Fall 2018

The #MeToo movement is a response to gender-based harassment, assault, and violence. It is a form of resistance. This course examines and critiques the #MeToo movement. It covers the movement’s founding in 2006 by civil rights activist Tarana Burke; feminist legal theory and critical race theory about sexual harassment and gender based violence; and competing analyses of current #MeToo activism, particularly its spotlight on the wealthy and famous. The course includes elements of collaborative syllabus building, group community-based projects, and workshopping of students’ written responses to assigned materials. Throughout the term, we will draw connections among scholarship, current events, and our lives. Dist: SOC; WCult: CI.

Professor Munafo
2A Hour

This course examines the roles of women and men in Western Europe from Antiquity through the Reformation period. Emphasis will be placed on the intellectual and social structures 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 religion, 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. Dist: TMV; WCult: CI.

Professor Simons
11 Hour

This course examines gender as it relates to both women and men and as constituted by multiple factors such as place, space, class, sexuality, age, race, ethnicity, nationality, and culture—what some call categories of "difference." We will explore how these categories of difference shape women's and men's daily lives, our institutions, the spaces and places we live in, and the relationships between social groups in different places and between different places in the world. Dist: SOC; WCult: CI.

Professor Parikh
10A Hour

This is a general course about gender and politics in which we will examine the roles of women and men as voters, activists, and politicians. We will begin by examining a wide range of relevant issues, including: how gender affects political participation and partisan preferences, how boys and girls are socialized differently into politics, how public opinion regarding domestic and foreign policy sometimes differs for women and men, and how a different gender balance among office holders might be expected to affect representation, policy, and governance. The course will then critically examine various barriers that women may face in the pursuit of elected office in the U.S., and we will also expand our view beyond politics, by analyzing women in non-political leadership positions in order to draw useful comparisons. Finally, the course will examine the role of gender in an international context, comparing gender dynamics in the U.S. with those of other countries in order to better understand the future of women in politics in the U.S. and in the world at large. This course is appropriate for all students, from all majors (there are no prerequisites). Dist: SOC; WCult: CI.

Professor D. Brooks
12 Hour

New title and course description! The nature of work, family life, and gender relations has changed dramatically over the last half century. This course examines these trends, with a focus on implications for gender inequality in society. We will focus on patterns in paid labor force participation and family life in the United States, and discuss the major debates surrounding the causes and consequences of such trends. We will also pay attention to how these patterns look across different races, ethnic groups, and socioeconomic status, as well as briefly examine how these trends compare to other countries. We will conclude by exploring the implication of gender inequality for families, as well as work-family policy debates. Dist: SOC; WCult: W.

Professor Lin
2A Hour

This course will address a range of topics concerning gender that are of particular significance to indigenous communities.  These topics will be considered from historical, political, cultural and social perspectives.  In the context of this class, the term “indigenous” is a category that includes tribal nations of the United States including Hawaii, the First Nations of Canada, and the indigenous people of Australia and New Zealand.  The material is presented with particular concern for the diversity of indigenous groups and the variety of their own experiences and autochthony.  We will explore their responses to misconceptions of tribal gender roles and identities projected upon Native people by the agents and institutions of settler colonialism.  This approach opens a broader discussion about the many actions of indigenous communities to deconstruct and decolonize gender categories that are alien to the continuity, integrity, and vitality of their own traditions.  The interdisciplinary approach of this course will engage texts from philosophy, literature, semiotics, history, and policy, as well as gender studies from various socio-cultural perspectives. Dist: SOC; WCult: CI.

Professor Palmer
2 Hour

Cancelled in Fall 2018, may return in Winter 2019

Professor Lim
6B Hour

Our social structure is full of unseen, unspoken, and unheard dynamics that create visible and invisible social walls. Students in this course have the unique opportunity to collaborate with a group of people from behind those social walls from two different perspectives: theoretical and practical. Students study the causes of this invisibility and social isolation (mainly pertaining to incarceration and addiction) by participating in an interdisciplinary arts program with local community members from these invisible populations while at the same time attending discussion-based seminars. This combination of practice and theory asks for students to go beyond a critical reflection on our society by contributing to constructive social actions towards change. Dist: ART; WCult: CI.

Note: This course is NOT cross-listed with English when taught solely by Professor Hernandez.

Professor Hernandez
2A Hour

The seminar in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is designed as a culminating experience for Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies students and preparation for future work such as independent research, honors thesis, graduate studies and advanced scholarship.

Professor Wernimont
3A Hour

Professor Billings
10 Hour
 

Professor Kang
10 Hour