Chair: Judith Byfield
Professors S. Ackerman (Religion, Women’s and Gender Studies), I. Amadiume (Religion), L. E. Boose (English), K. Conley (French and Italian), M. H. Darrow (History), M. Domosh (Geography), J. L. Driver (Philosophy) L. L. Fowler (Gov-ernment), N. K. Frankenberry (Religion), A. C. Garrod (Education), M. J. Green (French and Italian, Women’s and Gender Studies), L. A. Higgins (French and Italian), K. J. Jewell (French and Italian), A. Lawrence (Film Studies), G. Parati (French and Italian, Women’s and Gender Studies), B. R. Silver (English), L. Spitzer (History), V. E. Swain (French and Italian), P. W. Travis (English); Associate Professors A. R. Allen (Philosophy, Women’s and Gender Studies), L. Baldez (Government, LALACS), F. E. Beasley (French and Italian), S. J. Brison (Philosophy), J. A. Byfield (History), A. Cohen (Art History), L.E. Conkey (Geography), C. P. Cramer (Psychological and Brain Sciences), M. Desjardins (Film Studies), M. R. Dietrich (Biological Sciences), S. Heschel (Religion), I. Kacandes (German), D. K. King (Sociology), A. Orleck (History), U. Rainer (German, Comparative Literature), A. W. B. Randolph (Art History), I. Reyes (Spanish), A. Rosenthal (Art History), M. B. Sabinson (Theater), I. T. Schweitzer (English, Women’s and Gender Studies), W. P. Simons (History), S. D. Spitta (Spanish and Portuguese, Comparative Literature), R. L. Stewart (Classics), A. Tarnowski (French and Italian), R. M. Verona (French and Italian), D. Washburn (AMELL), B. E. Will (English), M. J. Williams (Film Studies), M. Williamson (Classics), M. F. Zeiger (English); Assistant Professors F. M. A’ness (Spanish and Portuguese), C. E. Boggs (English, Women’s and Gender Studies), L. A. Butler (History), A. A. Coly (African and African American Studies, Comparative Literature), V. Fuechtner (German), S-Y. Kim (Theater), C. H. MacEvitt (Religion), A. Martin (Spanish and Portuguese, Women’s and Gender Studies), T. Padilla (History), K-L. Thomas (English); Senior Lecturer P. B. Katz (Liberal Studies); Lecturers A. Jetter (Women’s and Gender Studies), D. J. Moody (English, Spanish), V. V. Sevastianova (Russian); Visiting Associate Professor C. E. R. Bohmer (Government, Sociology); Visiting Instructor M. Meyers (Women’s and Gender Studies); Visiting Lecturer M. A. Bronski (Women’s and Gender Studies); Adjunct Associate Professor D. M. Harper (Women’s and Gender Studies); Adjunct Assistant Professors H. N. Hersh (Psychological and Brain Sciences), G. J. Munafo (Women’s and Gender Studies); McKennan Postdoctoral Fellow J. Cullinane (Anthropology).
The Women’s and Gender Studies Program offers all students at Dartmouth a course of study that systematically examines the construction of gender and the historical, economic, political, social, and cultural experience of women. As such, it is an interdisciplinary program drawing on resources in the Social Sciences, the Humanities, and the Sciences.
Women’s and Gender Studies may be undertaken as a program for a major, a minor, or a certificate.
WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES MAJOR
Women’s and Gender Studies offers a range of interdisciplinary courses as well as an extensive list of associated courses, offered by other departments and pro-grams, that have a central focus on gender or women. Each student designs an individual major plan to combine diversity and concentration, course work and independent study. A student’s area of concentration will include a senior project consisting of an independent study or an Honors thesis.
The major is administered by the Women’s and Gender Studies Steering Committee. Students design their major plans in consultation with an adviser and with the Chair. All major plans must be approved by the Steering Committee. Major cards may be signed only by the Chair. Students interested in becoming majors should consult the Chair well in advance of their intended declaration of a major.
Prerequisite: Women’s and Gender Studies 10.
Requirements: (9 additional courses)
1. Women’s and Gender Studies 20
2. Women’s and Gender Studies 21
3. Women’s and Gender Studies 80
4. at least two additional Women’s and Gender Studies courses
5. at least three additional courses selected from Women’s and Gender Studies offerings or from associated courses
6. a one-term senior project. A non-honors senior project will consist of an independent study course, Women’s and Gender Studies 85, within the student’s area of concentration (see requirement 7). A student will design the senior project in consultation with an adviser who will normally also direct the independent study. A student must secure an adviser’s preliminary endorsement of the senior project by May 1 of the junior year. A student must submit a proposal for a senior project to the Women’s and Gender Studies Steering Committee for approval by the second week of the fall term of the senior year. See below for a description of the honors option.
7. concentration. In consultation with an adviser and the Chair, each student will include within the list of required courses an area of concentration consisting of at least two related courses and the senior project. Some examples of possible areas of concentrations are Gender in Literature, Women in the Third World, Gender in Contemporary Society, Women’s History, or Sex and Gender in Science.
8. diversity. Each student’s major plan must include at least two courses that are clearly outside the area of concentration to provide diversity to the major.
Requirements 3 and 6 constitute the culminating experience in the major.
HONORS PROGRAM IN WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES
Women’s and Gender Studies majors will be invited to participate in the Women’s and Gender Studies Honors Program if, after completing seven Dartmouth terms, Women’s and Gender Studies 10, and four graded courses in the Women’s and Gender Studies major, they have achieved both an overall College grade point average and a major average of 3.0.
The Honors Program consists of a two-term thesis project, Women’s and Gender Studies 98 and 99. Students will design their projects in consultation with the adviser who has agreed to direct the thesis. A student must secure an adviser’s preliminary endorsement of the senior project by May 1st of the junior year. Having secured the adviser’s endorsement, a student must submit a thesis proposal for the approval of the Women’s and Gender Studies Steering Committee by the second week of the fall term of the senior year. Women’s and Gender Studies 98 and 99 carry two credits toward degree requirements but count as only one credit toward major requirements.
WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES MINOR
The Women’s and Gender Studies minor consists of six courses: Women’s and Gender Studies 10 (prerequisite); Women’s and Gender Studies 20 or 21; Women’s and Gender Studies 80; one other Women’s and Gender Studies course; and two additional courses selected from the Women’s and Gender Studies offerings or from associated courses. Students may petition the Women’s and Gender Studies Steering Committee to propose an independent study, Women’s and Gender Studies 85, in place of Women’s and Gender Studies 80. The petition must include an abstract of the project and permission of the Women’s and Gender Studies faculty member who will advise the project.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CERTIFICATE
Students wishing a certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies must take six courses as follows:
a) Women’s and Gender Studies 10
b) Two intermediate courses (Women’s and Gender Studies 20-60)
c) Three additional courses selected from the course offerings in Women’s and Gender Studies or the list of associated courses and seminars.
COURSES IN WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES
7. First-Year Seminars in Women’s and Gender Studies
Consult special listings
CORE COURSES
10. Sex, Gender, and Society
04F: 10A,12 05W, 05X: 10 05F: 10,12 06W: 10A
This course will investigate the roles of women and men in society from an interdisciplinary point of view. We will analyze both the theoretical and practical aspects of gender attribution — how it shapes social roles within diverse cultures, and defines women’s and men’s personal sense of identity. We will discuss the following questions: What are the actual differences between the sexes in the areas of biology, psychology, and moral development? What is the effect of gender on participation in the work force and politics, on language, and on artistic expression? We will also explore the changing patterns of relationships between the sexes and possibilities for the future.
Open to all students. Dist: SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. The staff.
20. Roots of Feminisms: Texts and Contexts
05W, 06W: 11
This course will examine pre-twentieth century texts and historical events that set important precedents for the development of contemporary feminist theories and practices. We will survey some of the writings that consolidate legitimated patriarchal/misogynist ideologies in Western worlds (e.g. Plato, Aristotle, the fathers of the Church, the philosophers of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, Rousseau). We will analyze different ways in which women historically have articulated strategies of contestation and/or resistance to systems of power based on gender differentiation. Readings may include works by French medieval thinker Christine de Pizan; sixteenth-century Spanish cross-dresser Catalina de Erauso; seventeenth-century Mexican intellectual and nun Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz; Mary Wollstonecraft; Maria Stewart, the first African-American political woman writer; the nineteenth-century American suffragists; and anarchist leader Emma Goldman.
Open to all students. Dist: SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Martin.
21. Contemporary Issues in Feminism: Theory and Practice
05S, 06S: 11
This course explores the theoretical underpinnings of some of the most highly contested issues in society today. We will look at a spectrum of positions on such issues as: questions of difference and equality; women’s health and reproductive rights; identity and identity politics; morality-pornography-violence; eco-feminism-environmentalism; children, family, and human rights; and the representation/performance of femininity/masculinity. Special emphasis will be placed on the connection between theory and practice.
Open to all students. Dist: SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Allen.
GENERAL COURSES
Women, Gender and History
24. Women in United States History
05W: 12 05X: 10 06W: 12
Women and history and the ‘herstory’ of women have been an essential topic in the field of Women’s Studies. Courses under this rubric explore the experiences of American women from the early colonial settlements of the seventeenth century until today. Topics include family structure, gender expectations, and women’s increasing involvement in the labor market and in public life. Courses may focus on the history of women within particular ethnic groups (e.g. Native Americans, Latinos) or on changes in gender and race relations over time, as they affected all groups that contributed to the formation of contemporary American society.
In 05W and 06W, American Women’s History Since 1920 (Identical to History 28). This course traces the history of American women from 1920 to the 1980s. Topics to be discussed include: the breakup of the suffrage alliance during the 1920s; women in the radical social movements of the 1930s; women and war work in the 1940s; women in the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s; the ‘second wave’ of American feminism; institutionalization of feminism in the 1970s; and the rise of an anti-feminist women’s movement in the 1980s. The course will also examine the ways gender definitions have changed in the U.S. during this century, and the ways that race and class have shaped American ideas about gender. Open to all students. Dist: SOC. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: NA. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: W. Orleck.
In 05X, Gender and’s Power in American History, 1607-1920 (Identical to History 27). Beginning with the colonial settlements of the seventeenth century, this course will examine the experiences of American women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Topics including family structure, gender expectations, and women’s increasing involvement in public life will be explored, as will the intersection of gender, race, and class in the development of self-identity. Changing concepts of equality and difference, as employed by women and men in articulating gender relationships, will serve as a theoretical framework for our examination. Dist: SOC. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: NA. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: W. Butler.
25. Women in Europe: Historical and Literary Perspectives
06W: 10
From the writing abbesses of the Middle Ages to eighteenth-century salonnières and twentieth-century avant-garde filmmakers, women have been in the forefront of European cultural production. Courses under this rubric explore both the material situation of women in Europe from the Middle Ages until the twentieth century and their roles in their respective cultures. A study of historical and literary texts by female and male authors will provide insights into the socioeconomic and political situation of women in different social classes and regions of Europe, the construction of gender at different historical moments, and women’s cultural contributions.
In 06W, Gender and European Society From Antiquity to the Reformation (Identical to History 42 in 06W). This course examines the roles of women and men in Western Europe from late Antiquity to the Reformation period. Emphasis will be placed on the intellectual and social strictures that had a long-term effect on the concept and role of gender in European society. Topics included are biological and mythological foundations of gender concepts, attitudes toward the body and sex in pre-Christian and Christian culture; sin and ecclesiastical legislation on sex and marriage; family life and education; the individual and kinship; heresy and charismatic religious movements; and the impact of social-economic development on gender in professional life. We will discuss the textual and visual sources for our inquiry, as well as the changing contemporary views on gender roles in pre-industrial Europe.
