Department of Women’s and Gender Studies

Introduction

The Department of Women’s and Gender Studies offers a feminist interdisciplinary course of study that expands the process of knowledge production to include considerations of gender, race, class, and sexuality in the United States and internationally. Students will be exposed to recent scholarship on feminist theory and the intellectual, economic, political, and artistic contributions of women and feminist movements in various historical and cultural contexts.

Numerous departments across campus offer courses that focus on the study of women and/or gender. Most of these courses are cross-listed as women’s and gender studies courses; others are taught as special sections of an established course and are identified separately each semester.

Advising

All majors and minors have a primary academic advisor assigned in ConnectCarolina. All other majors and minors are strongly encouraged to meet with a faculty member or director of undergraduate studies (DUS) who works with current and prospective majors and minors by appointment (see “Contacts” above). Departmental academic advising is particularly important for those majors who are considering going on to graduate school. All students are encouraged to review their Tar Heel Tracker each semester. Further information on courses, undergraduate research opportunities, the honors program, careers, and graduate schools may be obtained from the department’s website.

Professor

Ariana Vigil.

Associate Professors

Sarah Bloesch, Karen M. Booth, Candice Merritt, Tanya L. Shields.

Assistant Professor

Jillian Hinderliter.

Adjunct Professor

Sharon James. 

Adjunct Associate Professors

Jes Boon, Lydia Boyd, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Barbara Friedman, Michele Rivkin-Fish, Michelle Robinson, Katherine Turk, Claudia Yaghoobi.

Adjunct Instructors

Shelley Gist Kennedy, Christi Hurt.

Professors Emerita

Michele Berger, E. Jane Burns, Barbara J. Harris, Joanne Hershfield, Susan Harbage Page, Silvia Tomásková.

WGST–Women’s and Gender Studies

Undergraduate-level Courses

IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 51.  First-Year Seminar: Race, Sex, and Place in America.  3 Credits.  

This first-year seminar will expose students to the complex dynamics of race, ethnicity, and gender and how these have shaped the American city since 1945.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FY-SEMINAR, FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: PLAN 52.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 56.  First-Year Seminar: Writing Women in Modern China.  3 Credits.  

Compares the rhetoric of equality between the sexes presented by late Qing, May Fourth, and communist thinkers to perspectives on gender and society by 20th-century Chinese women writers. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FY-SEMINAR, FC-AESTH or FC-KNOWING.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, BN.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ASIA 56.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 64.  Plantation Lullabies: Literature by and about African American Women.  3 Credits.  

This course introduces students to different ways of understanding plantation culture and how that culture persists today, using close reading strategies and gender analysis. The class will examine film, literature, music, and poetry.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FY-SEMINAR, FC-PAST or FC-VALUES.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 66.  First-Year Seminar: Growing Up Girl, Globally.  3 Credits.  

Course introduces students to literature by women from around the world, particularly stories of a girl's transition to womanhood. Close reading strategies are used to examine films, novels, and poetry.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FY-SEMINAR, FC-AESTH or FC-KNOWING.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 67H.  First-Year Seminar: Sexuality and Salvation.  3 Credits.  

In Christianity and Islam, bodies populate the afterlife. What those bodies look like, how they act, what they feel, and who they engage with are subjects of contentious and long-standing debates. The various answers offered in these debates deeply affect Christian and Muslim responses to the body, sexuality, race, and gender in this life. This course examines how these two religious traditions' diversity of histories and ideas construct theories of identity.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FY-SEMINAR, FC-KNOWING, RESEARCH.
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 68.  First-Year Seminar: Assumed Identities: Performance in Photography.  3 Credits.  

Uses photography and its aspects of role playing, performance, and documentation to understand the construction of identity. Looks at historical and contemporary photographers who use assumed identities to explore their changing identity roles and challenge society's stereotypes. Individual and group performance/photography projects working with still photography, video, and the Internet.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FY-SEMINAR, FC-CREATE or FC-KNOWING.
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 89.  First-Year Seminar: Special Topics.  3 Credits.  

Special topics course. Content will vary each semester. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FY-SEMINAR.
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 101.  Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies.  3 Credits.  

An interdisciplinary exploration of the intersections of gender, race, class, and sexuality in American society and internationally. Topics include work; sexuality; gender relations, and images of women in literature, art, and science; and the history of feminist movements. Course readings are drawn from the humanities and the social sciences. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 111.  Introduction to Sexuality Studies.  3 Credits.  

This course introduces students to the broad range of disciplinary perspectives used by the field of sexuality studies to study, teach, and create knowledge about human sexuality in various functions and forms. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, NA, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 124.  Sex and Gender in Society.  3 Credits.  

