WGST 101 - Issues in Feminism (4 Credit Hours)

An introduction to the field of Women’s and Gender Studies, this interdisciplinary course considers the socio-political meanings and practices of gender in our lives. It examines whether gender is biologically or socially constructed and how notions of femininity and masculinity are (re)produced. Students will analyze the workings of power and the social production of inequality in institutions such as the family, the workplace, and the state, taking into account the intersections among gender, race, class, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality. Topics will include sexual and gender violence, equal rights, reproductive technologies, body image, and transnational feminist issues. A central aim of the course is to develop critical reading and thinking about the plurality of women’s experiences and about the ways in which women have resisted inequalities and engaged in local/global politics for social transformation and change. This course fulfills the Interdivisional (I), Power and Justice (P), and Oral Communication (R) GE requirements and is required for WGST majors/minors.

Crosslisting: QS 290.

WGST 108 - Bible, Gender and Sexuality (4 Credit Hours)

This course is an introduction to the various and often conflicting ways in which gender and sexuality are represented in biblical texts as well as the range of interpretations of these texts over time. In this course, we will read ancient texts alongside contemporary theories of gender and sexuality. On the one hand, we will consider how biblical texts have been used to construct categories of "normal" and "natural" gender and sexuality and, on the other, how they might be read to undermine or subvert these frameworks. In addition to historically contextualizing ideas about gender and sexuality within biblical texts, we will also address contemporary uses of the Bible in public debates. This course fulfills the Power and Justice (P) GE requirement.

Crosslisting: REL 108/QS 108.

WGST 110 - Biology & the Politics of Women's Health (4 Credit Hours)

This course examines critical conversations in the biology, politics, culture, and history of women’s health. The nation’s greatest health issues include, but are not limited to, unmanaged chronic conditions (including cardiovascular health), environmental health risks and cancer, racial and ethnic health disparities, women's reproductive and sexual health, and the epidemic of obesity. Barriers in healthcare delivery, at healthcare system and provider levels, exist for women, trans people, and non-binary people. Evaluating the complexities of these gendered health issues involves both scientific literacy and sociocultural literacy. This course provides a fundamental understanding of how biological system structures and functions are related, specific to the female human body. The laboratory component of this course familiarizes students with the scientific method, feminist theory in science, and methods in women’s health research. This course promotes proficiency in oral communication through practice in a variety of formats that typically occur in biology and women's and gender studies. This course fulfills the I (or Y for BIOL 110), P and R GE requirements and the Sciences distribution requirement for WGST majors.

Crosslisting: BIOL 110.

WGST 150 - Introductory Topics in Women's and Gender Studies (4 Credit Hours)

This course may satisfy one of the distribution requirements for the Women's and Gender Studies major/minor.

WGST 162 - Self-Defense for Women (1 Credit Hour)

This is an empowered self-defense course that will equip participants with verbal and physical skills to defend themselves in a variety of situations. The class combines emotional, mental and physical strategies that address situations ranging from street and job harassment, dating abuse, threats and harassment, conflicts with acquaintances and sexual assault. Based on empowerment principles of choice, context, systems of abuse, intersectionality and identity, students will learn how to manage their adrenaline, respond to threat and fear, and ground themselves in times of stress with simple easy to learn techniques. These skills are practical for everyday situations.

Crosslisting: PHED 162.

WGST 180 - Special Topics in Women's and Gender Studies (4 Credit Hours)

Selected topics in Women's and Gender Studies.

WGST 199 - Introductory Topics in WGST (1-4 Credit Hours)

A general category used only in the evaluation of transfer credit.

WGST 205 - Gender and Globalization (4 Credit Hours)

The rapid integration of global markets that has taken place since the 1980s is the outcome of a common set of economic policies implemented in both developed and developing countries. This course examines the contradictory impacts of these policies on gender relations and asks: what challenges do global economic trends pose for gender equality and equity in both developed and developing countries? To answer this question, we begin with an introduction to alternative approaches to economics, focusing on the differences between neoclassical and feminist economics, and history and economic dimension of globalization. This will be followed by an exploration of the impacts of economic development policy on gender relations in the context of a globalizing world economy. Special topics will include the household as a unit of analysis; women’s unpaid labor; the gendered impacts of economic restructuring and financial crisis; the feminization of the labor force in the formal and informal sectors of the global economy; care penalty and the gendered impacts of COVID-19. The course will conclude with an evaluation of tools and strategies for achieving gender equity within the context of a sustainable, human-centered approach to economic development. This course satisfies the economics writing requirement, and the college W GE requirement, and as such the course will help to develop your writing and research skills within the economics discipline.

