AFST 160     Introduction to Black Women's Studies  (4)

This introductory course explores the interlocking forms of oppression circumscribing Black women’s lives in the United States, with a particular emphasis on the ways in which their lived experiences and social realities are influenced by constructions of race, gender, class, sexuality, and other markers of difference. It contextualizes Black women’s struggles for social justice historically within the broader narratives of Black freedom struggles and the Women’s Rights Movement. It underscores the ways in which despite their marginalized status, Black women have used their agency within both the private and public realms to interrogate, challenge, and resist their subordination and subvert the status quo, particularly as it is reinforced in negative constructions of Black female identity.

AFST 210     Blackness in American Popular Culture  (4)

This course interrogates representations of blackness in American popular culture. Using an interdisciplinary lens that considers the social, political, cultural, and historical realities that inform popular culture, students investigate how blackness is constructed and its implications.

AFST 320     Black Autobiography in the United States  (4)

Examining the life writings of African Americans from the nineteenth through the twenty-first centuries, this course considers the Black experience from the vantage point of men and women who struggled to negotiate their racialized and gendered identities in a society that often denigrated both. This course illuminates what Henry Louis Gates describes in The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism as the struggle of Blacks historically to write themselves into being, that is, to accord legitimacy to their racialized selves. Students investigate the nuanced ways in which the autobiographical writings of Black men and women not only facilitated freedom of expression but served as a form of resistance by challenging the status quo.

AFST 351     Toni Morrison  (4)

This course explores selected fiction by Toni Morrison and some of the literary criticism that surrounds her work. It examines Morrison's treatment of race, class, gender, and sexuality in her fiction, and also considers some of her nonfiction, interviews, and speeches to gain a clearer understanding of her contributions to the American literary canon and the African American literary tradition.

AMST 251     Black Masculinity in the United States  (4)

This course is an interdisciplinary exploration of constructions of Black masculinity in the United States from the twentieth century through the present. Autobiographical accounts are used to examine historical and current definitions of Black manhood that challenge and reinforce understandings of what it means to be both Black and male.

AMST 340     African American Women's Short Stories  (4)

Focusing on the literary contributions of 20th century African American women fiction writers, this course specifically examines the shared and distinctive ways in which Black women writers represent the politics of Black womanhood in their short stories. This genre is an essential part of the Black women’s literary tradition that is often left unexplored. Collectively, these texts contribute to a radical literary tradition that implores readers to consider the way(s) in which race, gender, class, and/or sexuality inform the fictional lives of Black women and the lives of the writers. In addition to analyzing representations of Black female identity within the works of several prominent writers, the course traces specific themes such as power, privilege, and perspective.

AMST 351     Toni Morrison  (4)

This course explores selected fiction by Toni Morrison and some of the literary criticism that surrounds her work. It examines Morrison's treatment of race, class, gender, and sexuality in her fiction, and also considers some of her nonfiction, interviews, and speeches to gain a clearer understanding of her contributions to the American literary canon and the African American literary tradition.

ANTH 290     Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective  (4)

This class considers the myriad experiences of gender and sexuality around the globe. The survey engages students in considering power dynamics and status accorded by gender in foraging societies, chiefdoms, archaic and late industrial states and the roles that subsistence, technology and religion play in shaping gender identity. Students examine the traditional cultural exceptions to binary categories in Native American, Middle Eastern and Indian societies and consider current movements around gender fluidity.

ARTH 308     Gender in Japanese Art  (4)

Using gender as a lens for examining works of art in the Japanese tradition from the thirteenth through twentieth centuries, this course examines a wide variety of formats and mediums, including corpse paintings, cross-dressing performers, and prints of the modern girl. Participants will identify and analyze varying interpretations of gender through time and across culture and address issues associated with applying contemporary gender theory to pre-modern works. Topics to be covered include: Buddhist ideas of the feminine, voyeurism in early modern woodblock prints, and the role of gender in contemporary art.

ASIA 205     Modern China through Fiction and Film  (4)

How do film and literature inform our understanding of the evolving concepts of art, ideology and material conditions in modern China? How have literary and cinematic representations changed over the last century to accommodate and facilitate social transformations? What are the characteristics of the cultural productions from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan? This course helps students develop a critical sense and appreciation for Chinese cinema and literature. Taught in English.

ASIA 237     Gender and Sexuality in Modern Chinese Literature and Culture  (4)

This course examines Chinese literary and cultural practices related to gender and sexuality from the turn of the twentieth century to the present. Using primary texts in translation, theoretical works, films, and visual materials, students explore the personal and collective politics involved in constructions of gender, sexuality, desire, and identity. Taught in English.