Examination of the social differentiation between men and women. Attention to the extent, causes, and consequences of sexual inequality and to changes in sex roles and their impact on interpersonal relations.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: SOCI 124.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 127.  Iranian Women Writers.  3 Credits.  

This course introduces students to Iranian women's issues through their literary works. To contextualize, we will read articles and essays on the historical, cultural, social, political, and economic backgrounds. In order to approach these literary works in a more effective manner, we will also be reading various secondary materials.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-GLOBAL.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, BN, CI.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ASIA 127.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 140.  Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Culture and Literature.  3 Credits.  

Introduces students to concepts in queer theory and recent sexuality studies. Topics include queer lit, AIDS, race and sexuality, representations of gays and lesbians in the media, political activism/literature.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ENGL 140.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 144.  Women in United States History.  3 Credits.  

This course will survey the history of women, gender relations, and notions of sex difference in the United States from the colonial era to present times, with a special emphasis on women's varied experiences and expectations across divisions of class, race, and region. Key themes will include work, politics, citizenship, reproduction, sociability, and sexuality.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-PAST or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 144.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 167.  Gender, Sexuality, and Social Justice in South Asia.  3 Credits.  

This course explores questions of ethics, justice, and inequality with respect to gender in modern South Asia. Each unit will probe a different aspect of social justice in order to understand the histories, politics, and expressive cultures of various disempowered communities. Intersections between gender and ethics, politics, sexuality, caste, class, and the environment will be studied in depth.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER or FC-VALUES.
Making Connections Gen Ed: PH, BN.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ASIA 167.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 188.  Introduction to Women and Music.  3 Credits.  

The role of women in performance, composition, patronage, and the music business across a wide range of repertories.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP, GL, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: MUSC 188.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 200.  Gender and Sexuality in Africa.  3 Credits.  

Introduction to the study of gender and sexuality in African societies. Theoretical questions relating to the cross-cultural study of gender will be a primary focus. Topics include historical perspectives on the study of kinship and family in Africa and the impact of colonialism and other forms of social change.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL or FC-KNOWING.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, BN.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: AAAD 200.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 202.  Introduction to Feminist Thought.  3 Credits.  

Introduces students to feminist theorizing on debates over gender-based oppression. Gives students tools to pursue academic work in women's studies and to understand the relationships among concepts, activism, and change. Required for majors. Strongly recommended for minors.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING or FC-POWER.
Requisites: Prerequisite, WGST 101.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 211.  Introduction to Latina Feminisms: Literature, Theory, and Activism.  3 Credits.  

Through a variety of texts that span the 20th and 21st centuries, students will be introduced to key concepts, figures, and movements in Latina feminisms. Emphasis will be placed on a diversity of historical and ethno-national perspectives as well as academic interdisciplinarity.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-CREATE or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 215.  Gender and Spirituality.  3 Credits.  

The course is designed to introduce a variety of ways that gender is present in how we define, interpret, and engage the broad categories of the spiritual and spiritualities. Students will learn how to analyze how gender is portrayed by spiritual and religious traditions and reflect on the socially constructed nature of those encounters.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING.
Making Connections Gen Ed: PH, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 217.  Women and Politics.  3 Credits.  

A comparison of men and women as political actors at the mass and elite level in America. Topics considered include the "gender gap," the women's movement, abortion, and the Equal Rights Amendment.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: POLI 217.  
WGST 220.  Women in the Middle Ages.  3 Credits.  

This interdisciplinary course examines representations of women, concepts of gender, and women's participation in the economic, political, religious, and cultural life of the Middle Ages. Discussion and texts in English.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, NA, WB.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: GERM 220.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 222.  Prehistoric Art.  3 Credits.  

A survey of prehistoric art in Africa, the Americas, Australia, and Europe.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-PAST.
Making Connections Gen Ed: BN, WB.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ANTH 222.  
WGST 224.  Introduction to Gender and Communication.  3 Credits.  

Examines multiple relationships among gender, communication and culture. Explores how communication creates gender and shapes relationships and how communication reflects, sustains, and alters cultural views of gender. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: CI, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: COMM 224.  
WGST 225.  Space, Place, and Difference.  3 Credits.  

Gender, race, and class are examined in terms of the spatial patterns of everyday life, regional patterns, and global patterns. (GHA)

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: GEOG 225.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 230.  Women in Contemporary Art: A Field Study.  3 Credits.  

This seminar will explore the lives and work of women in contemporary art through a combination of readings, films, interviews, studio visits with area artists, and visits to museums and galleries. We will engage questions of identity, gender, sexuality, politics, and cultural representation and how these affect the creativity, media, and final output of women artists.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-CREATE or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 231.  Gender and Popular Culture.  3 Credits.  

