Take me to the Fall Time Schedule
100. Women's Issues.
Open to all undergraduates. (2). (Excl). Offered
mandatory credit/no credit.
This course uses small group discussion and development of supportive
group norms to enable students to explore selected topics in women's
studies as they apply to their own lives and to contemporary social
issues. The course work includes large and small group activities, theoretical presentations, regularly assigned readings, and written
assignments. There is strong emphasis on developing analytic tools
- taking a critical stance with respect to one's experience, to
social issues, and to the assigned readings. Topics include: socialization, work, family, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and current movements
for change. Small groups meet in different campus locations, to
be determined within each group. Attendance is mandatory at first
meeting of class. (Hassinger)
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Times, Location, and Availability
150. Humanities Seminars
on Women and Gender. (3). (HU).
Section 001 – Tomorrow Is a Another Day: Southern Women Writers
and Cinema. In this course we will read popular novels and plays by southern women writers, including Gone With the Wind, The Little Foxes, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Color
Purple, and examine their translation into cinema. In addition
to thinking about the ways these writers (and director) play with
dominant images of the South, we will read a series of slave narratives, short stories and southern histories that will complicate the
historical and aesthetic textures of the texts. We will excavate
a series of powerful themes (slavery, the South's depression economy, its New Deal conservatism and optimism, the power of the Civil
Rights Movement, and the mythologies of the Mammy and southern
belle) that drive these novels and movies and create a newly gendered
southern ethos. First year students only. (Yaeger)
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Times, Location, and Availability
151. Social Science Seminars
on Women and Gender. (3). (SS).
Section 001 – Court Narratives: Gender and Justice in the U.S.
This seminar will focus on a series of trials and other matters
of law that illuminate the history of women and gender relations
in the United States. Beginning with prosecutions involving slander, rape, infanticides, illicit sex, heresy, and witchcraft in 17th-century
British and Spanish colonies and ending with 20th-century legal
battles over employment discrimination, reproductive rights, sexual
harassment, and surrogate mothering, our approach will be to examine
judicial proceedings as sites of competing "stores in the
law" told about gender, race, class, and ethnicity. A primary
concern will be how these stories have been narrated in and beyond the courtroom. We will also ask what they tell us about continuities
and changes in constructions of womanhood and manhood, in the
rights and responsibilities of citizenship, and in the relations
of power within families and among different groups of men and women. First year students only. (Karlsen)
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Times, Location, and Availability
211/Hist. of Art 211.
Gender and Popular Culture. (4). (HU).
See History of Art 211.
(Simons)
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Times, Location, and Availability
220/Nursing 220. Perspectives
in Women's Health. (3). (SS).
In this course we will examine women's health issues, across the
lifespan, from feminist and sociocultural perspectives. It will
explore the social construction of women's sexuality, reproductive
options, health care alternatives, and risks for physical and mental illness. Attention will be paid to historical, economic, and cultural factors which influence the physical and psychological
well-being of women. (Boyd)
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Times, Location, and Availability
240/Amer. Cult. 240.
Introduction to Women's Studies. (4). (HU). (R&E).
Designed as an introduction to feminist scholarship about women, this interdisciplinary course acquaints students with key concepts
and theoretical frameworks for analyzing women's experiences, and helps students hone both their ability to analyze arguments
and to "read" literary and visual representations. We
will explore how women's lives differ and are interconnected over
time and place, but will focus on the situations of women in the
United States today. This exploration includes investigation of the effects of gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and nationality
on women's lives. Material is drawn from both the humanities and social sciences, and topics may include, for example: violence
against women, discrimination in the workplace, the feminization
of poverty, and the family. The course does not merely provide
analyses of women's oppression, however, but suggests strategies
for ending that oppression. The course is structured around lectures, readings, films, and discussion sections. Students are expected
to participate fully in discussion by sharing their knowledge
and experience. The course grade is based upon written assignments, exams, and participation in discussion.
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Times, Location, and Availability
253. Special Topics.
(3). (Excl). A maximum of seven credits of WS 252
and 253 may be counted toward graduation.
