Study of Women, Gender, & Sexuality

AFR 155 Introduction to Black Women’s Studies (4 Credits)

This course examines historical, critical and theoretical perspectives on the development of Black feminist theory/praxis. The course draws from the 19th century to the present, but focuses on the contemporary Black feminist intellectual tradition that achieved notoriety in the 1970s and initiated a global debate on Western and global feminisms. Central to our exploration is the analysis of the intersectional relationship between theory and practice, and of race, to gender and class. We conclude the course with the exploration of various expressions of contemporary Black feminist thought around the globe as a way of broadening our knowledge of feminist theory. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

AFR 201 Colloquium: Methods of Inquiry in Africana Studies (4 Credits)

Designed to introduce students to the methods of inquiry used for research in Africana Studies. Through intensive study of a single topic (past examples: Toni Morrison's Beloved, the American South, The Black Seventies) students will consider the formation of the field, engage canonical texts, attend lectures and learn from scholars whose work is based in a variety of disciplines. Focus will be on the challenges and opportunities made possible by doing multi- and interdisciplinary research: how and why scholars ask and approach research questions and have conversations with each other. Students may explore and develop their own research project. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

AFR 202bq Colloquium: Topics in Africana Studies-Black Queer Diaspora (4 Credits)

This interdisciplinary course explores over two decades of work produced by and about Black Queer Diasporic communities throughout the circum-Atlantic world. While providing an introduction to various artists and intellectuals of the Black Queer Diaspora, this course examines the viability of Black Queer Diaspora world-making praxis as a form of theorizing. We will interrogate the transnational and transcultural mobility of specific Black Queer Diasporic forms of peacemaking, erotic knowledge productions, as well as the concept of “aesthetics” more broadly. Our aim is to use the prism of Blackness/Queerness/Diaspora to highlight the dynamic relationship between Black Diaspora Studies and Queer Studies. {A}{H}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

AFR 212 Family Matters: Representations, Policy and the Black Family (4 Credits)

In this course we examine contemporary African American families from both a sociocultural and socioeconomic perspective. We explore the issues facing African American families as a consequence of the intersecting of race, class and gender categories of America. The aim of this course is to broaden the student’s knowledge of the internal dynamics and diversity of African American family life and to foster a greater understanding of the internal strengths as well as the vulnerabilities of the many varieties of African American families. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

AFR 249 Black Women Writers (4 Credits)

How does gender matter in a black context? That is the question this course asks and attempts to answer through an examination of works by such authors as Harriet Jacobs, Frances Harper, Nella Larsen, Zora Hurston, Toni Morrison, Ntozake Shange and Alice Walker. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

AFR 360/ ENG 323 Seminar: Toni Morrison (4 Credits)

Offered as AFR 360 and ENG 323. This seminar focuses on Toni Morrison’s literary production. In reading her novels, essays, lectures and interviews, we pay particular attention to three things: her interest in the epic anxieties of American identities; her interest in form, language, and theory; and her study of love. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

AFR 366rs Seminar: Contemporary Topics in Africana Studies-Race, Sex & Tourism (4 Credits)

Tourism is often lauded as the key to economic development for many countries. However, scholarly work has shown that historical relationships to imperialism and colonialism impact how people and places experience tourism. This course introduces students to debates, methods and conceptual frameworks in the study of race, sex and tourism. Through a review of scholarly texts, tourism paraphernalia, films and travelogues, the course examines the social, political and ethical considerations inherent in multiple forms of tourism including eco-tourism, wellness or health, sun-sand-sea, heritage, dark and voluntourism in locales ranging from the Caribbean and the Americas to Africa and Europe. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and Seniors only. Instructor permission required. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

AFS 222 Colloquium: Fanta Faces and Coca Cola Bodies: Popular Culture, Gender and Sexuality in Africa (4 Credits)

This course uses popular culture as a tool to analyze gender and sexuality issues in Africa. It discusses relevant issues in gender and sexuality across the continent, using selected African songs and movies, which feature these issues as centralized themes. It also examines the lived experiences of African actors, musicians and artistes, both historical and modern, as a means of discussing social norms on gender and sexuality and their subversion. Enrollment limited to 18. (E) {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

AMS 201 Introduction to American Studies (4 Credits)

This course provides an introduction to American Studies through the interdisciplinary study of American history, life and culture. Students develop critical tools for analyzing cultural texts (including literature, visual arts, music, fashion, advertising, social media, buildings, objects and bodies) in relation to political, social, economic and environmental contexts. The course examines the influence of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality and transnationality on conceptions of citizenship, and struggles over what it means to be an “American,” and how this has shaped the distribution of power, resources and wellbeing in the United States. {H}{L}

Spring

AMS 240 Colloquium: Introduction to Disability Studies (4 Credits)

This course serves as an introductory exploration of the field of disability studies. It asks: how do we define disability? Who is disabled? And what resources do we need to properly study disability? Together, students investigate: trends in disability activism, histories of medicine and science, conceptions of normal embodiment, the utility of terms like "crippled" or "disabled"and the representation of disability in culture. Enrollment limited to 20. {H}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

AMS 245 Feminist & Indigenous Science (4 Credits)

In this course, we will consider such questions as: What do we know and how do we know it? What knowledges count as science? How is knowledge culturally situated? How has science been central to colonialism and capitalism and what would it mean to decolonize science(s)? Is feminist science possible? We will look at key sites and situations in media and popular culture, in science writing, in sociological accounts of science, in creation stories and traditional knowledges in which knowledge around the categories of race, gender, sex, sexuality, sovereignty, and dis/ability are produced, contested and made meaningful. {H}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ANT 215 Ethnographic Mapping: Place, Body and Landscape (4 Credits)

This course considers theories and practices of reinterpreting landscape through the lenses of indigeneity, transnational feminism and decoloniality. Through a broad range of theoretical and creative works, students explore alternative ways of knowing and relating to places—thinking across space and time, built structures and material absences, borders, embodiment and networks of relations. Discussions engage several ethnographic case studies across the Americas that closely examine the intersections of place, body and landscape. Students apply critical spatial practices by designing a digital project using textual, sonic and visual modes to remap a selected site based on ethnographic research. Enrollment limited to 30. (E) {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ANT 238 Anthropology of the Body (4 Credits)

Anthropology vitally understands bodies as socially meaningful, and as sites for the inculcation of ethical and political identities through processes of embodiment, which break down divides between body as natural and body as socially constituted. This course engages these anthropological understandings to read how bodies are invoked, disciplined and reshaped in prisons and classrooms, market economies and multicultural democracies, religious and ethical movements, and the performance of gender and sexuality, disease and disability. Through these accounts of the body as an object of social analysis and as a vehicle for politics, students learn fundamental social theoretical and anthropological tenets about the embodiment of power, contemporary politics as forms of "biopolitics" and the deconstruction of the normative body. {S}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

ANT 250 The Anthropology of Reproduction (4 Credits)

This course uses anthropological approaches and theories to understand reproduction as a social, cultural and biological process. Drawing on cross-cultural studies of pregnancy and childbirth, new reproductive technologies, infertility and family planning, the course examines how society and culture shape biological experiences of reproduction. We also explore how anthropological studies and theories of reproduction intersect with larger questions about nature and culture, kinship and citizenship among others. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ANT 257 Urban Anthropology (4 Credits)

This course considers the city as both a setting for anthropological research and as an ethnographic object of study in itself. We aim to think critically about the theoretical and methodological possibilities, challenges and limitations that are posed by urban anthropology. We consider concepts and themes such as urbanization and migration; urban space and mobility; gender, race and ethnicity; technology and virtual space; markets and economies; citizenship and belonging; and production and consumption. {S}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

ANT 267 Contemporary South Asia (4 Credits)

This course introduces students to the culture, politics and everyday life of South Asia. Topics covered include religion, community, nation, caste, gender and development, as well as some of the key conceptual problems in the study of South Asia, such as the colonial construction of social scientific knowledge, and debates over tradition and modernity. In this way, we address both the varieties in lived experience in the subcontinent and the key scholarly, popular and political debates that have constituted the terms through which we understand South Asian culture. Along with ethnographies, we study and discuss novels, historical analysis, primary historical texts and popular (Bollywood) and documentary film. {S}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ANT 347iw Seminar: Topics in Anthropology-How We Inhabit the World (4 Credits)

Making a place of one’s own entails occupying and consuming what the place consists of. Human inhabitation of the planet can be seen as simultaneously productive and destructive, of both the inhabited space and its inhabitants. Drawing on concepts commonly considered “economic”; i.e. production, consumption, exchange, and property the following questions will be explored in this course: i) Does anthropological research confirm the universality of these concepts in human communities across history and geography as assumed by political and economic philosophers? ii) In what ways are the experiences, and hence understandings of, production, consumption, exchange, and property being transformed by the processes termed “neoliberalism”? How are these changes shaping the ways in which older and newer dispossessed groups may or may not inhabit the world? Readings for the course will include philosophical and anthropological texts. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ANT 352eu Seminar: Topics in Anthropology-Eugenics at Smith College (4 Credits)

