Introduction to Women’s Studies
WOST 207
Professor Astrid Henry
TR 3:30-4:45
This course will focus on the lives and work of American women, the significance and meaning of gender at different periods in American history, and the development of U.S. feminism and feminist theory. Central to this course will be the ways in which race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, and age and generational location shape women’s experiences and the various socio-political meanings of gender in the U.S. We will also address the ways in which women have resisted inequality and effected social and political change. This course will be interdisciplinary in its approach, meaning that we will read feminist essays from a wide range of disciplines, including cultural studies, economics, history, philosophy, political theory, psychology, and sociology. Gen Ed.
Independent Study
WOST 497
Susan Alexander, Ann Clark, Laura Haigwood, Astrid Henry, and Phyllis Kaminski are among the Women's Studies faculty willing to direct independent study projects. Students interested should speak first to the Women's Studies faculty member who will guide the project, then contact Professor Henry to formalize the proposal and ensure proper registration.
Internship
WOST 499
Practical off-campus experience in a Women's Studies related field at an approved site. Jointly supervised by a faculty member and a representative from the sponsoring agency. Open to junior or senior Women's Studies majors or minor who have taken at least two Women's Studies courses. Must be approved by Professor Henry. Graded S/U. May be repeated for up to three hours. A reflection paper appropriate to the nature of the internship will be required.
Women and Success
ENLT 275
Professor Max Westler
TR 3:30-4:45
This course will deal with the nature of success from a woman’s perspective. We’ll be considering a diverse selection of materials: literary as well as historical texts, films and songs, critical and polemical essays, and documentary evidence drawn from the most recent sources. Required work will include a mid-semester and a final examination, and three short papers each exploring from a different perspective the subjects of success and/or women at work. Our reading list will include Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s utopian novel Herland and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Stephan Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, as well as poetry by Emily Dickinson, Muriel Rukeyser, and Adrienne Rich. The course will begin with a showing of Gillian Armstrong’s film adaptation of Miles Franklin’s My Brilliant Career and end with a showing of Rosie the Riveter, a documentary about women’s experience in the work force during World War II.
World Literature by and about Women
ENLT 374
Professor Linn Vacca
TR 11:00-12:15
A broad survey of major pieces of literature written by women over the centuries. The final reading list will depend on availability. It will include some classics in the English tradition (Austen’s Persuasion, Bronte’s Jane Eyre); some more recent American classics (O’Connor’s Wise Blood, Morrison’s Sula), European novels with a radical challenge (like Wittig’s Les Guerilleres, Maraini’s Silent Duchess), and even a novel about a man (Lady Murasaki’s Tale of Genji). We’ll also use an anthology of international short stories.
Sense and Sensibility: Romantic Era Feminism
ENLT 390
Professor Laura Haigwood
TR 11:00-12:15
Women writers of the Romantic era did not call themselves “feminists,” but their vindication of the rights of woman inspired many subsequent “waves.” Responding to parallel political demands for democratic government and the abolition of slavery, Romantic women authors began a movement that—despite obstacles and backlashes—has forged a continuous path into our present day. We will begin with Jane Austen’s classic novel to situate middle-class women in their time and place. But our central focus will be the life and work of Mary Wollstonecraft, whose career exemplifies persistent tensions between “sense” and “sensibility” in both feminist discourse and feminine experience. We will also read her less well known but equally significant contemporaries, Mary Hays, Catherine Macaulay, Hannah More, Anna Wheeler, Mary Lamb and Helen Maria Williams. The heartening fact that good men tend to side with women against patriarchy will be demonstrated by William Blake and William Godwin, among others. Finally, we will ask, “What sort of ‘daughter’ was Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley?” How did she respond to her mother’s powerful legacy, and how did that shape the path of feminism through the Victorian era that followed?
Jane Austen
ENLT 417
Professor Laura Haigwood
MW 11:00-12:15
This course offers intensive study of Jane Austen’s fiction in the context of her life and times. We will read several of her major novels along with selections from her juvenilia and letters. We will also view and discuss one or two film interpretations. Depending on student interest, we will do the latter in conjunction with a parallel “Jane Austen Film Festival” that students will help to organize and facilitate.
Women in Africa and the Middle East
HIST 390, section 01
Professor Edith Miguda
TR 2:00-3:15
This course will examine and provide a variety of perspectives for a comprehensive understanding of contemporary issues for women in the Middle East and African countries. At the core of this course is an exploration of the theoretical challenges to the discipline of history raised by feminist historical methods and theories, and how these inform new directions/interpretations and debates on contemporary history of women in Africa and the Middle East . The course will explore issues related to women’s engagement with religion—Christianity and Islam—politics, development, women’s movements, migration, and internationalism. In exploring the contemporary conditions of women's lives, the course will focus on the post-colonial period and women's contemporary struggle for economic and political empowerment, civic rights and equality both nationally and internationally. THEORY
American Girlhoods
HIST 390, section 04
Professor Amanda Littauer
MWF 1:00-1:50
What does it mean to be a girl in the United States? How have female youths become adolescents and teenagers over the last one hundred or so years? How has the concept of girlhood changed over time, and in what ways has it been shaped by ethnic, racial, sexual, and socio-economic circumstances? Can we even speak of girlhood as a universal category or stage of life? In this course, students will explore the meanings, experiences, conditions, and significance of girlhood in the United States since 1880. Readings juxtapose scholarship by historians and sociologists with memoir and historical fiction, and we will interpret texts using tools garnered from feminist theory. Course themes include immigration, family life, work, public policy, education, courtship, sexuality, health and medicine, material culture, leisure, and representation. Race and class, as well as gender and sexuality, will be key categories of analysis. THEORY
Women’s Health
NURS 222
Professor Ella Harmeyer
TR 3:30-4:45
This class is designed to explore the concept of health and its significance for women. We will discuss the physical, emotional, social, and cultural factors that affect the health of women. Health promotion and healthy lifestyle choices are also a strong focus, along with women's responsibilities and leadership in health awareness. Non-nursing majors
Introduction to Feminist Philosophy
PHIL 243
Professor Ann Clark
MWF 2:00-2:50
Feminist theory explores historical and contemporary views of gender, asking questions about personhood, knowledge, and community, reflected through the lenses of feminist theory. By working with her own and others’ gender perspectives, students will reach a multidimensional understanding of the interactions between economic, cultural, racial, philosophical and psychological orders at work in gender structures. Our overall objective is to be able to imagine positive alternatives for transforming women’s lives both globally and locally and to understand the implications of our choices for ourselves and others. THEORY
Sociology of Families
SOC 257
Professor Henry Borne
MWF 1:00-1:50
In this course, we will be studying marriages and families from a sociological perspective using a family life cycle, longitudinal approach. Focus will be given to such issues as mate selection, love, and communication and problem-solving patterns between partners. We will consider the various forms of families and their relationships to their social environments. For example, we will examine historical trends, economic pressures, and the impact of public policies. We will also consider life within families as we examine gender, childrearing, household labor, divorce, and family violence. Consideration will be given to cultural and social class variations in family structures and processes
Social Construction of Gender
SOC 365
Professor Susan Alexander
T 6:00-8:45
This course begins with the assumption that gender is social constructed rather than determined by biology. As a social construct, the meaning given to particular gender categories (e.g. feminine or masculine) is dependent upon the social, historical, political, and cultural context. Individually, we are socialized into patterns of gendered behavior that are shaped by the social structure of a given society. Over the semester, students will deconstruct the ways in which the social constructs of "femininity" and "masculinity" shape the experiences of women and men in American society and culture. THEORY
