Skip to main content

Currently Offered Courses

Currently Offered Courses - Spring 2024

GWS 100 - Intro Gender & Women's Studies

Interdisciplinary introduction to the study of gender, women, and sexuality. Addresses issues such as social experience, representation and popular culture, femininities and masculinities, family structure, education, employment, economics, literature and the arts, religion, history, and technology. Explores interrelationships of race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, ability, and age from a transnational perspective. Same as HDFS 140 and SOC 130.

GWS 199 - Undergraduate Open Seminar

Approved for letter and S/U grading. May be repeated.

GWS 201 - Race, Gender & Power

Presents multiple windows into perceptions and perspectives upon gender, sexuality, power, identity and culture, and their multiple intersections. The concept of race in its many manifestations is used to examine relationships of self to society, state institutions and cultures. By paying greater attention to race and power, nuanced understandings of the way the gender systems are maintained, patrolled and formed will be examined. Topics may include: film, media, technology, culture, religion, identities, sexualities. Same as SOC 201.

GWS 202 - Sexualities

Surveys sexualities from multiple perspectives, standpoints, disciplines, and theories. How have different cultures, different people, and different viewpoints understood, shaped, and interpreted sex, sexualities and genders? Course places the concept of sexuality at its core to examine citizenship, education, reproduction, science, tourism, urban/rural space, and politics. Topics may include: gender, race, identities, power, transformation, reproduction. Same as SOC 202.

GWS 218 - Intro to Social Issues Theatre

Same as THEA 218. See THEA 218.

GWS 235 - Race and the Politics of Reproduction

Same as LLS 235. See LLS 235.

GWS 255 - Queer Lives, Queer Politics

Investigates queer lives in relation to dominant ideas about "deviance" and "equal rights." Drawing on case studies, the course investigates questions related to nation, race, economy, bodies, drugs, health, identities, agency and action as they intersect with contemporary queer politics. Students will learn conceptual and qualitative methods to investigate issues related to queer lives. Same as SOC 255.

GWS 263 - History of Medicine in the United States

Same as HIST 263. See HIST 263.

GWS 275 - The Politics of Fashion

Clothing is a medium for fashioning identities from commodities, and it is hardly surprising that political and social tensions are embodied in its fabrications. The politics of dress indicates inseparable links between cultures, aesthetics, and politics, as demonstrated in debates about Muslim practices of veiling, the role of clothing in colonialism’s "civilizing" mission, immigrant and "third world" sweatshop labor, fashion policing and subcultural style, and the fashion and modeling industries. Clearly manifest throughout these politics is the role of gender, race, nation, and sexuality, as relations of power and as critical factors for social life and creative imagination. This course requires weekly written reflections on the required readings; a written midterm; and a final project, which can be either a research paper or a creative project. The course also requires in-class participation (which will include pop quizzes, group discussion, and other exercises) and one individual or group presentation. The course thus provides students an opportunity to develop their critical skills in both oral and written form. Same as AAS 275.

GWS 281 - Women in the Literary Imagination

Same as ENGL 281. See ENGL 281.

GWS 285 - US Gender History to 1877

Same as HIST 285. See HIST 285.

GWS 305 - Theories of Race, Gender, and Sexuality

Same as AAS 300 and LLS 305. See AAS 300.

GWS 335 - Film, TV, and Gender

Examines the history and theory of film, television, and their interrelationship through one or more specific case studies. Topics may include: film and feminist movements; girl films; queer TV; gender, sport and TV. Focuses attention on gender and related issues such as race, ethnicity, sexuality, age, ability and disability, class, and nationality. Addresses issues of representation, narrative, genre, industry, audience, exhibition, media convergence, new and mobile media, and social space. Same as MACS 335.

GWS 350 - Feminist & Gender Theory

Interdisciplinary survey of feminist and gender theory. Traces developments in feminist theory and LGBT/Q approaches and explores contemporary debates.

GWS 356 - Sex & Gender in Popular Media

Same as MACS 356. See MACS 356.

GWS 357 - Literatures of the Displaced

Same as AAS 357, AIS 357, ENGL 357, and LLS 357. See LLS 357.

GWS 361 - Gender and Women in East Asia

Same as EALC 361. See EALC 361.