This course is a research seminar based on the history of the eugenics movement and other forms of racial pseudo-science in the United States.  After completing some general readings on the history of American eugenics, students will develop individual research projects based on the rise, decline and lingering impacts of the movement.  The focus in developing these projects will be on materials stored in the Smith College Archives, which range from the papers of  Harris Hawthorne Wilder, Morris Steggerda and other faculty who were involved in eugenics research to ephemeral materials that document the participation of Smith students in this research from the 1910s to the late 1930s. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ARH 278 Race and Gender in the History of Photography (4 Credits)

This course introduces the history of photography, emphasizing the ways photographs represent, mediate, construct and communicate histories of race, gender, sex, sexuality, intimacy and desire. The class studies a variety of photographic images, from the daguerreotype to digital media, from fine arts photography to vernacular images. Students consider objects that have forged connections among loved ones, substantiated memories or served as evidence, considering critical questions about photography’s relationship to identity, affect, knowledge production and power. The course focuses on race and gender, and also attends closely to photography’s relationship to identity broadly speaking, including class, ability and religion. {A}{H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

CCX 245/ SWG 245 Colloquium: Collective Organizing (4 Credits)

Offered as SWG 245 and CCX 245. This course introduces students to key concepts, debates and provocations that animate the world of community, labor and electoral organizing for social change. To better understand these movements’ visions, students develop an analysis of global and national inequalities, exploitation and oppression. The course explores a range of organizing skills to build an awareness of power dynamics and learn activists’ tools to bring people together towards common goals. A central aspect of this course is practicing community-based learning and research methods in dialogue with community-based activist partners. Enrollment limited to 18. {H}{S}

Fall

CLS 233 Gender and Sexuality in Greco-Roman Culture (4 Credits)

The construction of gender, sexuality, and erotic experience is one of the major sites of difference between Greco-Roman culture and our own. What constituted a proper man and a proper woman in these ancient societies? Which sexual practices and objects of desire were socially sanctioned and which considered deviant? What ancient modes of thinking about these issues have persisted into the modern world? Attention to the status of women; the role of social class; the ways in which genre and convention shaped representation; the relationship between representation and reality. {H}{L}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

EAL 235 Class, Gender and Material Culture in Late Imperial China (4 Credits)

This class examines the continuum between subject and object in Chinese fiction, drama, and poetry from the 16th through the 18th centuries, discussing how individuals participate as agents and objects of circulation; how objects structure identity and articulate relationships; the body as object; and the materiality of writing, illustration, and the stage. We analyze historical constructions of class and gender and reflect on how individuals constructed social identities vis-à-vis objects and consumption. All readings in English translation. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

EAL 239/ WLT 239 Intimacy in Contemporary Chinese Women’s Fiction (4 Credits)

Offered as EAL 239 and WLT 239. How do stories about love, romance and desire (including extramarital affairs, serial relationships and love between women) challenge our assumptions about identity? How do pursuits, successes and failures of intimacy lead to personal and social change? An exploration of major themes through close readings of contemporary fiction by women from China, Taiwan and Chinese diasporas. Readings are in English translation and no background in China or Chinese is required. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

EAL 242 Modern Japanese Literature (4 Credits)

A survey of Japanese literature from the late 19th century to the present. Over the last century and a half, Japan has undergone tremendous change: rapid industrialization, imperial and colonial expansion, occupation following its defeat in the Pacific War, and emergence as a global economic power. The literature of modern Japan reflects the complex aesthetic, cultural and political effects of such changes. Through our discussions of these texts, we also address theoretical questions about such concepts as identity, gender, race, sexuality, nation, class, colonialism, modernism and translation. All readings are in English translation. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

EAL 244 Japanese Women’s Writing (4 Credits)

This course focuses on the writings of Japanese women from the 10th century until the present. We examine the foundations of Japan’s literary tradition represented by such early works as Murasaki Shikibu’s Tale of Genji and Sei Shonagon’s Pillow Book. We then move to the late 19th century to consider the first modern examples of Japanese women’s writing. How does the existence of a "feminine literary tradition" in pre-modern Japan influence the writing of women during the modern period? How do these texts reflect, resist and reconfigure conventional representations of gender? We explore the possibilities and limits of the articulation of feminine and feminist subjectivities, as well as investigate the production of such categories as "race," class and sexuality in relation to gender and to each other. Taught in English, with no knowledge of Japanese required. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

EAL 245 Writing, Japan and Otherness (4 Credits)

An exploration of representations of "otherness" in Japanese literature and film from the mid-19th century until the present. How was (and is) Japan’s identity as a modern nation configured through representations of other nations and cultures? How are categories of race, gender, nationality, class and sexuality used in the construction of difference? This course pays special attention to the role of "otherness" in the development of national and individual identities. In conjunction with these investigations, we also address the varied ways in which Japan is represented as "other" by writers from China, England, France, Korea and the United States. How do these images of and by Japan converse with each other? All readings are in English translation.

Fall, Spring, Variable

EAL 261 Gender and Sexuality in Late Imperial Chinese Literature (4 Credits)

This class will examine Chinese literary traditions in various different genres such as fiction, poetry and drama from the 16th through the 18th centuries from perspectives of gender and sexuality. Through the class, you will learn to examine Chinese literary tradition from the perspective of gender, discussing the gendering of new modes of expression in de/constructing men and women as social categories over the long course of Chinese literary history. We will pay special attention to how women were represented in classical literature, primarily poetry and fiction, both through their own writing and in the writing of men. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

EAL 273 Colloquium: Women and Narration in Modern Korea (4 Credits)

This class explores modern Korean history from women's perspectives. It charts the historical and cultural transformation in modern Korea since the 1920s by coupling key terms of modern history with specific female figures: (1) Colonial modernity with modern girls in the 1920s and 30s; (2) colonization and cold-war regime with "comfort women" and "western princesses" from the 1940s to the 1960s; (3) industrial development under the authoritarian regime in the 1970s with factory girls; and (4) democratization and multiculturalism with rising feminists in the new millennium. {H}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ECO 201 Gender and Economics (4 Credits)

This course uses economic analysis to explore how gender differences can lead to differences in economic outcomes in households and the labor market. Questions to be covered include: How does the family function as an economic unit? How do individuals allocate time between the labor market and the household? How have changes in family structure affected women's employment, and vice-versa? What are possible explanations for gender differences in labor force participation, occupational choice, and earnings? What is the role of government in addressing gender issues in the home and the workplace? How successful are government policies that primarily affect women? Prerequisites: ECO 150. {S}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

ENG 218 Colloquium: Monstrous Mothers (4 Credits)

This course explores the monstrosity of motherhood - the fear, disgust, alienation and confusion of both being a mother and having one. The class discusses literary and cinematic representations of mothers as absent, distant, cruel, ambivalent, irresponsible and deviant, and considers ways motherhood is thought of both as a self-sacrifice and as a necessity. Students also seek new models of care, love and attachment that are dependent neither on the sacrifice of one’s self nor on biological reproduction and that recast mothering as potentially revolutionary. Not open to first years. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ENG 219 Poetry, Gender, and Sexuality, and the Limits of Privacy (4 Credits)

This course focuses on the legacy of confessional poetry written by women and queer, trans and nonbinary writers in the US. Frequently misread as self-indulgent, the poets under our purview use radical self-disclosure to trouble the social and legal treatment of gender and sexuality as “private” concerns unworthy of political engagement. In so doing, they resist the universalized heteronormativity of the mainstream confessional tradition and contemporary poetry writ large. Poets studied include Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, Paul Monette, Essex Hemphill, Claudia Rankine, Cameron Awkward-Rich, and Danez Smith. Enrollment limited to 30. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ENG 223 Contemporary American Gothic Literature (4 Credits)

This course traces the emergence of a 21st-century gothic tradition in American writing through texts including novels, films and television shows. We analyze the shifting definitions and cultural work of the Gothic in contemporary American literature in the context of political and cultural events and movements and their relation to such concerns as race, gender, class, sexuality and disability. From the New Mexican desert to the rural south, from New York City, San Francisco and the suburbs of Atlanta to cyberspace, these literary encounters explore an expanse of physical, psychological, intellectual and imagined territory. {A}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ENG 241 The Empire Writes Back: Postcolonial Literature (4 Credits)

Introduction to Anglophone fiction, poetry, drama and memoir from Africa, the Caribbean and South Asia in the aftermath of the British empire. Concerns include the cultural and political work of literature in response to histories of colonial and racial dominance; writers' ambivalence towards English linguistic, literary and cultural legacies; ways literature can (re)construct national identities and histories and address dominant notions of race, class, gender and sexuality; women writers' distinctiveness and modes of contesting patriarchal and colonial ideologies; and global diasporas, migration, globalization and U.S. imperialism. Readings include Achebe, Adichie, Aidoo, Dangarembga, Walcott, Cliff, Rushdie, Ghosh, Lahiri, Hamid and others. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ENG 243 The Victorian Novel (4 Credits)

