Courses in Women's Studies (Division 497)

Women's St. 100. Women's Issues.

Open to all undergraduates. (2). (Excl). Offered mandatory credit/no credit.

This course uses small group discussion to enable students to explore selected topics in women's studies as they apply to their own lives and to contemporary social issues.

Women's St. 110. Practical Feminism.

(1). (Excl). Offered mandatory credit/no credit.

This minicourse focuses on the practical implications of recent feminist scholarship. After a brief introduction to relevant theory and research, the course concentrates on issues of gender asymmetry in a particular environment.

Women's St. 111. Women in Popular Culture.

(1). (Excl). Offered mandatory credit/no credit.

This minicourse examines the question of how gender roles and behaviors are represented in popular culture. Potential materials for the course include films, advertising, music, popular fiction, magazines, news media.

Women's St. 112. Issues for Women of Color.

(1). (Excl). Offered mandatory credit/no credit.

This minicourse examines the effects of various social, political, and/or cultural systems on women of color, focusing specifically on the intersections of gender and racial oppressions and on strategies for overcoming these oppressions.

Women's St. 150. Humanities Seminars on Women and Gender.

Only first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register for First-Year Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3). (HU).

This course serves to introduce diverse topics on women and gender, is interdisciplinary in nature, and partially meets the Humanities requirement.

Women's St. 151. Social Science Seminars on Women and Gender.

Only first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register for First-Year Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3). (SS).

This course serves to introduce diverse topics on women and gender, is interdisciplinary in nature, and partially meets the Social Science requirement.

Women's St. 210/Amer. Cult. 170/Hist. 170. New Worlds: Colonialism and Cultural Encounters.

First-year students only. (4). (Introductory Composition).

A multidisciplinary, cross-cultural lecture/discussion course in which "new worlds" is explored over the span of several centuries and geographical regions. The discussion section functions as a "mini-course" within the larger course dealing with more specifically-defined but related topics.

Women's St. 211/Hist. of Art 211. Gender and Popular Culture.

(4). (HU).

This course concentrated on visual manifestations of 'popular culture' in various media such as film, advertising, television and music videos. We focus on women as signs, producers and consumers, of 'popular culture' in 20th-century America with some attention also to masculinity and race.

Women's St. 220/Nursing 220. Perspectives in Women's Health.

(3). (SS).

A feminist perspective on concepts and issues in women's individual and aggregate health. Course includes definitions of women's health, women's health concerns throughout the life cycle, women as health care consumers and providers, and analysis of the impact of multiple factors on women's health.

Women's St. 230. Women's Movements.

(3). (SS).

This course focuses on women's movements, as they have arisen in the US and in other contexts, in the historical past as well as currently. Topics cover political, social, and relationships within/between groups.

Women's St. 231/CAAS 241. Women of Color and Feminism.

(3). (Excl).

Provides an exposure to the main feminist issues confronting women of color by comparing women of color communities and their feminisms.

Women's St. 240/Amer. Cult. 240. Introduction to Women's Studies.

(4; 3 in the half-term). (HU). (R&E).

A survey introduction to women's studies which serves as a foundation for more advanced work. An interdisciplinary approach acquaints students with the broad dimensions of the field.

Women's St. 243/Amer. Cult. 243. Introduction to Study of Latinas in the U.S.

(3). (HU). (R&E).

This course serves to introduce the study of gender, culture, and identity among Latinas in the U.S. It grapples with the cultural forces that have historically created and re-created Latina identities.

Women's St. 250/Religion 250/Budd. Studies 252. Religion and Culture: Feminine and Masculine Images of Religious Experience.

(3). (HU).

An exploration of human differences and how they affect our sense of what is personal religious experience: inwardness, contemplative solitude, spirituality, ready from classical works of "spirituality" or religious self-reflection.

Women's St. 252. Special Topics.

(2). (Excl). A maximum of seven credits of WS 252 and 253 may be counted toward graduation.

This course takes up a single topic of a very specific or contemporary nature.

Women's St. 253. Special Topics.

(3). (Excl). A maximum of seven credits of WS 252 and 253 may be counted toward graduation.

This course takes up a single topic of a very specific or contemporary nature.

Women's St. 260. Differences Among Women.

(4). (SS).

Social structural features of "differences among women" (race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, nationality, etc.) is explored, as well as aspects of women's lives (relationships, parenthood, political participation) and communities.

Women's St. 270. Women and the Law.

(4). (SS). (R&E).

This course surveys American Constitutional and statutory law as it affects differential treatment based on gender. It also considers affirmative action in education and employment.

Women's St. 312/RC Interdiv. 310. Gender and Science.

An introductory course in natural science, engineering, social sciences, or women's studies. (4). (Excl).

