Fall 2015

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: Ten spaces are reserved in each fall section for incoming first-year students.

9L Hour: Professor A'Ness
10 Hour: Professor A'Ness
10A Hour: Professor Choi
2A Hour: Professor Munafo

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. Dist: SOC; WCult: W.

Professor Orleck
2 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 the fields of anthropology, philosophy, literature, history, and government policy. Dist: SOC; WCult: CI.

Professor Palmer
2 Hour

What can Psy's "Gangnam Style" and Girls Generation's "The Boys" teach about gender roles in contemporary Korea? What roles do writers, musicians, and filmmakers play in shaping our thinking about gender? And, how do competing ideas about sex shape the current system of literary, cinematic, television, and popular music genres? These questions will be explored through case studies of Korean literature and popular media, while the course will simultaneously provide a broad introduction to the field of gender studies. Topics will include love, marriage, family, work, class, sex, intimacy, and body politics in Korean popular culture and literature. Dist: INT or ART; WCult: NW.

Professor Choi
3B Hour

Women have worked in the film industry since its very beginnings, yet it is a popular conception that this is a recent phenomenon. This course will examine how women participated in the mainstream American film industry from the 1890's to the present as producers, directors, writers, photographers, fashion designers, performers, and audiences. Concept about female authorship, as well as historical questions about the cultural, social, and industrial contexts for women's power in the industry, will be explored. Films made by prominent women producers, directors, and writers will be screened. Dist: ART; WCult: W. 

Professor Desjardins
10A Hour

Our social structure is full of unseen, unspoken, and unheard dynamics. These hidden and irresponsible social behaviors have always contributed to the building of visible and invisible social walls. Behind these walls, a growing invisible population has found a way into visibility into society through addiction, violence, and crime. This course offers students the unique opportunity to collaborate with a group of people from behind those social walls from two different perspectives: theoretical and practical. For one class each week, students will study the root cause of social isolations and invisibility mainly pertaining to incarceration and addiction, in an active learning classroom. For the other half, students will travel to Valley Vista, an alcohol and chemical dependency treatment center in Bradford, Vermont, and participate in an interdisciplinary arts program there. Its goal is the creation and performance of an original production that will facilitate the patients' voices. The final project for the course will combine research on themes related to addiction, rehabilitation, transition, facilitation, and critical analysis and self-reflection on the effectiveness of community-based learning and performance in rehabilitation.  Dist: ART; WCult: CI.

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. Enrollment is restricted to WGSS majors and minors.

Professor Martín
Mondays 3-6 PM

Professor Scheiner
2 Hour

Professor Boose
2 Hour

Professor Zeiger
12 Hour

Professor Darrow
11 Hour

Professor Bumpus
11 Hour