An exploration of the worlds of the Victorian novel, from the city to the country, from the vast reaches of empire to the minute intricacies of the drawing room. Attention to a variety of critical perspectives, with emphasis on issues of narrative form, authorial voice,and the representation of race, class, gender and disability. Novelists will include Brontë,Collins, Dickens, Eliot and Kipling. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ENG 273 Colloquium: Bloomsbury and Sexuality (4 Credits)

Members of the Bloomsbury movement led non-normative (what many now call queer) lives. The complexity and openness of their relationships characterized not only the lives but also the major works of fiction, art, design, and critical writings its members produced. "Sex permeated our conversation," Woolf recalls, and in Bloomsbury and Sexuality we’ll explore the far-reaching consequences of this ostensible removal of discursive, social, and sexual inhibition in the spheres of literature, art, and social sciences. The course will draw from the art of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, the writings of E. M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Radclyffe Hall, Lytton Strachey, John Maynard Keynes and others, along with contemporary queer theory. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ENG 275 Witches, Witchcraft and Witch Hunts (4 Credits)

This course has two central ambitions. First, it introduces themes of magic and witchcraft in (mostly) American literature and film. We work together to figure out how the figure of the witch functions in stories, novels and movies, what witches and witchcraft mean or how they participate in the texts’ ways of making meaning. At the same time, we try to figure out how witches and witchcraft function as loci or displacements of social anxiety--about power, science, gender, class, race and politics. Since the identification of witches and the fear of witchcraft often lead to witch panics, we finally examine the historical and cultural phenomenon of the witch hunt, including both the persecution of persons literally marked as witches and the analogous persecution of persons (Communists, sexual outsiders, etc.) figuratively "hunted" as witches have been. Open to students at all levels, regardless of major. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ENG 278 Asian American Women Writers (4 Credits)

The body of literature written by Asian American women over the past 100 years or so has been recognized as forming a coherent tradition even as it grows and expands to include newcomers and divergent voices under its umbrella. What conditions enabled its emergence? How have the qualities and concerns of this tradition been defined? What makes a text--fiction, poetry, memoir, mixed-genre--central or marginal to the tradition and how do emergent writers take this tradition in new directions? writers to be studied may include Maxine Hong Kingston, Sui Sin Far, Cathy Song, Joy Kogawa, Jessica Hagedorn, Monique Truong, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ruth Ozeki, and more. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ENG 303qa Seminar: Topics in American Literature-Feminist and Queer Asian American Writing (4 Credits)

What does it mean to be queer, feminist or Asian American at the turn of this century? How do contemporary Asian American writers respond to, resist and re-invent given understandings of gender and sexuality? What is the role of the Asian American literary imagination in the face of war, im/migration, trans- and homophobia, labor exploitation and U.S. militarism? This course will explore these foundational questions through a sustained analysis of feminist and queer Asian American literature: novels, poetry, life-writing and film. Through a mix of scholarly and literary texts, students will examine a range of topics at the intersection of Asian American and gender and sexuality studies: identity and (self) representation, the vestiges of war, diaspora and migration, family and kinship, the hyper- and de-sexualization of Asian Americans, labor, globalization and racial capitalism. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {L}

Fall, Variable

ENG 333ca Seminar: Topics: A Major Writer in English-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (4 Credits)

Nigerian American fiction-writer, feminist, and public intellectual Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is well-known for her TED talks, “The Danger of a Single Story” and “We Should All Be Feminists.” She is also internationally acclaimed for her short stories and novels, which have attracted “a new generation of young readers to African literature,” inspired countless young African writers, and prompted much critical scholarship. This course will focus on this brilliant 21st century Anglophone writer’s fiction and non-fiction, and include some recent social media debates. Supplementary readings include postcolonial and feminist theory, history, and literary criticism. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ENG 333jl Seminar: Topics: A Major Writer in English-Jhumpa Lahiri (4 Credits)

Indian American writer Jhumpa Lahiri became an overnight star in 1999 with her first short story collection, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Interpreter of Maladies. She has since published many novels, story collections and essays. Internationally acclaimed for her beautifully crafted, deeply moving fiction about migration, love, loss, belonging, unbelonging, home and family, this trilingual twenty-first century writer has already generated an astonishing body of scholarship. This course focuses on Lahiri’s fiction and non-fiction, her themes and techniques, and includes her recent work in translation. The intersectionality of race, ethnicity, gender and class is central to the analysis. Supplementary readings include postcolonial, Asian American and feminist theory, history and literary criticism. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ENG 363 Seminar: Race and Environment (4 Credits)

What is the role of literature and culture in the face of global environmental crisis? How do writers, artists, and filmmakers represent the toxic ecologies of a globalized world? And in what ways do the categories of race, gender, class and ability determine one's vulnerability to environmental degradation? Through literacy and cultural analysis, this course explores these questions as they intersect with issues of environmental racism, racialized disablement, neo/colonialism, ecofeminism, food justice, globalization, and urban ecologies. We examine literary and cultural engagement with diverse environmental topics: nuclear waste sites, slum ecologies, petro-capitalism, industrialized food production, and indigenous rights. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ENG 391 Seminar: Contemporary South Asian Writers in English (4 Credits)

This course will explore the rich diversity of late 20th and 21st century literatures written in English and published internationally by award-winning writers of South Asian descent from the U.S, Canada, Britain, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. These transnational writers include established celebrities (Salman Rushdie, Jhumpa Lahiri, Amitav Ghosh, Kiran Desai) and newer stars (Monica Ali, Aravind Adiga, Mohsin Hamid, Kamila Shamsie). Among many questions, we will consider how writers craft new idioms and forms to address multiple audiences in global English, how they explore or foreground emergent concerns of postcolonial societies and of diasporic, migrant, or transnational peoples in a rapidly globalizing but by no means equalizing world. Supplementary readings on postcolonial theory and criticism. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ENV 327 Seminar: Environmental Justice & Decolonial Aspirations in an Urbanizing World (4 Credits)

This course explores global environmental justice and decolonial planning issues, debates and policies in the context of an urbanizing world marked by race, gender, nationality, ethnicity, caste, class and other lines of difference. The course draws from scholarship in urban studies, anthropology, sociology, geography and other related fields to develop an appreciation of global environmental injustices. With particular attention to decolonial planning approaches, students learn about efforts to redress environmental injustices, whether through formal planning and policies, social movements, community organizing or everyday environmentalism. The course covers environmental issues at multiple scales from around the world and explores the interrelatedness of themes. Prerequisite: ENV 101. Priority given to ENV majors. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required.

Spring

ESS 240 Exercise and Sport for Social Change (4 Credits)

This class is designed for students who wish to understand more about the role sport and exercise can play in relation to social justice and civil rights movements, the way that current inequities influence who is able to participate in various types of sport/exercise, and methods for addressing these inequalities and injustices. Students will have the chance to learn about social justice and social change as they relate to the following topics: athlete activism, coaching, administration, participation, fairness, and non-profit community based and governmental level interventions. {S}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

ESS 340 Seminar: Current Issues in Women's Health (4 Credits)

A course focusing on current research papers in women’s health. Recent topics have included reproductive health issues, eating disorders, heart disease, depression, autoimmune disorders and breast cancer. Cannot be taken S/U. Prerequisites: ESS 140 or a strong biological sciences background. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {N}

Fall, Spring, Annually

FMS 248 Women and American Cinema: Representation, Spectatorship, Authorship (4 Credits)

A survey of women in American films from the silent period to the present, examining: 1) how women are represented on film, and how those images relate to actual contemporaneous American society, culture and politics; 2) how theoretical formulations, expectations and realities of female spectatorship relate to genre, the star and studio systems (and other production and distribution modes), dominant and alternative codes of narration and developments in digital and new media modes; and 3) how women as stars, writers, producers and directors shape and respond to, work within and against, dominant considerations of how women look (in every sense). {A}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FMS 261 Video Games and the Politics of Play (4 Credits)

An estimated 63% of U.S. households have members who play video games regularly, and game sales routinely exceed film box office figures. As this medium grows in cultural power, it is increasingly important to think about how games make meaning. This course serves as an introduction to Game Studies, equipping students with the vocabulary to analyze video games, surveying the medium’s genres, and sampling this scholarly discipline’s most influential theoretical writing. The particular focus, though, is on the ideology operating beneath the surface of these popular entertainment objects and on the ways in which video games enter political discourse. Enrollment limited to 25. {A}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 230bl Colloquium: Topics in French Studies- Banlieue Lit (4 Credits)