CLST 349     Sex and Sexuality in Classical Antiquity  (4)

This course examines sexual practices and the construction of sexuality in Greco-Roman antiquity. Drawing on both literary and artistic evidence, the course explores a wide range of topics, including sexual stereotypes, marriage, prostitution, pederasty, rape, adultery, and homoeroticism. Considerable attention is paid to the intersections of sex with gender, power, and social status.

CLST 350     Women and Gender in Classical Antiquity  (4)

This course examines the lives of women in the ancient world and their representation in the literature of Greece and Rome. It explores how the Greeks and Romans constructed both female and male gender and what behavioral and sexual norms they assigned to each. Reading assignments include wide-ranging selections from Greek and Roman poetry (epic, drama, lyric, and elegy) and prose (philosophy, history, and oratory). Subjects addressed include gender stereotypes and ideals, power-relations of gender, the social conditions of women, familial roles, and male and female sexuality.

ENGL 207     Women in Literature  (4)

A consideration of the role of women in literature. Topics include Gothic fiction, nineteenth and twentieth century women writers, and women in fiction. Drawing on authors of both genders, the course considers gender relations, the historic role of women, the special challenges that have faced women writers, and the role of women in fiction. Prerequisite: One course with attribute G1 including AP or IB credit.

ENGL 316     The Novel in the Global Age  (4)

This course explores the contemporary Anglophone novel since 1989, a period that coincides with the increased pace of globalization. Written largely from transnational perspectives that defy traditional national boundaries, the novels in this course share a common concern with capturing global experience and analyzing the cultural and economic impact of globalization. Potential readings include works by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Teju Cole, Amitav Ghosh, Michael Ondaatje, and Ruth Ozeki. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

ENGL 330     The Life and Literature of Tennessee Williams  (4)

A study of the major dramatic works of Tennessee Williams, as well as his poetry and fiction. The course also examines Williams' life and his impact on twentieth-century American literature and theatre. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

ENGL 352     Chaucer  (4)

A study of the Canterbury Tales and other poems by Chaucer. A term paper is usually expected. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

ENGL 353     English Drama to 1642  (4)

A study of drama from the fifteenth century to the English Civil War, excluding works by Shakespeare but typically including tragedies by Thomas Kyd, Elizabeth Cary, Mary Sidney, Christopher Marlowe, and John Webster, as well as comedies by Ben Jonson, Mary Wroth, and Francis Beaumont. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

ENGL 354     Early Women's Voices  (4)

A study of women’s literature before 1800, this course examines how feminine voices were presented and heard in their historical contexts. Readings for the class are drawn from the Middle Ages through the seventeenth century, and ask students to think through the conditions of feminine authorship and identity in the pre-modern period. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

ENGL 357     Shakespeare I  (4)

A study of several plays written before 1600. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

ENGL 358     Shakespeare II  (4)

A study of several plays after 1600. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

ENGL 359     Renaissance Literature I  (4)

A study of the major sixteenth-century genres, with emphasis on sources, developments, and defining concerns. Readings include the sonnets of Wyatt, Surrey, Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare; the mythological verse narratives of Marlowe and Shakespeare; the pastoral poems of Spenser; and Books I and III of Spenser's Faerie Queene. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

ENGL 360     Renaissance Literature II  (4)

A study of the major seventeenth-century poets, concentrating on such poets' redefinitions of genre, mode, and source. Readings emphasize works by Donne, Herbert, Jonson, Herrick, Milton, and Marvell. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

ENGL 369     Authorship and Authority in 18th Century Britain  (4)

This course explores some of the radical shifts that occurred in English literature during the late eighteenth century. These developments involved not only changes in style, subject matter, and poetic theory, but also changes in the role of the author and the social purpose of writing. Both “major” and “minor” authors, male and female, are read as part of a complex revolution in cultural taste and literary practice. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

ENGL 380     Emily Dickinson  (4)

A study of one of the most important American poets, whose tight, elliptical lyrics inspired American poets for the next hundred years. This course examines in detail Dickinson's career, sometimes in relation to her poetic contemporaries, and many of the nearly 1800 poems she is known to have written. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

ENGL 383     British Fiction Right Now  (4)

A consideration of British fiction from the last half-century, this course will put you into the most current currents of literary expression. There is no canon yet in this course; instead, you will be invited to make and test bold claims about canonicity and how literary value is accorded and revised. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

ENGL 386     Joyce  (4)

A study of Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Ulysses. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

ENGL 390     Power Plays: Modern and Contemporary Drama  (4)

An exploration of the development of Modern Drama from Ibsen's ground-breaking naturalism to contemporary drama's new variations. The course will emphasize the relationship between the theater and society and issues of performance, as well as close study of the plays themselves. Authors covered are both British and American and may include Wilde, Shaw, Beckett, Williams, Stoppard, and others. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

ENGL 399     World Literature in English  (4)

A study of twentieth-century literature written in English from Africa, South Asia, and the Caribbean, concentrating on colonial and post-colonial themes, as well as issues of gender, politics, and nationalism. Possible authors include Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer, J. M. Coetzee, Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, V. S. Naipaul, and Derek Walcott. Prerequisite: One course in English with attribute GFWI.

