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. 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. Category II. 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.
History & Criticism of Public Address
COMM 302, section 01
Professor John Pauley
MWF 11-11:50
This course focuses on the principles of public communication. These concepts are illustrated by examining the communicative acts of others. Particular attention is given to the public speaking of women and challenges or obstacles women face in the arena of public communication. Category I
History & Criticism of Public Address
COMM 302, section 02
Professor Laurie Thurneck
MW 3:00-4:15
The ancient Greeks and Romans invented and explored the field of rhetoric, which they defined broadly as the art of creating persuasive discourse. The first half of this course will explore the rhetorical tradition, beginning with the ancient rhetoricians and rhetorics and continuing through contemporary perspectives. We will investigate women's contributions to the rhetorical tradition, which until recently have been largely ignored. In the second half of the course, we will explore the central principles of rhetorical criticism for the purpose of understanding our reactions to symbols of all kinds within our culture. Rhetorical criticism has traditionally been employed in the analysis of speeches, but it is also an appropriate vehicle for the criticism of literature, film, television, advertisements, music, and other instructive and persuasive genres. We will examine several basic methods for analyzing and understanding rhetorical artifacts, with an emphasis on criticism that explores conceptions of gender within Western culture. Category I
Family Communication
COMM 490
Professor Kamiko Akita
TR 11:00-12:15
The comparative study of family communication in international and intercultural contexts is a relatively new focus in human communication studies. Family communication examines everyday interactions in families and focuses on how such interactions shape a family's communication patterns, identity, culture, and life. The fundamental communication instruments we use to live our lives are shaped within the family, and we then apply them to other interactive (communicative) situations (i.e., organizational communication, cross-cultural communication, communication with friends and strangers, etc.). This course will take a comparative approach to family communication by examining such practice across cultural groupings. The assumption is that the more we learn about the diversity of types of families, the less prejudiced and the more understanding we will be when encountering different types of family communication styles. Since women appear to play major roles in all families in many cultures, we will closely compare and contrast women's roles and their interactions with family members across cultures. Category I
Speaking Parts for Women
ENLT 203, section 05
Professor Tom Bonnell
TR 12:30-1:45
At the turn of the last century women were fighting to have a voice—in politics, in society, in marriage; over their education, their bodies, and their economic well-being. How that struggle found its way into the fiction and drama of the era (roughly 1880 to 1920) will be the focus of this course. A recurring motif in this literature is the woman who, against steep odds, wins an audience for herself, whether from the stage, the lectern, the pulpit, or print. Such avenues into public life, while narrow in comparison with the opportunities women enjoy one hundred years later, paved the way for a greater variety of roles in the life of the nation and served as one of the prerequisites of Modernism. Requirements: Two papers, two exams. Texts: James, The Bostonians; Janson, A Salloon Keeper’s Daughter; Kate Chopin, The Awakening; Dreisser, Sister Carrie; Crothers, A Man’s World; Wharton, House of Mirth; Austin, A Woman of Genius; Fitgerald, Jazz Age Tales. Category I
Chicana Literature
ENLT 293
Professor Richard Yañez
TR 3:30-4:45
This course focuses on writing by and about Chicanas (women of Mexican-American descent). As the largest group within the growing population of U.S. Latinos, Chicanas have made important contributions to the body of "American" literature. Recent titles by established and emerging Chicana writers are further evidence of their significance in the contemporary literary world. We will read fiction, poetry, and essays–incorporating multi-media sources–as a means of studying the major social, cultural, and historical elements of Chicana literature. Through reading the texts, completing written assignments, and participating in discussion, students will become familiar with the cross-cultural politics, explorations of language, and mestizo identity featured in Chicana Literature. Readings will include the work of Ana Castillo, Norma Cantú, Denise Chávez, Lisa Chávez, Sandra Cisneros, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Stella Pope Duarte, Diana López, Lorraine López, Demetria Martínez, María Melendez, Pat Mora, and Helena M. Viramontes. Category I
Women and Film
ENLT 367
Professor Mary Kate Goodwin-Kelly
T 6:00-8:30
What’s the relationship between women film directors and female representation? Does the gender of the film spectator affect the way she or he makes sense of images on screen? What textual and social significance has Hollywood historically imposed on female characters such as the African-American mammy, the "tragic mulatto" and the "working" mother? What does it mean for female characters to "behave like men"? In this course, we will engage these questions and many more as we examine a wide range of U.S.-produced mainstream and "independent" films. Through film screenings, readings, class discussions and writing, students will develop the skills to critically analyze both film texts and the cultures in which they are produced and consumed. Films studied might include: Blonde Venus, Imitation of Life, Johnny Guitar, Foxy Brown, The Silence of the Lambs, Dry Kisses Only, Blue Steel, Basic Instinct, Watermelon Woman, The Meeting of Two Queens and Boys Don’t Cry. Category II
Feminist Memoirs
ENLT 370
Professor Astrid Henry
TR 11:00-12:15
The last decade has seen the memoir become one of the most popular forms of critical non-fiction. Memoir writing, however, is never just a reporting of facts, never history recorded as it really was. Rather, it always involves deliberate decisions regarding what aspects of one’s life will be revealed, what will be emphasized or ignored, and ultimately, what story of the self will be told. In this course, we will read a wide range of memoirs by feminist writers in order to critically analyze the memoir as a literary form. Central to our course will be the ways in which feminist writers have used memoir writing to describe both personal and political experiences and to theorize from these experiences. As such, our course will be centered on the feminist notion that "the personal is political" and that personal experience can be the basis for feminist analysis. We will explore how feminist writers have used memoir to develop feminist theory and how memoirs function as theoretical texts. In addition to selected critical essays on memoir and autobiography, we will read recent memoirs by feminist writers such as Jane Gallop, bell hooks, Jane Lazarre, Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, Audre Lorde, and others. Category II
Women Coming of Age
ENLT 373