In this course, students study fiction, memoir, slam poetry and hip-hop authored by residents of France’s multi-ethnic suburbs and housing projects, also known as the "banlieues" and "cités". The class examines the question of whether "banlieue" authors can escape various pressures: to become native informants; to write realistic rather than fantastical novels; to leave the “ghetto”; to denounce the sometimes difficult traditions, religions, neighborhoods and family members that have challenged but also molded them. Often seen as spaces of regression and decay, the "banlieues" nevertheless produce vibrant cultural expressions that beg the question: Is the "banlieue" a mere suburb of French cultural life or more like one of its centers? Basis for the major. Students may receive credit for only one section of FRN 230. Prerequisite: FRN 220 or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 18. Course taught in French. WI {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 230ww Colloquium: Topics in French Studies-Women Writers of Africa and the Caribbean (4 Credits)

An introduction to works by contemporary women writers from Francophone Africa and the Caribbean. Topics studied include colonialism, exile, motherhood and intersections between class and gender. The study of these works and of the French language is informed by attention to the historical, political and cultural circumstances of writing as a woman in a former French colony. Texts include works by Mariama Bâ, Maryse Condé, Yamina Benguigui and Marie-Célie Agnant. Basis for the major. Students may receive credit for only one section of FRN 230. Enrollment limited to 18. Prerequisite: FRN 220. Course taught in French. WI {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 288 Immigration and Sexuality in France and Europe (1 Credit)

This course functions as a French discussion course offered in conjunction with SWG 288. Students discuss the assigned texts, which they will read in the original French. Papers and assignments must also be written in French. Corequisite: SWG 288. Prerequisite: One course at or above FRN 250. French heritage speakers should contact the instructor. Enrollment limited to 35. Course taught in French. {F}{H}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 320 Women Defamed, Women Defended (4 Credits)

What genres did women practice in the Middle Ages and in what way did they transform those genres for their own purposes? What access did women have to education and to the works of other writers, male and female? To what extent did women writers question the traditional gender roles of their society? How did they represent female characters in their works and what do their statements about authorship reveal about their understanding of themselves as writing women? What do we make of anonymous works written in the feminine voice? Readings include the love letters of Héloïse, the lais and fables of Marie de France, the songs of the trobairitz and women trouvères,and the writings of Christine de Pizan. {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FRN 380is Topics in French Cultural Studies-Immigration and Sexuality (4 Credits)

This course explains how gender and sexuality have been politicized in immigration debates in France, from the 1920s to the present. Students examine both cultural productions and social science texts: memoirs, psychoanalytical literature, activist statements, sociological studies, feature films, fashion, performance art, blogs and news reports. France has historically been the leading European host country for immigrants, a multiplicity of origins reflected in its current demographic make-up. Topics include: the hyper-sexualization of black and brown bodies, France as a Mediterranean culture, immigrant loneliness in Europe, intermarriage and demographic change, the veil and niqab, as well as sexual nationalism and homo-nationalism. {F}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FYS 107 Women of the Odyssey (4 Credits)

Homer’s Odyssey presents a gallery of memorable women: Penelope above all, but also Nausicaa, Calypso and Circe. Helen plays a cameo role, while Clytemnestra is regularly invoked as a negative example. Together these women define a spectrum of female roles and possibilities: the faithful wife, the bride-to-be, the temptress, the adulteress, the murderer. The course begins with a careful reading of the Odyssey, then studies the afterlife of its female characters in the Western literary tradition. Readings are drawn from authors both ancient (Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Ovid) and modern (H.D., Robert Graves, Louise Glück, Margaret Drabble). This course counts toward the classics, classical studies and study of women and gender majors. Enrollment limited to 16 first-years. WI

Fall, Spring, Variable

FYS 112 #FlipTheScript: Hot Topics in African Feminism(s) Today (4 Credits)

Does affirmative action in politics improve human rights conditions for African women or lead to tokenism? Are the decisions of religious African feminists to submit to their husbands or wear head coverings, choices that display female agency or choices steeped in oppression? This course considers some of the most controversial and hotly debated topics relevant to feminism in Africa today. In doing so, it aims to teach students how to identify both the core issues and points of divergence underpinning these debates and to be able to analyze and articulate their own positions on controversial issues. Enrollment limited to 16 first-years. WI {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FYS 124 Writers and the Body: Health and Illness in African Diasporic Women’s Literature (4 Credits)

This seminar will explore representations of health and illness in writing by women of the African diaspora from the nineteenth century to the present. Our authors hail from Antigua, Bermuda, Canada, Guadeloupe, and the United States, and their interventions (ideological and geographical) engage an even broader territory. We will ask how women novelists, memoirists, poets, and playwrights (some of them health care professionals) challenge, support, influence, and/or respond to contemporary medical theories of health and illness. We will also make use of archival and digital resources at Smith. Enrollment limited to 16 first years. WI

Fall, Spring, Variable

FYS 128 Ghosts (4 Credits)

This course explores what Toni Morrison in Beloved calls "the living activity of the dead": their ambitions, their desires, their effects. Often returning as figures of memory or history, ghosts raise troubling questions as to what it is they, or we, have to learn. We shall survey a variety of phantasmagorical representations in poems, short stories, novels, films, spiritualist and scientific treatises and spirit photography. This course counts towards the English major. Enrollment limited to 16 first-years. WI

Fall, Spring, Variable

FYS 129 Tierra y Vida: Land and the Ecological Imagination in U.S. Latino/a Literature (4 Credits)

Tierra y Vida explores the ecological imagination of U.S. Latinos/as as expressed in narratives from the early 20th to the 21st centuries. Expanding beyond dominant tropes of land/farm worker as the core of Latino/a ecological experience, students consider a range of texts that depict the land as a site of indigenous ecological knowledge; spiritual meaning; and ethnic, racial and gendered belonging. In dialogues between Latino/a writers and theorists students also explore the possibilities of ecological futures rooted in emancipation and liberation as alternatives to ecological imaginaries still fraught with colonial desires. Students in this course participate in a digital atlas and story-mapping project. Enrollment limited to 16 first years. WI {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FYS 132 Girls Leaving Home (4 Credits)

This course explores how literary writers from various times and places have addressed the topic of girls leaving home. What are the risks and benefits for young (usually single) women who leave a place of origin, temporarily or permanently, with or without families, to make new lives? What do they flee or seek? How do gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, nationality, class complicate their stories? How is "home" understood or redefined in these narratives? Readings include Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Austen’s Northanger Abbey, and immigrant American narratives The Road from Coorain, The Woman Warrior and Americanah. Our primary methodology is literary analysis. Recommended for students considering the English major. Enrollment limited to 16 first-years. WI {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FYS 165 Childhood in African Literature (4 Credits)

A study of childhood as an experience in the present and as a transition into adulthood, and of the ways in which it is intimately tied to social, political and cultural histories, and to questions of self and national identity. How does the violence of colonialism and decolonization reframe our understanding of childhood innocence? How do African childhood narratives represent such crises as cultural alienation, loss of language, exile and memory? How do competing national and cultural ideologies shape narratives of childhood? Texts include Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, Zoë Wicomb’s You Can’t Get Lost in Cape Town, Ngugi wa Thiongo’s Weep Not Child and Tahar Ben Jelloun’s The Sand Child. Enrollment limited to 16 first-years. WI {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FYS 179 Rebellious Women (4 Credits)

This course introduces students to the trailblazing women who have changed the American social and political landscape through reform, mobilization, cultural interventions and outright rebellion. We use a variety of texts: No Turning Back by Estelle Freedman, primary sources from the archives and the SCMA, films, a walking tour and local events. The intention of this seminar is threefold: (1) to provide an overview of feminist ideas and action throughout American history, (2) to introduce students to primary documents and research methods, and (3) to encourage reflection and discussion on current gender issues. Enrollment limited to 16 first-years. WI {H}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

FYS 183 Geisha, Wise Mothers, and Working Women (4 Credits)

This course examines images of Japanese women that are prevalent in the West, and to some extent Japan. Our focus will be on three key figures considered definitive representations of Japanese women: the geisha, the good wife/wise mother, and the working woman. We will read popular treatments including novels, primary sources, and scholarly articles. Our task will be to sort through these images, keeping in mind the importance of perception versus reality and change over time. Enrollment limited to 16 first years. WI

Fall, Spring, Variable

GOV 224 Colloquium: Globalization From an Islamic Perspective (4 Credits)

This course explores the complex challenges facing Muslim-majority states when it comes to their political, economic, and social development in the 21st century. In particular, we will be exploring the various Islamically-inspired ideas ("isms") that have emerged with the onset of globalization; from Islanic feminism and Islamic environmentalism to political Islam and Islamic banking. Designation: Comparative. Enrollment limited to 20. {S}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

GOV 231 Colloquium: Women's Social Movements in the Middle East (4 Credits)

This course explores how women’s social movements emerge and sustain themselves in the Middle East and North Africa. The class will cover issues ranging from women agitating for citizenship rights and the vote to questions of personhood, family code, and women's labor rights. Throughout the class, students consider how mobilized women negotiate a world of both contemporary and traditional religious and secular values to pursue their agendas in the public arena. Students leave this course with a fuller appreciation of the variety of issues around which women mobilize in the region as well as an understanding of the diverse strategies they adopt to meet their chosen goals. Designation: Comparative. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

