2002 - 2003 Gender Studies Courses

Establishes a conceptual foundation for the GNDR minor by providing students with a broad-based understanding and analysis of gender and gender studies. Addresses issues relating to race, sexual orientation, class, multiculturalism, and men's and women's studies. (This class is a strongly suggested prerequisite for all other GNDR courses.)

Presents a number of special topics allowing students to explore a wide range of issues relevant to gender studies. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100. See list below for sample courses.

Sample GNDR 300 Courses
Courses offered as GNDR 300 will vary from year to year. The following is a list of sample courses that indicate the kinds of courses that may be offered as GNDR 300.

Although they were written out of the canon in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, female artists have contributed significantly to various schools and art movements through their work, their personal relationships and the students they influenced. Recent scholarship has revealed the lives, times, and works of women in arts, and has questioned the methods by which great art is measured, creating a significantly wider range of study for the student of art history than can be covered in the traditional course of study. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

This class will explore representations of race, class, and gender in a range of communication mediums (including verbal and visual communication). The purposes of the course will be to (1) address the question "How are issues of race, class, and gender 'played out' in various kinds of communication?" and (2) to help students develop a more critical and socially responsible perspective when examining and/or producing a range of communication pieces. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

Critically examines the representations of sexuality, gender, race, and class in the media. Focuses on understanding and exploring the implications of these representations for individuals and society. May entail an historical approach to this topic. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

This course focuses on the analysis of Victorian and Edwardian novels in terms of how they interrogate the sexual mores and practices of their respective eras. We will discuss the complex interrelationship of discourse, power, and sexuality in the diverse cultures that these texts represent, using the critical lenses of feminist theories, queer theory, and Lacanian psychoanalysis. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

The term "queer" is embraced by those who consider themselves to be outside the dominant culture and who resist pigeonholing. Literary theory questions social constructions such as "gay"/"straight," "black"/"white," "male"/"female," "true"/"false." This course integrates reading of theorists with reading of fiction, poetry, and autobiography as well as some contemporary films. The course also interrogates genre categories (for instance, Lorde's "biomythography") and the distinction between "high" (literary) and "low" (popular) art. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

This course attempts to give the student critical insight into some of the special situations encountered by women who write fiction, and a critical awareness of how women in fiction reflect women's rolls in the middle-class social system, past and present. The course will explore aspects of feminist criticism and give the student of serious literature some insights that differ from traditional views. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

Books by American, Canadian, and Australian writers address various contemporary issues with a variety of viewpoints. Writers such as Margaret Atwood, who considers relationships between women; Tina McElroy Ansa and Gloria Naylor, who write about the black female experience; and Tom Robbins, who considers female archetypal patterns, enable educated readers to gain insights into the strength and variety of balanced fictional treatments. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

Explores how female authors of the Middle Ages represent their own sex. Students read a variety of texts in translation by medieval women-women who lived in various parts of Western Europe, but nevertheless documented similar experiences. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

An overview of the economic, social, and political roles women have played in American history, from the colonial period to today. Investigates women's work in the household and market economies, women and the family, and women's legal and civil rights and liabilities across time. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

Introduces students to the writing, work, and importance of some women in mathematics, science, and philosophy, from ancient Greeks through more recent times. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

Explores health promotion and wellness for men and women in the context of holism and complementary alternative health care strategies. This course describes the use of complementary medicine and healing strategies to accomplish physical-mental-spiritual health and wellness for men and women. Traditional Chinese medicine, Chi-Kong, energy healing, meditation, herbal remedies, spiritual approaches, nutrition and other complementary modalities will be introduced and practiced. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

Examines the basic concerns and theories of feminist ethics within the context of traditional masculine-oriented western ethical theory. May include a study of the conceptual and moral relationship between feminist ethics and issues such as justice, social policy, or the parallel development of recently proposed environmental ethical theories. May also focus on ethical issues raised by new sciences and technologies, and historical accounts of women's ethical/moral values. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100 and/or PHIL 100.

Examines recent Jewish and Christian feminists; critical analyses of traditional models for understanding the relationship of God and "man"/humans. Includes an evaluation of the role that newly constructed Jewish and Christian feminist theologies may play in the development of a truly pluralist conception of religious truth as the way to salvation. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

Examines feminist critiques of knowledge and knowledge seeking. Focusing on critiques of traditional notions of objectivity, the scientific method, and the nature of knowledge, students explore how and why aspects of race, sex, and ethnicity are relevant to knowledge seeking. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

Students explore issues of maleness and femaleness. Emphasis is placed on identifying and evaluating value systems relating to sexuality. The impact of cultural definitions on individual behavior is also examined. Attention is directed toward societal ramifications of shifting roles with the intention of evaluating new alternatives open to men and women. A final emphasis is placed on understanding sexual functioning and different means of sexual expression. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

Looks at the developmental significance of the mother-son relationship. From the assigned readings, features speakers and films, selected novel, and classroom discussion, students will explore the mother-son relationship (and vice-versa) throughout the lifespan. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

An overview of major theories of women's development, applications of feminist theory, gender-related research, and women's health issues across the life span. Psychological issues important to women during childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age, such as gender role acquisition, pay inequities in the work force, adjustment to menopause, and violence against women, are discussed. Focus is given to research on women in relation to diverse socioeconomic classes, ethnic backgrounds and culture. Prerequisite: PSYC 105 or SOC 105. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

Examines the socio-cultural construction of gender in the United States with some cross-cultural comparisons. It makes generalizations about the different experiences of women and men in this society. It also looks at class, religious, and ethnic differences within the two genders. They are then compared with those from other societies and how they are related to the wider culture. Suggested prerequisite: GNDR 100.

Serves as the capstone course for the GNDR minor. Students undertake self-directed project or thesis that integrates concepts learned in gender studies courses with those learned in the student's major area of study. Project completed with a supervisory committee of two (at least one must be a gender studies faculty member). Prerequisite: completion of 20 hours of
GNDR courses including GNDR 100.

Note: Students whose major requires a senior project or thesis will not be expected to complete a second project or thesis. One thesis or project can count for both a major requirement and a gender studies requirement if students (1) select topics relevant to both gender studies and their majors and (2) work with a faculty advisor who teaches gender studies courses.