This course examines the history of women's participation in the sciences with an emphasis on the professional, social, and cultural factors that have contributed to their underrepresentation.

Women's St. 315/English 315. Women and Literature.

(3; 2 in the half-term). (HU). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

This course number is designed to accommodate a wide variety of courses on women and literature.

Women's St. 336/CAAS 336/Hist. 336. Black Women in America.

(3). (SS).

This course examines the condition of Black women in America from an historical and contemporary perspective. The main theme of the course is the peculiarity of the social, economic, and political situation of black women in comparison to African American males and white American males and females.

Women's St. 341. Gender and the Individual: Transmission and Function of Sex/Gender Systems.

WS 240. (3). (Excl).

This course explores 1) how the individual acquires gender and sexuality; and 2) how the organization of kin systems transmits and reinforces gender roles.

Women's St. 342. Gender and Society: Hierarchies in Social Organization.

WS 240. (3). (Excl).

This course develops explanations for the persistence of gender hierarchies within public institutions. Analyses focus both on structural barriers to women and on the psychological mechanisms that maintain cultural dominance and asymmetrical power relations.

Women's St. 343. Gender Consciousness and Social Change.

WS 240. (3). (Excl).

This course explores the conception that women have of themselves as women, and the ways in which this conception defines an individual's actions, whether public or private, and her relations to others.

Women's St. 344. Women in Literature and the Arts.

WS 240. (3). (Excl).

Examines the ways in which the sex-gender system shapes women's art in various social, political, and cultural contexts. May focus on women's use of male-dominated art forms (e.g., movies, films, painting, music, etc.) and/or forms associated with women (e.g., textile arts, letters, diaries, etc.)

Women's St. 345. Third World Women.

WS 240. (3). (Excl).

Focuses on women of color, that is, minority women within the U.S. (African American, Asian-American, Latina, or Native American) and/or third world women.

Women's St. 346. African-American Women in Context.

WS 240. (3). (SS).

This course focuses on the complexity of African-American women's experiences, exploring central themes in Black women's lives.

Women's St. 347. Feminist Perspective on Lesbian Studies.

WS 240. (3). (Excl).

This course explores aspects of the varied lives, works, and communities of lesbians, past and present, and of the systems that oppress them.

Women's St. 350. Women and the Community.

WS 240; and permission of instructor. I. (4). (Excl). (EXPERIENTIAL).

Provides undergraduates with the opportunity to integrate fieldwork experience with classroom discussion of organizational structure and decision-making.

Women's St. 351. Women and the Community II.

WS 350 and permission of instructor. II. (2). (Excl). (EXPERIENTIAL).

Continuation of Women's Studies 350. Involves field placement work.

Women's St. 357/Class. Civ. 357. Greek Medical Writers in English Translation.

(3). (Excl).

Extensive reading in the Greek medical writers from the HIPPOCRATIC CORPUS (5th c. B.C.) to Soranus and Galen at Rome (2nd c. C.E.). Treatises from the CORPUS show how intelligent men deduced a physiology for human beings from external observation of the body; Soranus and Galen reveal the benefits to medicine from dissection of human corpses in Alexandria (3rd c. B.C.E.). The gynecological writings of all these authors, in particular, show not only medical processes of reasoning, but also biases of their respective societies.

Women's St. 360/Hist. 368/Amer. Cult. 342. History of the Family in the U.S.

(4; 3 in the half-term). (SS).

An interdisciplinary course providing perspective on the contemporary family by studying its historical development. The course includes consideration of changing gender roles; sexuality; childrearing; work patterns; race, ethnicity and class; the changing role of state in family relations.

Women's St. 361/Film-Video 361. Women and Film.

(3). (Excl). Laboratory fee ($45) required.

An examination of films made by, for, and about women. Focus is on how societal norms and film language have constructed the representation of women in film and how women have appropriated the medium for self-representation through both narrative and experimental filmmaking.

Women's St. 362/Hist. 362. Women, Men and Nations: How Is Nationalism Gendered?

(3). (Excl).

This course explores the gendering of modern political identity in the complex interrelationship between 'nation' and 'citizenship' in Europe and North America during the 19th and 20th centuries. The social histories of race and ethnicity, family, welfare, popular culture, and militarism, are all dealt with.

Women's St. 370/Hist. 370. Women in American History to 1870.

(3). (Excl).

This course is an introduction to the history of American women--as a group, as individuals, and as members of different classes, races, religions, and ethnic communities. Using "work" as an organizing concept, it focuses particularly on the significance of gender in determining women's experience from the colonial period to 1870.

Women's St. 371/Hist. 371. Women in American History Since 1870.

(4; 3 in the half-term). (Excl).

A survey of the history of women in the United States since 1870.

Women's St. 372/Hist. 372. Women in European History, 1750 to the Present.

(3). (Excl).