GOV 233 Problems in Political Development (4 Credits)

This course explores the practical meaning of the term "development" and its impact on a range of global topics from the problems of poverty and income inequality to the spread of democracy, environmental degradation, urbanization and gender empowerment. We examine existing theories of economic development and consider how state governments, international donors and NGOs interact to craft development policy. Designation: Comparative. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

GOV 266 Contemporary Political Theory (4 Credits)

A study of major themes in the political thought of the early 20th century to the present. Readings will begin with a brief reflection on Hegel and Marx, before moving into considerations that animated the 20th  and 21st century, such as fascism, anti-colonialism, the welfare state, movements for civil rights, and migration. Throughout, we will pay particular attention to the tensions between freedom, justice, and equality that mark this period of political thinking. Designation: Theory. Successful completion of GOV 100 or another political theory course is strongly suggested. {S}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

GOV 267 Problems in Democratic Thought (4 Credits)

What is democracy? We begin with readings of Aristotle, Rousseau and Mill to introduce some issues associated with the ideal of democratic self-government: participation, equality, majority rule vs. minority rights, the common good, pluralism, community. Readings include selections from liberal, radical, socialist, libertarian, multiculturalist and feminist political thought. Designation: Theory. Not open to first-year students. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

GOV 363 Seminar: Dissent: Disobedience, Resistance, Refusal and Exit (4 Credits)

This seminar in political theory examines contemporary theories and practices of dissent, from civil disobedience to armed resistance to political exit. Are citizens morally obligated to obey unjust laws? What makes a law or political arrangement unjust? What kinds of protest actions are justified? What are the promises and limitations of nonviolence -- or violence? What effect do different forms of resistance have, and what is their political value? Is exiting -- quitting politics or leaving the polity -- a meaningful form of resistance? This course will engage with these questions by reading contemporary texts from political science, sociology, and philosophy, alongside works by practitioners of forms of disobedience and resistance. Prerequisite: coursework in political theory or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

GOV 367qs Seminar: Topics in Political Theory-Queering the State (4 Credits)

This course will cover theoretical issues through the relationship between the state and queerness. The course begins with a historical theory of the state that emerges from its role in governing queer life. Students consider the social, economic, legal and biomedical implications of the straight state. Though mainstream LGBT politics advocates for more inclusion in the state apparatus, through rights and legal protections, radical queer thinkers insist we think beyond the state and in resistance to it. Throughout, the students focus on whether it is possible to have a queer state and if it is, whether that is desirable. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

HST 223at Colloquium: Topics on Women and Gender in Japanese History-Ancient Times to the 19th Century (4 Credits)

The dramatic transformation in gender relations is a key feature of Japan’s premodern history. How Japanese women and men have constructed norms of behavior in different historical periods, how gender differences were institutionalized in social structures and practices, and how these norms and institutions changed over time. The gendered experiences of women and men from different classes from approximately the seventh through the 19th centuries. Consonant with current developments in gender history, exploration of variables such as class, religion and political context that have affected women’s and men’s lives. Enrollment limited to 18. {H}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

HST 252 Women and Gender in Modern Europe, 1789–1918 (4 Credits)

A survey of European women’s experiences and constructions of gender from the French Revolution through World War I, focusing on Western Europe. Gendered relationships to work, family, politics, society, religion and the body, as well as shifting conceptions of femininity and masculinity, as revealed in novels, films, treatises, letters, paintings, plays and various secondary sources. {H}

Fall, Spring, Annually

HST 253 Women and Gender in Contemporary Europe (4 Credits)

Women’s experience and constructions of gender in the commonly recognized major events of the 20th century. Introduction to major thinkers of the period through primary sources, documents and novels, as well as to the most significant categories in the growing secondary literature in 20th-century European history of women and gender. Enrollment limited to 40. {H}

Fall, Spring, Annually

HST 258 Modern Africa (4 Credits)

This course provides an introductory survey of African history under colonial rule and beyond. In doing so, the course offers students a framework for understanding the political, social and economic history of modern Africa by foregrounding the strategies African peoples employed as they made sense of and confronted their changing historical landscapes. Key subjects include the construction of the colonial state, African experiences with colonial rule, the dilemmas of decolonization and life in an independent Africa. {H}{S}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

HST 259fm Colloquium: Topics in African History-Femininities, Masculinities and Sexualities in Africa (4 Credits)

This course examines the political, social and economic role of women, gender, and sexuality in African history, while paying particular attention to the ways in which a wide variety of Africans engaged, understood, and negotiated the multiple meanings of femininity, masculinity, and sexuality in the changing political and social landscapes associated with life in Africa. Key issues addressed in the course include marriage and respectability, colonial domesticity regimes, sex, and religion. Additionally, students interrogate the diversity of methodological techniques scholars have employed in their attempts to write African gender history. Enrollment limited to 18. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

HST 265 Race, Gender and US Citizenship, 1776-1865 (4 Credits)

Analysis of the historical realities, social movements, cultural expression and political debates that shaped U.S. citizenship from the Declaration of Independence to the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. From the hope of liberty and equality to the exclusion of marginalized groups that made whiteness, maleness and native birth synonymous with Americanness. How African Americans, Native Americans, immigrants and women harnessed the Declaration of Independence and its ideology to define themselves as citizens of the United States. Enrollment limited to 40. {H}

Fall, Spring, Annually

HST 267 United States, 1877-1945: Race, Capitalism, Justice (4 Credits)

Survey of the major economic, political and social changes of this period, primarily through the lens of race, class and gender, to understand the role of ordinary people in shaping defining events, including industrial capitalism, colonialism, imperialism, mass immigration and migration, urbanization, the rise of mass culture, nationalism, war, feminism, labor radicalism, civil rights and other liberatory movements for social justice. Enrollment limited to 40. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

HST 276rj Colloquium: Topics-Historians Read the News-Race, Democracy and Reproductive Justice (4 Credits)

This course interrogates the intersection between current events and historical research. Exploring topics including race, debt, citizenship, democracy and reproductive justice, the course offers a comparative and transnational perspective of how historians and other historically focused scholars have approached topics that have dominated the recent news cycle, while thinking through the challenges and possibilities of doing historical research on subjects of contemporary importance. Enrollment limited to 18. {H}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

HST 278 Colloquium: Decolonial U.S. Women’s History (4 Credits)

This course is an introduction to U.S. women’s history with women of color, working-class women and immigrant women at the center. This course is guided by the cultural and theoretical work of women of color feminists to decolonize knowledge, history and the world within and without. This means students not only study women’s lives over time, but also consider how their focus on more marginalized women in particular changes the way they study and understand history and knowledge. The class explores some of the most defining processes, including colonialism, emancipation from slavery, racial segregation and exclusion, industrial and neoliberal capitalism, imperialism, mass migration, feminism, civil rights and a range of freedom movements. Enrollment limited to 18. {H}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

HST 280gi Colloquium: Topics in United States Social History-Im/migration and Transnational Cultures (4 Credits)

Explores significance of im/migrant workers and their transnational social movements to U.S. history in the late 19th and 20th centuries. How have im/migrants responded to displacement, marginalization and exclusion, by redefining the meanings of home, citizenship, community and freedom? What are the connections between mass migration and U.S. imperialism? What are the histories of such cross-border social movements as labor radicalism, borderlands feminism, Black and Brown Liberation, and anti-colonialism? Topics also include racial formation; criminalization, incarceration and deportation; reproductive justice; and the politics of gender, sexuality, race, class and nation. Enrollment limited to 18. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

HST 286 Colloquium: Recent Historiographic Debates in the History of Gender and Sexuality (4 Credits)

This course considers methodologies and debates in modern historical writing about gender and sexuality, with a primary focus on European history. Students develop an understanding of significant, contemporary historiographic trends and research topics in the history of women and gender. Enrollment limited to 18. {H}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

HST 355gw Seminar: Topics in Social History-Gender and the Aftermath of War in the Twentieth Century (4 Credits)

In this course, we focus on the work of reconstruction, recovery and memorialization in the aftermath of war and consider how that work interacted with gendered experience. Primary questions will include: Was the aftermath of war as gender-specific as war experience itself? What role did women take in postwar recoveries? How was the aftermath of war reflected in cultural production through fiction, film and visual art in the twentieth century? Primary focus will be on Europe, but students can expect to actively engage with the transnational effects and sources. Juniors and seniors only. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required. {H}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

HST 371rs Seminar: Topics in 19th Century United States History-Remembering Slavery: A Gendered Reading of the WPA Interviews (4 Credits)