Prerequisite(s): ECON 101 and ECON 102.

Crosslisting: ECON 205 and INTL 250.

WGST 210 - Sex and Gender in Society (4 Credit Hours)

This course compares and evaluates a variety of theories which attempt to explain the origins, persistence and effects of gender in American society. In particular, it explores a number of settings that may include: the family, the work place, the political arena, religious activity, violence against women, and face-to-face interactional contexts. Special attention is given to the ways in which race, ethnicity, class and sexual orientation shape gender experiences. Although its primary focus is American society, the course compares problems of sexual inequality in American society with other, quite different, societies in order to gain a comparative understanding of how discrimination, prejudice, and structural inequality, wherever they are found, create special problems for women. Throughout, the focus is on learning to use structural, historical, and theoretical information as guides to understanding social change and the choices facing women and men. This course fulfills the Social Sciences distribution requirement for WGST majors.

Crosslisting: ANSO 210.

WGST 213 - Women Artists in the Movement (4 Credit Hours)

The course will analyze artworks by Latina and Latin American women artists that address power inequalities within the intersections of class, gender, and race. There will be a focus on the often-overlooked role of Latina and Latin American women artists in political, social, and cultural movements. Students will be expected to think critically about feminist theories, particularly intersectional feminism, while visually and socially analyzing various works of art made by Latina and Latin American women in both Latin America and the U.S. This course fulfills the Arts distribution requirement for WGST majors.

Crosslisting: AHVC 213, LACS 213.

WGST 217 - Photo as Gesture into Time (Past / Present / Future) (4 Credit Hours)

This is an upper level photography course that asks students to consider the photograph as a disruptive force with potential energy for re-imagining relationship to self, history, document, and time. Using a specifically BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color), feminist and queer representation of artists and theorists, students will be asked to critically engage with the issues and possibilities of non-dominant story and document. Students will be encouraged and supported to find their own empowered creative and critical voice to speak back to traditionally white hetero-patriarchal power. Students will use digital cameras (DSLR’s) to capture both still images and video. Students will further their knowledge of Lightroom, Photoshop, and learn basics of Adobe Premiere. This course fulfills the Arts distribution requirement for WGST majors.

Crosslisting: ARTS 217, QS 217.

WGST 218 - Sacred Texts and Social Justice (4 Credit Hours)

From women’s Suffrage to Black Lives Matter, biblical texts, ideas, and ideals have played a significant role in movements and struggles for equity and justice in the United States. In this course, we will consider the role that sacred texts play in movements for social change, analyze how ideas about the Bible— and the Bible as an idea— are invoked in public discourse, and evaluate the rhetorical and interpretive moves by which the same sets of texts could be invoked to maintain the status quo or transform relations of power. This course will discuss historical movements for social change in the United States, but will focus primarily on movements for anti-racism and reproductive justice in the 21st century.

WGST 220 - Women in Music (4 Credit Hours)

Historically, women have played an integral role in musical traditions around the world, although the extent of their contributions has only recently been recognized and studied in an academic context. This course traces the development and current state of women's roles in music, including Western art music composers, performers, critics, and teachers: performers of popular American genres such as jazz, country, and rock; and performers of popular "World Beat" and traditional world musics. This course fulfills the Arts distribution requirement for WGST majors.

Crosslisting: MUS 220, MUS 230.

WGST 223 - Women in United States History (4 Credit Hours)

This course surveys the history of women in the United States from 1848 to the present. We will explore the lived experiences of many different kinds of women and analyze the ways in which other categories of identity -- race, ethnicity, nationality, class, sexual orientation, age, etc. -- affect those experiences. We will also explore the development of feminist consciousness among U.S. women, and analyze attempts to expand that consciousness both nationally and globally. This course fulfills the Humanities distribution requirement for WGST majors.

Crosslisting: HIST 192.

WGST 225 - Women in Literature (4 Credit Hours)

Selected poetry and prose by women guide inquiries into writing and gender and into related issues, such as sexuality, history, race, class, identity and power. This course fulfills the Humanities distribution requirement for WGST majors.

