An interdepartmental program in Women's and Gender Studies

Last updated: November 4, 2010 at 3:22 p.m.

Objectives

Undergraduate Program
Women's and gender studies draws on the humanities, arts, and social and biological sciences to explore the broad range of intellectual questions concerning both the social positions of women and the gendered constructions of knowledge, identity, and culture. Students in the program have the opportunity to study theories of feminism, gender, and sexuality; the diversity of women's experiences and representations past and present; and women's movements in the United States and around the globe. This curriculum brings students into contact with the extensive research on women, gender, and feminism that has burgeoned during the past thirty years, as well as with historical and cross-cultural knowledge that recognizes the intersections of gender with race, class, religion, sexuality, ethnicity, age, ability, and nationality.

Graduate Programs in Women's and Gender Studies
The Women's and Gender Studies Program (WGS) offers a stand-alone MA program as well as a number of joint master’s programs outlined below. WGS provides a strong grounding in discipline-specific studies along with an interdisciplinary education in the theories, methods, and scholarship of women's and gender studies. By introducing students to current research in a variety of fields, master’s degree programs generate cross-disciplinary dialogue and prepare students for positions and professions in women's and gender studies. Students enrolled in PhD programs in eight different fields are eligible to undertake the joint MA. Seven fields—five in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (anthropology, English, music, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, sociology) and two in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management (public policy, and sustainable international development)—offer a terminal master’s with women's and gender studies.

How to Become a Major or Minor

As early as possible in their academic careers, students interested in women's and gender studies should take WMGS 5a (Women and Gender in Culture and Society), the required introduction to the field. In order to declare a major or minor, each student should meet with the women's and gender studies undergraduate advising head, who will help him or her select an adviser a faculty member well suited to the student's academic interests. The adviser will help to plan a course of study tailored to the student's intellectual and professional interests, while meeting the core and elective requirements for the degree.

How to Be Admitted to the Graduate Program

The Women’s and Gender Studies Program offers three MA degree options:

The first option is a terminal master’s degree in women’s and gender studies. The MA program is a full-time, two semester program (8 courses) that offers students grounding in feminist and gender theory, knowledge, and methodologies.

Prospective students apply to the WGS program through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The general requirements for admission to the Graduate School apply to candidates for admission to graduate study in women’s and gender studies. Admission decisions are based primarily on the candidate's undergraduate academic record, letters of recommendation, Graduate Record Examination scores, writing sample, and the personal statement that is part of the application form.

The second option is a joint terminal master's degree in women's and gender studies in conjunction with one of the following seven fields: anthropology, English, music, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, public policy, sociology, or sustainable international development. This degree option may require one or two calendar years, depending on requirements in the affiliated program.

Prospective students apply to one of the seven home departments through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences or the Heller School. For specific admission requirements, see the Bulletin section of the home department in which there is interest in pursuing a joint degree.

The third option is a joint master's degree while in pursuit of a PhD in one of the following eight fields: anthropology, English, history, music, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, psychology, social policy (Heller School), or sociology. This degree option replaces a master's degree in the student's program.

Current Brandeis PhD students may pursue the joint MA at any time during their graduate career with the approval of their adviser and the women's and gender studies program. Prospective PhD students interested in pursuing a joint MA must apply directly to the PhD program through the home department, but should note their interest in the joint program in their statement of purpose.

Students pursuing the joint MA are encouraged to enroll in courses offered by the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies at MIT.

Core Faculty

James Mandrell, Chair
(Romance Studies)

Joyce Antler
(American Studies)

Silvia Arrom
(History)

Sarita Bhalotra
(Heller School)

Elizabeth Brainerd
(Economics)

Bernadette Brooten, Joint MA Adviser, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)

Dian Fox, Undergraduate Advising Head
(Romance Studies)

ChaeRan Freeze, Director of Graduate Studies
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)

Karen Hansen, Joint MA Adviser, Sociology
(Sociology)

Anita Hill, Joint MA Adviser, Social Policy and Management
(Heller School)

Jane Kamensky, Joint MA Adviser, History
(History)

Thomas King
(English)

Ann Koloski-Ostrow
(Classical Studies)

Sarah Lamb, Joint MA Adviser, Anthropology
(Anthropology)

Susan Lanser, Joint MA Adviser, English
(English; Comparative Literature)

Ellen Schattschneider
(Anthropology)

Harleen Singh
(German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)

Marion Smiley
(Philosophy)

Faith Smith
(African and Afro-American Studies; English)

Sabine von Mering
(German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)

Affiliate and Visiting Faculty

Aliyyah Abdur-Rahman
(English)

Marc Brettler
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)

Olga Broumas
(English)

Wendy Cadge
(Sociology)

Mary Campbell
(English)

Shilpa Davé
(American Studies)

Susan Dibble
(Theater Arts)

Christina Espinosa
(Heller School)

Gordon Fellman
(Sociology)

Elizabeth Ferry
(Anthropology)

Sylvia Fishman
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)

Matthew Fraleigh
(German, Russian, and East Asian Languages and Literature)

David Gil
(Heller School)

Laura Goldin
(American Studies)

Jill Greenlee
(Politics)

Jane Hale
(Romance Studies)

Deirdre Hunter
(Women's and Gender Studies)

Caren Irr
(English)

Alice Kelikian
(History)

Jytte Klausen
(Politics)

Adrianne Krstansky
(Theater Arts)

Nidhiya Menon
(Economics)

Robin Feuer Miller
(German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literature)

Paul Morrison
(English)

Nancy Scott
(Fine Arts)

Mitra Shavarini
(Women's and Gender Studies)

Sara Shostak
(Sociology)

Ilana Szobel
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)

Eva Thorne
(Politics)

Judith Tsipis
(Biology)

Lawrence Wangh
(Biology)

Leslie Zebrowitz, Joint MA Adviser, Psychology
(Psychology)

Requirements for the Minor

A. Successful completion of WMGS 5a.

B. Four additional semester courses that carry the WMGS designation or are approved as women's and gender studies electives. No more than two of these courses may come from a single department or program.

No course with a final grade below C- can count toward fulfilling the requirements for the minor in women’s and gender studies. No course counting for the minor may be taken on a pass/fail basis.

All minors are encouraged to submit a senior paper on women's and gender studies to be considered for the Giller-Sagan Prize.

Requirements for the Major

Nine courses are required for the major and are to be distributed as follows:

A. Three core courses are required: WMGS 5a (Women and Gender in Culture and Society), WMGS 105b (Feminist Theories in Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspective), and WMGS 198a (Research Seminar). Ordinarily, WMGS 198a will be offered each fall, WMGS 105b each spring, and WMGS 5a typically in both semesters. With permission of the undergraduate advising head, students may be allowed to substitute another feminist theory course for WMGS 105b.

B. Six additional courses that either carry the WMGS designation or are approved as women's and gender studies electives. These six courses must meet the following additional requirements:

1. At least one course must have a historical focus encompassing a period before 1945. Courses that fulfill this requirement include but are not limited to: AMST 118a, AMST 121a, AMST 123b, AMST 124b, AMST 125a, CLAS 140a, ENG 28b, ENG 46a, ENG 64b, ENG 66a, ENG 114b, ENG 134a, ENG 144b, ENG 145b, ENG 234a, FA 61b, FA 173a, GECS 150a, HISP 125b, HIST 55b, HIST 153a, HIST 154b, HIST 157a, HIST 173b, HIST 179a, MUS 150a, NEJS 29b, NEJS 115b, NEJS 128b, NEJS 148b, NEJS 175a, RECS 137a, SAS 170b.

2. At least one course must engage in a systematic and comprehensive exploration of cultural differences, including racial, class and/or ethnic difference within or across cultures. These courses include but are not limited to: AAAS 125b, AAAS 133b, AMST 144b, ANTH 144a, ANTH 145a, ANTH 178b, COML 122b, ENG 87a, ENG 107a, ENG 197b, HISP 195a, HIST 173b, NEJS 29b, NEJS 196a, POL 130b, SAS 101a, SAS 110b, SOC 138a, WMGS 120b, WMGS 140a, WMGS 141a.

3. No more than three courses may be taken from any one department or program outside women's and gender studies.

4. Students are strongly encouraged to undertake an internship in women's and gender studies as one of their electives.

C. Completion of a senior essay or thesis. The research seminar (WMGS 198a) will guide students in designing and writing a senior paper. Students must receive a C or higher on their senior essay and two WGS core faculty members must sign off on the completed essay in order to fulfill the requirement.