Despite the particular degradation, violence and despair of enslavement in the United States, African American men and women built families, traditions and a legacy of resistance. Using the WPA interviews—part of the New Deal Federal Writers Project of the 1930s—this course looks at the historical memory of former slaves by reading and listening to their own words. How did 70- through 90-year-old former slaves remember their childhoods and young adulthoods during slavery? And how do scholars make sense of these interviews given they were conducted when Jim Crow segregation was at its pinnacle? The course examines the WPA interviews as historical sources by studying scholarship that relies heavily on them. Most importantly, students explore debates that swirl around the interviews and challenge their validity on multiple fronts, even as they remain the richest sources of African American oral history regarding slavery. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

HST 383dw Seminar: Topics in Research in U.S. Women's History-Domestic Worker Organizing (4 Credits)

This is an advanced research seminar in which students work closely with archival materials from the Sophia Smith Collection and other archives to explore histories of resistance, collective action and grassroots organizing among domestic workers in the United States, from the mid-18th century to the present. Domestic work has historically been done by women of color and been among the lowest paid, most vulnerable and exploited forms of labor. Your research will assist the National Domestic Workers Alliance, as they incorporate history into their political education curriculum and use history as an organizing tool in their current campaigns. Recommended: previous course in U.S. women’s history and/or relevant coursework in HST, SWG, AFR, SOC or LAS. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

HST 383pc Seminar: Topics in Research in U.S. Women's History-Researching People of Color at Smith College (4 Credits)

The history of students of color at Smith College. Draws from readings about African American, Latinx, Asian American, Indigenous, international and other students of color in higher education. Explores the Smith College archives for documents, ephemera and oral histories. Students also familiarize themselves with archival materials compiled by student activists and scour The Sophian (Smith’s weekly newspaper) to uncover the histories of racial policy, racism, community-building, social justice and activism at Smith College. Students work to produce one original academic project such as a podcast, a digital timeline, another digital humanities project or a traditional research paper. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

IDP 208 Women’s Medical Issues (4 Credits)

A study of topics and issues relating to women’s health, including menstrual cycle, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, abortion, mental health, nutrition, osteoporosis, the media’s representation of women and gender bias in health care. Social, cultural, ethical and political issues are considered, as well as an international perspective. {N}

Spring

IDP 320 Seminar on Global Learning: Women’s Health in India, Including Tibetans Living in Exile (4 Credits)

This seminar examines women’s health and cultural issues within India, with a focus on Tibetan refugees, and then applies the knowledge experientially. During interterm, the students travel to India, visit NGOs involved with Indian women’s health, and deliver workshops on reproductive health topics to students living at the Central University of Tibetan Studies in Sarnath. Enrollment limited to 5. Application and instructor permission required.

Fall

JUD 214/ REL 214 Women in the Hebrew Bible (4 Credits)

This course focuses on the lives of women in ancient Israelite society through close readings of the Hebrew Bible. We look at detailed portraits of female characters as well as the role of many unnamed women in the text to consider the range and logic of biblical attitudes toward women, including reverence, disgust and sympathy. We also consider female deities in the ancient Near East, women in biblical law, sex in prophetic and Wisdom literature, and the female body as a source of metaphor. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

JUD 217 Motherhood in Early Judaism (4 Credits)

How did early Jewish communities imagine mothers, and what does this reveal about communal ideas of gender, family and identity in early Judaism? This course considers various manifestations of mothers in early Judaism through exploration of such literary sources as the Bible, rabbinic literature and the pseudepigrapha, as well as artifacts from material culture such as Aramaic incantation bowls, synagogue wall paintings and other archeological evidence. No prior knowledge of Judaism is expected (E). {A}{L}

Spring, Alternate Years

JUD 227 Women and Gender in Jewish History (4 Credits)

Previously REL 227. An exploration of Jewish women’s changing social roles, religious stances and cultural expressions in a variety of historical settings from ancient to modern times. How did Jewish women negotiate religious tradition, gender and cultural norms to fashion lives for themselves as individuals and as family and community members in diverse societies? Readings from a wide range of historical, religious, theoretical and literary works in order to address examples drawn from Biblical and rabbinic Judaism, medieval Islamic and Christian lands, modern Europe, America and the Middle East. Students' final projects involve archival work in the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History. {H}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

LAS 201ql Colloquium: Topics in Latin American Studies-Queer Latine Embodiments: Affect, Race and Aesthetics (4 Credits)

What modes of resistance do queer and trans bodies of color deploy to navigate an anti-queer/trans world? What lessons do bodies offer? This course focuses on queer and trans representation in cultural production, performance studies approach to queer Latine research and the importance of embodied knowledges. The course addresses topics around affect, desire, queer nightlife, anti-queer/trans moral panics and public space. Students become familiar with scholarship in the growing field of queer Latine studies while developing a stronger critical analytic on how race, class, sexuality and gender inform the reading of bodies. Enrollment limited to 20. (E) {A}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

MES 213 Colloquium: Sex and Power In The Middle East (4 Credits)

This course invites students to explore how sexuality has been central to power and resistance in the Middle East. When and how have empires, colonial powers and nation states tried to regulate intimacy, sex, love and reproduction? How have sexual practices shaped social life, and how have perceptions of these practices changed over time? The course introduces theoretical tools for the history of sexuality and explores how contests over sexuality, reproduction and the body shaped empires, colonial states and nationalist projects. Finally, we examine contemporary debates about sexuality as a basis for political mobilization in the Middle East today. Enrollment limited to 18. {H}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

MUS 217 Colloquium: Feminism and Music Theory (4 Credits)

In this course, students evaluate the assumptions and foundations of Western music theory, primarily under the critical guidance of feminist theory. Tonal theory is often a routine part of undergraduate music study. What are the goals and criteria of this kind of analysis? While critically examining Western music theory’s intellectual values, students develop approaches to analysis that are responsive, in a variety of ways, to queer, feminist and antiracist thought. Through readings and listening assignments, students consider various challenges to the fiction of objectivity in music analysis, including embodiment, subjecthood and identity, and the mediating force of language and concepts. Prerequisites: MUS 110. Enrollment limited to 18. (E) {A}

Fall, Spring, Variable

MUS 330 Seminar: Music and Democracy (4 Credits)

How have social justice movements used music to mobilize people to fight for equality and rights? How have anti-democratic movements used music for reactionary ends? What is the role of music in sustaining—or eroding—democracies? This class examines a range of U.S. and global case studies, including Black Lives Matter, the abortion wars, global protest movements, and music and urban redevelopment. Through the study of national anthems, resistance songs like “Fight the Power,” and by examining the sounds of protest itself, students practice critical listening and reflect on how sound and music can press for social change--for better or worse. Students look at the role of music in democratic processes, the importance of music for belonging and citizenship, and whether and how music itself is significant to political participation. Prerequisites: MUS 102 or 202. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Variable

PHI 240 Philosophy and Gender (4 Credits)

This course examines philosophical conceptions of sex, gender, and sexuality in the context of contemporary ethical questions. In what ways are our conceptions of gender created and reinforced through cultural and social norms? How do assumptions about sex, gender, and sexuality shape and potentially limit research in natural and social sciences? In what ways are feminist and multiculturalist goals potentially at odds? Is sex and sexuality the public’s business? How do gender identities intersect with other identities? We will consider applications of these questions to a variety of contemporary debates concerning parenting, pornography, sex education, marriage, sexual harassment laws, and sexual or gender assignment or reassignment.

Alternate Years

POR 381fw Seminar: Topics in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies-Multiple Lenses of Marginality: New Brazilian Filmmaking by Women (4 Credits)

This course makes reference to the pioneering legacy of key figures in Brazilian filmmaking, such as Susana Amaral, Helena Solberg and Tizuka Yamasaki. These directors’ early works addressed issues of gender and social class biases by subtly shifting the focus of their films to marginalized or peripheral subjects. We also examine the work of contemporary filmmakers, among them Lúcia Murat, Tata Amaral, Laís Bodanzky and Anna Muylaert, focusing on the ways in which they incorporate sociopolitical topics and/or gender issues. Course conducted in Portuguese. Prerequisite: 200-level course in Portuguese, or the equivalent. Juniors and seniors only. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required. {A}{F}

Fall, Spring, Variable

PSY 166 Introduction to the Psychology of Gender (4 Credits)

How can psychological science help us understand how gender operates in our society? How can our understanding of the psychological research help us address structural inequalities related to gender? This course represents an introduction to what we know about the role gender plays in the everyday lives of people. In this course we will review the psychological research on how structural inequities play out in gender roles and affect the lives of boys and girls and men and women. Throughout the course we will attend to the intersection of race, class, sexual orientation, and other group memberships with gender. {N}

Fall, Spring, Variable

PSY 265 Colloquium: Political Psychology (4 Credits)

This colloquium is concerned with the psychological processes underlying political phenomena. The course is divided into three sections: Leaders, Followers and Social Movements. In each of these sections, students examine how psychological factors influence political behavior and how political acts affect individual psychology. Prerequisites: PSY 100 & PSY 202. Enrollment limited to 25. {S}

Fall, Spring, Annually

PSY 266 Colloquium: Psychology of Women and Gender (4 Credits)

An in-depth examination of controversial issues of concern to the study of the psychology of women and gender. Students are introduced to current psychological theory and empirical research relating to the existence, origins and implications of behavioral similarities and differences associated with gender. We examine the development of gender roles and stereotypes, power within the family, workplace and politics, and women’s mental health and sexuality, paying attention to social context and intersectional identities. Prerequisites: PSY 202. Enrollment limited to 25. {N}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

PSY 345 Research Seminar: Feminist Perspective on Psychological Science (4 Credits)

Research Seminar. In this advanced methods course, we study feminist empirical approaches to psychological research. The first part considers several key feminist empiricist philosophies of science, including positivist, experiential and discursive approaches. The second part focuses on conceptualizations of gender beyond difference-based approaches and their operationalization in recent empirical articles. The capstone will be an application of feminist perspectives on psychological science to two group projects-quantitative and qualitative, respectively-in the domain of health and well-being. Prerequisites: PSY 202 and (PSY 140 or 266). Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required.