GRMN 357     German Queer Cinema  (4)

This course traces German queer cinema from the earliest representations of gay and lesbian sexual orientations in 1920s Weimar to topics such as sexual indeterminacy and the queering of nationality and migrant culture in contemporary films. The course examines how films both represent and produce non-normative sexual desires and identities. It also considers sexual and gender identity in relation to particular historical and cultural moments as well as to other constituting experiences (race, class, gender, nationality). These topics are studied in the context of particular movements, directors, and genres in German cinema. This course is taught in English.

GRMN 358     Borders, Margins, and Identities in German Culture  (4)

From the recruitment of Turkish "guest workers" to the ongoing refugee crisis, Germany has emerged a "multicultural" nation of shifting and contested borders and identities. This course investigates how national, ethnic, racial, and religious identities are perceived and constructed in film, literature, and news media and how those identities intersect with, and are complicated by, class, gender, and sexual identities. Students engage critically with concepts such as migration, assimilation, hybridity, citizenship, diaspora, "majority" culture, and authenticity. This course is taught in English.

HIST 112     Women Changing the World: Gender and Social Movements  (4)

This course examines women's participation in social and political movements throughout the world since the late eighteenth century in order to understand how gender (the set of beliefs each culture has regarding male and female difference) has affected women's involvement. The course explores a variety of gender-based arguments that women have used to bring social change, assessing whether these approaches are effective or ultimately limit women to a narrow range of issues. Some attention is paid to how gender affects men's involvement in social movements. Open only to first-year students and sophomores.

HIST 120     Children and Childhood in History  (4)

This course focuses on the lived experiences of children and traces the emergence of a new "ideology of childhood" in the early modern world (c. 1300 to 1800). The course examines the major social, political and economic changes that unfolded throughout this period, including related programs of religious, scientific, and educational reform, and studies how these changes affected children's roles or status within families and communities-in-transition. It also asks whether a fundamental change in the meaning of childhood by 1800 corresponded to the emergence of an increasingly global, colonial, and industrial world order. Open only to first-year students and sophomores.

HIST 132     Witches, Witch-hunting and Fear in Early Modern Europe, 1450-1700  (4)

A deep and violent fear of witches took hold of various European communities in the years between 1450 and 1700. This course examines a number of different witch panics across Europe - with a final stop in Salem, Massachusetts - and investigates the necessary conditions for such intra-community terror. It will address a number of different factors which contributed to this fear of one's neighbors: environmental change, gendered anxiety, economic downturns, and religious tension. Open only to first-year students and sophomores.

HIST 133     Before #MeToo: Sex, Power, and Work in the Modern U.S.  (4)

This course examines how ideas about sex, gender, and work have intertwined and changed across U.S. history. It considers both how women have negotiated sex and sexuality in their work—including wanted and unwanted sexual advances in the workplace—and how activism around issues of sex, sexual assault, and rape has itself been work. This course will pay special attention to women’s experiences of sexual harassment both in and outside the workplace. Students will consider how the history of unwanted sexual attention informs present-day debates and activism around these issues, up to and including the #MeToo movement. Open only to first-year students and sophomores.

HIST 134     Childbirth in Europe and the Colonial Caribbean  (4)

This course examines some of the most significant conflicts and turning points in the history of conception, pregnancy, and childbirth in Europe and its Caribbean slave colonies from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries. We approach women’s reproductive bodies as contested sites of political struggle over issues as diverse as slavery, colonialism, population growth and birth control, religious reform, midwifery, the medicalization of childbirth, and nation-building. Centering women’s voices and experiences of the birth process where the sources allow us, we study the cultures and communities that women of diverse racial, ethnic, and class backgrounds constructed around biological reproduction.

HIST 237     Women in U.S. History, 1600-1870  (4)

A survey of the history of American women which will consider how women experienced colonization, American expansion, the industrial revolution, war, and changes in the culture's understanding of gender roles and the family. The course also explores how differences in race, ethnicity, and class affected women's experience.

HIST 238     Women in U.S. History, 1870 to the Present  (4)

A survey of the major changes in American women's lives since the end of the last century, including increased access to education, movement into the labor market, and changes in reproductive behavior and in their role within the family. Special consideration will be given to the movements for women's rights.

HIST 270     European Women in War, Revolution, and Terrorism  (4)

This course surveys European women's gendered experiences of war, revolution, and terrorism from the French Revolution to the present. Adopting gender analysis as its methodological framework, it focuses on the changing constructions of femininity and masculinity in relation to major global upheavals and theories of violence in the modern world The course examines the impact of such developments on the lives of European women of different socioeconomic, regional, and racial backgrounds. Topics covered include the Russian Revolutions, World Wars I and II, global terrorism of the 1970s, and contemporary European feminist politics of immigration and the veil.

