Fall 2010 Course Offerings
GW 101: Introduction to Gender Studies
M/W 2:30-4:20
Prof. N. Taylor
4 credits
An introduction to the origins, purpose, subject matters, and methods of gender studies.
Through an
interdisciplinary investigation of the evolving body of scholarship by and about women,
this course
presents a survey of women's social, psychological, historical, political, and cultural
experiences. The
goal of the course is to help students develop a critical framework for thinking about
gender and
sexuality, with special attention to issues of class, race, and ethnicity.
GW 210: Ecofeminism, Women, and the Environment
TU/TH 11:10-12:30
Prof. M. Stange
3 credits
An interdisciplinary exploration of the complex relationship between feminist theory
and praxis, and
environmental philosophy and activism. Using the idea of "ecofeminism" as its unifying
focus, the
course examines such national and global issues as deforestation, overpopulation,
species extinction,
bioregionalism, environmental pollution, habitat loss, development, and agribusiness.
Representative
perspectives include those based in deep ecology, social ecology, animal and nature
rights, human
ecology, earth-based spiritualities, "wise use," the "land ethic," conservation, and
wildlife management.
GW 212: Women in Italian Society: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
M/W 2:30-3:50 Prof. S. Smith
3 credits
Students examine the changing role of women in Italian society. Authors and filmmakers
studied
include Natalia Ginzburg (Family Lexicon), Dacia Maraini (The Blind Countess), and
Lina Wertmuller
(Pasqualino Seven Beauties). A portion of the course is dedicated to the new multiethnic
Italian reality.
Texts by women immigrants in Italy in the last decade include works by Igiaba Scego
and Christiana de
Caldas Brito. Also counts for the minor in Italian.
GW 227: Holding Up Half the Sky: Gender, Writing, and Nationhood in China
TU/TH 2:10-3:30
Prof. M. Chen
3 Credits
Interdisciplinary exploration of gender issues in China, especially but not exclusively
focusing on the
roles of women in the making of modern Chinese history. Students will learn about
cultural specificities
in the experiences of Chinese women while exploring the diverse meanings of "women's
status" and
gender relations. Themes to be examined in the course content include gendered subjectivities,
the
ideology of the new women, the impact of globalization and transnational capital,
different gender roles,
and women’s writing from the Opium War to contemporary China. Emphasis on different
stages of
women’s writing in relation to their cultural conditions and social awakening, and
on the ways
ideologies helped form gender identities in the twentieth century. (Designated a non-Western
culture
course.)
GW 375: Senior Seminar (IND)
4 Credits
Exploration of primary and secondary sources in the interdisciplinary examination
of a particular theme
or topic in gender studies. The focus is on advanced research, and close attention
is paid to the
development, organization, and production of a major project. Students will present
their research to
the seminar; those intending to write an honors thesis will present their thesis proposals.
Prerequisites:
GW101 and GW201.
AM 342: Black Feminist Thoughts
W/F 12:20-1:40
Prof. W. Grady-Willis
3 credits
Examines the development and materialization of Black American feminist thoughts within
historical,
social, political, and cultural contexts. Interdisciplinary in focus, it surveys feminist
politics and
theories through films, popular culture, manifestos, literary texts, and theoretical
and historical essays.
In addition, the course will address how the concepts of black feminism and black
womanhood overlap
and diverge in accordance with the modes of representation used to articulate them.
(Designated a
Cultural Diversity course.)
AN 231: The Anthropology of Food
M/W/F 1:25-2:20
Prof. K. Tierney
3 credits
This course examines the relationship between food, the self, and society both in
the United States and
throughout the globe. If eating is the act of taking the world into our bodies, does
each bite change how
we see the world or does world change us? Where do our notions of taste come from?
Drawing on
cultural roles of food in cultures and societies throughout the world, students will
consider
anthropological approaches to eating, consumption, identity, the body, and gender.
Current food
debates such as globalization, the environment effects, genetically modified organisms,
vegetarianism,
obesity, and disordered consumption will inform our examination of how gender, ethnicity,
social class,
nationality and age shape what (or what not), how, where and why we eat.
AN 351C: The Anthropology of the Body
M/W 4:00-5:20 Prof. K. Tierney
3 credits
Students will examine the socio-cultural roles of the body. How is the body understood?
What is the
relationship between the mind, the self and the body? How have global discourses,
technologies, and
bodies affect native understandings of the body? Students will consider these questions
and others
through an examination of anthropological theories and through a variety of bodies
and the spaces of
their production – including gender, race, religion, discipline, medicine and disease,
beauty, and
nationalized bodies.
EN 223: Women and Literature
TU/TH 12:40-2:00 Prof. B. Black
3 credits
This course focuses on women who have chosen to write for publication. Particularly interested in
literary influence, we will examine women writers’ relationships to each other and to their times as we
construct a narrative of women’s literary history. Questions of form and language will guide our
discussions as we debate such issues as identity, happiness, love and sexuality, freedom, and creativity.
We will read Gothic narratives, melodrama, fairy tale, utopian fiction, but focus particularly on women’s
intimate relationship to the novel (a form that encouraged nineteenth-century women to read and to
write). Our course will begin with Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, the most
influential work on American thinking about women’s rights and a book that left in its wake, in
England, the “Wollstonecraft scandal.” Other readings will include lesser-known works like Mary
Shelley’s Matilda and Olive Schreiner’s Dreams but also the canonical Jane Eyre, which created a mania
in England and America. In our course’s final weeks, we will read Jean Rhys’s famous rewriting of Jane
Eyre, The Wide Sargasso Sea, and sample work from a group of contemporary writers sometimes called
“the neo-Brontës.” Finally, we will bring our work close to home when we turn to one of America’s most
important artists colonies, Yaddo, in Saratoga Springs to examine the particularly cherished community
it has provided modern women authors. Course work includes several informal brief essays, one longer
work, and two exams.
SO 203: Femininities and Masculinities
TU/TH 12:40-2:00 Prof. K. Ford
3 Credits
An analysis of gender in contemporary social life. By examining the intersections
between race,
ethnicity, class, sexuality and age, this course explores how differing types of femininities
and
masculinities are constructed, reinforced and maintained in U.S. culture and society.
Dating and
relationships, body image and appearance, and institutional inequities are among the
topics examined.
Prerequisite: SO101 or WS101.