GWS 380 - Black Women Hist & Cultures

Interdisciplinary study of black women's multiple histories and varied cultures including black women from North America, Africa, and the Caribbean. Same as AFRO 380. Prerequisite: AFRO 100 or GWS 100 or GWS 250 or consent of instructor.

GWS 390 - Individual Study

Special topics not treated in regularly scheduled classes. Approved for letter and S/U grading. May be repeated to a maximum of 6 hours if topics vary. Prerequisite: One course in Gender and Women's Studies; consent of instructor.

GWS 392 - Chicanas&Latinas: Self&Society

Same as LLS 392 and SOC 392. See LLS 392.

GWS 399 - GWS Internship

Directed internship experience for GWS students. Students will complete course requirements in addition to holding a semester long internship. Students must have consent of the Internship Coordinator. Approved for Letter and S/U grading. Prerequisite: GWS major or minor; junior or senior standing and completion of six hours of coursework in GWS, or consent of the instructor.

GWS 409 - Women's Health

Same as CHLH 409. See CHLH 409.

GWS 416 - Latinx Feminisms

Examines historical and contemporary Latinx feminist thinking in its complex and uneven genealogies. Considers the multiplicity of Latinx identities and their complex relationship to Latinidad by attending to transnational issues of anti-Blackness; anti-Indigeneity; gender-based violence and femicides; colonization, colonialism, and coloniality; and feminist and LGBTQ struggles for liberation. Same as LLS 416. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: At least one previous course in either GWS or LLS, or consent of instructor.

GWS 417 - Leading Post-Perform Dialog

Same as THEA 417. See THEA 417.

GWS 418 - Devising Social Issues Theatre

Same as THEA 418. See THEA 418.

GWS 432 - Gender Communication

Same as CMN 432. See CMN 432.

GWS 442 - Body, Culture & Society

Same as KIN 442. See KIN 442.

GWS 454 - Social Work with Women

Same as SOCW 455. See SOCW 455.

GWS 465 - Race, Sex, and Deviance

Same as AAS 465, AFRO 465, and LLS 465. See LLS 465.

GWS 467 - Locating Queer Culture

Our goal is to learn different methods for researching "queer culture," with a special focus on the local context. Explores two research methods in depth: history and ethnography. Students will produce their own original research based on genuine gaps in existing knowledge. Provides an opportunity to learn both received knowledge about queer culture, as well as that which we do not yet know. By the end of this course, the class will collectively produce new knowledge about queer culture using local stories. Same as HIST 468. 3 undergraduate hours. No graduate credit.

GWS 478 - Sex, Power and Politics

Examines representations of the relationship between sex, power, and subjectivity and how they have shaped feminism. Explores critical approaches to feminist analyses of women's oppression and debates about sexuality, including issues such as consent, rape and prostitution. Same as PS 413. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: One course in Gender and Women's Studies at the 200- and 300-level or consent of instructor.

GWS 490 - Individual Study

Supervised reading and research in Gender and Women's Studies chosen by the student with instructor approval. 2 to 4 undergraduate hours. 2 to 4 graduate hours. May be repeated to a maximum of 6 hours. Prerequisite: Two courses in Gender and Women's Studies at the 200-400 levels; or junior standing; or consent of instructor.

GWS 495 - Advanced Topics GWS

3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Approved for letter and S/U grading. May be repeated in the same term to a maximum of 9 undergraduate hours or 12 graduate hours; may be repeated in separate terms to a maximum of 12 undergraduate or 12 graduate hours.

GWS 512 - Gender Relations & Intl Dev

Same as SOCW 581 and WGGP 581. See WGGP 581.

GWS 540 - Intersectional Pedagogies

Examines the link between political movements and pedagogies, including feminist, critical, critical multicultural, critical race, and queer pedagogies. Students will analyze pedagogical theories and implement practical techniques and strategies. 4 graduate hours. No professional credit. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and previous coursework in Gender and Women's Studies; or consent of instructor.

GWS 580 - Queer Theories & Methods

Interdisciplinary study in queer theories and methods produced in and across various disciplines. Contemporary philosophical and theoretical developments in queer studies specific to histories of class, race, ethnicity, nation and sexuality. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

GWS 590 - Topics in GWS

May be repeated. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and previous coursework in women's or gender studies, or consent of instructor.