Professor Laura Haigwood
TR 12:30-1:45
"Bildungsroman" is a German term meaning "novel of education. Typically, the Bildungsroman is concerned with the construction of the self through both formal and informal education. This course will focus on a diverse range of novels of "education" (in the broadest sense) whose central characters are typically women in their late teens and early twenties, women who are just "coming of age." The one exception, The Summer Before the Dark, will allow us to explore the mid-life female Bildungsroman and to discuss why some women’s "education" is delayed. Throughout the course we will discuss such questions as: What common plots and patterns do these novels share? What educational issues or challenges specific to women do these heroines share across historical periods? How do women become educated for their roles in different eras and in different social classes? Do male and female authors see this process differently? What is the relationship between the skills and knowledge women gain in formal educational institutions and their "real world" education outside of or after formal schooling? What motivates women to take control of their own educations? And how do they respond to forbidden knowledge? This course will also allow students some opportunity to reflect on their own educations, both formal and informal. Category I
Role of Women in American History
HIST 324
Professor Kelly Hamilton
TR 2:00-3:15
A study of the significance of women in American history from the colonial period to the present. While sufficient attention will be given to notable individuals and feminist movements, major emphasis will be placed on the continuous importance of women in all aspects of American life: social, economic, cultural and political. Category I
Modern European Women
HIST 390
Professor Kelly Hamilton
MW 3:00-4:15
Our textbook, A History of Women, describes the focus of this class very well. "Women were long relegated to the shadows of history. The development of anthropology and the new emphasis on family...on what was private and individual, have helped to dispel those shadows. The women's movement and the questions it has raised have done even more. Where have we come from? Where are we going? These are questions women have begun asking themselves." In this course, we will focus on the everyday lives of ordinary women in Modern Europe. They lived through some extraordinary times. Thus, besides the textbook, we will be reading firsthand accounts of the lives of women in the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment, the industrial revolution and urbanization of Europe in the nineteenth century, and the Resistance, Holocaust and Nazi Germany in the twentieth century. The class will be taught as a seminar, incorporating group work and class discussion, and participation will be a major part of the grade. Category I
Quest for Human Rights
Just 301
Professor Marianne Farina
MWF 10:00-10:50
This course will provide the students with an overview to the historical, theoretical and practical underpinnings that have shaped and continue to shape the development of human rights in both domestic and international arenas. We will discuss the origin of the human rights concept and how these ideas have been crafted into international declarations and domestic law and how these ideas are nurtured, enforced and monitored. To this end we will investigate the application of human rights as a formulation of policy regarding various social-ethical situations of women and children; labor; immigrant and refugees; environment; religion and issues pertaining to globalization and the war on terrorism. Category I
Spanish Women Writers
MLSP 424
Professor Jennifer Zachman
MWF 11:00-11:50
The course will involve the reading, analysis and interpretation of novels, short stories, poems, essays and dramas by Spanish women writers of the twentieth century. Through this analysis, students will explore the changing status of women in Spain over the course of the twentieth century and examine issues of personal identity, changing gender roles and literary movements. Another extremely important objective of the course is to explore the feminine or feminist discourse of the chosen texts and, in so doing, to examine the impact of feminist literary theory and Spanish feminism on Spanish women’s writing. Category II
Women’s Health
NURS 222
Professor Ella Harmeyer
MW 3:30-4:45
This class is designed to explore the concept of health and its significance for women. Discusses the physical, emotional, social, and cultural factors that affect the health of women. Health promotion and healthy lifestyle choices are a strong focus. Women's responsibilities and leadership in health awareness are emphasized. Category I. Non-nursing majors
Women, Knowledge, and Persons
PHIL 243
Professor Alex Stotts
MWF 2:00-2:50
What can she know? Do women know? These questions arise because the ideals of rationality and objectivity have been constructed through processes that continue to exclude the attributes and experiences commonly associated with women, femaleness, and underclass social status: emotion, connection, practicality, and sensitivity. This class will consider the growing body of theory that analyzes how women are variously situated throughout the world. Included will be an examination of how women's lives are marked by gender, race, class, sexuality, culture, age, and ability and how these markers are implicated in our personal, social and political relationships. We will also examine how women negotiate power, authority, and responsibilities to help negotiate knowledge claims and their consequences. Special attention will be focused on how women use communities, standpoints, subjectivity, voice, and bodies as resources to counter the problematic maleness of the philosophic subject. Class members will be responsible for actively shaping discussions and for researching one additional theorist or question. Category II
Psychology of Child and Family
PSYC 304
Professor Rebecca Stoddart
MW 2:00-3:15
This course expands upon Developmental Psychology (301), examining the changing ecology of children’s development and ways of supporting children in contemporary family systems. The course focuses on the effects on children of the following systems: dual career families, divorce, single parent and blended families, the role of the father, and daycare. The course is organized as a seminar with assigned readings from texts and journal articles. Students will be asked to develop and administer a survey, and to write and present a short literature review on a topic of interest. Prerequisite: Psyc 301 or permission of the instructor. Category II
Theory of Eating Disorders
PSCY 390
Professor Karen Chambers
W 3:00-4:15
The study of body image and eating disorders is complex because there are many different levels of analysis–the personal, the theoretical, and the socio-cultural. In this course, we will look at a variety of these explanations and talk about the interacting effects of these potentially casual agents. Evaluation will be based on in-class and blackboard discussion and three papers. Category II
Marriage and the Family
SOC 257
Professor Mary Ann Kanieski
TR 9:30-10:45
In this course, 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. Finally, we will always examine the ways in which family life varies because of cultural differences, class position, race, and sexualities. Category II.