Section 001 – Affirmative Action. There is a great concern that all the rights gained in the sixties are now being eroded
by legal challenges to affirmative action rules. Indeed there
is a hue and cry that there is now reverse discrimination and that preferential treatment is illegal. The African American community
in particular appears to be greatly alarmed by these challenges
and is looking for ways to respond to these set backs. This course
will address the dilemma of the response and attempt to shape
some thinking about the fight for affirmative action. The cases
at the University of Michigan and the University of Texas will
be examined not for their legal construct but for their meaning
as a social construct. In addition proposition 209 will be discussed
as an important watershed in the in the anti-civil rights movement.
The anti-affirmative action forces, and the dilemma of African-Americans
and other minorities against affirmative action will be seriously
addressed. Some attention will be paid to Justice Clarence Thomas
and Mr. Ward Connelly two major figures against affirmative action.
The objective is to begin the process of cogent action and to
develop the language to articulate affirmative action as a right
and not a benefit. MW 4:00-5:30pm. (Nesha Haniff)
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Times, Location, and Availability
270. Women and the Law.
(3). (SS). (R&E).
"Women and the Law" covers selected topics in American
constitutional and statutory law which have a special effect on
women. The class focuses on ideals of sex equality and how they
are incorporated into the American legal system. Topics usually
covered include constitutional equality, employment discrimination, family law, rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment, reproductive
rights, pornography, and women in poverty. Required: midterm examination, 10-12 pages of writing, final examination, and class participation
in discussion. Some understanding of the history of women of color
in the United States is also strongly recommended.
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Times, Location, and Availability
315/English 315. Women
and Literature. (3). (HU). May be repeated for a
total of six credits.
See English 315.
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Times, Location, and Availability
336/CAAS 336.Hist. 336.
Black Women in America. (3). (SS).
See Afroamerican and African
Studies 336. (Mitchell)
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Times, Location, and Availability
342. Gender and Society:
Hierarchies in Social Organization. WS 240. (3).
(Excl).
Section 001 – Sex and Gender in Japan. For Fall Term, 1998, this section is offered jointly with Anthropology
302. (Robertson)
Section 002 – Race, Gender
and Health: The Epidemic of HIV, AIDS in the African American
and Hispanic Communities. At present the HIV spread in the
United States is highest in the African American and Hispanic
communities. Hispanic and African American men and women represent the highest incidence of HIV infection and deaths from AIDS in the US. This epidemic in these communities is at present unabated
for many reasons. This is a very complex issue and very many factors
affect the current status of this epidemic only some of which
will be addressed here. This course will examine gender relations
- what are the dynamics of the relationship between men and women
in which men and women put each other at risk for HIV infection?
What contributes to such behavior? How does one deal with the
HIV infection and not drug addiction? Is it possible to reduce
HIV infection without such intervention? And what about homophobia
in these communities, and poverty and the whole culture of health?
Finally the issue of race – how does race shape the current level
of the epidemic? And more importantly how does it affect the solution
in reducing the epidemic? What can be learned from the gay community
who was able to effectively reduce the spread of HIV in their
community? The lessons to solutions certainly seems to correlate
very strongly with race and gender. MW 1:00-2:30. (Nesha Haniff)
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Times, Location, and Availability
345. Third World Women. WS 240. (3). (Excl).
Section 002 – Women of Color and Feminist Criticism. The
departure point for this course is the idea that the categories
"third world women" or "women of color" designate
political and intellectual constituencies within feminism, and not biological ones. With this in mind, we will examine the impact that such a constituency has made on dominant EuroAmerican feminisms.
By tracing cross-cultural and international debates, the course
will address such themes as women and global political economy, the role of imperialism in the production of knowledge, racism
and the category of woman, and the tensions created by the problem
of difference. Drawing from historical, theoretical, and literary
sources, the course will situate issues concerning minority women
at the center of a more complex approach to feminist criticism.
This course meets both the interdisciplinary and women of color
requirement for the Women's Studies concentration. (Mathur)
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Times, Location, and Availability
347. Feminist Perspective
on Lesbian Studies. WS 240. (3). (Excl).