Students are encouraged to revise the essay based on the comments of their core faculty readers and submit the revised copy to be considered for the Giller-Sagan Prize at the end of the spring term.

Courses that fulfill university requirements or requirements for another major may also count toward the major in women's and gender studies.

Students who wish to receive honors in women's and gender studies are required to complete a senior thesis. These students should enroll in the Research Seminar (WMGS 198a) during the fall semester and in Senior Thesis Research (WMGS 99b) during the spring. WMGS 99a and b do not count as one of the nine courses required for the major.

No course with a final grade below C- can count toward fulfilling the requirements for the major in women’s and gender studies.

No course counting for the major may be taken on a pass/fail basis. However, students who maintain a grade average of 3.3 or higher in their women's and gender studies courses will be permitted to count toward the major one credit-bearing peer assistantship in women's and gender studies.

Requirements for Special BA/MA Programs

Brandeis undergraduates who are NEJS or IMES majors with either a second major in WMGS or a minor in WMGS are invited in their senior year to apply for admission to the BA/MA joint degree in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies & Women's and Gender Studies. Students must complete all requirements and earn the BA, including the successful completion of the major in NEJS or IMES prior to the start of the one-year master's program.

Program of Study
Fourteen courses are required:

A. Internal transfer credit: seven Brandeis undergraduate courses (NEJS, IMES, WMGS, and/or approved cross-listed courses) numbered 100 or above for which grades of B- or higher have been earned.

B. Seven courses taken in the fifth year: four approved NEJS electives and three WMGS courses approved by the program adviser. Between the BA and the MA the following WMGS courses must be completed: a course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a or the feminist inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies, or an alternate), WMGS 205a and two elective courses in WMGS, one inside and one outside the NEJS department.

C. Successful completion of one of the following: a comprehensive examination, a culminating project or a master’s thesis. If a master’s thesis encompasses both a NEJS and a WMGS component it will satisfy requirement E below.

D. Participation in a fall semester noncredit Women’s and Gender Studies Graduate Proseminar.

E. Joint MA paper requirement: Completion of a master’s research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, one of whom is a member of the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies department, and one of whom is a member of the women’s and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

Resident Requirement
One year of full-time residence (the fifth year) is required subsequent to completing the BA.

Language Requirement
All candidates are required to demonstrate proficiency in Biblical or Modern Hebrew or in Arabic.

Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Women's and Gender Studies

Program of Study
Candidates for the degree of masters of arts in women’s and gender studies must fulfill the residence requirement of one full year of coursework (eight semester courses), and successfully complete the following course requirements:

A. WMGS 205a, the graduate foundational course in women’s and gender studies.

B. A course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a or the Feminist Inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies).

C. Six elective graduate courses, four of which must be cross listed with WGS. Students must complete a coherent course of study that is approved by a faculty advisor.

D. Participation in a year-long noncredit women’s and gender studies graduate proseminar that meets six times each semester.

E. Joint MA Paper Requirement: Completion of a master’s research paper of professional quality and length (normally 25-40 pages) on a topic related to the course of study. The paper will be read by two faculty members, one of whom must be a member of the women’s and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

Requirements for the Joint Degree of Master of Arts in Anthropology & Women's and Gender Studies

Program of Study
Candidates for the joint degree of Master of Arts in anthropology & women's and gender studies fulfill the residence requirement of one full year of course work (eight semester courses), and complete the following course requirements:

A. The graduate foundational course in the history of anthropology (ANTH 201a).

B. Anthropology of Gender (ANTH 144a).

C. WMGS 205a or another course designated as a graduate foundational course in women's and gender studies.

D. A course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a or the feminist inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies.

E. Four elective graduate courses, including one in women's and gender studies, from a field other than anthropology, selected with the approval of the student's faculty adviser.

F. Participation in a fall semester noncredit women's and gender studies graduate proseminar.

G. Completion of a master's research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, one of whom is a member of the anthropology department and one of whom is a member of the women's and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

Language Requirement
There is no foreign language requirement for the joint master's degree.

Requirements for the Joint Degree of Master of Arts in English & Women's and Gender Studies

Program of Study
A. WMGS 205a, the foundational course in women's and gender studies.

B. One course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a or the Feminist Inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies).

C. Five additional courses in the English department selected from 100-level courses and graduate seminars (200-level courses). At least three of these courses must be at the 200 level. One of these courses must be listed as an elective with the women's and gender studies program.

D. One women's and gender studies course in a department other than the English department.

E. Participation in a fall semester noncredit women's and gender studies graduate proseminar.

F. Language requirement: A reading knowledge of a major foreign language (normally modern European or classical Greek or Latin) must be demonstrated by passing a written translation examination. The completion of the language requirement at another university does not exempt the student from the Brandeis requirement.

G. Joint MA paper requirement: Completion of a master's research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, at least one of whom is a member of the English department, and at least one of whom is a member of the women's and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

Requirements for the Joint Degree of Master of Arts in History & Women's and Gender Studies

Program of Study
During the course of their work toward the PhD, students in history may earn a joint MA with women's and gender studies by completing the following requirements in conjunction with program requirements for the MA.

A. WMGS 205a, the foundational course in women's and gender studies.

B. One course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a or the feminist inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies).

C. Two elective courses in women's and gender studies, one inside and one outside the history department.

D. Participation in a fall semester noncredit women's and gender studies graduate proseminar.

E. Completion of a master's research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, one of whom is a member of the history department and one of whom is a member of the women's and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

Requirements for the Joint Degree of Master Arts in Music & Women's and Gender Studies

Program of Study
A.
WMGS 205a, the foundational course in women's and gender studies.

B. One course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a, or the feminist inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies).

C. Two courses at the graduate level listed as electives in women's and gender studies, one in music and one from another department.

D. Two courses at the graduate level in the music department.

E. Participation in the fall semester noncredit women's and gender studies graduate proseminar.

F. Attendance at all departmental colloquia.

G. Completion of a master's research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, one of whom is a member of the music department and one of whom is a member of the women's and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

Language Requirement
There is no foreign language requirement for the joint master's degree.

Residence Requirement
One year.

Requirements for the Joint Degree of Master of Arts in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies & Women's and Gender Studies

Students interested in the joint two-year terminal MA degree program must first be admitted to the MA degree program in NEJS in the regular manner.

Program of Study
Courses must include:

A. WMGS 205a, the foundational course in women's and gender studies.

B. A course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a or the feminist inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies).

C. Two elective courses in women’s and gender studies, one inside and one outside the NEJS department.

D. The remaining courses must be jointly approved by each student's NEJS adviser and by the NEJS women's and gender studies adviser.

E. Participation in a fall semester noncredit women's and gender studies graduate proseminar.

F. Successful completion of one of the following: a comprehensive examination, a culminating project or a master’s thesis. If a master’s thesis encompasses both a NEJS and a WGS component it will satisfy requirement G below.

G. Completion of a master's research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, one of whom is a member of the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies department and one of whom is a member of the women's and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

H. All candidates are required to demonstrate language proficiency, normally in biblical or modern Hebrew or Arabic. The language requirement for Hebrew or Arabic may be fulfilled in one of two ways:

1. By enrolling in and receiving a grade of B- or higher in a 40-level or higher Hebrew or Arabic course, or by passing a classical Hebrew text course, or modern Hebrew literature course taught in Hebrew;
2. By passing the language examination offered by the advisor or by the Hebrew faculty or Arabic faculty.

I. All candidates for the Master of Arts degree are required to pass a comprehensive examination.

Residence Requirement
Ordinarily, two years of full-time residence are required at the normal course rate of seven courses each academic year. Students who enter with graduate credit from other recognized institutions may apply for transfer credit for up to four courses, or, with prior approval of the MA adviser, candidates may receive transfer credit for up to four courses at a university abroad.

Requirements for the Joint Degree of Master of Arts in Psychology & Women's and Gender Studies

Interested students must first be admitted to the PhD program.

A. PSYC 210a and b (Advanced Psychological Statistics I and II).

B. PSYC 211a (Graduate Research Methods in Psychology).

C. PSYC 300a and 302a (Proseminar in Brain, Body and Behavior I and II).

D. A PSYC course numbered PSYC 220 through PSYC 240 with successful completion of first-year research project in psychology, reported in APA manuscript format. This project must be on an issue relevant to women's and gender studies, and will be read, and must be accepted by two faculty members from the psychology department, one of whom should be a member of the women's and gender studies core or affiliate faculty. If neither faculty member is associated with women's and gender studies, then a third faculty member from the women's and gender studies program must be included on the review committee. This paper will serve as the master's research paper.