HIST 305     Medieval Women -- In Their Own Words  (4)

This course closely analyzes the relatively rare sources that allow historians to see the experience of medieval women through the eyes of the women themselves rather than through the prescriptive lens of the men who held most forms of power in their society: a ninth-century woman's book of advice for her son, surviving letters and spiritual writings, wills, and the legal records that show both the vulnerability of women and their readiness to bend and break the law. Case studies of individual women are employed, along with critical analysis of different categories of source material. Prerequisite: One course with attribute G4 including AP or IB credit.

HIST 313     Youth and Social Networks in the Early Modern World  (4)

This research seminar explores the social and cultural history of early modern European communities (c. 1400 to 1750) by using gender, age and emotion as tools of historical analysis. Key topics include: Renaissance debates about the education of girls and boys, families, fathers and feeling in the Protestant and Catholic Reformations, popular and learned stereotypes of the female witch, youth gangs and child-circulation. Prerequisite: One course with attribute G4 including AP or IB credit.

HIST 315     Out of the Shadows: Women of the Civil Rights Movement  (4)

A seminar focusing on the women of the long Civil Rights Movement who galvanized their communities to resist oppression and demand justice. These women, long overshadowed by men, labored tirelessly even after the Movement gained national attention but few are known and fewer still acknowledged. In this course, we will study the history of the long Civil Rights Movement from the points of view of these women and their known and unknown predecessors who paved the way. Prerequisite: One course with attribute G4 including AP or IB credit.

HIST 334     History of Mass Culture in the United States  (4)

This course examines the history of mass culture in the United States from the mid-1800s to the present. It asks how mass cultural products, from minstrel shows to moving pictures to hip hop, developed as industries and went on to shape Americans’ ideas about gender, race, and class. Students will consider the role of “subcultures” and how Americans of many different identities and social groups have used mass culture to contest and reshape dominant or “mainstream” U.S. culture. Prerequisite: One course with attribute G4 including AP or IB credit.

HIST 358     Women in Latin America  (4)

A seminar on the history of Latin American women from the seventeenth century to the present, examining the tension in Latin American countries concerning the role of women, their relationship to the family, and their desire for equality. The course explores controversies over the legal status of women, education, employment, and participation in political life. Students will examine several theoretical approaches to gender studies together with specific case studies. Prerequisite: One course with attribute G4 including AP or IB credit.

HIST 367     Writing the Nation: Literature, Nationalism and Search for Identity in Latin America (1810-Present)  (4)

A study of national projects in Latin America from 1810 to the present. Topics include Bolivar, the wars of independence, nineteenth-century visions of progress, Vasconcelos' concept of The Cosmic Race, and contemporary movements for the inclusion of women, blacks, Native Americans, gays, and other marginalized groups in a common Latin American culture. Prerequisite: One course with attribute G4 including AP or IB credit.

HIST 375     The Outlaw in American Culture  (4)

This survey approaches the outlaw both as imagined in fiction, film, and music and as a real historical subject. Special attention is paid to how changing understandings of the "outlaw" correspond to specific moments in American history such as the settling of the West, gangsterism in the Great Depression, the rise of Black Power, and the development of new technology involving internet hacktivists. Legal and other-than-legal responses to the outlaw are also considered. Prerequisite: One course with attribute G4 including AP or IB credit.

HIST 378     Sexuality and the Self in Modern Europe  (4)

This seminar investigates how and why sexuality became the key to selfhood in modern Europe. Drawing on the tools of gender analysis and cultural history, students explore the ways in which political, socioeconomic and cultural tensions of particular historical moments were manifested in the sexuality of individuals. Students also examine a variety of primary sources from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries to consider how individuals defined themselves through sexuality and how definitions were imposed on them by a variety of institutions and authority figures. Prerequisite: One course with attribute G4 including AP or IB credit.

HIST 379     Honor, Shame, and Violence in Modern Europe  (4)

This course treats honor as a tool for understanding change and continuity in European society from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. Honor and shame are viewed as conduits that allow students to explore broader sexual, gender, class and political developments. Particular attention is given to ways in which honor functioned differently in the public ideologies and private lives of dominant and marginal social groups. This course also explores the relationship of violence to the cult of honor. Prerequisite: One course with attribute G4 including AP or IB credit.

