Undergraduate Courses
Spring 2005
G101: Gender, Culture, and Society (3 credits) (AH)
Women, Gender, & Culture provides an introduction to the interdisciplinary study of gender - the social creation and cultural representation of femininity and masculinity - by examining relevant beliefs, practices, debates and political struggles. Lectures, readings, and class discussions consider how people of different races, ethnicities, classes, and nationalities in various historical periods have assumed gendered identities. Topics may include: romantic love and marriage; sexuality; parenthood, reproduction , birth control and new reproductive technologies; interpersonal violence; the scientific study of sexual differences; fitness, health, body image, and popular culture; the sexual division of labor and economic development; and feminist movements.
- Lecture: 2:30-3:45 - T/R - Instructor: Thomas
- Lecture: 5:30-6:45 - T/R - Instructor: Thomas
- Lecture: 9:30-10:45 - M/W - Instructor: Sinex
- Lecture: 11:15-12:30 - M/W - Instructor: Sinex
- Lecture: 1:00-2:15 - M/W - Instructor: Sinex
G102: Sexual Politics (3 credits) (COAS, SH)
Sexual Politics examines the ways in which sex and gender become political - in the U.S. and in other societies. The course examines a range of issues and questions which demonstrate how the analysis of gender broadens our understanding of what counts as 'political', for instance: Why are men expected to be soldiers but, typically, women are not? What happens when governments presume women will physically take care of, and men will materially provide for children? Why and how is it that politics and public life become gendered and sexualized? How does the gendered character of public life affect legislation, public policies, research directions, and everyday existence? Such questions permit alternative visions of political theory and strategies.
- Lecture: 1:00-2:15 - T/R - Instructor: Christen
- Lecture: 4:00-5:15 - T/R - Instructor: Christen
G105: Sex, Gender, and the Body (3 credits)
Concepts of self are shaped and expressed through understandings of the nature of the body. Culturally speaking, bodies tend to be assigned to categories and to be ascribed certain tendencies, abilities, or deficiencies based on these understandings. These assigned categories and ascribed characteristics are often shaped by notions of sex and/or gender. This course addresses sex and gender as culturally and historically specific constructions of difference and identity, which are intertwined and inform one another. It investigates the ways that perceptions of sex and gender are realized in and through the body as actor and the body as subject of discourse. The investigation of these issues leads into the domains of cross-cultural comparison, science, health, sexuality, reproduction, and body image. This course is excellent preparation for further and upper level studies of gender, the body, sex differences, political, social, international, philosophical, anthropological, and cultural studies of men and women.
- Lecture: 4:00-5:15 - M/W - Instructor: Luedke
- Lecture: 5:30-6:45 - M/W - Instructor: Luedke
G215: Cross-Cultural Gender Formation (3 credits)
Cross-Cultural Gender Formation investigates and compares different constructions of sex and gender around the world. The course asks how cross-cultural variations force us to rethink assumptions about bodies, sexuality, gendered social roles, and work and family. How do people in different cultures come to consider and express themselves as "men", "women", or something else? What are the social forces that constrain them to act and think as gendered persons? Most importantly, what are the potential consequences of not conforming to those norms? The course will also consider how global forces such as militarism and religious fundamentalism influence sex and gender formations.
- Lecture: 2:30-3:45 - T/R - Instructor: Friedman
G225: Gender, Sexuality, and Popular Culture (3 credits) (AH, CS)
Gender, Sexuality and Popular Culture surveys the making and meaning of masculinity, femininity and sexuality in popular culture. Emphasizing ways in which the form and technology of popular culture have changed during the twentieth century, the course explores gender/sexuality in such contexts as: fiction, theater, cinema, music, television, journalism and other mass media. Issues interrogated may include: gender and the power of the image; sex and spectatorship; melodrama, film noir and "the women's film"; rock music women, MTV; race, age and representation; masculinity and femininity; and violence and pornography.
- Lecture: 4:00-5:15 - M/W - Instructor: Weber
- Lecture: 1:00-2:15 - T/R - Instructor: Maher
- Lecture: 4:00-5:15 - T/R - Instructor: Maher
- Lecture: 5:30-6:45 - T/R - Instructor: Maher
G235: Scientific Understandings of Sex and Gender (3 credits)
This course examines scientific concepts related to femininity, masculinity, and androgyny; female, male, intersex, and transgender; or heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual-their origins and evolution. Conceptualizations of sex and gender are examined from the perspectives of behavioral, biological, medical, and social sciences. Biological development of sexual differentiation and the social/environmental influences that shape the expression of, and labeling of, gender and gender identity will be covered.
