Spring 2006 Course Offerings
Master of Arts Degree Program | Women's and Gender Studies

WGS 404 Topics in Feminist Theories: Gender & Language
Susanne McLaughlin DT T 2-4:30
How is gender reflected in communication and language? Do women and men use language differently? Are women and men spoken of differently? If so, how and to what degree are the differences universal or variable across cultures? This course explores how linguistic practices reflect and shape gender identity, and how gendered language impacts and reflects more global socio-cultural relationships between the sexes. We will address three central areas of research: (1) the impact of language on status and power relationships in given societies; (2) language and gender stereotypes; and (3) male vs. female style in communication and linguistic interaction. We will examine how differences in pronunciation, vocabulary choice, and/or communicative style serve as social markers of gender identity and differentiation, the developmental aspects of gendered language use; and the role of language in relation to issues of gender equality, such as the terms in which men and women are described and the standards by which their language is evaluated. We will look closely at the ‘politically correct’ language debate and consider why some groups have appropriated formerly pejorative labels as markers of identity.

WGS 406 The African American Woman
Jacqueline Trussell DT T/TH 12:30-1:45
The course explores the contributions of African American women in history and in contemporary life. Issues of race, class and gender in the community, family, work place and society concerning the status, identity and image of African American women are also examined.

ENG 428 Twentieth-Century American Women’s Fiction
Ann Brigham SCH TU 6:30-9 DT TH 2-4:30
This course focuses on the ways various women writers write about and define matters of gender and sexuality, especially as they intersect with race, ethnicity, and class. Specifically, we will focus on how a wide range of literary texts emphasizes the intertwined themes of alienation, resistance, self-determination, and belonging, raising such questions as: what’s the relation between alienation and resistance? What does it mean to belong to a community? To oneself? How is female desire represented as both the catalyst for and product of alienation, resistance, self-determination, and/or belonging? We will tackle these questions by examining how individual texts represent and connect subjects such as: the construction of identity; voice and silence; paid and unpaid labor; love, sex, and desire; violence; family roles and structure; self and community, and public and private spaces. Possible writers include: Willa Cather, Nella Larsen, Grace Lumpkin, Carson McCullers, Ann Bannon, Joan Didion, Toni Morrison, Leslie Marmon Silko, Dorothy Allison, Octavia Butler, and Ruth Ozeki.

HIST 483 The History and Politics of Women in the United States
Sandra Frink DT T 6-8:30
This course surveys the experiences of women in the United States from the colonial period to the present. We will assess women’s contributions to American life, debating both how they influenced historical developments and how historical events shaped their worlds. By examining the social, political, and economic forces that have shaped that history, the course will consider the sources of change and continuity in women’s lives. Most importantly, we will explore the many different worlds of women by investigating how issues of class, race, ethnicity, and geography impacted their lives. Topics to be addressed include women and the family, sexuality and reproduction, popular culture, education, labor, and social and political action.

HIST 450 Graduate Seminar: Gender, Work and Welfare in the Modern Era Margaret Rung DT W 6-8:30
This seminar probes the historical relationship between gender and the construction of private and public workplaces and welfare systems in modern North America and Western Europe. Blending social and political history, it asks how gender analysis can broaden our understanding of the construction of political and economic organizations as well as the exercise of power in modern industrial societies. Students, for instance, explore how gender ideologies, especially maternalism and paternalism, became encoded within corporate welfare programs and public welfare policies, and in turn, how these configurations shaped gender roles and ideologies. Drawing on rich historical literature covering North America and Western Europe, seminar participants consider the gendered meanings of work and welfare. The major assignment is a significant research paper based on primary and secondary sources.

POS 427 Sexuality, Gender and International Human Rights
Bethany Barratt SCH M 6:30-9
Is it necessary to distinguish between “women’s rights” and “men’s rights” when we discuss human rights? Do women “innately” have different orientations towards political involvement than do men? If so, how are these orientations different? If not, why do women around the world participate in politics to such different degrees and in such different forms than do men? Are issues like AIDS, prostitution, and reproductive rights private issues or public ones? These are some of the questions we will try to engage and unravel, and ultimately use to generate our own, new questions, over course of the semester.

POS 467 Social Movements
Jeffrey Edwards DT MW 9:30-10:45
This course is organized around in-depth examinations of the Southern civil rights movement, the feminist movement, the AIDS movement, and the global justice movement. In the process students will gain a grounding in what scholars and activists have to say about social movement dynamics in general: how and why movements come on the scene and disrupt the cultural and political status quo; movement building, maintenance, and decline; and how movements produce lasting cultural and political change. Class, race, and gender dynamics within movements, and relationships between different movements, will be central concerns.

PSYC 445 Psychology of Women
K. Conner DT M 6-8:30
B. Ackles SCH TH 6:30-9
Psychological development of women viewed from social, cultural, and biological perspectives. Providing the fundamentals for study in the field of psychology of women, this course will address issues including, but not limited to, gender, abilities, work, ethnicity, women’s health, sexuality, victimization, and mental health.

SOC 426 Race, Gender and Mass Media
Cherise Harris DT MW 11-12:15
This course examines the relationship between the mass media in the U.S. and the social construction of gender, race and sexuality. We will critically explore the role of media in perpetuating and challenging these constructs. Course readings and discussions center around the role of gender, sexuality and race in: soap operas, cosmetic print ads, pornography, Hip-Hop music, GLBT sitcoms and dramas, the Lifetime Network, the Latin music industry, Black sitcoms and much more. We will specifically explore how the social location of media creators impacts the content that is produced and the messages that audience members receive. Lastly, we will investigate whether these present texts are actually sites of resistance or mere manifestations of patriarchal, heterosexist and racist ideologies.

SPAN 478 Politica Y Sexualidad
Priscilla Archibald SCH W 6:30-9
This course explores the relationship of politics and sexuality in twentieth century Latin American fiction. It looks at the cultural construction of masculinity and femininity and the relationship of these constructions to different political projects and periods; for example, it considers the importance of a certain representation of woman to early modernizing narratives, and the mythification (and demythification) of the masculine revolutionary that later came to define left-wing politics. We will consider works by authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Romulo Gallegos, Manuel Puig and others. NOTE: Students need proficiency in reading and speaking Spanish to take this course.