HIST 380     Crimes and Scandals in the Historical Imagination, 18th–20th Centuries  (4)

An investigation of the ways historians read past crimes and scandals for evidence of broader social, political, and cultural anxieties and desires. Focusing less on details of incidents themselves than on the debates and public interpretation surrounding them, this seminar deals with crimes such as those committed by Jack the Ripper or French murderesses at the end of the nineteenth century. In addition to analyzing secondary sources dealing with crime and scandal, students scrutinize a variety of primary documents such as trial records, medical and judicial debates, scientific analysis of criminality, memoirs of notorious criminals and detective novels. Prerequisite: One course with attribute G4 including AP or IB credit.

HIST 384     Sex and the City  (4)

Cities have long offered possibilities for resisting gender and sexual norms, constructing new gender and sexual identities, forming sexual subcultures, and fighting for gender and sexual freedom. But cities have also been sites of repression and violent conflict around gender and sexuality. This seminar asks how urban life has shaped—and been shaped by—gender and sexuality, examining topics such as the anxieties about nineteenth-century “streetwalkers,” “race riots” fueled by rumors of interracial sex, and the gay liberation movement. Course materials draw primarily from histories of American cities but will also consider works of urban history focused on other geographic regions. Prerequisite: One course with attribute G4 including AP or IB credit.

HIST 399     History of Psychiatry and Mental Health  (4)

This course explores the history of psychiatry from the early modern period to the late twentieth century. Students learn how concepts of the mind changed over time and examine the effects these changes had on the medical care of individuals suffering from mental disorders or otherwise deemed deviant in their social behavior. In addition to examining broad trends, the course considers the emergence of specific categories of mental disorder and/or social deviance and how they were experienced by sufferers, family members, and medical professionals. The class also discusses the intersection of the history of mental health with histories of gender, race, and sexuality in North America and Europe. Prerequisite: One course with attribute G4 including AP or IB credit.

HIST 408     The Body Republic: American Politics, Medicine, and Society Before the Civil War  (4)

This course explores the connections between science, politics and social conventions in the period known as the Early Republic. Topics include the relationship between scientific theories and the temperance movement, gender roles, and scientific racism. Consideration of how the medical was political runs throughout the course as the challenges of microbes, diet, climate, and shifting definitions of ‘race’ and ‘citizen’ are explored. Course readings highlight the intersection of science, politics, race, and gender during this foundational period in American History.

HIST 441     The Home and the World: Gender and Sexuality in Modern India  (4)

Taking a historical approach towards understanding gender and sexuality in South Asia, this course focuses particularly on the history of women in the region. As is suggested in the translated title of one of India's most celebrated writers Rabindranath Tagore's novel, Home and the World, this course's themes also pivot around questions of women's belonging in circumscribed spaces. From this center it reaches out to offer an understanding of the great diversity and heterogeneity of women's experiences in India, an analysis of women's movements, forays into women's voices, and colonial policies towards women. Apart from a robust historiographical literature, this course introduces students to poems, fiction, literature, plays, art, and cinema from India.

HIST 471     Health, Medicine and Society in Early Modern Europe, 1400-1800  (4)

An exploration of the intertwined histories of health, medicine, religion, and emotion in Europe, c. 1400 to 1800. Informed by the methods and scholarship of social and cultural historians, the course considers the ways in which status, social roles and obligations, gender, and religious identities and practices affected how early moderns understood the health of their minds, bodies, and souls. Topics include Galenic humoralism and theories of disease, religious and astrological cures, learned medicine and anatomy, dissection and the study of female bodies, hospitals, and asylums. Prerequisite: One course with attribute G4 including AP or IB credit.

INGS 308     Body Film: Representing the Body in Contemporary World Cinema  (4)

An exploration of diverse ways of representing and conceptualizing the human body in contemporary world cinema. Starting with the premise that the body is both the material reality experienced each day as well as an enigma impossible to capture through the intellectual discourses of philosophy/science or the creative endeavors of literature/arts, the course invites students to analyze the myriad of body images supplied by twenty-first-century films from around the globe. Main topics of interest are the body and mind/soul dichotomy, gendered bodies, body and the discourse of desire, body as text, body and cognition, body and trauma, politics of the body, metamorphoses of the body, persons and things, and bodies in the cybernetic age. The course's theoretical component includes reading by Bakhtin, Baudrillard, Butler, Bourdieu, Foucault, Goffman, Grosz, and Haraway.

ITAL 325     Women Writers in Early Modern Italy  (4)

A study of poetry, plays, letters, treatises, and prose written by Italian women in the fifteenth-seventeenth centuries. Students examine the varied ways in which women in early modern Italy engaged questions of gender, aesthetics, ethics, and philosophy in their writings, encountered here in translation.

MUSC 227     Music and Gender  (4)

This course explores the intersection of Western music with sex, gender, and sexuality. Students apply concepts from the field of women’s and gender studies to analyze the construction of gender in music and musical discourse, as well as the roles sex and gender play in the careers, output, and reception of classical and popular musicians. Set at an intermediate level, this course assumes students have previous familiarity with basic musical concepts, including melody, harmony, major/minor tonality, and meter.