Open to sophomores, juniors and seniors. Class of 2007 and earlier: Dist: PHR; WCult: EU. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: W. Simons.
27. Topics in Women’s History
05S: 10
Courses under this rubric provide in-depth explorations of particular issues in women’s history. They may relate to geographic regions or address transnational, comparative questions.
In 05S, Women in Journalism. Women reporters, editors and columnists have changed the field of journalism, from newspapers and magazines to radio and television. This course will examine the historic influence of women on the field of journalism. How has the growing number of women journalists affected the coverage of women’s issues such as welfare, abortion, and health crises such as breast cancer? We will look at new styles in literary journalism pioneered by women and will analyze the work of women columnists who have changed the face of political discourse in the U.S.
Open to all students. Dist: SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Jetter.
Women, Gender and Society
30. Women and Anthropology
05W, 06W: 10A, 2A
Courses under this rubric explore cultural systems and the significant variations in gender relations and in life conditions of women. These courses examine the global forces that are reshaping the ways marriage and family, religion, productive and reproductive roles, and political organization are being defined. Depending on the instructor, these courses may focus on African, Middle or Far Eastern, or Native American societies, or be comparative in their approach.
In 05W at 10A (Section 1) and 06W at 10A (Section 1) Gender and Sexuality in Cross- Cultural Perspective (Identical to Anthropology 12 in 05W and 06W). This course will explore some of the dominant theories of sex, gender, and sexuality in the social sciences in the past century. Debunking theories of sex difference, we will consider the ways in which scientific narratives are themselves shaped by cultural and social context. We will consider Marxist, structuralist, feminist, and performance-based approaches to the study of gender and sexuality in diverse cultural settings. We will look at gender roles, same-sex sexuality, and the cultural construction of macho and masculinity through case studies from Papua New Guinea, Egypt, Mexico, Bolivia, Africa and the United States. Dist: SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Cullinane.
In 05W at 2A (Section 2) and 06W at 2A (Section 2) Women in Africa (Identical to African and African American Studies 41). This course will examine different aspects of the female experience in Africa. Beginning with a consideration of roles of women in precolonial African societies, with particular reference to descent, marriage and the family, ritual and religion, productive and reproductive systems, and political organization, the focus will then move through the colonial and contemporary periods to assess changes in female roles. Contrasting experiences for contemporary African women will be emphasized through exploration of their participation in national liberation and politics, of urban and rural life-styles, Muslim, Christian, and animist religious traditions, educational background, and status differences arising out of social class. The focus for the course includes an analysis of formal political, social, and economic institutions, yet it assumes that African society has also been shaped by the ‘muted’ perceptions and models of society held by women themselves, and by social processes to which both females and males have contributed. Dist: INT; WCult: NW. Amadiume.
32. Women and Government
05X: 2A 06W: 12
From the Virgin Queen to the Iron Lady, women have held prominent positions in state affairs while at the same time facing increasing exclusion from the public sphere. Courses under this rubric explore the role of women in the political sphere in a variety of contemporary societies. They examine women’s actual participation in political decision-making, through voting, tenure in public office, or public theorizing, and their involvement in international issues. They study the theories and practices that have kept (or continue to keep) women restricted to certain ‘feminine’ tasks, and women’s attempts to subvert these restrictions.
In 05X, Gender and Law (Identical to Government 68). This course examines how gender and law in the United States are used to confer rights, create obligations, and define identities. We explore the theoretical, historical, and empirical basis for gender in law, and pay particular attention to how and when gender-based laws have changed over time. Specific topics covered include, for example, federal legislation on educational and workplace equity, constitutional doctrines of equality and privacy, and state policies on family law, criminal responsibility, and domestic violence. We analyze the relationship between gender politics, legal theory, legal doctrine, and social policy. We also ask whether the gender of legal actors (litigants, lawyers, judges) makes a difference in their reasoning or decision- making. Prerequisite: Government 3 or a law course strongly recommended. Dist: SOC. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: NA. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: W. Bohmer.
In 06W, Gender and Politics in Latin America (Identical to Government 49.4 and Latin American and Caribbean Studies 52 in 06W). This course examines women’s movements in Latin America. Women in Latin America are perhaps the most highly mobilized population in the world. Throughout the region women have organized around myriad issues, including the right to vote, human rights, poverty, legal rights, anticommunism, the work-place, race, ethnicity and war. Women’s efforts to challenge fiercely repressive regimes, deeply entrenched norms of machismo and extreme poverty defy conventional stereotypes about women and provide us with inspiring examples of how to sustain hope during difficult times. The seminar will introduce students to recent scholarship on women’s movements in Latin America in the 20th century and seek to understand the emergence, evolution and outcomes of women’s movements in particular countries and cross-nationally. Dist: SOC; WCult: NW. Baldez.
33. Sociology and Gender
05W: 2, 2A
Courses in this category will address a variety of issues that affect women in contemporary Western societies from a sociological perspective and with a social science approach. They may focus on particular social groups and their interaction with other groups, and raise issues such as sexual/racial/ethnic inequality; changes in family structures; violence and its effects on the family, and, in particular, on women.
In 05W at 2 (Section 1) Constructing Black Womanhood (Identical to Sociology 46 and African and African American Studies 25). This course is a critical examination of the historical and contemporary status of black women in the United States, as presented in fiction, primary accounts, and social science literature. We will explore the nature, extent, and consequences of the multiple discriminations of race, sex, and class, as the context in which these women shaped their social roles and identities within the black community and the larger society. We will consider the themes of family, motherhood, and sexuality; educational, economic and political participation; aesthetics and religious traditions; and self and social images. Open to juniors and seniors. Dist: SOC. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: NA. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. King.
In 05W at 2A (Section 2) Reproductive Rights and Technologies (Identical to Sociology 39.1 in 05W). This course will examine the rights surrounding a range of current reproductive issues and technologies from a legal, feminist, and public policy perspective. The social construction of sexuality, reproduction, and motherhood will be discussed. We will consider social, political, and legal components of contraception, abortion, childbirth, surrogacy, adoption, and custody, as well as new reproductive technology. The major focus will be on the U.S., but a cross-cultural dimension will be included. Dist: SOC. Bohmer.
