Frequently Offered Courses

Although this is literally an Introduction to our field of study, it doesn't mean that you have to take it before taking anything else! 

Women's and gender studies provides a critical perspective that examines the world and everything that happens within it through the lens of gender and from the viewpoints of women. It encourages new ways of seeing and thinking about our world and its people and institutions. This class will be an interdisciplinary introduction to the questions, findings, methods, and theories of women's and gender studies scholarship. We will examine how multiple forms of feminism shape the practice of women's and gender studies, and increasingly recognize differences among women. We will analyze gender as a social construct and the diverse conditions of gendered lives and experiences in the United States. (Required for WGSS majors and minors)

Examines contemporary LGBTQ (also known as queer) studies, primarily from feminist/queer/trans theoretical perspectives and utilizing a social constructionist standpoint. Includes interdisciplinary and historical explorations of LGBTQ lives and practices, with a focus on intersectionality. (Required for WGSS majors)

This course will survey key works of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer literature, and it will introduce you to some key debates in queer literary studies. We will familiarize ourselves with the social, political, and legal, contexts of our readings as we explore their representations of sexuality, gender, intimacy, sociability, and desire. We will also explore the affective and political potential of these works, how they develop a historical awareness of violence, oppression, and homo/ bi/ and transphobia; how they envision alternative forms of attachment, belonging, and intimacy; and how they imagine survival, resilience and transcendence. Authors include Carson McCullers, James Baldwin, Justin Torres, Maggie Nelson, and Carmen Maria Machado, as well as poetry by Danez Smith and J. Jennifer Espinoza. We will read these authors in conjunction with short critical readings on queer theory by Sara Ahmed, Judith Butler, and José Esteban Muñoz.

Why do we study feminist theory? What is its value beyond an academic endeavor? What is the relationship between feminist theory and political praxis? How can theory be useful in interpreting contemporary events, such as the #Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements? This course equips students with the skills necessary to understand some of the core texts of feminist theory and use them to interpret contemporary political and social phenomena. Hence, in this class, we will approach feminist thought as a method of understanding the world and an analytical tool that provides insights to transform the status quo. Some of our thematic focal topics will include the feminist approaches to and criticism of “Western” political thought, the “woman question,” performativity, contestations over the meaning of feminism, consciousness-raising, public/private divide, feminist theories of the state, intersectionality, black feminist thought, post-colonial feminism, transnational feminism and solidarity, and current feminist debates.

In-depth examination of the psychology of women in contemporary society. Review of the research on gender differences and consideration of the theories (social learning, psychoanalytic, and biological) that have attempted to explain the differences. Focuses on some of the central experiences of women's lives (including relationships, work, mothering, sexuality, and mental health), with particular attention to the ways in which women's psychological development differs from that of men's in a patriarchal society. Develops effective writing for different purposes and audiences, as well as oral and/or visual presentation skills.

Explores the development and growing perspective of Hip Hop Feminism. Examines the historical, political, racial, economic, and social importance of hip hop as a cultural movement. Particular attention is given to hip hop's main tenets; the political economy of racialized representations; and the legacy and agency of cultural expressions. Uses an intersectional consciousness to explore patriarchy, sexism, and racism through works by early womanist, hip hop feminists and contemporary scholars, artists, performers, and writers.

This course explores how concepts of Blackness relate to the sexual economies that have shaped the intersections of gender and sexuality. Taking a diaspora perspective, we examine Black and sexuality studies conventions, and interrogate the sexualization of Black gendered bodies, with particular attention to pleasure activism and sexuality. Topics include, but are not limited to, colonialism, sexual difference, Black eroticism, sexual health and hygiene, and sexual liberation.

In this course we will read a range of plays, beginning in the ancient Greek period and extending to the present day, which feature female characters who might be described as “dangerous”—often because they challenge status quo assumptions about femininity and a woman’s role in her society. In each case, we will consider what constitutes female danger in the play and the culture that we are addressing. What norms are being challenged so that the female elicits male fear and violence (and often, also and simultaneously, desire)? What is it about her that is so threatening that she needs to be controlled, contained, and sometimes killed? Is the playwright using her to question the norms that she challenges or to reinscribe them? As we read these plays, we will situate them within their cultural contexts and we will read secondary material (historical and theoretical) to better understand how notions regarding female danger change over time. Our plays will include some or all of the following: Medea , The Oresteia, Othello, The Duchess of Malfi, Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Hedda Gabler, All My Sons, Top Girls, Oleanna, Harlem Duet, By the Bog of Cats .

Many individuals continue to feel as though they live at the margins of society, despite the “melting pot” rhetoric of inclusivity and acceptance that dominates narratives of American identity. While we commonly consider purposeful exclusion an act of injustice on the part of the powerful, we are often unaware of the way that subtle, hidden forms of power render particular groups and individuals powerless. American literature is one of the most widely utilized platforms for articulating the specific issues that arise in response to these forms of power. This course will use an array of American literary texts to explore the complexities of the life experiences of those who are forced by the powerful to live at the margins. We will read the work of Rebecca Harding Davis, Toni Morrison, Ntozake Shange, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Junot Diaz, Adam Mansbach, ZZ Packer, and Tommy Orange.