POLS 161     Multiculturalism and Equality  (4)

This course introduces key theories and concepts related to managing diversity in democratic states, such as social identities, multiculturalism, liberalism, crosscutting cleavages, and consociationalism. Students critique and analyze different models of states' attempts to recognize and represent various groups while protecting equality and human rights. Among other issues, states' attempts to reconcile contending appeals for cultural group rights and gender equality are analyzed.

POLS 210     The Politics of Poverty and Inequality  (4)

An introduction to the study of a significant social problem: poverty. Course topics include the development of an economic underclass in the United States and the programmatic response of government, the feminization of poverty, the causes of persistent rural and urban poverty, race and poverty in the South, and the connections between poverty in the U.S. and the international trade regime. Not open for credit to students who have earned credit for POLS 310.

POLS 307     Women in American Politics  (4)

An analysis of the role of gender in American politics, specifically how gender affects the political activities of American residents, political candidates, and elected officeholders. Students evaluate differences in men's and women's political participation, party affiliations, and campaign strategies and styles. They also examine reasons for women's political underrepresentation and implications of gender inequality in political office holding. Not open to new first-year students.

POLS 308     Feminist Political Theory  (4)

By surveying contemporary feminist political theories that use gender and sexuality as critical lenses, this course re-reads the Western canon in political philosophy and develops new substantive theories of politics. It focuses on feminist theories of democracy, citizenship, and the state, exploring these concerns via a broad range of feminist writings, including feminist legal theory, critical social theory, queer theory, public policy, and political economy. Students will also learn how to construct, analyze, compare, and critique theories, and will use these skills to read and evaluate new scholarly work. Not open to new first-year students.

POLS 314     Civil Wars  (4)

This course examines the causes, patterns, and resolutions of civil wars and insurgency movements in comparative perspective, drawing on a diverse set of cases from Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. The course's introductory portion is dedicated to conceptualizing and categorizing civil wars by their intensity, types of violence, nature of combat, and types of combatants. A principal question driving the inquiry is why the level of violence -- measured by the number of casualties, refugees, and other victims of war -- is higher in some places than others within the same country or region. This question is addressed through critical assessment of the most prominent conventional and revisionist theories of civil wars, theories highlighting either local or national influences. Not open to new first-year students.

POLS 318     Comparative Politics: South America and Mexico  (4)

A general survey of political life in Latin America, as well as specific study of the most important countries-Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Venezuela. Determinants and outcomes of political process are studied, as well as the political process itself. Consideration is given to both domestic and foreign influences and policies. Not open to new first-year students.

POLS 319     Global Gender Issues  (4)

Recent U.N. studies document the continuing systematic inequality that exists between men and women around the world. Approaching the study of sex-based inequality from a cross-cultural perspective reflects the reality that it is a universal phenomenon, but with complex and varied roots. The course will include an analysis of the ways in which this inequality impacts political decision-making, political representation, and public policy relevant to women and families. The course will also include the study of how factors such as race, class, religion, sexual orientation, and ethnicity, and social forces such as global capitalism, militarism, and nationalism interact with gender and affect the economic and political status of women and men around the world. Not open to new first-year students.

POLS 320     Gender and Politics in the Middle East and North Africa  (4)

Gender and politics are intricately related and this course examines them through study of the Middle East and North Africa region. It begins with a general overview of gender and politics broadly defined, and then applies these themes in a comparative way to particular issues that are relevant for the discussion of politics and gender in the region. Themes such as state feminism, gender and revolution, war, conflict and terrorism, religion, the history of imperialism and its contemporary consequences, law and social norms, and the regulation of the female body and dress as methods of political control will be examined. Not open to new first-year students.

POLS 338     Constitutional Law: Civil Rights  (4)

This course examines Supreme Court cases related to equality: by situating cases within varying theories of constitutional interpretation, and by assessing the socio-political implications of those decisions. Civil rights are specific governmental provisions to secure individual entitlements, as exemplified by the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of "equal protection of the laws." Claims centering on race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability are examined, along with other claims of equality arising from the Fifteenth Amendment's prohibition of voting discrimination. The course emphasizes, above all, the political role of the judiciary. This course may not be taken by students who have taken POLS 332. Not open to new first-year students.

POLS 344     Myth America  (4)

This course is concerned with myths that have played a prominent role in our nation's self-conception and its political rhetoric -- such as the myth of the frontier, the myth of success, and the notion of the American dream. We will examine 1) the changing historical meanings of these myths from the colonial period to the twentieth century and 2) the gender aspects of these myths. Not open to new first-year students.