A survey of the social, economic, and political roles of women in European history and the main currents of thought about women. The course explores the relationship of specific roles and thoughts to the broader social structures and ideologies of national societies.

Women's St. 375/Hist. 375. A History of Witchcraft: The 1692 Salem Trials in Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspective.

(4). (HU).

This course focuses on a single historical event, the Salem Witchcraft outbreak of 1692. It explores "what happened" during this highly dramatic episode in early American history, where Salem fits in the larger history of witchcraft in Europe and its American colonies, and why it continues to have such a powerful hold on the popular and scholarly imagination.

Women's St. 385. Directed Reading.

WS 100 or 240, one 300-level Women's Studies course, and permission of instructor. (1-3). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT).

This course offers students an opportunity to pursue independent, interdisciplinary reading projects on subjects related to women.

Women's St. 386. Directed Reading.

WS 385. (1-3). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT).

This course offers students an opportunity to pursue independent, interdisciplinary reading projects on subjects related to women.

Women's St. 387. Directed Reading.

WS 386. (1-3). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT).

This course offers students an opportunity to pursue independent, interdisciplinary reading projects on subjects related to women.

Women's St. 394/Great Books 394. Great Books by Women Writers.

Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. (4). (HU).

This course is designed to introduce students to women writers from a variety of traditions. A theoretical ground is laid with Virginia Woolf's {A Room of One's Own.} Authors read are Hildegard von Bingen, St. Teresa of Avila or Sor Juana de la Cruz, Madame de Lafayette, George Sand, Virginia Woolf, and Toni Morrison. the several lecturers come from various departments and use differing critical approaches. The course aims to examine differences in women's writing in specific contexts, and to explore basic constructs of feminist literary theory.

Women's St. 400(320). Women's Reproductive Health.

WS 220. (3). (Excl).

This course permits students to explore medical, social, and political aspects of Women's reproductive health. Medical, nursing, public health and feminist perspectives on topics such as prenatal care, teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease and menopause is covered.

Women's St. 415/Hist. of Art 415. Studies in Gender and the Arts.

One course in women's studies or history of art. (3). (HU). May be repeated for a total of nine credits.

This course incorporates the analysis of gender issues into the historical examination of selected aspects of artistic and cultural production.

Women's St. 418/Poli. Sci. 418. Women and the Political System.

Two courses in political science. (3). (Excl).

The purpose of this course is to examine the role of women in the political system, their involvement in and influence on the political process, and the impact of various policy decisions on women.

Women's St. 419/Psych. 411. Gender and Group Process in a Multicultural Context.

One course in women's studies or psychology. (3). (SS).

This course provides an introduction to theories of group dynamics that illuminate stages of group development and productivity. It includes teaching and practice of group facilitation skills. The course combines theoretical presentation with an experimental learning model; material discussed and modeled in class is applied in home-base groups with opportunities for skill practice and feedback. Special attention is given throughout the course to the influence and manifestation of gender, ethnic and race dynamics as they shape events, conflict and communication patterns in various group formats.

Women's St. 420. Group Facilitation in Women's Studies.

WS 419 and permission of instructor. (3). (Excl).

Students study interpersonal and small group dynamics in general, and as these vary with leader gender and group gender composition. The course includes a closely supervised experience in facilitating a small group.

Women's St. 422/Poli. Sci. 422. Feminist Political Theory.

Junior standing. (3). (Excl).

The course explores the politics of inequalities between men and women by considering theories of gender differences. The purpose of the class is to draw on interdisciplinary work in feminist studies to think about political institutions – and to see the effect of political institutions on subject positions with different gender identities.

Women's St. 427/Anthro. 427/CAAS 427. African Women.

One course in African Studies, anthropology, or women's studies. (3). (SS).

The active roles African women play in their communities as these have changed from pre-colonial to contemporary times are discussed critically through the themes of autonomy and control of resources, esp. land, labor, income, education, and political authority.

Women's St. 430/Amer. Cult. 430. Feminist Thought.

WS 240 and one 340-level course. (3). (Excl).

Examines both classical texts of feminist theory and emerging contemporary scholarship. Individual sections may focus on Black feminist thought, women of color, or a historical interpretation.

Women's St. 440. Issues and Controversies in the New Scholarship on Women.

WS 240 and one 340-level course. (3). (Excl).

The course provides detailed analysis of major theoretical areas of dispute for the women's studies scholar. Three to five such controversies are addressed.

Women's St. 441. Honors Research Tutorial.

WS 240, and junior Women's Studies concentrators. (1). (Excl). (TUTORIAL).

Students work closely with a faculty member to develop a short thesis prospectus and the skills necessary to carry out thesis research.

Women's St. 447/Soc. 447. Sociology of Gender.

(3). (SS).