34. Psychology and Gender
05S: 9L
Courses in this rubric focus on child development and socialization along gender lines. They will address questions about the nature of psychological differences between boys and girls, men and women, the supposed “origins” of difference (the “nature” vs. “nurture” question), its relation to culture or class at specific historical moments and in particular societies. Theories of child development and gender differentiation will be read against and in conjunction with empirical psychological studies.
In 05S, Psychology and Gender (Identical to Psychology 54 in 05S). This course will explore both the research and theories of gender differences in psychological and social functioning and their origins. We will examine the myths and stereotypes associated with males and females in our society, the social and psychological gender differences that have been identified in research, and the evidence and theoretical arguments concerning the origin of these differences. Topics will include, but are not limited to, personality, values, cognitive abilities, and social behavior with special emphasis on their development in sex-role socialization. Consequences of sex roles for the aspirations and mental health of men and women will also be discussed. Prerequisite: Psychology 1. Dist: SOC. Hersh.
35. Women and Religion
04F:2 05S: 2A 05F: 10A 06W:, 06S: 2A
Courses in this category will explore women’s religious roles in Western and Non-Western societies, both the roles attributed to them (saints, witches, healers) and the roles they have played as seers, shamans, soothsayers, spiritual guides, priestesses, etc. Courses may have a historical perspective, concentrating on a particular geographic or cultural region; they may focus on one religion, or be comparative and synchronic in their approach.
In 04F Sex, Celibacy and the Problem of Purity: Asceticism and the Human Body in Late Antiquity (Identical to Religion 31 and Classics 11 in 04F). This course examines a crucial period in the history of Christianity—Late Antiquity. Between the years 300 and 500, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, established standards of doctrine and ecclesiastical organization, and developed the attitudes towards the body, sexuality and gender which informed Christian teaching for centuries to come. In this class we will ask: why did virginity become such an important aspect of Christian religiosity? What effect did Roman concepts of gender and sexuality have on Christian understanding of the relationship between men and women? What did martyrs, gladiators and monks have in common.
Open to all classes. Class of 2007 and earlier: Dist: PHR; WCult: EU. Class of 2008 and later: Dist: TMV; WCult: W. MacEvitt
In 05S and 06S Women’s Rituals: From Africa and Around the World (Identical to Religion 52 and African and African American Studies 66). This course focuses on women’s ritual practices in different cultures and societies, both traditional and modern. It examines and describes women’s ritual actions, cultural beliefs, values and social practices, through alternative theories and models that enable us to better understand the full possibilities of culture and religion in shaping our daily lives for a happier and more just world. It aims to de-emphasize the marginalization, invisibility and exclusion of women in male-dominated religious, cultural and social practices by studying women’s lives in a multiplicity of roles as shaped by women’s knowledge systems, religions and cultural traditions from the cradle to the grave. The course is multidisciplinary and will use sources from social history, religion, anthropology, literature, Art, documentary film, and science feminisms and religions discourses.
Open to all students. Class of 2007 and earlier: Dist: PHR; WCult: NW. Class of 2008 and later: Dist: TMV; WCult: NW. Amadiume
In 05F Women and the Bible (Identical to Religion 56). As contemporary Jewish and Christian communities of faith face the question of the role of women within their traditions, many turn to the Bible for answers. Yet the biblical materials are multivalent, and their position on the role of women unclear. This course intends to take a close look at the biblical tradition, both the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the New Testament, to ask what the Bible does—and does not say—about women. Yet the course is called “Women and the Bible,” not “Women in the Bible,” and implicit in this title is a second goal of the course: not only to look at the Bible to see what it actually says about women but also to look at differing ways that modern feminist biblical scholars have engaged in the enterprise of interpreting the biblical text.
Open to all classes. Class of 2007 and earlier: Dist: PHR; WCult: EU. Class of 2008 and later: Dist: TMV; WCult: CI. Ackerman.
In 06W Beyond God the Father: An Introduction to Gender and Religion (Identical to Religion 13). A survey of contemporary writings that explore the relations between gender and religion in the West from historical, anthropological, theological, and philosophical perspectives. The course serves as an introduction both to gender studies and to the study of religion. Topics to be discussed include: current theories of “gender” and of “religion,” androcentric scriptures, patriarchal institutions and matriarchal myths, sexual prohibitions, body politics, queering religion, feminist theology, and the emergence of feminist philosophies of religion. Authors may include: Mary Daly, Judith Butler, Caroline Walker Bynum, Donna Haraway, Pamela Anderson, Grace Jantzen, Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, Pierre Bour-dieu, Rosemary Ruether, Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, or others.
Open to all classes. Class of 2007 and earlier: Dist: PHR; WCult: NA. Class of 2008 and later: Dist: TMV; WCult: W. Frankenberry
36. Philosophy and Gender
05F: 11 06W: 12
Feminism has become one of the most radical forces to question the epistemological bases of Western philosophical thought. Courses under this rubric explore the particular relationship of philosophy to women, and women to philosophy. They will raise issues such as: how have philosophers contributed to shaping ideas of women’s role in society and to the ‘field’ of philosophy? How have they defined sexuality, morality, ethics for women? How have women philosophers supported or undermined these conceptions? Courses may focus on historical periods, particular philosophical schools, or specific topics within contemporary feminist approaches to philosophy.
In 05F, Love and Friendship (Pending Faculty Approval). In this course we will focus on feminist scholarship that argues for the moral significance of relationships of love and friendship, and advocates their inclusion into the development of a moral theory that is supposed to guide human conduct. We will look at classical texts on the nature of love and friendship, but we will mainly focus on more contemporary treatments of the subject, reading, for example, papers by Neera Badhwar, Julia Annas, and Jean Hampton.