POLS 346     Contemporary Social Movements  (4)

This course examines 1) some of the major social and political ideologies of the 20th century (such as liberalism, socialism, nationalism, feminism, environmentalism); 2) theories of social and political movements in modern societies and market democracies; and 3) concrete examples of such social and political movements in the contemporary world. Not open to new first-year students.

POLS 358     Gender and Human Rights Seminar  (2)

An examination of the legal and institutional structures developed to advance women's human rights and capabilities globally, and the barriers to securing these rights. Scholarship and case studies from the U.S. and other countries and regions, especially in Uganda and East Africa, invite students to examine the strengths and weaknesses of a legal approach to addressing issues such as reproductive rights and justice, abuses during incarceration and detention, violence against women and girls, land rights, and bodily integrity and autonomy. Prerequisite: Only open to students admitted to the Uganda summer field study program.

POLS 359     Gender and Human Rights: Field Study in Uganda  (2)

Field study in Uganda provides students with the opportunity to examine gender and human rights from an East African perspective. In this two week study abroad course, students engage with and learn from East African faculty, policy specialists, and experts on human rights issues of greatest concern to women and girls in the region. Prerequisite: Only open to students admitted to the Uganda summer field study program.

POLS 441     Gender, Violence, and Power  (4)

A cross-cultural examination of the social, economic, and political factors that predict gender-based violence, and the response of women's rights activists and organizations to the issue. Topics of inquiry include customary, formal, and international legal frameworks, intimate partner and family violence, sexual assault, traditional harmful practices such as child marriage, and gender-based violence during conflict and in post-conflict environments. Not open to new first-year students. Prerequisite: One course in politics with a WMST attribute..

PSYC 213     Comparative Sexual Behavior  (4)

A survey and critical evaluation of research investigating the psychological and social factors in sexual behavior with some attention to the underlying biology. A comparison and contrast across species, across individuals, and across cultures. Topics include partner preference, sexual dysfunction and treatment, changes across the life span, and commercial sex. Readings include selections from works that have changed the American understanding of sexual behavior. Prerequisite: PSYC 100 or 101 or junior standing.

PSYC 360     Psychology of Gender (Lab)  (4)

This course will be an examination of gender differences and similarities in behavior, major theories of gender, and the role that gender plays in interacting with others. Students will design, implement, analyze, and present original research in the area of gender. Open only to juniors or seniors pursuing programs in neuroscience or psychology. Prerequisite: PSYC 251.

PSYC 412     Psychology of Gender  (4)

A comparison of different theoretical perspectives on sex and gender and a critical examination of research on gender differences and similarities in human behavior. Patterns of public attitudes regarding gender will also be discussed. Open only to seniors pursuing programs in neuroscience or psychology. Prerequisite: Four courses in psychology and/or women's and gender studies.

RELG 143     Introduction to the Bible I: Old Testament  (4)

An examination of the origins, nature, and content of representative literature from the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Old Testament, and cognate literature. Attention is paid to issues of critical reading and theological interpretation of Jewish scriptures. Not open for credit to students who have completed RELG 141.

RELG 144     Introduction to the Bible II: New Testament  (4)

An examination of the origins, nature, and content of representative literature from the New Testament and Hellenistic literature. Attention is paid to issues of critical reading and theological interpretation of Christian scripture. Not open for credit to students who have completed RELG 141.

RELG 222     Gender and Sex in the New Testament  (4)

An examination of how gender and sex are constructed in selected texts from the New Testament. Exploring the intersection of biblical studies and gender studies, this course incorporates the perspectives of feminist theory, masculinity studies, queer theory, and the history of sexuality. Focus is on situating biblical texts in the context of ancient Mediterranean cultures. Attention is also given to the influence of modern understandings of gender and sexuality on the interpretation of biblical texts and to the use of biblical texts in contemporary debates over gender roles and sexual practices. Prerequisite: One course in religion, philosophy, or humanities.

RELG 235     Cult Controversies: Race, Gender, and Sex in America's 'Alternative' Religions  (4)

Introduces and explores new religious movements, sectarian spin-offs, and alternative communities in the U.S. that have tested the parameters of acceptable "religion" at different moments in history. Particular attention is given to intersectional dynamics. The class questions the politics and practices of labeling, especially the language of "cults," and centers on specific historical case studies in order to illustrate and analyze major theoretical and methodological challenges in and for the study of religion(s). It considers what draws people to create and join new religious movements, the distinctive worlds such groups endeavor to build, and the controversies that have historically attended them.

RELG 323     Engendering Religion  (4)

Draws on an archive of American religion and culture to study gender and religion with an intersectional eye toward historical and contemporary dynamics of power. Introduces students to feminist, womanist, transgender, and queer scholarship in study of religion. Prerequisite: At least one course in either RELG or WMST.

