This course explores 19th- and 20th-century Anglo-American women's literature from the perspective of the various debates about gender in literary criticism. To what extent do these writers replicate, challenge, and negotiate gendered expectations? How is femininity/masculinity scripted in these works, and tied to issues of race, class, and sexual preference? Acknowledging how feminist criticism has shaped (and been shaped by) the very availability of texts, we analyze course works in the light of historical circumstance (for instance, specific laws), social practice, and literary convention.

The class creates its own anthology of women's poetry, as students (in pairs) will introduce a woman poet to the class; students also read and comment on a range of works drawn from a list that may include Mary Wollstonecraft's Maria, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, Kate Chopin's The Awakening, Nella Larsen's Passing, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, and Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street (estimated cost $60). Excerpts from various practitioners of feminist literary criticism are included in a supplementary course packet (cost @$10). In addition to the poetry report, students keep a weekly journal of responses to the readings and class discussion, write three (5-page) analytical papers on selected novels, and take a final exam.

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

Advisory Prerequisite: WOMENSTD 100 or 240, and one 300-level WOMENSTD course

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

Advisory Prerequisite: W S 385

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

Advisory Prerequisite: W S 386

Credit Exclusions: A maximum of 7 credits of WOMENSTD 482 and 483 may be counted toward graduation.

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

Advisory Prerequisite: WOMENSTD 240 or permission of instructor.

Credit Exclusions: Credit is granted for a combined total of six credits of WOMENSTD 490 and 491.

WOMENSTD 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.

Advisory Prerequisite: Senior Honors Women's Studies concentrators.

Credit Exclusions: Credit is granted for a combined total of six credits of WOMENSTD 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.

Advisory Prerequisite: Senior Honors Women's Studies concentrators. Permission of instructor.

Directed readings or research in consultation with a member of the department faculty.

Advisory Prerequisite: WOMENSTD 530, Graduate standing, and permission of instructor.

Designed for individual students who have an interest in a specific topic (usually that has stemmed from a previous course). An individual instructor must agree to direct such a reading, and the requirements are specified when approval is granted.

Advisory Prerequisite: WOMENSTD 530 and 601 or 602. Graduate standing and permission of instructor.

Every Women's Studies graduate certificate student is required to carry out a research project with a feminist perspective. The form of the project will vary with individual students and is subject to approval by the student's faculty advisor. This can be a chapter of a dissertation, a prelim, a master's thesis project or a project undertaken in the Women's Studies Program.

Advisory Prerequisite: WOMENSTD 530 and 601 or 602. Graduate standing and permission of instructor.

In the interdepartmental doctoral program, students have the opportunity to work out an interdisciplinary approach to a research problem with a faculty committee from an early stage of their training. They benefit from the kind of interdisciplinary mentorship that is necessary to develop and complete an interdisciplinary dissertation.

The course is designed to culminate in the production of an interdisciplinary research paper. The process for achieving this goal will vary from year to year. However, students are encouraged, wherever possible, to build on the work they began in their first year, in the required courses on Feminist Theory (WOMENSTD 530) and Approaches to Feminist Scholarship (WOMENSTD 601 or 603).

The preliminary exam in Women' Studies is based on the research paper completed in the WOMENSTD 891. The student will defend the paper in an oral exam to the prelim committee. This prelim committee should include at least one member from Women's Studies, who is not also appointed in the English Department, and one from the English Department, who is not also appointed in Women's Studies.

Advisory Prerequisite: Must be admitted to JT Ph. D in ENGLISH/WOMENSTD, PSYCH/WOMENSTD, HISTORY/WOMENSTD, or SOC/WOMENSTD

Election for dissertation work by doctoral student not yet admitted as a Candidate.

Advisory Prerequisite: Advanced Doctoral Students.

Graduate School authorization for admission as a doctoral Candidate. N.B. The defense of the dissertation (the final oral examination) must be held under a full term Candidacy enrollment period.

Enforced Prerequisites: Graduate School authorization for admission as a doctoral Candidate