Open to all classes. Class of 2007 and earlier: Dist: PHR; Class of 2008 and later: Dist: TMV; WCult: W. Driver.
In 06W, Feminism and Philosophy (Identical to Philosophy 22). This course examines the relationship between feminism and philosophy. The focus is on such questions as: Is the Western philosophical canon inherently sexist? How should feminist philosophers read the canon? Are Western philosophical concepts such as objectivity, reason, and impartiality inherently masculinist concepts? The course may focus on either the ways in which feminists have interpreted great figures in the history of philosophy (e.g., Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche), or on the ways in which feminists have rethought basic concepts in core areas of philosophy (e.g., epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, political philosophy, philosophy of science), or both.
Open to all classes. Class of 2007 and earlier: Dist: PHR; Class of 2008 and later: Dist: TMV; WCult: CI. Allen.
38. Gender and Geography
04F: 2A
Courses under this rubric ground students in geographic analyses of gender relations. Students may explore the gendering and sexing of space at multiple scales (e.g., body, community, region, nation, etc.) and how gender is shaped by place, border, location, and distance. Particular topics can include analyses of women under international refugee law, gendered strategies of employers and employees in the labor market, reproductive technologies, and nature-society (environment-population) links.
In 04F, Gender, Space and the Environment. (Identical to Geography 19 in 04F). This course is meant to help students understand the relationships between the gendered construction of our society, and the ways we have organized our spaces and places, including our homes, places of work, cities, nations and environments. Accordingly, the course will be organized around these different spatial scales, examining everything from the ways we organize our living rooms, to the ways we have shaped empires, to the way Western society has dealt with environmental issues.
Open to all students. Dist: SOC. Domosh.
Gender and Representation
40. Women in American Literature
05W: 10 05S: 2 06S: 12, 10A
The first single-authored volume of poetry to emerge from colonial America in 1650 was written by a woman, Anne Bradstreet. Since then, American women have continued to write, though mainstream criticism has often ignored this distinctly female tradition. Courses under this rubric examine a wide variety of literary works written by women in the United States from the colonial era to the present. Paying particular attention to historical developments and the ideological function of literature, these courses draw on various strains of feminist literary theory and criticism to explore the intersections of race, class and gender in literary representations.
In 05W, The Borderlands: Latina/o Writers in the United States (Identical to Comparative Literature 52 in 05W). In this course we will focus on the writings of US Latina/o writers. We will analyze how writers (Anzaldua, Alvarez, Cisneros, Castillo and others) negotiate a path between the two cultures (the US and Latin America) and the two languages that inform their literary production and shape their identity. This in-between status translates into an experimentation with genres and a questioning of traditional gender divisions as well as the construction of transcultural icons and objects. Dist: LIT or INT. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: NA. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: W. Spitta.
In 05S, Immigrant Women’s Writing in America (Identical to English 62 in 05S). In responding to the obstacles facing America’s immigrants—problems of dislocation, split identity, family disunity and claustrophobia, culture shock, language barriers, xenophobia, economic marginality, and racial and national oppression—women often assume special burdens and find themselves having to invent new roles for themselves. They often bring powerful bicultural perspectives to their tasks of survival and opportunity-seeking, however, and are increasingly active in struggles for cultural expression and social and economic justice. We will examine the different conditions for women in a variety of immigrant groups in America, reading in several histories, anthologies of feminist criticism, interdisciplinary surveys, and relevant texts in critical theory, but ultimately focusing on the words, in autobiography and fiction, of women writers. We will read such works as Akemi Kikimura’s Through Harsh Winters: The Life of a Japanese Immigrant Woman; Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior; Bharati Mukerjee’s Darkness; Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street; Jamaica Kincaid’s Lucy; and Kim Chernin’s In My Mother’s House. Dist: LIT. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: NA. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: W. Zeiger.
In 06S at 12 (Section 1) Women’s Identities in Migration (Identical to Comparative Literature 67 in 06S). Writings by immigrant women in the United States probe complications in representation and self-definition, of conceptual as well as physical displacement. We will examine literary, cinematic and theoretical texts about immigrant and second generation women, focussing on Latina and Asian American literature and theory, but including a range of such immigrant texts as Pineda, Face; the Ortiz Taylors, Imaginary Parents; Tajiri, History and Memory; Lowe, Immigrant Acts; Paley, Stories; Kincaid, Lucy; Hammad, Pariah; and McDermott, Charming Billy.
Open to all students. Dist: LIT. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: NA. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Spitta, Zeiger.
In 06S at 10A (Section 2) Women, Race and Writing (Identical to English 62 in 06S).This class explores the way women writers, from various racial and ethnic backgrounds, and at different points in U.S. history, represent the challenges and dilemmas of interracial friendship. Focusing on specifically female conceptions of “race” and friendship, we will explore several methodological approaches to the literature. Readings may include works by Catharine Sedgwick, Harriet Jacobs, Toni Morrison, Grace Paley, Alice Walker, Sherley Anne Williams, Cherrie Moraga, Ana Castillo, Jo Sinclair, Ellen Douglas and others. A Women’s and Gender Studies class, English 15 or 62, Comparative Literature 71 or the equivalent is highly recommended. Dist: LIT. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: NA. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Schweitzer.
41. European Women Writers
05W: 11 05S: 10A
Courses under this rubric explore the contribution of women writers—philosophers, poets, autobiographers, novelists—to a variety of European cultures at various historical moments. These courses examine how aesthetic theories and definitions of the woman writer created separate spaces within which women were ‘permitted’ creativity as authors; how women endorsed, circumvented, or undermined these restrictions, creating, in the process, rich literary traditions; and how women’s writing has been inextricably linked to their changing role in the cultures at large.
In 05W, Despair and Desire in Post-Communist Russia: Contemporary Russian Women Writers (Identical to Women and Gender Studies 41). “I dreamt my mom phoned me after she was dead.” This line from a contemporary play epitomizes the unique voice of Russia’s latest generation of women authors, their search for new modes of expression, and concern for issues of national identity, relations between mothers and children, gender roles and sexuality, and the role of resurrected or repressed memory in constructing a post-Soviet present.
