Winter 2008

This course will examine the traditions of humor in Jewish women's writing and performance. We will be looking at questions such as : What is Jewish humor? What is feminist humor? How have Jewish women influenced American popular culture? What is the relationship between Jewish male humor and Jewish female humor? How do cultural stereotypes function? And we will discuss how Jewish humor, and specifically, Jewish women's humor, is the basis for much of what we call American humor today. We will be reading, listening to, and watching a wide range of materials. The readings will include essays on Jewish humor, Jewish American history, humor theory, feminist humor, as well as writings by Dorothy Parker, Edna Ferber, Gertrude Berg, Grace Paley, Bel Kaufman, Sarah Schulman, Roseanne Barr, Fran Lebowitz and others. Films and television shows screened will range from classics of the Yiddish cinema such as Yidl mitn Fiddl (with Molly Picon), to early 20th century films such as Be Yourself (with Fanny Brice), to contemporary film such as Outrageous Fortune, Jesus is Magic, and television shows such as The Nanny. We will also be listening to a variety of women standup comics such as Joan Rivers, Tottie Fields, Betty Walker, Belle Barth, Pearl Williams, Roseanne Barr, Rita Rudner, and Sarah Silverman.

Professor Bronski
10A hour

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. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI.

Professor Kacandes
10 hour

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. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI.

Professor Stewart (This course cross listed with CLST 11 when taught by Prof. Stewart)
10 hour

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. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI.

Professor Williamson
10A hour

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. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI.

Professor Orleck
2A hour

This course uses economic theory and data analysis to investigate the accuracy of popular beliefs about women in the labor market. These beliefs include "employers pay women less than men", "divorce makes a woman worse off", and "children from working mothers and those from broken homes perform worse than others". The course has two main parts: the role of women within the family (including marriage and fertility decisions) and the role of women in the labor market, along with the consequent policy implications. Open to all students.

Professor Chaudhury
11 hour

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. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI.

Professor King
2 hour

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. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI.

Professor Travis
12 hour

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. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI.

Professor Boose
2A hour

This course examines the relationship between feminism and philosophy. The focus is on such questions as: Is the Western philosophical canon inherently sexist? How should feminist philosophers read the canon? Are Western philosophical concepts such as objectivity, reason, and impartiality inherently masculinist concepts? The course may focus on either the ways in which feminists have interpreted great figures in the history of philosophy (e.g., Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche), or on the ways in which feminists have rethought basic concepts in core areas of philosophy (e.g., epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, political philosophy, philosophy of science), or both. Open to all students. Dist: TMV; WCult: CI.

Professor Brison
2A hour

Renaissance magic assumed two basic forms: one is witchcraft; and the other is occult philosophy, a controversial scientific practice pursued by men. In this course we will investigate both sides of magic as they are spectacularly presented on the Renaissance public stage. Our guiding question: how is Renaissance magic inherently theatrical and how is theater inherently magical? Topics include folklore beliefs, ideologies of gender and power, early modern language theory, theatrical spectacle, and politics. Texts include Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, Jonson's The Alchemist, and Shakespeare's Macbeth, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest. Dist: LIT; WCult: W.

Professor Canepa
2A hour

This course is a survey of the way gender images have evolved in the genre of the literary fairy tale, from the sixteenth century to the present. We will pay special attention both to the subversive potential of the fairy tale and the ways in which the Western fairy tale has consolidated conventional gender and narrative paradigms. We will use a variety of critical approaches to the fairy tale and, put our encounter with the fairy tale to dynamic use by writing, telling, and performing tales. Open to all students. Dist: SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI.

Professor Canepa
11 hour

In her well-known passage from A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf stated that "we think back through our mothers if we are women"; twenty years later, Gertrude Stein would obliquely refer to herself as "the mother of us all." These two women occupy a central place in European and American modernism, their work having influenced successive generations of writers. Using a series of thematic and theoretical frameworks, we will explore the intersections between the two, asking how they staged their resistance to traditional/patriarchal literary and cultural structures. The frameworks might include: gender and genre; queer texts and contexts; war, nation, and gender; class, ethnicity, and authority; iconization. Texts by Woolf might include Jacob's Room, Mrs. Dalloway, Orlando, and Between the Acts; texts by Stein might include Ida, Three Lives, Everybody's Autobiography, and Mrs. Reynolds. We will also be reading a selection of critical and theoretical texts. It would be advisable for students to have some background in critical and/or feminist theory; possible background courses would include English 15; WGST 15 or WGST 54; Comparative Literature 72.

Professors Silver and Will
2 hour

This course will examine the interplay between post-war GLBT film representation and the development of a national GLBT political consciousness and movements. It will also explore how this new consciousness shaped popular culture. Open to all students. Dist: ART. WCult: CI.

Professor Bronski
2A hour

Professor Cramer et al.

10A hour

Professor Santa Ana

2A hour