Crosslisting: ENGL 225.

WGST 227 - Women's Spiritual Activism (4 Credit Hours)

What is women's spiritual activism in our contemporary society? What can we learn from those who have struggled to bring gender equality and peace in human society? Is religion anti-feminist or feminism anti-religious? In spite of cultural, racial and religious diversity among women across the globe, women often share the similar stories of physical and psychological suffering caused by their institutionalized religions and societies. Many of these women also testify that their religions enabled them to resist injustice and to build up solidarity with others including men. This course invites the students to explore the spiritual journeys of the feminist activists--their struggles for justice for all humanity. This course fulfills the Humanities and Transnational Feminism distribution requirements for WGST majors/minors.

Crosslisting: REL 227.

WGST 229 - Mediating Gender and Sexuality (4 Credit Hours)

In this class we will critically examine and evaluate the cultural construction and representation of gender and sexuality from an intersectional, transnational perspective.We will focus on a variety of media texts, platforms, and technologies. Although gender is the primary identity construction examined in this course, we will also pay close attention to how sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, and geography interlock.Drawing from a broad range of academic literature, including critical/cultural studies, transnational feminism, and media studies, we will shift our focus from stable categories of identity to how gender and sexuality are produced through and around media. This course fulfills the Social Sciences distribution requirement for WGST majors.

Crosslisting: COMM 229, QS 229.

WGST 250 - Intermediate Topics in Women's and Gender Studies (4 Credit Hours)

This course may satisfy one of the distribution requirements for the Women’s and Gender Studies major/minor.

WGST 251 - Intermediate Topics Seminar (Humanities) (4 Credit Hours)

This topics seminar is cross-listed with a course in the Humanities and satisfies the Humanities distribution requirement for the Women's and Gender Studies major.

WGST 252 - Intermediate Topics Seminar (Arts) (4 Credit Hours)

This topics seminar is cross-listed with a course in the Arts and satisfies the Arts distribution requirement for the Women's and Gender Studies major.

WGST 253 - Intermediate Topics Seminar (Social Sciences) (4 Credit Hours)

This topics seminar is cross-listed with a course in the Social Sciences and satisfies the Social Sciences distribution requirement for the Women's and Gender Studies major.

WGST 254 - Intermediate Topics Seminar (Sciences) (4 Credit Hours)

This topics seminar is cross-listed with a course in the Sciences and satisfies the Sciences distribution requirement for the Women's and Gender Studies major.

WGST 265 - Black Women and Organizational Leadership (4 Credit Hours)

This class explores Black women's leadership orientations in organizations. Afrocentric and womanist frameworks are used to inquire about Black women's leadership in the context of their lives. In this course we explore and theorize Black women's use of communal and generative leadership orientations as well as their application of a multiple and oppositional consciousness. Organizational dilemmas stemming from their race, class, and gender, as well as the unique challenges Black women leaders face in creating a supportive life structure are examined. Students will critique the omission of Black women's leadership styles in the mainstream theories about leadership, as well as explore the implications of Black women's leadership for expanding mainstream theory. This course fulfills the Women of Color in the U.S. distribution requirements for the WGST major and the BLST (Black Studies) cross-listed course requirement for WGST majors/minors.

Crosslisting: BLST 265.

WGST 274 - Cultural Studies (4 Credit Hours)

This course frames Western concert dance as a complex political activity made public through various agendas of race, creed, national origin, sexuality, and gender. Students may simultaneously be exposed to poststructuralist epistemology, feminist theory, and power & justice ideology while they are meeting a survey of historical works. In this way, the course is less about coming to know a canon of "masterworks" and more about learning how to interrogate dance in many cultures from multiple perspectives. Students will be expected to engage in movement activities as a method toward an embodied understanding of theory, but will not be evaluated on their movement performance or ability. No dance experience necessary. This course fulfills the I and P GE requirements and the Arts distribution requirement for WGST majors. Crosslisting: May cross-list with DANC 274.