We will analyze how these authors reevaluate the Communist past and view the post- Communist present, as well as how they deal with previously forbidden themes such as the purges, sex, and terminal illnesses. The course will be supplemented by critical readings, including gender criticism, which place the works in a broader cultural and literary context. Authors will include Liudmila Petrushevskaia, Tatiana Tolstaia, and Victor Pelevin.
The course is discussion-oriented and does not require any previous knowledge of Russian literature. All readings are in English. Dist: LIT. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: EU. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: W. Sevastianova.
In 05S, Legends of Sappho (Identical to Comparative Literature 67 and Classical Studies 10 in 05S). Goddess of poetry, sexual predator, exotic holiday destination, lovelorn suicide, schoolmistress, parchment scrap: these are among the associations clustering around Sappho. From antiquity to the twenty-first century her poems and the legends about her life and loves have fascinated writers, artists and musicians as different as Queen Victoria, Willa Cather, Boccaccio, Jeanette Winterson, Ezra Pound, Gounod, and Ovid. We sample some of the twists and turns in this seemingly endless stream of fantasy and creative reaproppriation.
Open to all students. Dist: LIT. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: EU. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Williamson.
42. Women Writers in the “Third World”
04F: 2A
In an increasingly “global” world, it has been crucial for Western feminist scholarship to undertake the long overdue exploration of women internationally. Courses under this rubric explore the roles and representations of women and the “feminine” in various cultures: Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Using novels, plays, poems, short stories, and testimonial writings, these courses analyze the power and limitations of traditional roles for women as well as their struggle to subvert, challenge, or transgress patriarchal structures.
In 04F, Writing Gender in Islamic Space. (Identical to Asian and Middle Eastern Studies 19 in 04F). Belying Orientalist stereotypes of harems and veils, Islamic societies are engaged in a lively questioning of traditional masculine and feminine roles. We will follow this discussion in the work of writers and filmmakers in Egypt and the Maghreb, such as Nawal el Saadawi, Tahar ben Jelloun, Fatima Mernissi, Leila Ahmed, Rachid Boudjedra, Leila Abouzeid, Assia Djebar, Abdelhak Serhane, Ferid Boughedir, and Moufida Tlatli.
Open to all students. Dist: LIT; WCult: NW. Green.
43. Gender and Writing
Not offered in the period from 04F through 06S
45. Women in Film, Music, and the Arts
05W: 10A
In the arts, women have been traditionally cast in the role of object. More recently, and in growing numbers, they have taken up the roles of subject and artist, radically changing the content, form, and effect of art. Courses under this rubric explore the role of women as subject, object, and artist in film, music, and the visual and performing arts. We will examine the political, social, and historical barriers that confronted women in their struggle to become successful practicing artists in their field, as well as study the works of key figures. More generally, these courses raise questions about the existence and specificity of a feminine aesthetic and about the function of art in the sexual politics of patriarchy.
In 05W, Television and Histories of Gender (Identical to Film Studies 46 in 05W).This class examines the ways American commercial television has historically “assumed” gendered positionings of its audience, as well as operates as one of the strongest cultural touch-stones of gendered identity in patriarchal, consumer society. After tracing television’s place in the construction of gendered ideals through the history of the situation comedy, we examine “gender-specific” genres, such as sports, westerns, cop shows, and soap operas. Representative programs will be screened, and feminist essays on television history/theory are among assigned readings.
Open to all students. Dist: ART. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: NA. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Desjardins.
46. Gender and Culture
05W: 12 05S: 12, 2, 10A 06W: 11
Perhaps the richest source of gender analysis has come from interdisciplinary approaches to various themes across different cultures. Covering a variety of topics, courses under this rubric examine culture through the lens of gender. A major theme is the construction of gendered identity, especially, though not solely, the impact of cultural phenomena on female identity, which we will examine from an historical, social, psychological, mythological, and literary perspective.
In 05W The Masculine Mystique. Why are so many boys and men fascinated by sport and war? Why are young boys more threatened by the term “sissy” than girls are by the term “tomboy”? What are the distinctive qualities of men’s friendships with other men and of their intimate relationships with women? Are our conceptions of masculinity dominated by models of white male development? What is the connection of biological sex with contemporary western notions of masculinity? Readings from anthropology, sociolinguistics, sociology, and race and ethnic studies, and movies will also be utilized in this interdisciplinary and multicultural course.
Open to all students.Dist: SOC. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: NA. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Travis.
In 05S at 12 (Section 1), Slaves, Wives and Concubines: Did Roman Women Have a History (Identical to Classical Studies 11 in 05S). In this course we explore the lives of Roman women first in terms of the larger institutional frameworks that structured and gave meaning to women’s lives, either by inclusion (family, marriage) or exclusion (law, politics). From this basis we investigate the characterization and self-representation of women in literary texts: women as mothers and wives, women as political actors, women as priests and ritual participants. Selected readings of Roman literary and legal sources will be supplemented by evidence from Roman inscriptions, domestic architecture, sculpture and coinage.
Open to all students. Dist: LIT. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: EU. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: W. Stewart.
In 05S at 2 (Section 2), Tears, Love, Happiness: Feminine Territories/Feminist Readings (Identical to Comparative Literature 29 in 05S). A cross-cultural and interdisciplinary rethinking of classical Hollywood melodrama within the context of feminist film aesthetics and contemporary women’s writing. Topics include sexuality and mass culture, class relations and emotions, historical memory and everyday life, and the postmodern borders between high/low culture. Readings and screenings from the work of Carmen Martín Gaite, Toni Morrison, Adrienne Kennedy, Clarice Lispector, Marguerite Duras, Federico Fellini, Margarethe Von Trotta, Ken Loach, Pedro Almodóvar, Helena Taberna, and Woody Allen. Open to all students. Dist. LIT. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: EU or NA. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Martin.