This course examines the ways in which gender and sexual identities are represented and consumed in popular culture.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 232.  Identity in Transit: Performing the Self through Photography.  3 Credits.  

This course asks how gendered identity is shaped over time in relation to different cultural, social, and historical circumstances. Examines the practices of photographers who present themselves and others in assumed identities to comment on shifting social roles and challenge stereotypes. Students use photography to document performance and create self-portraits.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-CREATE.
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 233.  Introduction to Latina Literature.  3 Credits.  

This course will provide an introduction to Latina literature. We will read a variety of genres from a range of ethno-national perspectives and examine such topics as immigration, identity, mother-daughter relationships, and sexuality.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 237.  Rebel, Lover, Martyr: Gender and Sexuality in North and South Korean Screen Cultures.  3 Credits.  

This course introduces students to the history of North and South Korean film and television through the lens of gender and sexuality. In so doing, it explores the multiple forms of the Korean self and the diverse shapes that Korean identity has taken across the modern and contemporary eras.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, BN.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: KOR 237, CMPL 237.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 240.  Women in Greek Art and Literature.  3 Credits.  

Course examines law, religion, medicine, social practices, and ideologies in the lives of women in ancient Greece, from Homer to Hellenistic Egypt, using literature, art, and epigraphy. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-KNOWING.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, NA, WB.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: CLAS 240.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 241.  Women in Ancient Rome.  3 Credits.  

Course examines the life of women in ancient Rome, from the first beginnings of the organized community in Rome through the early Empire, a period of about 900 years. Also explores aspects of the lives of women in provinces governed by Rome. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING or FC-PAST.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, NA, WB.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: CLAS 241.  
WGST 242.  Sex and Gender in Antiquity.  3 Credits.  

Exploration of gender constructs, what it meant to be a woman or a man, in antiquity, as revealed in literary, historical, and archaeological sources. Readings from Homer, Euripides, Plato, Ovid, Virgil, Juvenal, Petronius, and other ancient authors.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA, WB.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: CLAS 242.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 244.  Gender and Sexuality in Western Christianity.  3 Credits.  

An examination of the development of teachings on issues of gender and sexuality through the history of Western Christianity, with particular focus on contemporary controversies. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER or FC-VALUES.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: RELI 244.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 248.  Gender on the Musical Stage.  3 Credits.  

An exploration of gender on the musical stage in the past and present, with an emphasis on female-identified creators and characters, onstage and behind the scenes.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: MUSC 248.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 249.  Intersectionality: Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Social Justice.  3 Credits.  

The first goal of this super course is to give students real tools for how to address multiple modes of difference and identity formations like race, gender, class, and sexuality.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: CI, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: AMST 248, ENGL 248, POLI 248.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 253.  A Social History of Jewish Women in America.  3 Credits.  

This course examines the history and culture of Jewish women in America from their arrival in New Amsterdam in 1654 to the present and explores how gender shaped this journey.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-PAST or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: AMST 253, JWST 253.  
WGST 254.  Women in the Visual Arts I.  3 Credits.  

This course analyzes the role of women in Western art as art producers and consumers of art and looks at how women have been represented.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP, CI, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ARTH 254.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 259.  Towards Emancipation? Women in Modern Europe.  3 Credits.  

This course examines and compares the situation of women in politics, the work force, society and family from the French Revolution to the new women's movement in the 1970s with a focus on Britain, France and Germany. One major theme is the history of the struggle for women's emancipation.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-PAST or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 259, EURO 259.  
WGST 260.  Women and Sport.  3 Credits.  

A broad based perspective of women's participation in sport including history of participation, physiological differences, and socio-cultural influences including work, politics, family, economics, and gender roles and identity.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: EXSS 260.  
WGST 263.  Literature and Gender.  3 Credits.  

Focused study of how issues of gender shape literary themes, characters, and topics, and the composition and reception of literary texts. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ENGL 263.  
WGST 264.  Gender in Russian History.  3 Credits.  

Traces the development of sexual identities and changes in masculine and feminine ideals from Tsarist Russia through the post-Soviet period with emphasis on politics, society, and popular culture.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, BN.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 264.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 265.  Feminism and Political Theory.  3 Credits.  

Introduction to feminist theory and its implications for the study and practice of political theory. Topics: women in feminist critiques of the Western political tradition, schools of feminist political theory.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: PH, CI, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: POLI 265.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 266.  Black Women in America.  3 Credits.  

An examination of the individual and collective experiences of black women in America from slavery to the present and the evolution of feminist consciousness.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-PAST or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: AAAD 232.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 270.  Introduction to Transgender Studies.  3 Credits.  