WGST 275 - Philosophy of Feminism (4 Credit Hours)

Feminism and philosophy both make the invisible visible, the implicit explicit. Both make us aware of assumptions we make in our everyday lives and challenge us to justify them. This course examines ways in which feminist theory enriches philosophy and vice versa. How does feminism destabilize philosophy and affect philosophical conceptions of knowledge, metaphysics, agency, or morality? How does philosophy enrich feminist understandings of oppression, privilege, or equality? We will consider a range of forms of oppression and privilege, particularly as they affect women. We will consider philosophical conceptions of sex, gender, and race. How do they shape people’s understanding of themselves and the world? What kinds of agency do they foster and what kinds of agency do they inhibit? How does resistance to oppression and privilege lead to social change? Are knowledge and reality themselves gendered and, if so, in what sense? We will examine these issues in the context of debates about gender violence, work and family, as well as feminist ethics and epistemologies. This course fulfills the I, P, and W GE requirements and the Humanities distribution requirement for WGST majors.

Prerequisite(s): One previous course in Philosophy or Women's and Gender Studies, or consent.

Crosslisting: PHIL 275, QS 275.

WGST 276 - Gender, War and Conflict (4 Credit Hours)

This course aims to make feminist sense of contemporary wars and conflicts. It analyzes the intersections between gender, race, class, and ethnicity in national conflicts. The class traces the gendered processes of defining citizenship, national identity and security, and examines the role of institutions like the military in the construction of femininity and masculinity. The course focuses on the gendered impact of war and conflict through examining torture, mass rape, genocide, and refugee displacement. It analyzes the strategies used by women's and feminist movements, to oppose war and conflict, and the gendered impact of war prevention, peacekeeping, and post-war reconstruction. The class draws on cases from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa. The class is interdisciplinary and gives equal weight to theory and practice while drawing on writings by local and global activists and theorists. This course fulfills the Social Sciences and Transnational Feminism distribution requirements for WGST majors/minors.

Prerequisite(s): INTL 100 or WGST 101.

Crosslisting: INTL 250.

WGST 280 - Ecofeminist-Ecowomanist Theory & Practice (4 Credit Hours)

This course introduces the conceptual frameworks of ecofeminism and ecowomanism, exploring how environmental issues impact vulnerable communities and in particular, women of color. It uses an intersectional race-gender-class approach to help students analyze ecofeminist and ecowomanist principles around views of nature, spirituality, human and non-human relations, capitalism, indigeneity and ongoing colonization, globalization, and various forms of activism. Students will work toward understanding both ecofeminist and ecowomanist theoretical frameworks and their application in their own lives. This is a special topics course crosslisted with SES 280 and BLST 280.

WGST 281 - Latinx Women Rewriting the US (4 Credit Hours)

20th Century Literature "Latinx Women Rewriting the U.S." This course is designed as an introduction to the writings of Latinos/as with an emphasis on women’s positionality within the United States and their rewriting of history. We will explore literature through the tensions of assimilation and cultural preservation. Participants of this course will examine texts that handle the concept of 'home' from different perspectives. Topics to be discussed include identity politics and its negotiation in the diaspora in terms of language, race, gender, sexuality, class, and religion. We will survey issues such as the construction of “ethnic” and “national” identities, including hybrid or multiple identities. Through this approach, participants will become familiar with a different enclave’s historical "push" and "pull" factors as well as their identity negotiation strategies. This is a special topics course crosslisted with ENGL 250 and LACS 300.

WGST 282 - K-Pop, Hip-Hop, and R&B: Black, Asian, and American Cultural Interactions (4 Credit Hours)

This course explores the differences, diffusions, appropriations, adaptations, and fusion of African American and Asian American cultures through the musical genres of R&B, Hip-hop, and K-pop. K-pop, Hip-hop, and R&B are three distinct genres of music that have different origins and characteristics but have influenced each other over time. For instance, it is clear how African American hip-hop artists have influenced Korean artists such as Seotaeji and the Boys, Tiger JK, as well as Psy. Meanwhile, African American hip-hop artists, including the Wu-Tang Clan, RZA, and Nicki Minaj, have also showcased Asian-inspired aesthetics in their music. How did these cultural connections occur and what impact do they have on the national and international scale? What do these genres reveal about racial and gender identity formation in America and Asia? Students will explore the intricate interactions between Black, Asian, and Asian American populations from a transnational perspective to contemplate how globalization through music impacts the development of culture in America and Asia. This is a special topics course crosslisted with EAST and BLST 282.