E. A course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a or the Feminist Inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies.

F. One additional course from 100-level courses in psychology.

G. WMGS 205a, the foundational course in women's and gender studies.

H. Two elective courses in women's and gender studies.

I. Participation in a fall semester noncredit women's and gender studies graduate proseminar.

J. Completion of a master's research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, one of whom is a member of the psychology department and one of whom is a member of the women's and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

Requirements for the Joint Degree of Master of Public Policy& Women's and Gender Studies

Program of Study
Students must fulfill all core requirements for the MPP as described in the Heller School section found elsewhere in this Bulletin as well as the following:

A. WMGS 205a, the foundational course in women's and gender studies.

B. One course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a or the Feminist Inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies).

C. Two elective graduate courses in women’s and gender studies (one inside the Heller School and one outside the Heller School)

D. Participation in a semester noncredit women’s and gender studies graduate proseminar.

E. Completion of a master’s research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree.  The MPP Capstone policy paper can fulfill this requirement as long as it is on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, at least one of whom is a member of the Heller School faculty, and at least one of whom is a member of the women's and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

F. Courses in both programs will be reviewed to determine which would satisfy the requirements for both programs.

 Please refer to the Heller School section found elsewhere in this Bulletin for complete information on MPP policies and procedures.

Requirements for the Joint Degree of Master of Arts in Social Policy & Women's and Gender Studies

Program of Study

Interested students myst first be admitted to the PhD program.

A. WMGS 205a, the foundational course in women's and gender studies.

B. A course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a or the feminist inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies).

C. Two courses cross-listed with women's and gender studies (one inside the Heller School and one in any department other than the Heller School).

D. Participation in a semester noncredit women's and gender studies graduate proseminar.

E. Completion of a master's research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, one of whom is a member of the Heller School faculty and one of whom is a member of the women's and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

Please refer to the Heller School section found elsewhere in this Bulletin for complete information on PhD policies and procedures as this MA is open only to PhD students in social policy.

Requirements for the Joint Degree of Master of Arts in Sociology & Women's and Gender Studies

Program of Study

A. WMGS 205a, the foundational course in women's and gender studies.

B. One course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a or the feminist inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies).

C. Two elective graduate courses in women's and gender studies, one inside and one outside the sociology department.

D. Three graduate sociology courses (one theory, one outside the area of gender, and one elective, which could be a directed reading).

E. Participation in the semester noncredit women's and gender studies graduate proseminar.

F. Completion of a master's research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members one of whom is a member of the Sociology department, and one of whom is a member of the women's and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

Language Requirement
There is no foreign language requirement for the joint master's degree.

Residence Requirement
One year.

Requirements for the Joint Degree of Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development & Women's and Gender Studies

Program of Study
Students must fulfill all first-year requirements for the MA in Sustainable International Development as described in the Heller School section found elsewhere in this Bulletin as well as the following:

A. WMGS 205a, the foundational course in women's and gender studies..

B. A course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a or the Feminist Inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies).

C. Two elective graduate courses in women's and gender studies (one inside the Heller School and one outside the Heller School).

D. Participation in a semester noncredit women's and gender studies graduate proseminar.

E. Completion of a master's research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, one of whom is a member of the Heller core or adjunct faculty and one of whom is a member of the women's and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

F. Participation in the SID/MA Capstone Week

G.  Courses in both programs will be reviewed to determine which would satisfy the requirements for both programs.

Please refer to the Heller School section found elsewhere in this Bulletin for complete information on MA policies and procedures.

Courses of Instruction

(1-99) Primarily for Undergraduate Students

WMGS 5a Women and Gender in Culture and Society
[ ss ]
This interdisciplinary course introduces central concepts and topics in the field of women's and gender studies. Explores the position of women in diverse settings and the impact of gender as a social, cultural, and intellectual category in the United States and around the globe. Asks how gendered institutions, behaviors, and representations have been configured in the past and function in the present, and also examines the ways in which gender intersects with many other vectors of identity and circumstance in forming human affairs. Usually offered every fall and spring.
Ms. Fox, Ms. Freeze, Ms. Lanser, or Ms. Singh

WMGS 89a When Violence Hits Home: Internship in Domestic Violence
This is an experiential learning course. Combines fieldwork in domestic and sexual violence prevention programs with a fortnightly seminar exploring cultural and interpersonal facets of violence from a feminist perspective. Topics include theories, causes and prevention of rape, battering, child abuse, and animal abuse. Internships provide practical experience in local organizations such as rape crisis, battered women's violence prevention, and child abuse prevention programs. Usually offered every fall.
Ms. Hunter

WMGS 92a Internship and Analysis
This is an experiential learning course. Usually offered every semester.
Staff

WMGS 98a Independent Study
Independent readings, research, and writing on a subject of the student's interest under the direction of a faculty adviser. Usually offered every year.
Staff

WMGS 98b Independent Study
See WMGS 98a for special notes and course description. Usually offered every year.
Staff

WMGS 99a Senior Research Project
Independent research and writing under faculty direction, for the purpose of completion of the women's and gender studies senior honors thesis. Usually offered every year.
Staff

WMGS 99b Senior Research
See WMGS 99a for special notes and course description. Usually offered every year.
Staff

(100-199) For Both Undergraduate and Graduate Students

WMGS 105b Feminist Theories in Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspective
[ ss ]
Prerequisite: Students are encouraged, though not required, to take WMGS 5a prior to enrolling in this course.
Examines diverse theories of sex and gender within a multicultural framework, considering historical changes in feminist thought, the theoretical underpinnings of various feminist practices, and the implications of diverse and often conflicting theories for both academic inquiry and social change. Usually offered every spring.
Ms. Smith

WMGS 106b Women in the Health Care System
[ ss ]
Explores the position and roles of women in the U.S. health care system and how it defines and meets women's health needs. The implications for health care providers, health care management, and health policy are discussed. Usually offered every spring.
Ms. Klerman or Ms. Bhalotra

WMGS 120b Women and Gender in Religion
[ hum ]
An analysis of how gender is at the heart of religion and of how women, men, and transgendered persons are transforming religious communities today. The course will include: debates over religious leadership; religious discourse about gendered bodies; sacred texts and religious law; and images of the divine and religious ritual. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Brooten and Ms. Langenberg

WMGS 140a Diversity of Muslim Women's Experience
[ ss ]
A broad introduction to the multidimensional nature of women's experiences in the Muslim world. As both a cultural and religious element in this vast region, understanding Islam in relation to lives of women has become increasingly imperative. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Shavarini

WMGS 141a Gender in Iranian Cinema
[ hum nw ]
With a primary focus on gender, this class explores post-Revolutionary Iranian cinema. Topics include politics; family relationships; women's social, economic, and political roles; and Iran's religious structure. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Mandrell and Ms. Shavarini

WMGS 198a Women's and Gender Studies Research Seminar
[ ss ]
This is an experiential learning course. Examines theories and practices of feminist scholarship and introduces interdisciplinary methodologies in order to guide students in designing and completing an independent research project. Usually offered every year in the fall.
Ms. Antler and Mr. Mandrell

(200 and above) Primarily for Graduate Students

WMGS 205a Graduate Foundational Course in Women's and Gender Studies
An advanced interdisciplinary inquiry into the history, theories, concepts, and practices that have formed women's and gender studies as a scholarly field, with particular attention to current intellectual trends and critical controversies. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Singh or Ms. Smiley

WMGS 298a Independent Study
Staff

WMGS 299a Directed Readings in Women's and Gender Studies
Usually offered every year.
Staff

WMGS 299b Directed Readings in Women's and Gender Studies
Usually offered every year.
Staff

Women's and Gender Studies Elective Courses

The following courses are approved for the program. Not all are given in any one year. Please consult the Schedule of Classes each semester.