In 05S at 10A (Section 3), African and African-American Women Writers: Race, Class and Social Justice (Identical to African and African American Studies 62 in 05S). This course examines the problems of the past and the present in the politics of culture. Facing, negotiating interconnections of race, class and social justice, we will analyze the many ways in which African ideas and experiences of Africa are reinvented in the minds and writings of African American women. When and how are African ideas based on enthnographic writings reinterpreted and mediated between African cultural values and a Western audience? We will study documentary films, fiction and non-fiction texts. Major writers include Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, etc. The course is multidisciplinary, combining religion, culture, social history and oral traditions. Open to all students. Amadiume.
In 06W, Freud: Psychoanalysis, Jews, and Gender (Identical to German 42 and Jewish Studies 61 in 06W, pending faculty approval). After a brief historical introduction to Freud’s time and environment, Fin-de-Siécle Vienna, we will discuss how Freud’s own writings, his biography and his biographers have shaped the perception of psychoanalysis as a specifically Jewish theory and practice. Through a close reading of Freud’s seminal texts on gender, sexuality and religion, we will trace the connections between psychoanalysis, Jewishness and gender that have impacted theoretical discussions until today, i.e. on hysteria or on anti-Semitism. We will close the class with historical, theoretical readings that explore and critique Freudian psychoanalysis on issues of anti-Semitism, politics, gender and sexuality (among others Karen Horney, Wilhelm Reich and Herbert Marcuse) and discuss the most recent debates on the status of Freud in the U.S. Fuechtner.
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies
47. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies
04F: 10A
Using texts from drama, film, literature, and medical science, courses under this rubric will examine the construction of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender identities in historical and contemporary contexts. These courses will explore the history of the struggle to find appropriate discourses for these identities, as well as the ways these discourses challenge dominant heterosexual ones and are in turn shaped by them. The introductory course will focus on theoretical issues and debates around homosexuality, both within gay studies and within western culture as a whole.
In 04F, Introduction to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies. This course will examine the ways in which “deviant” sexual and gender behavior and identities, and the political movements that emerge from them, have been conceptualized in U.S. culture. We will cover basic g/l/b/t cultural and political history and the interplay between sexuality, gender, race, class, ethnicity, and economics. Classes will be a mix of lecture and discussion. Students will be expected to work with primary documents (including novels and film), recent work in queer theory and historical analysis.
Open to all students. Dist: SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Bronski, Meyers.
48. Special Topics in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies
05X: 10A
In 05X, Here and Queer: Placing Sexuality (Identical to English 63 in 05X). This course asks what it means to imagine a queer nation, and works towards theorizing relations between modern constructions of sexuality, nationality and ethnicity. Using an international range of theoretical texts, our “place study” will be Britain and topics will include: postcolonialism and cultural hybridity; aristocracy and effeminacy; drag and music hall traditions; public school culture; Thatcherism, transgendering and the “nanny state.” Authors may include Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Jeanette Winterson. We will study films by Pratibha Parmar, Isaac Julien and Derek Jarman.
Open to all students. Dist. LIT or INT. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Thomas.
Politics of Science and Sexuality
52. Topics in Women in Science
05S: 10 06S: 2A
Do women have a distinctive point of view, and does this point of view create problems for them as scientists? The purpose of courses under this rubric is to explore the contemporary debate around the interplay of gender and science. We will examine the current arguments about gender difference and investigate what new and radical perspective women can bring to scientific study and epistemology of knowledge.
In 05S, Women, Gender, and Science (Identical to Geography 9 in 05S). Women have played a small role in western science, and their gradual inclusion influences what we know and how we know it. We explore what science is, and how “what we know” has been affected by societal ideas, past and present. Evaluating scientific critiques ranging from Kuhn to feminists such as Fox Keller and Haraway, we ask: how many women are in science, what are the obstacles, and has feminist critique changed science?
Open to all students. Dist. SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Conkey.
In 06S, Sexuality and Science (Pending Faculty Approval). In this course we will first investigate the emergence and definition of sexual science as a scientific discipline in 19th and 20th Century Europe and the United States. Then we will analyze different theoretical texts on sexuality that are representative for a wide historical and theoretical spectrum. Finally, we will relate the class material to contemporary political discussions on gender and sexuality such as sex change or gay marriage. We will also emphasize how scientific discourse is construed and how it permeates society from popular culture to legislation.
Open to all students. Dietrich, Fuechtner.
60. Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies
04F: 2A 06W: 11
In 04F Judaism, Sexuality and Queerness (Identical to Jewish Studies 15 in 04F). This class will examine the intersections between gender formation, sexual identity, sexual practice, religious practice, cultural identity, and personal belief. Drawing upon contemporary gender theory, religious texts, and current interpretations of Jewish thought and culture in the works of Judith Halberstam, Marilyn Halter, Rachel Adler, Sander Gilman, Miriam Peskowitz. Laura Levitt, and David Biale we will examine the construction of Jewish identity as well as gender and sexual orientation through a feminist/queer lens.
Open to all students. Class of 2007 and earlier: Dist: PHR; Class of 2008 and later: Dist: TMV; WCult: CI. Bronski.
In 06W, Animals and Women in Western Literature: Nags, Bitches and Shrews (Pending Faculty Approval). What do stories about animals tell us about the treatment of women in Western society? What do stories about women tell us about the treatment of animals in Western society? In this course, we will examine the philosophical traditions that associate women with animals, and will interrogate women’s complex response to those associations. We will read literary alongside religious and philosophical texts, and draw on current schools of critical thought such as ecofeminism to develop an understanding of these issues.
Open to all students. Dist. LIT. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Boggs.
80. Seminar in Women’s and Gender Studies
04F, 05F: 10A
The seminar in Women’s and Gender Studies is designed to be both a culminating experience for Women’s and Gender Studies students and an intensive preparation for future work (such as independent study, honors theses, graduate work, or any kind of advanced feminist scholarship). Consequently, this course will address such questions as What is a feminist approach? What kinds of questions do feminists ask? What is the relation between feminist theory and feminist activism? The focus will be on feminist methodology, examining through reading, exercises in class, written assignments, and research projects, how feminist scholarship is done within a given area. Permission of the instructors required. Dist: SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI. Brison.