- Lecture: 1:00-2:15 - T/R - Instructor: Sanders
G290: Two Centuries of Feminist Thought (3 credits) (AH)
This course will explore the roots of feminist theory, beginning with the work of Mary Wollstonecraft and extending to feminist theory today. Course work and reading will focus on how the various "brands" of feminism evolved (for example, liberal, radical, socialist, and Marxist feminisms). In addition, we will explore those historical and environmental factors which both shaped and influenced feminist ideas over the past two centuries. The central issues and concerns of feminists from specific eras will be explored. Although the Anglo-American experience will be the focus of this course, feminist theoretical contributions on the intersection of gender, race, class and sexuality will be incorporated. This is an opportunity to explore some of the most famous (and some not so well-known) feminist theorists of the past and present, including Mary Wollstonecraft, Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir, bell hooks, Shulamith Firestone and Germaine Greer.
- Lecture: 1:00-2:15 - T/R - Instructor: Thomas
G302: Topics in Gender Studies (3 credits)
Gender Perspectives on Population Problems
Demography is a discipline which examines the relationship between biological events such as deaths and births and their social determinants and consequences. This seminar provides an introduction to the theoretical issues and empirical questions which dominate the field today. It emphasizes the question: Does gender make a difference? How? Why? The course surveys all of the fundamental topics in the literature of demography, from death and birth rates, through marriage and household formation, to the origin and quality of data. A topic such as gender relations or the role of the state is examined through readings about preference for male offspring or population policy in low-fertility advanced industrial societies. Students will also receive an introduction to the principal methods of demographic analysis.
- Lecture: 6:30-9:00 - W - Instructor: Cornell
G302: Topics in Gender Studies (3 credits)
The Construction of Masculinity: (An Intensive Writing Course)
-- A Survey of Manhood in the American Imagination as Depicted in Fiction & Films from the 1950s Forward
What does it take to be a "real" man? To what degree do film and fiction texts offer instructional, correctional or influential information that governs the construction of masculinity? How is masculinity a socially and historically specific phenomenon? In this class we will examine all of these questions and more as we seek to problematize a commonly held belief that men don't "become" they simply "are." Because this is a writing-intensive course, our study of fiction and films will build on personal reflection and detailed written analyses.
- Lecture: 1:00-2:15 - M/W - Instructor: Weber
G302: Topics in Gender Studies (3 credits)
Transnational Feminisms and the Politics of Globalization
This course looks at globalization in practice. Beginning with a critical examination of the masculine and sexualized discourse of neoliberal global debates, we will ask what role transnational feminisms lay in unhinging globalization and its attendant material inequalities from the dominant ideologies of globalization. We will look at the HOW globalization is gendered, lived and materialized in local contexts, national discourses, and transnational markets including the emerging global sex economies and the feminization of labor "offshore".
- Lecture: 9:30-10:45 - T/R - Instructor: Christen
G302: Topics in Gender Studies (3 credits)
Women and Civilization
This is a class about the role of women in ancient civilizations, as it can be understood from archaeological data. In order to begin to understand the lives of ancient women, it will first be necessary to evaluate what we know about gender in the present day and see how this knowledge applies or does not apply to the past. We will begin with some general readings on how archaeologists approach gender and what kinds of data are available for reconstructing ancient lives. Next we will consider how the history of interaction between different cultures has impacted the role of women in the modern world as well as what we believe about the past. Then we will use this perspective to investigate the literature on women's roles in several early civilizations; first a set of cultures already researched and then a set researched by class members.
The goals of this class are a bit complicated, but they make the class fun.
- Lecture: 1:00-3:15 - T/R - Instructor: Pyburn
(Joint listed with Anthropology P 399 which meets simultaneously. ) - Note: this class meets first eight weeks only!
G310: Topics in Gender Studies (3 credits) (AH)
Representation and the Body
Bodily practices and conceptualizations of the body are central to the construction of the social world, especially its gendered aspects. The body is also the site where that world is experienced. By attending to the body, social theorists gain insight into the subjective world of experience as well as the workings of culture. This course will address a number of topics as they relate to the body, including scientific and medical approaches to the body, sexuality and sexual orientation, the shifting politics of fertility and reproduction, the social bodies produced via family and nation, and representations and transformations associated with notions of beauty. The subject matter of the course is designed to encourage students to think critically about the body, as a site of experience and a medium of representation.