AMST 102a Environment, Social Justice, and the Role of Women
[ oc ss wi ]
This is an experiential learning course. Yields six semester-hour credits towards rate of work and graduation.
This community-engaged course involves students first-hand in the legal, policy, science, history and social impacts of current environmental health issues challenging individuals and families and communities today, with a particular focus on low-income, immigrant communities and the profound and unique roles played by women. Students will engage directly in the topics through field trips, visiting speakers and discussions with stakeholders themselves. They also will address the issues by collaborating in projects with local organizations, and assisting low income residents in Waltham at the Tenant Advocacy Clinic.Usually offered every semester.
Ms. Goldin

AMST 102aj Environment, Social Justice, and Empowerment
[ oc ss wi ]
Yields six semester-hour credits towards rate of work and graduation.
This community-engaged course involves students first-hand in the legal, policy, science, history and social impacts of current environmental health issues challenging individuals and families and communities today, with a particular focus on low-income, immigrant communities and the profound and unique roles played by women. Students will engage directly in the topics through field trips, visiting speakers and discussions with stakeholders themselves. They also will address the issues by assisting low income residents in Waltham at the Tenant Advocacy Clinic, and collaborating in projects with EPA, DEP and local organizations such as Healthy Waltham, the Waltham Family School, Waltham Family YMCA, Jewish Family and Children's Service, Joseph Smith Community Health Center and others. Offered ast part of JBS program.
Ms. Goldin

AMST 127b Women and American Popular Culture
[ ss ]
Examines women's diverse representations and participation in the popular culture of the United States. Using historical studies, advertising, film, television, music, and literature, discusses how constructions of race, gender, class, sexuality, ethnicity, and religion have shaped women's encounters with popular and mass culture. Topics include women and modernity, leisure and work, women's roles in the rise of consumer culture and relation to technology, representations of sexuality, and the impact of feminism. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Davé

AMST 139b Reporting on Gender, Race, and Culture
[ ss ]
Examines the news media's relationship to demographic and cultural change, and the influence of journalistic ideologies on the coverage of women and various ethnic and cultural groups. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

AMST 142b Love, Law, and Labor: Asian American Women and Literature
[ hum ] [ ss ]
Explores the intersection of ethnicity, race, class, gender, and sexualities in the lives and literatures of diverse Asian American women. Discusses the historical, social, political, and economic forces shaping those lives and how they are reflected in literature. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Davé

ANTH 127a Medicine, Body, and Culture
[ nw ss ]
Examines main areas of inquiry in medical anthropology, including medicine as a sociocultural construct, political and economic dimensions of suffering and health, patients and healers in comparative medical systems, and the medical construction of men's and women's bodies. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Lamb

BIOL 160b Human Reproductive and Developmental Biology
[ sn ]
Prerequisites: BIOL 22a and b.
Course deals with hormonal, cellular, and molecular aspects of gametogenesis, fertilization, pregnancy, and birth. Pathological and abnormal variations that occur and the available medical technologies for intervention, correction, and facilitation of these processes are discussed. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Jackson

BISC 2a Human Reproduction, Population Explosion, Global Consequences
[ sn ]
Does NOT meet requirements for the major in biology.
Appropriate for students interested in a broad range of fields, including biology, environmental studies, and the social sciences. This course progresses from a molecular and cellular biology description of basic facts in human genetics and reproduction, AND an evolutionary description of human origins in Africa and global migration, to a demographic and epidemiological view of human population growth, and a consideration of some of the very complex problems arising from the presence of more than six billion people on Earth today. Readings include scientific papers appropriate to students with high school backgrounds in biology and chemistry, essays in the social sciences, and a wide variety of other texts and media. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Wangh

COML 108a Creating New Histories and Identities beyond the Nation: Transnational Female Voices in the U.S.
[ hum ]
Readings are in English.
An examination of literature (prose, poetry, memoirs) written by first- and second-generation immigrant women exploring the ways in which the experience of immigration shaped a new identity that simultaneously time incorporates and rejects national boundaries. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Reyes de Deu

ECON 69a The Economics of Race and Gender
[ ss ]
Prerequisite: ECON 2a.
The role of race and gender in economic decision making. Mainstream and alternative economic explanations for discrimination, and analysis of the economic status of women and minorities. Discussion of specific public policies related to race, class, and gender. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Brainerd

ENG 16a Slavery and Self-Making in African American Literature
[ hum ]
Critical investigation of African American writing as it engages slavery, freedom, and literary self-fashioning. We will read autobiographies, uplift novels, protest fiction and neo-slave narratives. Particular attention will be paid to issues of identity, sexuality, and social status; textual modes of representation and liberatory politics; the literary culture of sentiment; and African American constructions and contestations of race, gender, nation, and expressive culture since the antebellum period. Authors may include Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Gayl Jones, Harriet Wilson, William Wells Brown, Frances E. W. Harper, Pauline Hopkins, and Toni Morrison. Contemporary films may include Sankofa, Amistad, and Daughters of the Dust. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Abdur-Rahman or Ms. Smith

ENG 78a Virginia Woolf
[ hum ]
An immersion in Woolf's astonishing body of writing. How did her fiction and non-fiction re-imagine the self in the changing social worlds of the early twentieth century? How did her experiments with narrative open new understandings of gender, sexuality, war, the knowing subject, the dimensions of space and time> A chronological survey of her diverse forms of writing that energized, all at once, modernist aesthetics, feminist politics, and philosophical speculation. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sherman

ENG 87b Queer Readings: Beyond Stonewall
[ hum ]
How have LGBTQ writers explored the consolidation, diaspora, and contestation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer personhoods since the 1960s? Texts include fiction, poetry, drama, memoirs, and film. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. King

ENG 121a Sex and Culture
[ hum ]
An exploration of the virtually unlimited explanatory power attributed to sexuality in the modern world. "Texts" include examples from literature, film, television, pornography, sexology, and theory. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Morrison

ENG 127b Migrating Bodies, Migrating Texts
[ hum ]
Beginning with the region's representation as a tabula rasa, examines the textual and visual constructions of the Caribbean as colony, homeland, backyard, paradise, and Babylon, and how the region's migrations have prompted ideas about evolution, hedonism, imperialism, nationalism, and diaspora. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Smith

ENG 128a Alternative Worlds: Modern Utopian Texts
[ hum ]
Prerequisite: ENG 1a or ENG 11a.
British, European, and American works depicting alternate, often "better" worlds, including More's Utopia, Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World, Voltaire's Candide, Casanova's Icosameron, selections from Charles Fourier, Alexander Bogdanov's Red Star, Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis: Dawn, Wolfgang Becker's Goodbye Lenin! Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Campbell

ENG 131b Feminist Theory
[ hum ]
Introduces students to critical feminist thought by focusing closely each year on a different specific "problem," for example: nineteenth- and twentieth-century modernity as manifested in the development of globalizing capitalism, the racialized democratic citizen and wage work; our understanding of cultural production; debates about the nature, applications, and constitution of feminist theory. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

ENG 138a Making Modern Subjects: Caribbean/Latin America/U.S.A. 1850-1950
[ hum ]
Considers inflections of "the modern" across the Americas, allowing us to compare models and strategies at a historical moment when shifts from slavery to "freedom" and from Europe to the U.S.A., frame anxieties about empire, citizenship, technology, vernaculars, and aesthetics. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Smith

ENG 151a Queer Studies
[ hum ]
Prerequisite: An introductory course in gender/sexuality and/or a course in critical theory.
Historical, literary, and theoretical perspectives on the construction and performance of queer subjectivities. How do queer bodies and queer representations challenge heteronormativity? How might we imagine public spaces and queer citizenship? Usually offered every second year.
Mr. King

ENG 157b American Women Poets
[ hum ]
Prerequisite: ENG 1a, ENG 10a, HUM 10a or ENG 11a.
Students imagine meanings for terms like "American" and "women" in relation to poetry. After introductory study of Anne Bradstreet, Phillis Wheatley, and Emily Dickinson, readings of (and about) women whose work was circulated widely, especially among other women poets, will be selected from mainly twentieth-century writers. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Campbell

ENG 181a Making Sex, Performing Gender
[ hum wi ]
Recommended preparation: An introductory course in gender/sexuality and/or a course in critical theory.
Gender and sexuality studied as sets of performed traits and cues for interactions among social actors. Readings explore the possibility that differently organized gender and sexual practices are possible for men and women. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. King

ENG 201a Gender Studies
Investigates sex assignment, genders, and sexualities as categories of social knowledge and modes of social production. Reading recent critical discussions and crossing disciplinary boundaries, analyzes how gender is performed in domains of cultural production including, but not limited to, the "textual." Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. King

