Spring 2008

WGST 07 First Year Seminar: Animals and Women in Western Literature: Nags, Bitches and Shrews

Professor Boggs
12 hour

WGST 16 Contemporary Issues in Feminism: Theory and Practice

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.

Professor Schweitzer
10A hour

WGST 43.1/REL 13 Beyond God the Father: Intro. to Gender and Religion

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 Bourdieu, Rosemary Ruether, Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, or others. Open to all students. Class of 2007 and earlier: Dist: PHR; WCult: NA. Class of 2008 and later: Dist: TMV; WCult: W.

Professor Frankenberry
10A hour

WGST 44.1/REL 52/AAAS 66 Women's Rituals: Africa and Around the World

This course focuses on women's ritual practices in different cultures and societies, both traditional. 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.

Professor: TBA
2A hour

WGST 54.3/LACS 54 Latina Feminism: Acts of Intervention

Through an engagement of narratives mediated by recordings, literature, visual art and performances for, by and about Latinas, this course examines the highly contested and still-evolving site of Latina feminist practices.  Students will be introduced to foundational writings in Latina feminist theory.  We will pay particular attention to how the shared - and the divergent - experiences of Latinas in the US are produced, reflected, and resisted in cultural expression.  Our central task will be to analyze how these women-centered texts redefine sexuality, gender, race and class.  Several questions frame our studies in the course, including: How do we theorize a Latina feminist tradition?  How has Latina feminism reshaped the field of ethnic and gender studies? Topics include, but are not limited to: triple oppressions theory, identity politics, mestiza consciousness, Latina subjectivity, and lesbian identities. 

Professor Herrera
2 hour

WGST 56.2/FILM 47 Beatniks, Hot Rods and the Feminist Mystique: Sex and Gender in 1950's Hollywood Films

Common opinion holds that the 1950's in the United States were a decade of severe sexual repression and political conformity. Yet the decade's popular culture exhibits a startling range of images and ideologies that not only resist social norms but also posit a vibrant array of alternative, subversive ideas about sex, gender, race, and power. Using feminist, film, and cultural theory, this course will focus on popular culture of the 50's including TV, rock and roll, political propaganda, and pulp novels.

Professor Bronski
2A hour

Associated Courses

EDUC 62 Adolescent Development

Associated Courses

ENGL 66.2 Whitman and Dickenson

Associated Courses

ENGL 70.2 Love, Gender and Marriage in Shakespeare

Associated Courses

HIST 06 Gender and Sexuality: Asians in America

Associated Courses

HIST 63 History of Recent Science and Technology

Associated Courses

SOCY 49 Youth and Society