85. Independent Study
All terms: Arrange
This will involve an independent project carried out under the direction of one or more of the Women’s and Gender Studies faculty.
Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
98, 99. Honors Thesis I and II
All terms: Arrange
This two-course sequence involves an extensive investigation of a topic in a student’s area of concentration and submission of an undergraduate thesis. Only students accepted into the Honors Program may take this sequence.
Permission of the instructor and the Steering Committee required.
ASSOCIATED COURSES
Associated courses, listed below, are those with a central focus on gender, women, or women’s experience, and making use of recent scholarship on women and gender. Courses not on the following list may also count as associated courses for certificate students and modified majors. To obtain credit, students must petition the Women’s and Gender Studies Steering Committee outlining how their work in a particular course corresponds to the above definition of an associated course.
African and African American Studies 40: Gender Identities and Politics in Africa
African and African American Studies 43: Indigenous African Religions
Anthropology 12: From Lover to Mother to Witch: The Politics of Gender in Art
Anthropology 12: Gender and Sexuality in Cross-Cultural Perspective
Art History 16: Age and Status in the Ancient World
Art History 16: Women Artists and Gender Theories
Art History 48: Gender, Race and Politics in Eighteenth Century Visual Culture
Art History 80: Sex, Gender and Identity in the Arts of the Ancient World
Art History 82: Angelica Kauffman: Art and Gender in 18th and early 19th Century Europe
Art History 82: Women and the Art of Japan
College Course 1: Assisted Reproduction: The Scientific, Ethical, and Social Challenge of a New Biomedical Technology
College Course 4: Virtual Gender: Popular Culture and The Construction of Gender
College Course 80: Advanced Research on Special Topics in the Scientific, Ethical and Social Issues Raised by Assisted Reproduction
Comparative Literature 29: Tears, Love, Happiness: Feminine Territories/Feminist Readings
Comparative Literature 39: Trauma and Prose Fiction
Comparative Literature 47: Medea
Comparative Literature 52: The Borderlands: Latina/o Writers in the United States
Comparative Literature 67: Legends of Sappho
Comparative Literature 67: Literature and Women’s and Gender Studies
Comparative Literature 73/101: Feminist Readings
Education 10: Psychology of Women, Education of Girls
Education 54: Moral Development and Moral Education
Education 55: Adolescent Development
English 25: Gender and Power in Shakespeare
English 62: American Women Poets
English 62: Gender and Cyberculture
English 66: Feminine/Masculine: Visions and Revisions of Early America
English 68: Contemporary Women Writers
English 68: Woolfenstein
English 70: Witchcraft and Early Modern England
English 72: Victorian Queer: Constructing Nineteenth Century Sexualities
English 72: Odi et Amo: Women and the Love Lyric
English 73: Immigrant Women in America
English 73: The Poetry of Elizabeth Bishop
English 73: Virginia Woolf: Writer/Icon
English 73: Virginia Woolf: Theory and Practice
English 73: Women, Race and Writing
Environmental Studies 15: Gender and the Environment
Film 47: Woman/Nation
French 10: L’Enfant et L’Enfance
French 45: Masculinity/Femininity
French 50: Christine de Pizan
French 50: Marguerite de Navarre
French 50: Women and Rousseau
French 60: Gender and French Literature
French 60: Gender and Genre in the Eighteenth Century
French 60: Feminist Theory and the Practice of Writing
French 60: Maiden, Mother, Mistress, Muse: Aspects of the Representation of “Woman” in the Literature of the Nineteenth Century
French 75: Women Filmmakers in the French Tradition
Geography 25: Social Justice and the City
Geography 26: Geographies of Gender and Identity
Geography 80: Gender, Globalization and Democratization
Government 60: Global Feminism
Government 83: Women in Public Office
Government 84: Gender and American Politics
Government 86: Justice, Legitimacy and Power
Hebrew 31: Readings in Modern Hebrew Women’s Literature
History 6: Gender and War in Modern European History
History 29: Women in American Radicalism: Left and Right
History 48: European Society in the Industrial Age
History 82: Women in Latin American History
History 96: Marriage and Divorce in the African Context
History 96: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration in American History
Italian 10: What About Italian Women
Japanese 61: Gender and Nationalism in Japanese Literature and Film
Japanese 63: Karma of Love
Jewish Studies 15: The Jewish Body
Jewish Studies 15: The Middle East Conflict in Film and Literature
Jewish Studies 15: Judaism, Sexuality and Queerness
Jewish Studies 61: Freud: Psychoanalysis, Jews and Gender
Philosophy 9: Love and Friendship
Philosophy 22: Feminism and Philosophy
Religion 19: Gender and the Religious Imagination
Religion 31: Sex, Celibacy and the Problem of Purity: Asceticism and the Human Body in Late Antiquity
Religion 50: Indigenous African Religions
Russian 38: Despair and Desire in Post-Communist Russia: Contemporary Russian Women Writers
Sociology 39: Reproductive Rights and Technologies
Sociology 43: Dangerous Intersections: Race, Class and Gender
Spanish 62: Gender and Writing in Twentieth Century Spain
Spanish 62: Women Writers in Twentieth Century Spain
Spanish 72: Latin American and Latina Women: Gender, Culture, Literature
Spanish 78: Living in the Borderlands: Latino/a Culture and Identity
Spanish 79: Latino/a Literature: Between Literary Traditions, Languages and Cultures
Theater 21: American Women Playwrights
Theater 21: Feminism and Theater
Theater 24: Gender and Asian Performance
Many other courses contain material of particular interest to students in Women’s and Gender Studies. To identify those related courses that would be most important in enriching their own program of study, students should consult with their Women’s and Gender Studies adviser.