ENG 207a Race, Desire, and the Literary Imagination
An examination of the interlocking constructions of race, sexuality, and gender in United States culture. Probes the relation among embodiment, racial and sexual ideologies, the formation of identity, and U.S. literary production. Readings include critical works of African American studies, performance studies, queer theory and gender studies alongside key texts of twentieth-century U.S. literature. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Abdur-Rahman

ENG 213b Alternative Worlds: Utopia, Science, and Gender
This course may not be repeated for credit by students who have taken it as part of the Radcliffe Women's Consortium.
Explores the intersections between two early modern developments: the new genre of utopia and the new ideas about the goals and methods of natural inquiry identified with the "Scientific Revolution." Authors include Christine de Pizan, Raleigh, Bacon, Campanella, Catalina de Erauso, Cyrano de Bergerac, Margaret Cavendish, Octavia Butler, Thomas More, Francis Godwin. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Campbell

ENG 230b Feminist Theory
This course, primarily devoted to literary theory, will also pay some attention to feminist scholarship in related disciplines, including history, anthropology, and legal studies. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

FA 19b Lives of the Artists
[ ca ]
Integrates the study of works of art with the literature of artists' lives, which serves as the foundation to understanding the genesis of human creativity. Diverse historical periods and varying levels of fame will be reflected in the choice of artists to be studied. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Scott

FA 131b Center Stage: Women in Contemporary Art
[ ca ]
Prerequisite: FA 18b or FA 61b.
Ever since the woman's "Liberation" Movement of the 1970s, women have been increasingly prominent in the international art world. A survey pf contemporary art in all media includes artists much as Chicago, Wilke, Mendieta, Rothenberg, and Hatoum. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Allara

GECS 167a German Cinema: Vamps and Angels
[ hum ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English with readings in English translation.
From silent film to Leni Riefenstahl and Nazi cinema, from postwar cinema in the East and West to new German film after unification, this course traces aesthetic strategies, reflections on history, memory, subjectivity, and political, cultural, and film-historical contexts with an emphasis on gender issues. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. von Mering

HIST 206a Problems in American Women's History
[ ss ]
Selected readings in the history of American women, with an emphasis on historiography, research methodology, and the conceptual frameworks of several major, recent secondary works in the field. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

HS 223f Gender and Development in the Context of Neoliberalism and Globalization
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. May not be repeated by students who have taken HS 259f with this topic in previous years.
This course will review the connections between gender and macroeconomics before exploring main changes brought by globalization and neoliberal policies as they affect social policies, livelihoods, families and gender. Relying on recent critical scholarship, this course aims to provide a framework to understand the role of gender within development in times of neoliberal globalization, when deep transformation have altered the relations between the state, markets and civil society and the material and subjective contexts for gender identities and practices. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Espinosa

HS 224f Gender and the Environment
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. May not be repeated by students who have taken HS 259f with this topic in previous years.
This module introduces students to the field of gender and the environment, examining the relevance of gender for environmental conservation that includes social sustainability, and the different ways gender has been conceptualized and integrated within environmental conservation and within sustainable development interventions. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Espinosa

HS 283f Gender and Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Gender, as a social construct, is explored in diverse cultures and societies. Examines gender's major influence on the development process. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Espinosa or Ms. McSweeney

HS 284f Gender Analysis in Development Planning
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
Examines recent concepts and methods for gender analysis as an integral factor in program planning across cultures. Usually offered every year.
Staff

HS 308f Masculinities and Gender Relations in Sustainable Development
Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. This course may not be repeated for credit by students who have taken HS 259f with this same topic in previous years.
This course seeks to expand the understanding of the relational nature of gender by focusing on the implications of incorporating men and masculinities in gender mainstreaming practices. Usually offered every year.
Staff

HS 319a Work and Individual and Social Development
Explores changes in the organization and design of work and the exchange of work products throughout the evolution of human societies, and the consequences of these changes for individual and social development. Facilitates insights into work as a universal, existential process whose structure and dynamics were shaped and reshaped by individuals and societies throughout history as they interacted with one another and with natural environments in pursuit of survival and development, and as they gained knowledge of nature and enhanced their technological capacities and skills. Explores essential attributes of modes of work conducive to optimal human development and liberation. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Gil

HS 515a Race/Ethnicity and Gender in Health and Human Services Research
Explores theoretical and empirical approaches to race/ethnicity and gender as factors in health and human services practices, programs, and policies in the United States. Begins by examining current data on racial/ethnic and gender differences in health, mental health, functional status, and lifestyle. Attention then turns to alternative accounts of the causes of these differences. Although primary focus is on patterns of race/ethnicity and gender differences in health outcomes and services that have received the most comprehensive attention, the course offers perspectives on research methods and analytic frameworks that can be applied to other issues. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Nsiah-Jefferson

HS 527a Race, Ethnicity and Gender in Public Policy
Students will examine framing in public policy in general, and its relationship to challenges faced by communities of color. Further, we will address the topics of race and gender in health and health care; education, welfare policy, immigration, housing, and other issues. Students will hone their skills in policy analysis, political advocacy, communication, coalition building and networking as they relate to the policy process. Class discussion, essays/case studies, and in-class assignments are used. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Nsiah-Jefferson

LGLS 120a Sex Discrimination and the Law
[ ss ]
Traces the evolution of women's rights in the family, in employment, and in the reproductive process, as well as constitutional doctrines. Examines gender inequalities and assesses if and how the law should address them. Legal cases studied emphasize how law reflects society. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

LGLS 126b Marriage, Divorce, and Parenthood
[ ss ]
Examines recent developments in family law concerning cohabitation, open adoption, no-fault divorce, joint custody, and same-sex marriage. Explores social and political developments that bring about changes in law and impact of new law. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

NEJS 29a Feminist Sexual Ethics in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
[ hum ]
Analyzes a variety of feminist critiques of religious texts and traditions and proposed innovations in theology and religious law. Examines biblical, rabbinic, and Qur'anic texts. Explores relation to U.S. law and to the social, natural, and medical sciences. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Brooten

NEJS 141a Russian Jews in the Twentieth Century
[ hum ]
Examines Russian Jewish history from 1917 to the present. Focuses on the tsarist legacy, Russian Revolution, the creation of a new socialist society, development of Yiddish culture, the "Great Turn" under Stalin, Holocaust, post war Judaism, anti-Semitism, emigration, and current events. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Freeze

NEJS 165b Changing Roles of Women in American Jewish Societies
[ hum ]
Open to all students.
The lives of American Jews, and especially American Jewish women, have been radically transformed by demographic changes and by American Jewish feminism. These dramatic transformations affect secular and Jewish education for women, personal options and the formation of Jewish families, a growing participation of women in public Jewish life, and a new awareness of women's issues. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Fishman

NEJS 166a Carnal Israel: Exploring Jewish Sexuality from Talmudic Times to the Present
[ hum ]
Explores the construction of Jewish sexuality from Talmudic times to the present. Themes include rabbinic views of sex, niddah, illicit relations, masculinity, medieval erotic poetry, Ashkenazi and Sephardic sexual practices, and sexual symbolism in mystic literature; the discourse on sex, race, and nationalism in Europe; debates about masculinity, sexual orientation, and stereotypes in America and Israel. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Freeze

NEJS 172a Women in American Jewish Literature
[ hum ]
Examines portrayals of women in American Jewish literature from a hybrid viewpoint. Using close textual analysis, explores changing American Jewish mores and values and the changing role of women as revealed by portrayals of women in American Jewish fiction. The development of critical reading skills enhances our understanding of the author's intent. The fiction and memoirs read are approached both as literature and as a form of social history. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Fishman

NEJS 174b Line of Resistance: Israeli Women Writers on War and Peace
[ hum ]
Prerequisite: HBRW 141a, 143a, 144a, 146a, or permission of the instructor. Course is taught in Hebrew.
An exploration of nationalism and gender in Modern Hebrew literature. By discussing various Hebrew texts and Israeli works of art and film, this course explores women's relationship to Zionism, war, peace, the state, politics, and processes of cultural production. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Szobel

NEJS 178a Love, Sex, and Power in Israeli Culture
[ hum ]
Taught in Hebrew. Prerequisite: HBRW 141a, 143a, 144a, or 146a or permission of the instructor.
Explores questions of romance, gender, marriage, and jealousy in the Israeli context by offering a feminist and psychoanalytic reading of Hebrew texts, works of art, and film. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Szobel

