws from the vocabularies of postcolonial studies, poststructuralism, Third World feminisms, race and ethnic studies feminism in self-reflexive and context-specific ways. Examines recent reconceptualizations of relations between woman and nation; gender and globalization; feminist theory and practice.

GWS 580   Queer Theories & Methods   credit: 4 Hours.

Interdisciplinary study in queer theories and methods produced in and across various disciplines. Contemporary philosophical and theoretical developments in queer studies specific to histories of class, race, ethnicity, nation and sexuality. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

GWS 581   Topics in Queer Studies   credit: 4 Hours.

Interdisciplinary graduate seminar on a current topic in the field of queer studies. May be repeated in separate terms to a maximum of 8 hours if topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and previous coursework in women's or gender studies, or consent of instructor. GWS 580 or previous coursework in queer studies is recommended.

GWS 590   Topics in GWS   credit: 4 Hours.

May be repeated. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and previous coursework in women's or gender studies, or consent of instructor.