- Lecture: 1:00-2:15 - M/W - Instructor: Luedke
Representation and the Body asks questions such as: "Why have the incidences of anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders - especially among women and girls - increased so dramatically in recent decades?" and "How do competitive sports affect men's images of their bodies?" This course examines a range of bodily practices and cultural codes that mark the body and considers why sex-differentiated body rituals have become so salient in recent times. The course concentrates on the creation and institutionalization of sexual difference through representations of the body and also examines attempts to challenge these representations. Topics addressed include: chronic dieting, sports and fitness; racially and culturally specific body alterations; cross-dressing and transexualism; the commodification of reproduction; and "alternative" sexualities. Scholarly arguments representing the body as a site of social control and political struggle receive critical examination.
- Lecture: 11:15-12:30 - T/R - Instructor: Gremillion
(Joint listed with Honors H 299 which meets simultaneously and
H299 has a separate discussion section on R from 4:40 - 5:30 p.m.)
G402: Seminar in Gender Studies (3 credits)
Topic: Feminist Knowledge & Scientific Practice
Feminist Knowledge and Scientific Practice examines intersections of gender and knowledge, with a particular focus on feminist analyses of scientific epistemology and practice. It explores the implications of various, and sometimes conflicting, feminist theories about the social meaning and the gendered construction of scientific research. It also analyzes representations of race, class, sexuality, and cultural difference in medical, psychological, and evolutionary accounts of human nature. Topics include the history and politics of sexual difference in scientific discourse; feminist perspectives on, and appropriations of, the concept of objectivity; the circulation of scientific findings and technologies in popular culture; and the formulation of alternative scientific methods and knowledge. An overarching concern of this course is the critical analysis of disciplinary boundaries, and the creation of interdisciplinary scholarship.
- Lecture: 2:30-3:45 - T/R- Instructor: Gremillion
(Offered with Gender G 601 which meets simultaneously)
G402: Seminar in Gender Studies (3 credits)
Topic: All Gay All the Time: Sexuality & Citizenship in the Age of Visibility
In the past 20 years, lesbians and gays have catapulted into the cultural limelight, moving from a space of invisibility and coded stereotypes to an almost obsessive "spectacularization." How are we to understand this new social and cultural visibility of lesbians and gays? What identities are made known - and which ones are further obscured - in the new commodification of difference? Why is the viewing public down with "Queer Eye" but down on gay marriage? And why has gay marriage emerged as the hot political issue of the future while sexual freedom has become a tired watchword of an outmoded past? The class will focus on feminist and queer conceptions and reconceptions of citizenship, how sexual practices, identities, and communities become defining characteristics of appropriate national identity, and how popular media helps to frame debates and define subjectivities. We will interrogate the (vexed) relationship between contested gender and sexual identities, claims of citizenship and inclusion, contradictory media practices, and visions of a liberatory and emancipated civil society.
- Lecture: 1:00-3:30 W - Instructor: Walters
(Offered with Gender G 601 which meets simultaneously)
- Restricted to Gender Studies Majors/Minors
- Requires course authorization from Gender Studies
In the G480 Practicum, students gain field experience by working in an internship or on a gender-related research project. In an internship, students work in an organization where they apply or gain practical insight into gendered concepts and issues. Students learn by taking on responsible roles as workers in organizations and observing and reflecting on what happens while they are there. Students also produce written work about their experiences, in accordance with their agreement with a faculty sponsor. In a research project, students work with a faculty member to develop a questionnaire or survey that they then administer and analyze.
G485: Gender and Discourse (3 credits)
Topic:: Disability Between Law and Culture
Disability between Law and Culture will investigate disability as it intersects with gender, law, medicine, and culture. We will carry out this investigation through reading and discussion of visual and verbal texts. We will begin with the Americans with Disabilities Act and continue by examining the relationship of physically handicapped or otherwise marginalized individuals (male and females) and society. Our analytical tools will come from studies on the body, medicine, and gender, as well as recent works that reflect the emerging field of disability studies. We will ask ourselves about the nature of disability, its physiological or social construction, the creation of discourses of disability, and how these discourses intersect with larger discourses of law, medicine, sexuality, gender and the body.
- Lecture: 8:45-10:50 - T - Instructor: Malti-Douglas
(Offered with Gender G 701 which meets simultaneously)
G495: Readings and Research in Gender Studies (1-3 credits)
The undergraduate Readings and Research course exists to enable Gender Studies BA and undergraduate minor students to undertake intensive independent study of particular topics not usually covered in existing courses. An appropriate faculty member supervises the work. Students interested in independent study should develop a topic prior to registration in consultation with a faculty member and the Chair of Gender Studies.
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