NEJS 178b Masculinity and Femininity in Israeli Film, Literature, and Culture
[ hum ]
Taught in English.
Focuses on Israeli film, literature, and culture, exploring how film and literature represent and establish masculinity and femininity. Examines the ways in which film and literature reflect the politics, religions, conflicts, and ideologies of Israeli society. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Szobel

NEJS 233a Gender and Jewish Studies
Uses gender as a prism to enhance understanding of topics in Judaic studies such as Jewish history and classical Jewish texts, psychology, sexuality and gender role definition, literature and film, contemporary cultures, and religion. Undergraduates may enroll by permission of the instructor. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Fishman

PHIL 108a Philosophy and Gender
[ hum ]
Prerequisite: PHIL 1a or PHIL 17a.
Explores the place of gender in the works of particular Western philosophers (e.g., Kant, Hume, and Rousseau) and uses the tools of contemporary analytic philosophy to address questions about gender equality, sexual objectification, and the nature of masculinity. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Smiley

POL 125a Women in American Politics
[ ss ]
Addresses three major dimensions of women's political participation: social reform and women-identified issues; women's organizations and institutions; and women politicians, electoral politics, and party identification. Covers historical context and contemporary developments in women's political activity. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Greenlee

POL 159a Seminar: The Politics of the Modern Welfare State: Women, Workers, and Social Citizenship
[ ss ]
Capstone course for Social Justice and Social Policy Program.
How voting and political mobilization have helped women's organizations and trade unions obtain social rights by means of welfare state expansion. Historical perspective on collective action and political reform movements and their role in creating the modern welfare-state in twentieth-century Europe and the United States. Strategies of political mobilization, interest groups, and the politics of the advanced welfare state. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Klausen

PSYC 160b Seminar on Sex Differences
[ ss wi ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: PSYC 1a, 51a, 52a or permission of the instructor.
Considers research evidence bearing on sex differences in the cognitive domain and in the social domain, evaluating this evidence in light of biological, cultural, and social-cognitive theories as well as methodological issues. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Wright and Ms. Zebrowitz

SOC 105a Feminist Critiques of Sexuality and Work in America
[ ss ]
An intermediate-level course which counts toward the completion of the joint MA degree in sociology and women's and gender studies.
Critically evaluates the predominant theoretical approaches to understanding the oppression of women and the dynamics of sexism, racism, and classism within the sex/gender system. Uses these perspectives to explore issues in women's lives--particularly sexuality and work. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Hansen

SOC 112b Social Class and Social Change
[ ss ]
This is an experiential learning course. Presents the role of social class in determining life chances, lifestyles, income, occupation, and power; theories of class, inequality, and globalization; selected social psychological aspects of social class and inequality; and connections of class, race, and gender. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Fellman

SOC 115a Masculinities
[ ss ]
Men's experiences of masculinity have only recently emerged as complex and problematic. This course inquires into concepts, literature, and phenomenology of many framings of masculinity. The analytic schemes are historical, sociological, and social-psychological. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Fellman

SOC 117a Sociology of Work and Gender
[ ss ]
Focuses on the transformation of contemporary workplaces in the United States. How gender shapes inequality in the labor force, as well as idioms of skill, worth, care, and service. How women and men combine care for families with paid work. Strategies for empowerment, equity, and flexibility (comparable worth, family leave, flexible working-time options, affirmative action, employee participation, new union strategies, grass-roots organizing). Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Villalobos

SOC 130a Families, Caregiving and Kinship
[ ss ]
This is an experiential learning course. Course counts toward the completion of the joint MA degree in sociology & women's and gender studies.
Investigates changes in the character of American families over the last two centuries. A central concern will be the dynamic interactions among economic, cultural, political, and social forces, and how they shape and are reshaped by families over time. Particular attention is paid to how experiences of men and women vary by class, race, and ethnicity. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Hansen

SOC 131b Biography, Gender, and Society
[ ss ]
This course counts toward the completion of the joint MA degree in sociology & women's and gender studies.
Through reading biographies of intellectuals, political leaders, artists and "ordinary" people and exploring the biographical method, this seminar investigates the relationship between everyday life, history, social patterns of behavior, and the sex/gender system. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Hansen

SOC 132b Social Perspectives on Motherhood and Mothering
[ ss ]
Previous course on families or gender is strongly recommended. This course counts toward the completion of the joint MA degree in sociology & women's and gender studies.
Explores motherhood as an identity and a social institution, and mothering as a set of socially and historically constructed activities. Reviews the theoretical approaches to motherhood and how they are understood in the context of race/ethnicity, class, and gender inequalities in the United States. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Hansen

SOC 169b Issues in Sexuality
[ oc ss ]
This course counts toward the completion of the joint MA degree in sociology & women's and gender studies.
Explores dimensions of human sexuality. This course will take as its central tenet that humans are sexual beings and their sexuality is shaped by gender, class, race, culture, and history. It will explore the contradictory ways of understanding sexual behavior and relationships. The course intends to teach students about the social nature of sexual expression. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Cadge

SOC 189a Sociology of Body and Health
[ ss ]
Explores theoretical considerations of the body as a cultural phenomenon intersecting with health, healing, illness, disease, and medicine. Focuses on how gender, race, class, religion, and other dimensions of social organization shape individual experiences and opportunities for agency and resistance. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Shostak

SOC 206b Advanced Topics in Family Studies
This course counts toward the completion of the joint MA degree in sociology & women's and gender studies.
Studies Western European and American families and the historical processes that have shaped them, especially industrial capitalism, slavery, and immigration. Explores various controversies regarding the family: the family as an economic unit vs. a group of individuals with varying experiences; the shift of activity from primarily production to consumption; increased privatization vs. increased public intervention; recent changes in family structure and fertility patterns; and resolution of the double burden associated with the second shift for women. The course will take a different topical focus each time it is taught. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Hansen

SOC 210b Gender, Class, and Race
Examines primarily gender, class, and race, but also addresses inequality as structured by citizenship status and sexuality. Examines how U.S. and other societies distribute resources accordingly, shape discourse and ideology, and foster individual and group identities. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Hansen

THA 110a Moving Women/Women Moving
[ ca pe-1 ]
Prerequisite: THA 2a or permission of the instructor. Counts as one activity course toward the physical education requirement.
Among the influential women leaders in America are choreographers who shaped the history of modern dance in the twentieth century. This course will focus on the work and lives of these women. Students will learn dance techniques and investigate the twists and turns in the lives of these extraordinary artists. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Dibble

WMGS 89a When Violence Hits Home: Internship in Domestic Violence
This is an experiential learning course. Combines fieldwork in domestic and sexual violence prevention programs with a fortnightly seminar exploring cultural and interpersonal facets of violence from a feminist perspective. Topics include theories, causes and prevention of rape, battering, child abuse, and animal abuse. Internships provide practical experience in local organizations such as rape crisis, battered women's violence prevention, and child abuse prevention programs. Usually offered every fall.
Ms. Hunter

WMGS 106b Women in the Health Care System
[ ss ]
Explores the position and roles of women in the U.S. health care system and how it defines and meets women's health needs. The implications for health care providers, health care management, and health policy are discussed. Usually offered every spring.
Ms. Klerman or Ms. Bhalotra

Women's and Gender Studies Elective Courses: Historical Focus

AMST 40a Women in American History
[ ss ]
May not be taken for credit by students who took AMST 123b in prior years.
A historical and cultural survey of the female experience in the United States, with emphasis on issues of education, work, domestic ideology, sexuality, male-female relations, race, class, politics, war, the media, feminism, and antifeminism. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Antler

AMST 118a Gender and the Professions
[ ss ]
This is an experiential learning course. Explores gender distinctions as a key element in the organization of professions, analyzing the connections among sex roles, occupational structure, and American social life. Topics include work culture, pay equity, the "mommy" and "daddy" tracks, sexual discrimination and harassment, and dual-career families. Among the professions examined are law, medicine, teaching, social work, nursing, journalism, business, and politics. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Antler

AMST 121a The American Jewish Woman: 1890-1990s
[ ss ]
Surveys the experiences of American Jewish women in work, politics, religion, family life, the arts, and American culture generally over the last 100 years, examining how the dual heritage of female and Jewish "otherness" shaped often-conflicted identities. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Antler

AMST 124b American Love and Marriage
[ ss ]
Ideas and behavior relating to love and marriage are used as lenses to view broader social patterns such as family organization, generational conflict, and the creation of professional and national identity. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Antler