WGST 283 - Taiwanese Women's World: The Voices of Taiwanese Women in Literature, Film, and Politics (4 Credit Hours)

In this course, we will study Taiwan’s position not just in East Asia but with the United States and other parts of the world through the voices of Taiwanese women. Most histories of Taiwan focus on the male perspective, but what about the female perspective? How does the history and culture of Taiwan differ if we study it through the lens of those who tend not to control the writing of a nation’s narrative? Through literature, diaries, travel memoirs, films, and political speeches created by famous and not-so-famous Taiwanese women, we will consider what it means to be “Taiwanese” not just vis-à-vis the People’s Republic of China or the legacy of being a colony of Japan, but vis-à-vis the world and through a point of view that often gets overlooked – that of the woman. The course is a special topics course taught in English and crosslisted with CHIN 345, EAST 283, and INTL 250.

WGST 284 - Mysticism and Metaphysics (4 Credit Hours)

This is a special topics course crosslisted with PHIL 293.

WGST 285 - Music, Society & Identity (4 Credit Hours)

This is a special topics course crosslisted with MUS 250.

WGST 286 - When AI Meets Feminism (4 Credit Hours)

Can AI (artificial intelligence) be feminist? The recent explosion in data, algorithms, and AI systems pushes the boundaries of technology in human society, but often exacerbates existing inequalities and generates social harms. This course, which bridges together students from Data Analytics (DA) and Women’s and Gender Studies (WGST), will explore why feminist AI is needed and how it is possible. We will engage with intersectional feminist scholarship to identify the unequal power structures within AI systems, ranging from facial recognition technologies and decision-making algorithms to the recent generative AI tools. We will also apply feminist insights to develop actionable strategies for designing more equitable and inclusive AI technologies. Over the course of the semester, students will learn and practice data analytics and visualization skills, by applying feminist principles discussed in the class to real-world examples. Students will also form interdisciplinary groups to complete a final research project tackling AI and social justice, which allows them to apply their unique expertise. For course materials and assignments, we will use the programming language Python and the Jupyter platform. DA students should have some familiarity with Python. No prior coding experience is required for WGST students, but an openness to engage with technical tools is essential. This is a special topics course crosslisted with DA 245.

WGST 287 - Menstruation Studies (4 Credit Hours)

This course examines “menstruation” from social, cultural, and biological perspectives. “Menstrual equity,” or “period justice,” has gained steam as a growing movement across the globe. Communities of legal advocates, students, health practitioners, and international human rights monitors--all work to promote “menstrual health” as integral in advancing human rights, and global health, and as central to achieving gender equity, particularly in educational and workplace settings for adolescent girls, women, trans men, and non-binary people. This course explores these issues. Additionally, not only do menstrual health proponents work towards eliminating stigma and ensuring access to products and safe spaces, but they also dispel misinformation and promote accurate biological knowledge. As such, scientific literacy is fundamental in menstruation studies. Students in this course also learn biological understandings of menstruation as a “natural” bodily process--one that occurs in humans and certain other mammals. What kinds of questions do biologists ask about menstruation? What animal models are used, and in what ways do such models serve as representation and “kin”? How do biologists use the scientific method to go about answering such questions? How do “biology” and “culture” mutually inform our understanding of menstruation? This interdisciplinary course covers a range of topics including menstrual activism across communities and geographical locations; lived experiences with menstruation and menopause as shaped by social differences, institutions, and cultural settings; anatomy and physiology of menstruation and related biological processes in humans and other animals; evolutionary perspectives on menstruation in mammals; medicalized stigmas associated with menstruating women; cultural logic of blood and other bodily substances as “truth”-telling; and feminist theories in science. This is a special topics course crosslisted with BIOL 105.

WGST 292 - History of Reproductive Justice in the United States (4 Credit Hours)

This course explores the history of what has come to be known as reproductive justice—the efforts of women and other people who can become pregnant to control their own reproductive lives, to choose whether and when to have children, and to ensure that they can bear and raise children in safe and healthy ways. We will survey this history from the colonial era to the present, with a particular eye toward how hierarchies of power based on race, gender, and other categories of identity have shaped women’s experiences. We will examine how women’s reproductive autonomy was circumscribed in the past by enslavement, eugenic ideologies, forced sterilization programs, and other practices, as well as how it has been affected more recently by factors like anti-choice campaigns and Supreme Court decisions. We will also learn, however, about women’s knowledge of the functioning of their own bodies, about how they have maintained some degree of autonomy over their bodies even under oppressive circumstances, and about how people have collectively struggled to ensure that everyone can determine the course of their own reproductive lives.