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

PSY 364/ SDS 364 Research Seminar: Intergroup Relationships (4 Credits)

Offered as PSY 364 and SDS 364. Research on intergroup relationships and an exploration of theoretical and statistical models used to study mixed interpersonal interactions. Example research projects include examining the consequences of sexual objectification for both women and men, empathetic accuracy in interracial interactions and gender inequality in household labor. A variety of skills including, but not limited to, literature review, research design, data collection, measurement evaluation, advanced data analysis and scientific writing will be developed. Prerequisites: PSY 201, SDS 201, SDS 220 or equivalent and PSY 202. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {M}{N}{S}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

PSY 374 Seminar: Psychology of Political Activism (4 Credits)

This seminar focuses on people’s motivations to participate in political activism, especially activism around social issues. Readings include theoretical and empirical work from political psychology paired with personal accounts of activists. Students consider accounts of some large-scale liberal and conservative social movements in the United States, and conduct an in-depth analysis of an activists oral history obtained from the Voices of Feminism archive of the Sophia Smith collection. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {S}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

PSY 375 Research Seminar: Political Psychology (4 Credits)

An introduction to research methods in political psychology. Includes discussion of current research as well as design and execution of original research in selected areas such as right wing authoritarianism, group consciousness, and political activism. Prerequisite: PSY 202. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {N}

Fall, Spring, Variable

REL 238 Mary: Images and Cults (4 Credits)

Whether revered as the Mother of God or remembered as a single Jewish mother of an activist, Mary has both inspired and challenged generations of Christian women and men worldwide. This course focuses on key developments in the "history of Mary" since early Christian times to the present. How has her image shaped global Christianities? What does her perceived image in any given age tell us about personal and collective identities? Topics include Mary’s "life"; rise of the Marian cult; Marian apparitions (e.g., Guadalupe and Lourdes) and miracle-working images, especially in Byzantium and Russia; liberation and feminism; politics, activism, mysticism and prayer. Devotional, polemical and literary texts, art and film. Enrollment limited to 35. {H}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

SAS 201 Mother-Goddess-Wife-Whore: Female Sexuality and nationalism in South Asian Cinema (4 Credits)

This course examines the relationship between female sexuality and nationalism in South Asian cinema, focusing on the crucial role that gender plays in the formation of postcolonial national identities, both on screen and beyond. The class considers diverse forms of cinematic resistance, especially the work of directors who challenge gender norms. Students look at films from Bollywood and from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan. The class includes guest-lectures by South Asian activists and filmmakers. (E) {A}{H}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

SOC 213 Race and National Identity in the United States (4 Credits)

The sociology and history of a multiracial and ethnically stratified society. Comparative examinations of several U.S. racialized and ethnic groups. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Enrollment limited to 35. {S}

Fall, Spring, Annually

SOC 214 Sociology of Hispanic Caribbean Communities in the United States (5 Credits)

This community-based learning course surveys social science research, literary texts and film media on Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. Historic and contemporary causes and contexts of (im)migration, settlement patterns, labor market experiences, demographic profiles, identity formations and cultural expressions are considered. Special attention is paid to both inter- and intra-group diversity, particularly along the lines of race, gender, sexuality and class. Students are required to dedicate four hours per week to a local community-based organization. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Enrollment limited to 20.

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

SOC 216 Social Movements (4 Credits)

This course provides an in-depth examination of major sociological theories of collective action and social movements. Emphasis is placed on the analysis of social movement dynamics including recruitment and mobilization, strategies and tactic, and movement outcomes. The empirical emphasis is on modern American social movements including student protest, feminist, civil rights and sexual identity movements. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Enrollment limited to 35. {S}

Fall, Spring, Annually

SOC 224 Family and Society (4 Credits)

This course examines social structures and meanings that shape contemporary family life. Students look at the ways that race, class and gender shape the ways that family is organized and experienced. Topics include the social construction of family, family care networks, parenthood, family policy, globalization and work. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Enrollment limited to 35. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

SOC 229 Sex and Gender in American Society (4 Credits)

An examination of the ways in which the social system creates, maintains and reproduces gender dichotomies with specific attention to the significance of gender in interaction, culture and a number of institutional contexts, including work, politics, families and sexuality. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Enrollment limited to 35. {S}

Fall, Spring, Annually

SOC 236 Beyond Borders: The New Global Political Economy (4 Credits)

This course introduces students to the basic concepts and theories in global political economy. It covers the history of economic restructuring, global division of labor, development, North-South state relations, and modes of resistance from a transnational and feminist perspective. Issues central to migration, borders and security, health, and the environment are central to the course. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Enrollment limited to 35. {S}

Fall, Spring, Annually

SOC 237 Gender and Globalization (4 Credits)

This course engages with the various dimensions of globalization through the lens of gender, race and class relations. We study how gender and race intersect in global manufacturing and supply chains as well as in the transnational politics of representation and access in global media, culture, consumption, fashion, food, water, war and dissenting voices. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Enrollment limited to 25. {S}

Fall, Spring, Annually

SOC 243 Race, Gender and Mass Incarceration (4 Credits)

This course introduces students to the historical roots of mass incarceration and how it shapes multiple aspects of life and society. Students focus on the particular experiences of currently and formerly incarcerated women, with an emphasis on the overrepresentation of Black women; the major social, political and economic factors that have contributed to the rise of mass incarceration in the United States; the primary ways mass incarceration alters the lives of people and communities; and why eliminating racial oppression cannot be disentangled from eliminating mass incarceration. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Enrollment limited to 35. {S}

Fall, Spring, Annually

SOC 253 Sociology of Sexuality: Institutions, Identities and Cultures (4 Credits)

This course examines sexuality from a sociological perspective, focusing on how sexuality is constructed by and structures major social institutions. We examine the social construction of individual and collective identities, norms and behaviors, discourses, institutional regulation, and the place of sexuality in the state, education, science and other institutions, and social movements. Consideration of gender, race, class, time and place are integrated throughout. Topics include the social construction of sexual desire and practice, sexuality and labor, reproduction, science, technology, sexuality and the state, sexuality education, globalization, commodification, and social movements for sexual purity, sexual freedom and against sexual violence. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Enrollment limited to 35. {S}

Fall, Spring, Annually

SOC 255 Colloquium: The Bollywood Matinee (4 Credits)

This course engages the world of popular Indian cinema, Bollywood and beyond. We integrate scholarly articles on the subject, lectures, in-depth discussions, and of course, film screenings to explore the history and political economy of India and South Asia. Students analyze how this vital cultural form deals with the politics of gender, class, caste, religion and Indian nationalism. Our discussions simultaneously focus on the role of globalization, migration and the cultural significance of Indian characters on international media; for example, Raj in the popular American sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Students are expected to engage with the readings, bring their reflections and actively participate in class discussions. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Enrollment limited to 20.