AMST 125a History of United States Feminisms
[ ss ]
This is an experiential learning course. An investigation of the development and politics of women's rights in the United States. Explores the internal and external coalitions and conflicts at the nexus of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and religion. Examines the transnational shift to organizing for human rights. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Antler and Ms. Hansen

CLAS 140a Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Greek and Roman Art and Text
[ ca hum ]
May not be taken for credit by students to who took CLAS 145b in fall 2009.
An exploration of women, gender, and sexuality in ancient Greece and Rome as the ideological bases of Western attitudes toward sex and gender. Includes, in some fashion, Greek and Roman myth, literature, art, architecture, and archaeological artifacts. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Koloski-Ostrow

ENG 28b Queer Readings: Before Stonewall
[ hum ]
Students read texts as artifacts of social beliefs, desires, and anxieties about sexed bodies and their pleasures. Readings may include Plato, Virgil, Spenser, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Phillips, Behn, Gray, Tennyson, Lister, Whitman, Dickinson, Wilde, Freud, Woolf, Barnes, Stein, Larsen, Genet, and Baldwin. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. King

ENG 46a Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers
[ hum ]
How did American women writers engage with the social, political, and economic changes of the nineteenth century? Focuses on gendered rhetorics of industrialization, imperialism, immigration, and abolition, as well as concepts of national identity. Examines how these writers related themselves to literary movements of the period. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

ENG 64b From Libertinism to Sensibility: Pleasure and the Theater, 1660-1800
[ hum wi ]
Investigates the exchange between performance texts and contemporaneous discussions of class, nationality, and political party. Emphasizes the emergence of modern gender and sexual roles and the impact of the first professional women actors. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. King

ENG 114b Gender and the Rise of the Novel in England and France
[ hum ]
Explores the emergence of the novel as a modern genre in the eighteenth century, asking why the novel arises first in England and France, and what the new genre's preoccupations with women and gender can teach us about European society, culture, and literature. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Lanser

ENG 134a The Woman of Letters, 1600-1800
[ hum ]
Women writers from Behn to Austen; novels, plays, pamphlets, diaries, and letters. The culture's attitudes toward women writers; women's attitudes toward literary achievement and fame, women's resistance to stereotypes, and women's complicity in the promulgation of images of the "good woman." Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

ENG 144b The Body as Text
[ hum wi ]
How are our bodies the material for our presentations of self and our interactions with others? Examines contemporary theories and histories of the body against literary, philosophical, political, and performance texts of the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. King

ENG 145b Jane Austen: Gender, Art, and History
[ hum wi ]
Explores Austen's writings from multiple perspectives, with particular attention to the historical and aesthetic dimensions of her work. Considers divergent interpretations of her novels and the impact of gender, not only on her novels but on their reception. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Lanser

ENG 234a Writing British Women, 1660-1800: Critical Inquiries
Through an engagement with women's writing, with social configurations of gender, and with twenty-first-century practices, explores new issues in eighteenth-century literary and cultural studies and grapples with thorny problems in feminist theory and scholarship. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Lanser

FA 61b Inventing Tradition: Women as Artists, Women as Art
[ ca ]
The role of women in the history of art, as creators of art, and as the subject of it. Issues of gender and representation will be discussed, using the lives and art of women from the Renaissance to contemporary periods. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Ankori

FA 173a Georgia O'Keeffe and Stieglitz Circle
[ ca ]
The focus of this lecture course will be the art of Georgia O'Keeffe, her stylistic evolution, sources, and collaboration with contemporaries, especially Stieglitz, Strand, Dove, Demuth, Marin, and Hartley. Their collective aesthetic aspirations will be set against early twentieth-century modernism and important recent trends from Europe. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Scott

GECS 150a From Rapunzel to Riefenstahl: Real and Imaginary Women in German Culture
[ hum ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English with readings in English translation.
Exploring German cultural representations of women and real women's responses. From fairy-tale princess to Nazi filmmaker, from eighteenth-century infanticide to twentieth-century femme fatale, from beautiful soul to feminist dramatist, from revolutionary to minority writer. Readings include major literary works, feminist criticism, and film. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. von Mering

HISP 125b Literary Women in Early Modern Spain
[ fl hum ]
Prerequisite: HISP 109b, or HISP 110a, or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor.
Examines works by and about women in early modern Spain, with particular attention to engagements with and subversions of patriarchal culture in theater, prose, and poetry. Writers include Caro, Zayas, Cervantes, and Calderón. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Fox

HIST 55b The History of the Family
[ ss ]
A social history of the family in Europe from early modern to contemporary times. Topical emphasis on changing patterns in kinship and household structure, child rearing, sex-role differentiation, employment, and marriage. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Kelikian

HIST 125a Sexualities in United States History
[ ss ]
Examines sexual behaviors, attitudes, and identities in the United States since the Revolution. Topics include the regulation of sexual behavior; marriage and family structures; interracial and same-sex intimacy; contraception, censorship, and pornography; and gay, lesbian, and transgender movements. Special one-time offering, spring 2011.
Mr. Landrum

HIST 153a Americans at Home: Families and Domestic Environments, 1600 to the Present
[ ss ]
This survey of nonpublic life in the United States explores the changing nature of families and the material environments that have shaped and reflected American domestic ideals during the last four centuries. Major topics include gender roles and sexuality; production, reproduction, and material culture in the home; conceptions of the life course; racial, ethnic, and regional variations on the family; the evolution of "public" and "private" life; and the relationship between the family and the state. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Kamensky

HIST 154b Women in American History, 1600-1865
[ ss ]
An introductory survey exploring the lives of women in Anglo America from European settlement through the Civil War. Topics include the "history of women's history"; the role of gender in Native American, African, and European cultures; women's religion, work, and sexuality; and the changing possibilities for female education and expression from the colonial period through the nineteenth century. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Kamensky

HIST 157a Americans at Work: American Labor History
[ ss ]
Throughout American history, the vast majority of adults (and many children, too) have worked, although not always for pay. Beginning with the colonial period, we shall explore the idea that a job is never just a job; it is also a social signifier of great value. Topics include slavery and servitude, race and gender in the workplace, household labor and its meanings, technological innovation, working-class political movements, and the role of the state in shaping patterns of work. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

HIST 173b Latin American Women: Heroines, Icons, and History
[ nw ss wi ]
Graduate students who wish to take this course for credit must complete additional assignments.
Explores Latin American women's history by focusing on female icons and heroines such as La Malinche, Sor Juana, Eva Perón, Carmen Miranda, and the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Topics include conquest, mestizaje, religion, independence, tropical exoticism, dictatorship, and social movements. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Arrom

HIST 179a Labor, Gender, and Exchange in the Atlantic World, 1600-1850
[ ss ]
An examination of the interaction of cultures in the Atlantic World against a backdrop of violence, conquest, and empire-building. Particular attention is paid to the structure and function of power relations, gender orders, labor systems, and exchange networks. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sreenivasan

MUS 150a Women and Music, Past and Present: Style, Identity, Culture
[ ca ]
Examines the interaction between gender and culture in shaping music and musical life. Topics will vary; refer to the Schedule of Classes. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Curtis and Ms. Montgomery

NEJS 29b Slavery, Women, and Religion
[ hum ]
Slavery is the most extreme form of power that one human being can exercise over another. Religion aims to express humanity's highest ethical aspirations. How, then, does religion support slavery? Are enslaved women treated differently than enslaved men? Do slave-holding women exercise their power differently than slave-holding men? To answer these questions, female slave narratives, pro-slavery biblical interpretation, American slave religion, and biblical, early Christian, and early rabbinic statutes and teachings are examined. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Brooten

NEJS 115b Gender and the Bible
[ hum ]
Open to all students.
The Hebrew Bible, a complex work, reflects a wide range of attitudes toward gender. This course examines these attitudes as they are reflected in issues such as the legal status of women, women in myths, leadership, prostitution, masculinity, and the gender of ancient Israel's deity. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Brettler

NEJS 128b History of Jewish and Christian Women in the Roman Empire
[ hum ]
Social, cultural, and religious history of Jewish and Christian women under Roman rule until Constantine ("first century" BCE-"fourth century" CE), using the methods of feminist historiography. Examination of the inter-relationships between Jewish and Christian women in different parts of the Roman Empire. Focus on women's history, rather than on Jewish and Christian teachings about women. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Brooten