Prerequisite(s): None.

Crosslisting: HIST 292.

WGST 299 - Intermediate Topics in Women's and Gender Studies (1-4 Credit Hours)

A general category used only in the evaluation of transfer credit.

WGST 302 - Women and the Arts (4 Credit Hours)

This topics course considers works created by artists who self-identify as "female." The course will include engaging in, looking at, and reading about art making, focusing on historical examples and on the art of everyday life. Questions about creativity, expectations, limitations, releasing into the unknown will be considered alongside socio-cultural environments, surveillance, and judgment about who can and who cannot easily identify, and be read, as art makers in various cultures. This course fulfills Arts distribution requirement for WGST majors.

WGST 305 - Ethics of Sex and Love: Moral Discourses on Religion, Gender, and Sexuality (4 Credit Hours)

What does religion have to do with intimate love between two adults? Does the Christian Bible teach that homosexual relations are wrong? Does Islam encourage men to discipline their wives physically and emotionally? Is abortion wrong? Why does the state try to regulate sexual behaviors in society? Who has the right to exercise socially acceptable sexuality and express gender? Why is gender-based sexual violence persistent? How is the social perception of sexual promiscuity associated with race? Based on the hypothesis that gender and sexuality are the signifiers of power relations, this course explores morally complex and tough questions concerning human sexuality, intersecting with race, class, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and secular politics. Students will interrogate how religion and state power have historically shaped the dominant understanding of sexual morality, masculinity, and femininity. Taking religion as analytical tools, the course will examine social issues such as same-sex relations, marriage, reproductive justice, domestic violence, and militarized sexual violence. By reading queer scholars of color’s challenges of the mainstream discourse on sex, students will learn how to queer sexual ethics shaped by religion and society and to map out their sexual ethics in light of love and justice.

Crosslisting: REL 305, QS 305.

WGST 306 - Transnational Feminism (4 Credit Hours)

This class provides students with the ability to understand, critique, and comparatively analyze the politics of gender in transnational contexts. The course traces the development of feminist thinking and practice within national, regional and transnational contexts, and maps the political agendas of women's and feminist movements in various countries around the world. The course focuses on how feminism emerges in a particular context and the specific issues that galvanize women to act for change. The course explores the connections between feminism, colonization, nationalism, militarization, imperialism, and globalization, and analyzes the processes by which the agendas of women from the global north and south come together or clash. The course examines through specific examples from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa the concerns and challenges facing transnational women's and feminist movements today. The class is interdisciplinary and draws on writings by local and global activists and theorists. This course fulfills the I GE requirement and the Social Sciences andTransnational Feminism distribution requirements for WGST majors/minors.

Prerequisite(s): WGST 101 or permission of instructor.

WGST 310 - Feminist Research Methods (4 Credit Hours)

This course examines both scientific methods and social analysis based on empirical research and the interpretive strategies that have developed out of the humanities for understanding societies. It provides experience in the design and implementation of social and cultural research with a focus on women's studies. The course will examine the epistemological issues that underlie research in women's and gender studies, the ethical and political questions involved, and the assumptions that shape various methods. Students will apply the methods learned to their own research projects. This.

WGST 311 - Feminist Theory (4 Credit Hours)

This course examines various ways of understanding gender by looking at a variety of feminist theories. Theories studied may include psychoanalytic, feminist theory, cultural materialist feminist theory, etc. Particular consideration will be given to issues raised by multiculturalism, women of color, womanist perspectives, queer theory, class concerns, international and transnational movements. The course will introduce students to a variety of theories to enable them both to recognize and use those theories in their research and social practice. Students will be encouraged to become reflective about their own theoretical stances and to consider how societies can move closer to justice for both women and men. This course is required for WGST majors/minors.

Prerequisite(s): WGST 101.

WGST 321 - Ethics of Peace and War (4 Credit Hours)

War is one of the most important “ethical” issues in our time. Peace is a forced option when humanity faces the horrendous evil of violence. What roles does religion play in making war and making peace? Can we imagine peace independent from war? How do war, militarism, and even the peacemaking process affect people differently, according to their social identities constructed upon race, gender, class, religion, and dis/abilities? This course encourages students to take war and militarism into seriously ethical consideration and to contemplate justice, peace, and security through the lens of religion intersected with race, gender, and class. By critically analyzing the issues, theories, and practices of war and peacemaking, students will be prepared to be autonomous thinkers and responsible global citizens who can discern how to make peace in a violent world and how to heal the world broken by war and violence. This course fulfills the Humanities and Transnational Feminism distribution requirements for WGST majors/minors.