RHET 331     Voices of American Women  (4)

An examination of the history and criticism of American women's oratory and the history of women's public discourse in the United States from the colonial period through the present. Considers the historical, social, and cultural significance of women's rhetorical participation in civic life, as well as issues of authority, reception, and the nature of argument both within and about women's public address.

RUSN 354     Real Men, Real Women? Gender in 20th and 21st-Century Russian Literature and Culture  (4)

An exploration of the contentious topic of gender in a Russian context through the examination of an array of representations of masculinity and femininity in Russian prose, poetry and film of the twentieth century. Students assess what it means and has meant to be a Russian man or woman; in the process, they may challenge some Western assumptions about gender constructs. Through analyzing and identifying the characteristics of ideal/real men and women, the course considers how and whether gender stereotypes are reinforced in the works of contemporary authors. The course is taught in English.

RUSN 358     Gender Revolutions and Countercultures in Film and Literature after Stalin  (4)

The primary focus of this course is to introduce students to signature literary and cultural texts from the post-Stalin era to the present. The quintessential trends of Russian literature and culture of the past several decades include the collapse of Soviet identity, and with it searches for national identity, contesting ideas of gender, and attempts to capture Post-Soviet transition through documentary film and the documentary in literature. These topics connect to social critique, dissidence, counterculture, and their literary and cinematic products.

SPAN 364     Spanish Women Writers  (4)

Selected readings from Spanish women authors who represent various genres and time periods. In relation to each period, the course examines how selected writers portray gender, sexuality, social class, and other issues in their work. The course uses primary and secondary texts related to the authors and/or the period under consideration. Prerequisite: One course in Spanish numbered 299 or higher.

SPAN 387     Women’s Voices in Latin America  (4)

A study of literature, film, and other cultural expressions of Latin American and Latinx women. Examines the portrayal of gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, social class, and other issues in their work. Prerequisite: One course in Spanish numbered 299 or higher.

SPAN 388     Women Authors of the Hispanic Caribbean and Diaspora  (4)

This course highlights the work of women authors from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, on the islands and in the United States. Key issues include gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, migration, and biculturalism. Includes several literary genres and film with an emphasis on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Prerequisite: One course in Spanish numbered 299 or higher.

SPAN 389     U.S. Latino and Latina Literature and Culture  (4)

An introduction to the cultural production of Latinos and Latinas in the United States. Representative works from various literary genres, films, and the visual arts serve as the basis for the examination of recurring themes, which include: identity and self-definition, biculturalism, exile, migration, social class, political and social engagement, race, gender, and sexuality. Taught in English. Prerequisite: One course in Spanish numbered 203 or higher or placement.

SPAN 391     Decolonizing Filmmaking in Contemporary Spanish and Latin American Cinema  (4)

This course explores and analyzes a selection of contemporary Spanish and Latin American films directed by men and women. The course provides a panoramic view of current trends in cinema along with basic analytical and theoretical tools to better understand the film text. The course is organized thematically around topics of politics of memory, gender and sexuality, and social and global issues. Prerequisite: One course in Spanish numbered 299 or higher.

SPAN 393     Women Filmmakers in the Hispanic World  (4)

This course explores and analyzes a selection of films directed by women in the Spanish and Hispanic American context. The course reviews theoretical approaches to women’s cinema and considers the transnational nature of film production. The course is organized chronologically and deals with topics of gender and sexuality, politics of representation and memory, and other social and global issues. Prerequisite: SPAN 301 or SPAN 302 or SPAN 303 or SPAN 304.

THTR 222     Queer America on Stage and Screen  (4)

This course examines the evolution of LGBTQ+ characters in American plays and films of the last one hundred years. Students will examine the recurring stereotypes, coded language and images used to identify characters in the early decades of the twentieth century, and how their portrayal changes when Queer playwrights and film makers tell their own stories. Topics will include shifting perspectives on drag, camp, intersectionality and gender identity, and the impact of feminism, the civil rights movement, and the AIDS crisis.

WMST 251     Black Masculinity in the United States  (4)

This course is an interdisciplinary exploration of constructions of Black masculinity in the United States from the twentieth century through the present. Autobiographical accounts are used to examine historical and current definitions of Black manhood that challenge and reinforce understandings of what it means to be both Black and male.

WMST 340     African American Women's Short Stories  (4)

Focusing on the literary contributions of 20th century African American women fiction writers, this course specifically examines the shared and distinctive ways in which Black women writers represent the politics of Black womanhood in their short stories. This genre is an essential part of the Black women’s literary tradition that is often left unexplored. Collectively, these texts contribute to a radical literary tradition that implores readers to consider the way(s) in which race, gender, class, and/or sexuality inform the fictional lives of Black women and the lives of the writers. In addition to analyzing representations of Black female identity within the works of several prominent writers, the course traces specific themes such as power, privilege, and perspective.