Summer 2010

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.

Professor Moody
10 hour

This course is a multi-cultural multi-media history of American women from the Civil War to the present. We will discuss race and class tensions in the woman suffrage movement; women, labor, and radicalism from the 1910s through the 1940s; civil rights, welfare rights, the rebirth of feminism in the 1960s and 70s; and backlash politics from the 1950s to the 1980s. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Dist: SOC; WCult: W.

Professor Orleck
10 hour

Hidden in our midst is an ever-growing incarceration system, which has become increasingly privatized and retributive, especially with regards to ethnic minorities. Some critics are calling for the "abolition" of prisons. Yet, most of us know little about prisons, the prisoners in our communities or the issues they face inside and outside prison. This course offers students the unique opportunity to study the prison system from two distinct perspectives: theoretical and practical. For half the week, students will study the history of prisons and women's incarceration in the traditional classroom. For the other half, students will join inmates in a performance program offered for female inmates in the Sullivan County Department of Corrections’ Community Corrections Center in Claremont, New Hampshire. The goal is the creation and performance of an original production. The final project for the course will combine critical analysis and self-reflection on the effectiveness of service learning and performance in rehabilitation. Dist: SOC; WCult: CI.

Professors Schweitzer and Hernandez
2A-hour

While in cultural production the male villain is usually represented as an individual case of a malign human being, his female counterpart is often treated as proof of the corruption of women in general. As early as in Ancient Greek mythology it was a woman, Pandora, who was blamed for all the evil in the world. When she, her Judeo-Christian equivalent Eve, and other mythological women regained popularity as motifs in 19th century literature and painting, they were again represented as fatal temptresses of man.

This seminar sets out to ask why certain stereotypes of femininity saw this significant increase of demonization during a period of economic and cultural modernization in Europe. We will then further discuss both continuities and critical rewritings in the representation of vampires, bad mothers, and other prototypes of the female villain in 20th writing and film, in order to develop a set of critical tools to analyze and historically contextualize demonizing representation of femininity. Dist: LIT; WCult: CI. (Pending Faculty Approval)

Professor Lohmüller
2A Hour