Crosslisting: REL 302.

WGST 325 - African-American Women's Literature (4 Credit Hours)

Historical and contemporary African-American women's literature grounds an inquiry into black women's literary and intellectual traditions within the matrix of race, gender, class and sexual relations in the United States. This course fulfills the Humanities and Women of Color in the U.S distribution requirements for WGST majors and the Black Studies (BLST) cross-listed course requirement for WGST majors/minors.

Crosslisting: BLST 325, ENGL 325.

WGST 327 - Women and Social Ethics in the Global Context (4 Credit Hours)

The personal is internationally political!" Whether we are aware or not, we live in the globalized world and our actions here and now affect the lives of millions of people whom we may never meet face to face. Through the religious concept of "interdependence" with the secular understanding of "women's rights as human rights," this course will analyze and explore globalized issues of poverty, war, sex-trafficking, migration, reproductive rights, and religious conflict as well as ethically consider how diverse social groups are interconnected to each other beyond national and religious boundaries; and how we study, analyze, and practice transnational feminist activism for all humanity. This course fulfills the Humanities and Transnational Feminism distribution requirements for WGST majors/minors.

Crosslisting: REL 327.

WGST 328 - Buddhism, Gender, & Sexuality (4 Credit Hours)

Historian Joan Wallach Scott once warned that scholars could not simply insert gender into their research as though adding a new room on a house already built; they would have to begin again from the bottom. Considering gender as a cultured way of being in, understanding, and interacting with the world within which we are situated, this seminar queries the conceptualization of gender and sexuality in Buddhism and Buddhist communities across space and time, with particular emphasis on those located in Asia. What does it mean to be a woman, a man, someone of the third sex, or none of the above? What are the Buddhist idea(l)s about femininity, masculinity, and personhood? How do these idea(l)s change with translation and transmission? We will explore together the theories and practices of gender and sexuality proposed by Buddhist communities from its beginnings to the present day. Buddhism’s major conversation partners throughout history – Hinduism, Confucianism, and Daoism – will also be brought into discussion. Previous knowledge of Buddhism is preferred but not required..

Prerequisite(s): No first-year students or by instructor consent.

Crosslisting: REL 328, QS 328.

WGST 340 - In the Company of Educated Women (4 Credit Hours)

This is a course on women’s educational history in the United States. The scope encompasses some general patterns in women’s educational experiences—as students, teachers, school administrators, and in higher education at particular points in U.S. history. Examining gender issues in historical context allows us to get a handle on how education, ideology, and political economy influence the contours of societies, and limit or extend possibilities for individuals. This course fulfills the Social Sciences.

WGST 350 - Advanced Topics in Women's and Gender Studies (4 Credit Hours)

This course may satisfy one of the distribution requirements within Women’s and Gender Studies major/minor/minor, as appropriate.

Prerequisite(s): WGST 101.

WGST 351 - Advanced Topics Seminar (Humanities) (4 Credit Hours)

This topics seminar is cross-listed with a course in the Humanities and satisfies the Humanities distribution requirement for the Women's and Gender Studies major. Prerequisites are determined by topic.

WGST 352 - Advanced Topics Seminar (Arts) (4 Credit Hours)

This topics seminar is cross-listed with a course in the Arts and satisfies the Arts distribution requirement for the Women's and Gender Studies major. For semester- and section-specific prerequisites, please consult the Schedule of Classes.

Prerequisite(s): Prerequisites are determined by topic.

WGST 353 - Advanced Topics Seminar (Social Sciences) (4 Credit Hours)

This topics seminar is cross-listed with a course in Social Sciences and satisfies the Social sciences distribution requirement for the Women's and Gender Studies major. For semester- and section-specific prerequisites, please consult the Schedule of Classes available online.

Prerequisite(s): Prerequisites are determined by topic.

WGST 354 - Advanced Topics Seminar (Sciences) (4 Credit Hours)

This topics seminar is cross-listed with a course in the Sciences and satisfies the sciences distribution requirement for the Women's and Gender Studies major. For semester- and section-specific prerequisites, please consult the Schedule of Classes available online.

