Summer 2012

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 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; WCult: CI. NOTE: This course is in high demand, with a bounce list nearly as long as the class. Students will be given instructor permission as spots open, in the order of request to be placed on the wait list. (May 14, 2012)

Professor Bergland
2 Hour

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; W Cult: W.

Professor Bohmer
2A Hour

In this course, we will examine how recent European films redefine and challenge contemporary national political discourses through a sophisticated intersection of issues of gender, class, and cultural identity. Most films included in the course have a female protagonist rebelling against the social and cultural constructs that deny her the possibility of engaging in flexible cultural and identitarian options. These are female characters that push and bend the rigid formulation of gender that cultural identity usually imposes on the sexes. Other films explore the gender and sexual options normally excluded or ignored in the official cultural discourse of different national traditions; another set of films focuses on strategies such as multilingualism and hybridization as a means to intersect gender with this reconfiguration of European identity as a much more diverse and complex political, cultural, and identitarian paradigm. The films of this course are recent examples of Maghrebi-French, Turkish-German, Asian-British, and Spanish immigration cinema. The course will also emphasize the different ways in which film production and film reception transcend national borders. Dist.: INT or SOC; WCult: CI (Pending faculty approval.)

Professor Rodriguez
TIME CHANGE as of 6/22/12: Mondays 3-6 PM

Professor Gomez
10A Hour