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

SOC 317 Seminar: Inequality in Higher Education (4 Credits)

This course applies a sociological lens to understanding inequality in American higher education. We examine how the conflicting purposes of higher education have led to a highly stratified system of colleges and universities. We also address the question of how students’ social class, race, ethnicity and gender affect their chances of successfully navigating this stratified system of higher education. Finally, we examine selected public policies aimed at minimizing inequality in students’ access to and success in college. Prerequisites: SOC 101 and permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 12. {S}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

SOC 323ct Seminar: Topics in Gender and Social Change-Gender, Sexuality and Social Movements in Conservative Times (4 Credits)

This class focuses on challenges to and changes in gender and sexuality during conservative time periods. Focusing on the U.S., we will primarily examine the 1980's and the contemporary period as case studies. We will look how political and other institutions affect gender and sexuality and at social movements addressing gender and sexuality from both the right and the left. We will look at movements including queer, feminist, anti-racist, anti-interventionist movements on the left, and racial supremacist, pro-military intervention, anti-LGBT and conservative evangelical movements on the right.  Theoretical frameworks are drawn from social movements, intersectional feminist and queer theories. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {S}

Fall, Variable

SOC 327 Seminar: Global Migration in the 21st Century (4 Credits)

This course provides an in-depth engagement with global migration. It covers such areas as theories of migration, the significance of global political economy and state policies across the world in shaping migration patterns and immigrant identities. Questions about imperialism, post-colonial conditions, nation-building/national borders, citizenship and the gendered racialization of immigration intersect as critical contexts for our discussions. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {S}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

SPN 230dm Topics in Latin American and Peninsular Culture and Society-Domestica (4 Credits)

This course explores the realities and representation of women’s domestic labor from the thematic perspectives of precariousness (a condition and expression of subjectivity under globalization) and intimacy (understood as both an experience of affect and a condition of labor). This course uses short fiction, documentary and film from the Spanish-speaking world (the Americas and Spain) and the Portuguese-speaking world where appropriate, to explore the ways in which women’s transnational domestic labor has shaped new cultural subjects and political identities in the public as well as the private sphere. Students work on the theme of women’s domestic labor from the perspective of their choosing (for example, human rights, migration policies, racial and gendered labor regimes, neoliberal reforms and resistance). Enrollment limited to 20. Prerequisite: SPN 220 or equivalent. {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

SPN 230mj Topics in Latin American and Peninsular Culture and Society-Maghribi Jewish Women: Cordoba, Casablanca, Tel Aviv (4 Credits)

This course examines constructions and representations of Maghribi Jewish women from the western Mediterranean to Israel. The first part of the course focuses on Jewish women in Andalusi and Maghribi texts. Students are invited to think critically about concepts such as "tolerance," "convivencia," and "dhimma," as well as what it means to be a woman and a religious minority in Muslim-majority communities. The second half of the course examines representations and realities of Jewish women of Moroccan descent in Israeli society. This part centers on questions of immigration, class, demography, gender, diaspora and identity. Enrollment limited to 19. {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

SPN 230ww Topics in Latin American and Peninsular Culture and Society-Creative Writing By and With Spanish Women Writers (4 Credits)

A quest for the self and its relation to otherness through a one-poem per class approach. Readings in modern and contemporary works by poets from both sides of the ocean, complemented by the study of related music and visual art. The course examines the consequences of political exile as a journey to the unknown (Jiménez, Cernuda, Cortázar, Neruda, Alberti) as well as the voluntary exile of the artist in search of a new aesthetic identity (Darío, Lorca, Vallejo). Special attention is given to the problems of subjectivity, gender and sexuality in the works of four women poets: Agustini, Storni, Parra and Pizarnik. {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

SPN 250sm Topics in Iberian Cultural History-Sex and the Medieval City (4 Credits)

This course examines the medieval understanding of sex and the woman’s body within an urban context. We read medieval texts on love, medicine and women’s sexuality by Iberian and North African scholars. We investigate the ways in which medieval Iberian medical traditions have viewed women’s bodies and defined their health and illness. We also address women’s role as practitioners of medicine, and how such a role was affected by the gradual emergence of “modern” medical institutions such as the hospital and the medical profession. Prerequisite: SPN 220 or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 19. {F}{H}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

SPN 255 Colloquium: Muslim Women in Film (4 Credits)

Focusing on films by and about Muslim women from Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, this transdisciplinary course will explore one question: What do Muslim women want? Students will watch and study critically films in Farsi, Hebrew, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, and different Arabic dialects. Class discussion and assignments will be primarily in Spanish. Enrollment limited to 25. {A}{F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

SPN 260dl Topics in Latin American Cultural History-Decolonizing Latin American Literature (4 Credits)

This course offers critical perspectives on colonialism, literatures of conquest and narratives of cultural resistance in the Americas and the Caribbean. Decolonial theories of violence, writing and representation in the colonial context inform the study of literary and cultural production of this period. Readings explore several themes including indigenous knowledge, land and the natural world; orality, literacy and visual cultures; race, rebellion and liberation; slavery, piracy and power; and the coloniality of gender.  Prerequisite:  SPN 220 or equivalent.  Enrollment limited to 19. {F}{H}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

SPN 373rw Seminar: Topics in Cultural Movements in Spanish America-Radical Words: Latin American Women and the Struggle for Livable Worlds (4 Credits)

When your world is on fire, what can words do? This course explores how Latin American women intellectuals, dissidents and cultural revolutionaries (20th and early 21st centuries) have confronted unlivable realities and imagined radical alternatives. Students read works crafted on the front lines of social upheaval and in the face of ecological catastrophe, analyzing different modes of representation: testimonial, memoir, experimental fiction, visual narrative, and political manifestos. They will also gain understanding of social forces shaping the cultural imaginaries of the time: Black and Queer liberation and Indigenous sovereignty movements, struggles against state violence, and ecological, anarchist and revolutionary feminisms. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required. {F}{L}

Fall, Variable

WLT 100cw Introduction to World Literatures-Cannibals, Witches, Virgins (4 Credits)

An examination of the rewritings and adaptations of the three iconic figures of Shakespeare’s The Tempest—Caliban the demi-devil savage other, Sycorax the devil-whore, and Miranda the virgin-goddess—by writers from different geographies, time periods and ideological persuasions. Using texts such as Aimé Césaire’s A Tempest, Rachel Ingalls’ Mrs. Caliban, Lemuel Johnson’s Highlife for Caliban, Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day and Michelle Cliff’s No Telephone to Heaven, we seek to understand how postcolonial, feminist and postmodern rewritings of The Tempest transpose its language and characters into critiques of colonialism, nationhood, race, gender and difference. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

WLT 204qq Topics: Writings and Rewritings-Queering Don Quixote (4 Credits)

Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–15) is allegedly the first and most influential modern novel. We approach this hilarious masterpiece by Cervantes through a “queering” focus, i.e., as a text that exposes binary oppositions (literary, sexual, social, religious and ethnic) such as: high-low, tradition vs. individual creativity, historical vs. literary truth, man vs. woman, authenticity vs. performance, Moor vs. Christian, humorous vs. tragic. The course also covers the crucial role of Don Quixote in the development of modern and postmodern novelistic concepts (multiple narrators, fictional authors, palimpsest, dialogism). SPN 356 optional corequisite. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

WLT 205 Contemporary African Literature and Film (4 Credits)

A study of the major writers and diverse literary traditions of Africa, with emphasis on the historical, political, social and cultural contexts of the emergence of writing, reception and consumption. We pay particular attention to several questions: in what contexts did modern African literature emerge? Is the term "African literature" a useful category? How do African writers challenge Western representations of Africa? How do they articulate the crisis of postcoloniality? How do women writers reshape our understanding of gender and the politics of resistance? Writers include Achebe, Ngugi, Dangarembga, Bâ, Ndebele and Aidoo. Films: Tsotsi , Softie and Blood Diamond. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

WLT 230 “Unnatural” Women: Mothers Who Kill their Children (4 Credits)

Some cultures give the murdering mother a central place in myth and literature while others treat the subject as taboo. How is such a woman depicted--As monster, lunatic, victim, savior? What do the motives attributed to her reveal about a society’s assumptions and values? What difference does it make if the author is a woman? We focus on literary texts but also consider representations in other media, especially cinema. Authors to be studied include Euripides, Seneca, Ovid, Anouilh, Christa Wolff, Christopher Durang, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison and others. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

WLT 270 Colloquium: Health and Illness: Literary Explorations (4 Credits)

From medieval Chinese tales to memoirs about SARS and COVID-19, this cross-cultural literary inquiry explores how conceptions of selfhood and belonging inform ideas about well-being, disease, intervention and healing. How do languages, social norms and economic contexts shape experiences of health and illness? From depression and plague to aging, disability and death, how do sufferers and their caregivers adapt in the face of infirmity or trauma? Our study will also consider how stories and other genres can help develop resilience, compassion and hope. Enrollment limited to 20. {L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

WLT 276 #MeToo: Sex, Gender and Power Across Cultures (4 Credits)

When it comes to sex and gender, how do power dynamics promote or thwart freedom, belonging and love? As #MeToo and other movements challenge cultures of oppression, how do such struggles relate to the ecological, capitalist, and humanitarian crises that threaten life as we know it? Learning from feminisms, this course questions persistent structural binaries: mind/body, human/animal, man/woman, culture/nature. Drawing on literature, philosophy and journalism, we examine how social constructions of gender, class, race, and disability coalesce with material bodies, spaces, and conditions to form habits of subjectivity and patterns of life. {L}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

WRT 118lg Colloquium: Topics in Writing-Language and Gender (4 Credits)

How people speak – the words they choose, the way they structure their sentences, the pitch of their voices, even their gender while speaking – is constantly judged by those around them. Examining the interaction of gender and language leads to questions, such as how does gender shape the way people use language, how does gender affect others’ perceptions of speech (both written and verbal), what variation occurs across cultures with regards to gender and language? This course uses the topic of language and gender to expand upon and improve rhetorical and writing skills. Enrollment limited to 15. WI

Fall, Spring, Variable