Prerequisite(s): Prerequisites are determined by topic.

WGST 358 - Afrofuturism (4 Credit Hours)

This course focuses on the movement, genre, and aesthetic known as Afrofuturism and related concepts such as Africanfuturism and Astro-Blackness. Students will read a selection of critical essays and literature that represent or engage with these concepts and explore media such as film and music. Here are some key questions that the course will try to answer: What is Afrofuturism? When and where did it begin? Is it a national or global phenomenon? What are some of the messages “encoded” in Afrofuturism when it comes to Blackness? How does this genre engage with not only race but class, gender, sexuality, age, and so on.

Crosslisting: ENGL 358 and BLST 358.

WGST 361 - Directed Study (1-4 Credit Hours)

WGST 362 - Directed Study (1-4 Credit Hours)

WGST 363 - Independent Study (1-4 Credit Hours)

WGST 364 - Independent Study (1-4 Credit Hours)

WGST 381 - Black Feminist Thought (4 Credit Hours)

This course offers an in-depth exploration of the key ideas, theories, and activism within Black feminist thought, focusing on the unique experiences of Black women at the intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality, geography, and other dimensions of identity. Students will critically engage with the works of prominent Black feminist scholars and activists, including bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Patricia Hill Collins explore how Black feminism has challenged both mainstream feminist and civil rights movements. The course examines the development of Black feminist theory and its role in shaping contemporary discussions on identity, power, and social justice. We will explore foundational concepts such as intersectionality and standpoint epistemology and employ a Black feminist hermeneutic to social movements including, but not limited to, prison abolition, environmental justice, and Black Lives Matter reproductive justice. Additionally, we will analyze Black women’s cultural representations and resistance to systemic oppression, while also considering the global impact of Black feminist activism. By the end of the course, students will gain a deeper appreciation for the contributions of Black feminists to historical, contemporary, and future movements for social change. This is a special topics course crosslisted with BLST 380.

WGST 383 - Sex and Sexuality in Latin America (4 Credit Hours)

This course critically examines gender and sexuality in Latin America. Particularly it will explore the various attempts by the ruling elite to define acceptable and deviant gender roles and sexual identities, how the non-elite resisted the imposition of those elite notions of propriety to create their own codes of conduct, and how those conflicts have changed over time. This course fulfills the Humanities distribution requirement for WGST majors.

Crosslisting: HIST 243.

WGST 391 - Critical Pedagogies: Gender, Race and Class in U.S. Education (4 Credit Hours)

In its examination of current pressing issues in U.S. education, the central concern throughout this course is the relationship between teachers and students; schools and society; and people and the world. Particular attention is given to pedagogies informed by critical theory. The course includes a 25-30-hour service-learning commitment in an area school or community organization. The course is a Curricular Service Learning course. This course fulfills the Social Sciences and Women of Color in the U.S. distribution requirements for WGST majors and the Black Studies (BLST) cross-listed course requirement for WGST majors/minors. Crosslisted with EDUC 390 and BLST 372 Prerequisite: EDUC 213.

WGST 396 - Women, Sex, and Power in the Modern World. (4 Credit Hours)

This course focuses on histories of women around the world since the eighteenth century in order to examine the various ways in which women have struggled first to claim and then to maintain power over their bodies and experiences. The course analyzes sources that speak to women's efforts to assert political, economic, cultural, and personal power in society and in their own lives. Topics include a study of the development of organized women's movements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and an examination of the extent to which women have been successful in building coalitions to achieve power. The course also examines the role of other categories of identity in these struggles for power, including race, class, nationality, sexual orientation, and religion. This course fulfills the Humanities distribution requirement for WGST majors.

Crosslisting: HIST 266.

WGST 399 - Advanced Topics in Women's and Gender Studies (1-4 Credit Hours)

A general category used only in the evaluation of transfer credit.

WGST 416 - Women in the U.S. Economy. (4 Credit Hours)

This course will focus on the market and nonmarket contributions of women to the U.S. economy. A historical framework provides the backdrop for examining the economic, political and social institutions that affect women's contributions to the nation's economic well-being. This course fulfills the Social Sciences distribution requirement for WGST majors.

Prerequisite(s): ECON 301.

Crosslisting: ECON 416.

WGST 451 - Senior Research (4 Credit Hours)

WGST 452 - Senior Research (4 Credit Hours)