Section 001 – Crossing Erotic Boundaries: Representations of Lesbianism
in Early Modern Western Europe. For Fall Term, 1998, this
section is offered jointly with History of Art 394.002. (Simons)
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Times, Location, and Availability
350. Women and the Community.
WS 240; and permission of instructor. (4). (Excl).
(EXPERIENTIAL).
Combines a five hour per week community work with a theoretical
analysis of women's status and roles in society. Three hours of
classroom work focus on volunteerism, community and organizational
analysis, sexism in the workplace, gender roles and socialization, feminist activism, and empowerment.
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Times, Location, and Availability
360/Hist. 368/Amer. Cult.
342. History of the Family in the U.S. (4). (SS).
See History 368. (Morantz-Sanchez)
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Times, Location, and Availability
370/Hist. 370. Women
in American History to 1870. (3). (Excl).
See History 370.
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Times, Location, and Availability
419/Psych. 411. Gender
and Group Process in a Multicultural Context. One
course in women's studies or psychology. (3). (SS).
This course will provide an introduction to theories of group
dynamics that illuminates stages of group development and productivity.
It will include teaching and practice of group facilitation skills.
The course will combine theoretical presentation with an experiential
learning model; material discussed and model in a class will be
applied in home-based groups with opportunities for skill practice
and feedback. (White)
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Times, Location, and Availability
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 group composition. The prerequisite course, ( WS 419, Gender and Group Process in a Multicultural Context), provides the theoretical basis for this course. Students apply
knowledge and expertise gained in WS 419 by facilitating small
groups (8-10 people). (Hassinger)
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Times, Location, and Availability
422/Poli. Sci. 422. Feminist
Political Theory. Junior standing. (3). (Excl).
See Political Science 422.
(Wingrove)
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Times, Location, and Availability
427/Anthro. 427/CAAS 427. African Women. One course in African Studies, anthropology, or women's studies. (3). (SS).
See CAAS 427. (E.P.
Renne)
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Times, Location, and Availability
440. Issues and Controversies
in the New Scholarship on Women. WS 240 and one 340-level
course. (3). (Excl).
Section 001 – Feminist Methods in the Field. Research methods
taught in academe have serious limitations in the field. Feminist
researchers face great obstacles, politically, socially and culturally.
The current approaches to the work of conducting research on women, particularly on Third World women must be re-examined. This course
will focus on the praxis of conducting research on abortion in
countries where it is illegal. The course will place a heavy emphasis
on the conduct of the research itself, through the students' participation
in carrying out research in such countries. The class will be
transformed into allegorical countries, presenting the students
with all the real life problems of the field. Within this context, both research methods and theory will be analyzed and new methods
and ideas developed. Students will not have a choice of topic
for research. All students will have to conduct research on abortion
in these allegorical countries, for it is the study of women's
reproductive choice that is at the heart of feminism. Tues. 3-6
(Nesha Haniff)
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Times, Location, and Availability
471/AAPTIS 495/Hist.
546/Religion 496. Gender and Politics in Early Modern Islamdom.
Students should preferably have had one course in
Islamic Studies. (3). (Excl).
See AAPTIS 495. (Babayan)
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Times, Location, and Availability
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.
Section 001 – "Bodies, Pregnancies, and Identities of Girl
Youth" – Globally, Locally, and Historically. This mini-course
is part of a series of experiniental courses in women's health
in global and local historical contexts, sponsored by the Department
of History, Women's Studies, and of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
It will meet for four weeks in conjunction with an intensive elective
for final year medical students, which will focus on issues of
transnational, and transitional, transcultural issues in women's
health conditions and care in global, local, and historical contexts.
This course will be co-taught by an historian of women's health
and Africa (Hunt) and an ob/gyn clinician, chair, and women's
studies professor (Johnson), and the focus will be a girl youth
in the United States, sub-Saharan Africa, and at least two other
historical/contemporary contexts (likely Thailand and Russia).
Other continents, places, and time periods will receive less attention, although students will be urged to focus particular attention
on one cultural context of particular personal/professional relevance.