This course asks: Why is there gender inequality? and What are women's experiences of the inequality? This course examines politics, the state, work, family, body, and sexuality, all areas of social life that have been theorized as the locus of women's oppression.

Women's St. 455/Anthro. 455. Feminist Theory and Gender Studies in Anthropology.

Junior standing. (3). (Excl).

Student-directed seminar on the history of feminist thought in Anthropology and on salient issues in the field of feminist anthropology today.

Women's St. 460/Class. Civ. 460. Theorizing Women in Antiquity.

Junior standing. (3). (HU).

This course brings together a millennium of speculation on women by authors who span the critical intellectual and religious movements of the ancient world: Platonists, Stoics, Epicureans, Christians, and Gnostics. It also juxtaposes ancient texts with modern feminist criticism.

Women's St. 461/Film-Video 461. Explorations in Feminist Film Theory.

Junior standing; and Film-Video 414 or Women's Studies 240. (3). (Excl). Laboratory fee ($50) required.

The course offers an in-depth exploration of feminist theories that address film in relation to gender. Discussion focuses on contemporary feminist scholarship that draws upon a variety of viewpoints, including psychoanalysis, cultural theory, postmodernism, historical research and ideological theory.

Women's St. 471/AAPTIS 495/Hist. 546/Religion 496. Gender and Politics in Early Modern Islam.

Students should preferably have had one course in Islamic Studies. (3). (Excl).

An introduction to Muslim understandings of gender and gender relations, first, through a study of those sacred texts (Qur'an & Hadith) that came to define the ideal woman and man, as well as their roles and relationships. Then, gender participation in the political and cultural life of the Safavi, Ottoman and Mughal Courts shall be explored to view the interplay between theory and practice.

Women's St. 481. Special Topics.

WS 240. (1). (Excl). Degree credit is granted for a combined total of seven credits elected through WS 481, 482, 483, and 484.

This course takes up a single topic of a very specific or contemporary nature.

Women's St. 482. Special Topics.

WS 240. (2). (Excl). Degree credit is granted for a combined total of seven credits elected through WS 481, 482, 483, and 484.

This course takes up a single topic of a very specific or contemporary nature.

Women's St. 483. Special Topics.

WS 240. (3). (Excl). Degree credit is granted for a combined total of seven credits elected through WS 481, 482, 483, and 484.

This course takes up a single topic of a very specific or contemporary nature.

Women's St. 484. Special Topics.

WS 240. (4). (Excl). Degree credit is granted for a combined total of seven credits elected through WS 481, 482, 483, and 484.

This course takes up a single topic of a very specific or contemporary nature.

Women's St. 486/Phil. 486. Topics in Feminist Philosophy.

Two courses in either Philosophy or Women's Studies. (3). (Excl).

This course offers a philosophical examination of gender and feminism as these relate to topics of traditional philosophical concern. Topics to be studied may include feminist moral and political philosophy, feminist epistemology and philosophy of science, and feminist theories of the self, sexuality, and society.

Women's St. 487/ACABS 487. Gender and Society in Ancient Egypt.

Some familiarity with Egypt is helpful. (3). (Excl).

Using ancient texts in translation, secondary readings and artifacts in the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, students in this course examine the definitions of gender, gender roles, and relations and the impact of status, religion, sexuality, and ethnicity on ancient Egyptian understandings of gender.

Women's St. 490. Honors Thesis.

Senior Honors Women's Studies concentrators. (2-4). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT). Credit is granted for a combined total of six credits of WS 490 and 491.

Women's Studies 490 and 491 should be elected during the senior year by students writing Honors theses. Students may elect between 2 and 6 credits over the course of the academic year.

Women's St. 491. Honors Thesis.

Senior Honors Women's Studies concentrators. (2-4). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT). Credit is granted for a combined total of six credits of WS 490 and 491.

Women's Studies 490 and 491 should be elected during the senior year by students writing Honors theses. Students may elect between 2 and 6 credits over the course of the academic year.

Women's St. 492/Soc. 490/REES 490. Women and Islam: A Sociological Perspective.

(3). (Excl).

This course explores the theoretical and methodological issues involved in studying women. The course starts with an introduction to the existing paradigms on women's position in sociology, women's studies, and Near Eastern Studies. After a lecture on the position of women in Islamic history, it proceeds to study women in contemporary contexts such as in Iran and Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and the Fertile Crescent, North Africa, Central Asia and the Balkans, and contemporary U.S. society.

Women's St. 496/AAPTIS 496. Gender and Representation in the Modern Middle East.

(3). (Excl).

An examination of the construction of gender as pertains to the contemporary Middle East (predominantly but not exclusively the Arab Middle East) as found in a wide array of literary and cultural representations (fiction, travel accounts, photographs, painting, film) produced both in the Middle East and outside of it.