NEJS 148b Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Jews and Christians: Sources and Interpretations
[ hum ]
Introduction to the classical Jewish and Christian sources on same-sex love and on gender ambiguity and to a variety of current interpretations of them, to the evidence for same-sex love and gender fluidity among Jews and Christians through the centuries, and to current religious and public policy debates about same-sex love and gender identity and expression. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Brooten

NEJS 175a Jewish Women in Eastern Europe: Tradition and Transformation
[ hum ]
Examines women's roles in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Eastern European Jewish culture, with a focus on transformation in gender relations, education, and religious practices. Readings are drawn from Yiddish prose, poetry, and women's memoirs, with secondary sources in cultural history. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Kellman

RECS 137a Women in Russian Literature
[ hum ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English. Students may choose to do readings either in English translation or in Russian.
Examines questions of female representation and identity and of female authorship. Readings include portrayals of women by men and women authors. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

SAS 170b South Asia in the Colonial Archive
[ hum ]
Looks at colonial constructions of gender and race through a historical and literary investigation of British colonialism in South Asia. Examines intersections and constructions of gender, race, class, and sexuality in literature, public culture, and film within the parameters of British colonialism. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Singh

Women's and Gender Studies Elective Courses: Cultural Differences

AAAS 125b Caribbean Women and Globalization: Sexuality, Citizenship, Work
[ ss wi ]
Utilizing perspectives from sociology, anthropology, fiction, and music to examine the relationship between women's sexuality and conceptions of labor, citizenship, and sovereignty. The course considers these alongside conceptions of masculinity, contending feminisms, and the global perspective. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Smith

AAAS 133b The Literature of the Caribbean
[ hum nw ss wi ]
An exploration of the narrative strategies and themes of writers of the region who grapple with issues of colonialism, class, race, ethnicity, and gender in a context of often-conflicting allegiances to North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Smith

AMST 144b Signs of Imagination: Gender and Race in Mass Media
[ ss ]
Examines how men and women are represented and represent themselves in American popular culture. Discusses the cultural contexts of the terms "femininity" and "masculinity" and various examples of the visibility and marketability of these terms today. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Davé

ANTH 144a The Anthropology of Gender
[ nw ss wi ]
Anthropology majors have priority for enrollment.
An examination of gender constructs, sexuality, and cultural systems from a comparative perspective. Topics include the division of labor, rituals of masculinity and femininity, the vexing question of the universality of women's subordination, cross-cultural perspectives on same-sex sexualities and transsexuality, the impact of globalization on systems, and the history of feminist anthropology. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Lamb or Ms. Schattschneider

ANTH 145a Anthropology of the Body
[ ss ]
Explores a range of theories that use the body to understand society, culture, and gender. Topics include how social values and hierarchies are written in, on, and through the body; the relationship between body and gender identity; and experiences and images of the body cross-culturally. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Lamb or Ms. Schattschneider

ANTH 178b Culture, Gender, and Power in East Asia
[ nw ss ]
Explores the relevance of social theory to the dynamics of culture, gender, and power in East Asia. Topics include exchange, personhood, ideology, and historical consciousness. Students will read detailed ethnographic studies set in urban and rural East Asia and view several contemporary films. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Schattschneider

COML 122b Writing Home and Abroad: Literature by Women of Color
[ hum nw ]
Examines literature (prose, poetry, and memoirs) written by women of color across a wide spectrum of geographical and cultural sites. Literature written within the confines of the "home country" in the vernacular, as well as in English in immigrant locales, is read. The intersections of race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and class as contained by the larger institutions of government, religion, nationalism, and sectarian politics are examined. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Singh

ENG 87a Sex and Race in the American Novel
[ hum ]
Depictions of racial and sexual others abound in American literature of the twentieth century. Reading texts across racial, geographical, and temporal divides, this course investigates the representation of non-normative sexualities as signaled, haunted, or repaired by an appeal to race. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Abdur-Rahman

ENG 107a Women Writing Desire: Caribbean Fiction and Film
[ hum ]
About eight novels of the last two decades (by Cliff, Cruz, Danticat, Garcia, Kempadoo, Kincaid, Mittoo, Nunez, Pineau, Powell, or Rosario), drawn from across the region, and read in dialogue with popular culture, theory, and earlier generations of male and female writers of the region. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Smith

ENG 197b Within the Veil: African-American and Muslim Women's Writing
[ hum ]
In twentieth-century United States culture, the veil has become a powerful metaphor, signifying initially the interior of African-American community and the lives of Muslims globally. This course investigates issues of identity, imperialism, cultural loyalty, and spirituality by looking at and linking contemporary writing by African-American and Muslim women. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Abdur-Rahman

HISP 195a Latinos in the United States: Perspectives from Literature, Film, and Performance
[ hum ]
Open to all students; conducted in English.
Comparative overview of Latino literature and film in the United States. Particular attention paid to how race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and concepts of "nation" become intertwined within texts. Topics include explorations of language, autobiography and memory, and intertexuality. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Reyes

HIST 173b Latin American Women: Heroines, Icons, and History
[ nw ss wi ]
Graduate students who wish to take this course for credit must complete additional assignments.
Explores Latin American women's history by focusing on female icons and heroines such as La Malinche, Sor Juana, Eva Perón, Carmen Miranda, and the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Topics include conquest, mestizaje, religion, independence, tropical exoticism, dictatorship, and social movements. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Arrom

NEJS 29b Slavery, Women, and Religion
[ hum ]
Slavery is the most extreme form of power that one human being can exercise over another. Religion aims to express humanity's highest ethical aspirations. How, then, does religion support slavery? Are enslaved women treated differently than enslaved men? Do slave-holding women exercise their power differently than slave-holding men? To answer these questions, female slave narratives, pro-slavery biblical interpretation, American slave religion, and biblical, early Christian, and early rabbinic statutes and teachings are examined. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Brooten

NEJS 196a Marriage, Divorce, and Sexual Ethics in Islamic Law
[ hum nw ]
Using law to understand Islamic gender discourses and Muslim women's lives, the class addresses broad areas where law and gender intersect jurisprudential method and classical doctrines; women's use of courts to settle disputes; and contemporary debates over legal reforms. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

POL 130b Women in Latin American Politics
[ ss ]
Examines feminism in Latin America and the meaning and role of gender and gender ideology in the principal regime types in Latin America. Topics include the interaction between gender and class, ethnicity/race, regional solidarity, and national and international and politics. Special one-time offering, spring 2010.
Ms. Thorne

SAS 101a South Asian Women Writers
[ hum nw ]
Includes literature by South Asian women writers such as Amrita Pritam, Ismat Chugtai, Jhumpa Lahiri, Kamila Shamsie, Tahmina Anam, and Chandini Lokuge. Some of the works were originally written in English, while others have been translated from the vernacular. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Singh

SAS 110b South Asian Postcolonial Writers
[ hum nw ]
Examines the postcolonial novel written in English within the shared history of colonialism, specifically British imperialism, for South Asia. Writers include R.K. Narayan, Salman Rushdie, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, Mohsin Hamid, Romesh Gunesekera and Daniyal Mueenudin. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Singh

SOC 126b Global Perspectives in Women, Work and Families
[ ss ]
Integrating sociological and anthropological theorizing on gender, families, kinship, and work, with development perspectives on the formal/informal economy and gender nexus, the course explores the similarities and differences in gender regimes and shifting work-family domains in several societies globally. Special on-time offering, spring 2011.
Ms. Zaidi

SOC 138a Sociology of Gender and Race
[ ss ]
Examines gender as an individual and institutional factor that organizes societies. Uses a variety of media to analyze how gender and race (re)create forms of domination and subordination in labor markets, family structures, realms of cultural presentation (e.g., media), and social movements. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

WMGS 120b Women and Gender in Religion
[ hum ]
An analysis of how gender is at the heart of religion and of how women, men, and transgendered persons are transforming religious communities today. The course will include: debates over religious leadership; religious discourse about gendered bodies; sacred texts and religious law; and images of the divine and religious ritual. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Brooten and Ms. Langenberg

WMGS 140a Diversity of Muslim Women's Experience
[ ss ]
A broad introduction to the multidimensional nature of women's experiences in the Muslim world. As both a cultural and religious element in this vast region, understanding Islam in relation to lives of women has become increasingly imperative. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Shavarini

WMGS 141a Gender in Iranian Cinema
[ hum nw ]
With a primary focus on gender, this class explores post-Revolutionary Iranian cinema. Topics include politics; family relationships; women's social, economic, and political roles; and Iran's religious structure. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Mandrell and Ms. Shavarini