Themes to be addressed in our collective readings, seminar sessions, and film viewing will include: historical and cultural definitions
of adolescence and menarche; body images, diet, and dress; family
organization and stresses; youth cultures and communications media;
and sexuality, fertility, and reproductive decision-making as they relate to reproductive aspirations, natalist expectations, and local and transnational sex and leisure industries. Class
will meet together with its medical campus counterpart twice a
week for 1 1/2 hours (Tuesday, 5-6:30 pn. and Thursday, 1-2:30
p.m.). Students should expect a challenging, intensive and creative
educational experience that will broaden professional and intellectual
horizons; provide global, historical, cultural, and clinical perspectives
to the health, fertility, care, and representations of girl youth;
and offer an experimental teaching context for rethinking the
transcultural nature of professional/client, doctor/patient interactions
and misunderstanding. Meets the interdisciplinary requirement
for Women's Studies concentration. Meets from Sept 29 to Oct 22.
(Hunt/Johnson)
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Times, Location, and Availability
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.
Section 001 – Women in Prison: Gender and Crime Among Blacks and Latinas. For Fall Term, 1998, this section is offered jointly
with American Culture 410.001.
(José-Kampfner)
Section 002 – Women, Autobiography, and the Medical Body. For Fall Term, 1998, this section is offered jointly with English 317.004. Meets the interdisciplinary requirement for Women's Studies concentration. (Smith)
Section 003 – Women's Health Practicum. The field of Women's Health is vast and varied. Therefore, this course will address the many ways in which one could plan for a career in women's health. To allow students to gain perspectives on the field, the course will offer lectures from women's health professionals, discussion forums, as well as a one hour a week practicum component.
The goals of this course are: (1) to work on a multi-disciplinary women's health topic that will have: community outreach, advocacy, clinical research, and patient education components; (2) to place students in hands-on learning environment to explore areas of women's health; (3) to initiate community service learning and foster community consciousness and commitment among future health professionals; (4) to encourage students to explore women's health through experiential learning. The course will include discussion, guest speakers, and readings. Requirements include active class participation, progress reports, midterm paper/project, final paper/project, and a project presentation. Meets the interdisciplinary requirement for Women's Studies concentration. (Press, Vahration)
Section 004 – Photography Special Projects: NEA Photo-Active Feminists Visiting Artist Series. This interdisciplinary studio course will research, host, engage with, and document a National Endowment for the Arts Visiting Photographers' Series, titled "Photo-Active Feminists". Four photographic artists per semester will be invited who are part of a cultural movement addressing women's issues such as women's labor, women and justice, violence against women, issues of difference among women, i.e., race, ethnicity, sexual identity, economics/poverty.
Students will organize, publicize and document visits, research
and arrange for the artists to meet with particular communities
and audiences that their work addresses, and work with them to
produce art and experiences that can provoke action and provide
public visibility around particular issues. The project will be
documented through photography, video, a catalog and other resource
materials. The course is listed as a meeting together with Women's
Studies, and is open to all upper level students. Students can
set up their own course of study, original research and/or creative
work or documentation (visual, written, etc.) with the
professor, in relation to the series. Meets the interdisciplinary
requirement for Women's Studies concentration. (Jacobsen)
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Times, Location, and Availability
Independent Study/Directed Reading
The Program in Women's Studies offers several options for independent study/directed reading.
Directed Reading. Women's Studies 385, 386, 387 (1-3). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT).
Offer advanced Women's Studies students an opportunity to purpose independent, interdisciplinary projects.
385 has prerequisites of Women's Studies 100 or 240, one 300-level Women's Studies course, and permission of instructor. 386 has prerequisite of Women's Studies 385. 387 has prerequisite of Women's Studies 386.
441. Honors Research Tutorial. (1). (Excl). (TUTORIAL).
Prerequisite: Women's Studies 240. Prepares second term junior Women's Studies concentrators to write an Honors thesis. Students choose a thesis topic before beginning this tutorial. They then work independently with an appropriate faculty member to develop the research skills specific to their topics (e.g., analytic, library, or computer skills). By the end of the term students should have a well-defined research design and the skills to carry it out. Requirement: a short written thesis prospectus.
490 and 491. Honors Thesis. (2-4). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT).
Prerequisite: Senior Honors Women's Studies concentrators. Provides Women's Studies Honors concentrators an opportunity for independent study under close supervision from their faculty advisor while preparing an Honors thesis.
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