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Currently Offered Courses

Currently Offered Courses - Spring 2025

GWS 100 - Intro Gender & Women's Studies

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

GWS 199 - Undergraduate Open Seminar

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

GWS 201 - Race, Gender & Power

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

GWS 202 - Sexualities

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

GWS 204 - Gender in Gaming

Examines the history of gender in videogames, focusing on how the embodied elements of play as well as the spatial logics of games function to promote and resist representation, as well as how games designed by women and people of color are transforming how and why we play games. Same as ENGL 277, GSD 204, and MACS 204.

GWS 215 - US Citizenship Comparatively

Same as AAS 215, AIS 295, AFRO 215, and LLS 215. See AAS 215.

GWS 218 - Intro to Social Issues Theatre

Same as THEA 218. See THEA 218.

GWS 235 - Race and the Politics of Reproduction

Same as LLS 235. See LLS 235.

GWS 240 - Gender & Sexuality in Greco-Roman Antiquity

Same as CLCV 240 and CWL 262. See CLCV 240.

GWS 263 - History of Medicine in the United States

Same as HIST 263. See HIST 263.

GWS 275 - The Politics of Fashion

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

GWS 288 - Global Islam and Feminisms

Examines gender and sexuality in Muslim-majority societies and diasporas. Introduces students to transnational feminist theories and methodologies in order to examine key issues and debates. Topics include constructions of femininity and masculinity, imperialism and neo-imperialism, Islamic feminisms and exegesis, nationalisms, war and violence, sexuality, diaspora and transnationalism, and race and racialization. Same as AAS 288.

GWS 305 - Theories of Race, Gender, and Sexuality

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

GWS 315 - War, Memory, and Cinema

Same as AAS 315. See AAS 315.

GWS 335 - Film, TV, and Gender

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

GWS 350 - Feminist & Gender Theory

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

GWS 356 - Sex & Gender in Popular Media

Same as MACS 356. See MACS 356.

GWS 357 - Literatures of the Displaced

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

GWS 387 - History of Sexuality in U.S.

Explores a wide variety of sources to understand how notions of sexuality have emerged and been contested at key moments in U.S. history. Our guiding questions include: How have "official" or governing discourses of sexuality (in law, medicine, religions, science) been formulated? In turn, how have "ordinary" people understood and practiced their sexuality? How has the meaning of particular sexual practices changed over time? How have ideas about race, gender, and/or class been embedded within the discourse of sexuality at different moments in U.S. history? What methods of reading and interpretation are most useful for the historical study of sexuality? Also emphasizes skills such as critically analyzing primary sources within their historical context; interpreting different types of primary sources; locating, understanding, and evaluating scholarly secondary sources; and presenting historical arguments, based on both primary and secondary sources. Same as HIST 387.

GWS 390 - Individual Study

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

GWS 395 - Intermediate Topics GWS

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

GWS 399 - GWS Internship

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

GWS 409 - Women's Health

Same as HK 409. See HK 409.

GWS 415 - Africana Feminisms

Same as AFRO 415 and AFST 420. See AFRO 415.

GWS 416 - Latinx Feminisms

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

GWS 417 - Leading Post-Perform Dialog

Same as THEA 417. See THEA 417.

GWS 418 - Devising Social Issues Theatre

Same as THEA 418. See THEA 418.

GWS 425 - Minoritarian Aesthetics Practicum

Same as AAS 495, ENGL 495, FAA 495, and THEA 468. See FAA 495.

GWS 432 - Gender Communication

Same as CMN 432. See CMN 432.

GWS 442 - Body, Culture & Society

Same as HK 442. See HK 442.

GWS 465 - Race, Sex, and Deviance

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

GWS 490 - Individual Study

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

GWS 512 - Gender Relations & Intl Dev

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

GWS 550 - Feminist Theories & Methods

Interdisciplinary study in diverse feminist theories and methods produced in and across various disciplines. Contemporary philosophical and theoretical developments in the study of gender to specific histories of class, race, ethnicity, nation and sexuality. Prerequisite: At least one graduate-level humanities course or consent of instructor.

GWS 581 - Topics in Queer Studies

Interdisciplinary graduate seminar on a current topic in the field of queer studies. May be repeated in separate terms to a maximum of 8 hours if topics vary. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and previous coursework in women's or gender studies, or consent of instructor. GWS 580 or previous coursework in queer studies is recommended.