This course surveys the breadth of the field of transgender studies through an interdisciplinary lens. This course will outline trans history from 16th century to the present as well as current topics addressed by scholars in the field.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, CI, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
WGST 271.  Women in German Cinema.  3 Credits.  

Introduction to feminist aesthetics and film theory by the examination of the representation of women in German cinema from expressionism to the present. All materials and discussions in English. Previously offered as GERM/WGST 250.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: GERM 271, CMPL 271.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 272.  Masculinities.  3 Credits.  

This class is an interdisciplinary study of masculinities as theorized by feminists and shaped by race, class, sexuality, gender identity, age, ability, and nationality. Meanings of masculinities will be addressed at multiple levels - historical, structural, cultural, and interpersonal - and in multiple sites - childhood, adolescence, the body, education, work, sports, popular culture, immigration, gender violence, and mass incarceration.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 275.  Moral and Philosophical Issues of Gender in Society.  3 Credits.  

A survey of feminist perspectives on topics such as the meaning of oppression, sexism and racism, sex roles and stereotypes, ideals of female beauty, women in the workplace, pornography, rape. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER or FC-VALUES.
Making Connections Gen Ed: PH, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: PHIL 275.  
WGST 277.  Gender and Culture.  3 Credits.  

Examines what it means to be male, female, and other gendered categories in different societies. Focus on institutions, groups, and individuals that both shape and challenge how gender is understood, organized, and enacted.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ANTH 277.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 278.  Women in Science.  3 Credits.  

The role of women in scientific domains throughout history and a consideration of the status of women and men as scientists. The development of science as a cultural practice.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING or FC-VALUES, RESEARCH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, CI, EE- Mentored Research.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ANTH 278.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 280.  Women and Gender in Latin American History.  3 Credits.  

Examines the experiences of women and gender relations in Latin American societies from pre-Columbian times to the present, providing a new perspective on the region's historical development.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-PAST or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, BN.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 280.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 281.  Gender and Global Change.  3 Credits.  

Through a diverse set of texts, students will examine the role of armed conflict in forming United States empire in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course will also consider the gendered contradictions of freedom and historical embodiments of war and violence.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL or FC-VALUES.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
WGST 285.  African American Women in the Media.  3 Credits.  

This course will acquaint students with how African American women have been depicted (and depicted themselves) in 20th- and 21st-century media. The course will examine representations of African American women in several aspects of culture including film, art, print, television, theater, and music.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
WGST 290.  Special Topics in Women's Studies.  3 Credits.  

Topics are announced in advance and reflect the interest of the particular instructor. Each course will concern itself with a study in depth of some problem or issue in women's studies.

Rules & Requirements  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics; 9 total credits. 3 total completions.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 302.  Language and Power.  3 Credits.  

This course provides an overview of language and power studies. Issues: sexist and sex-neutral language; languages of subcultures defined by gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity; hate speech; "politically correct" language.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER.
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: LING 302, ANTH 302.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 313.  Women and the Law in Africa and the Middle East.  3 Credits.  

Explores women's and men's engagement with colonial and post-colonial legal systems with a focus on the 19th through 21st centuries. Topics include customary law, Islamic law, women's rights as human rights, disputation and conflict resolution. We will ask the question: "how does gender influence how women and men navigate legal systems?" Course previously offered as WMST 289.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL or FC-PAST.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, BN, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 313.  
WGST 315.  Sexuality and Salvation.  3 Credits.  

In Christianity and Islam, bodies populate the afterlife. What those bodies look like, how they act, what they feel are subjects of popular and scholarly contentious, long standing debates. The various answers that have been offered in these debates deeply affect Christian and Muslim responses to the body, sexuality, race, and gender in this life. This course examines how theories about sex, gender, and identity are constructed within two religious traditions' histories, ideas, and theories.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: GL, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 325.  Encountering Art in the Unexpected: Borderlands and Story in Contemporary American Visual Art.  3 Credits.  

This course focuses on the contemporary art and social change movement. We will learn how to use site-specific and performative art interventions to make invisible borders, boundaries, and other issues visible and innovatively to create engaged and sustained dialogue.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-CREATE or FC-GLOBAL.
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: AMST 325.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 329.  Middle East Women Writers.  3 Credits.  

We examine works written by Middle Eastern women. We will begin with reading speeches and short stories in the 1860s. We will focus on topics such as Middle Eastern women and feminism and the West; women and nationalism; women and colonialism; women and patriarchy; women, sexuality, and religion.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, CI, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ASIA 329.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 330.  Women's Health Activism in Twentieth Century America.  3 Credits.  

Course examines the history of women's health activism and advocacy in the 20th century United States. Course materials and discussions will trace the development of several women's health movements and causes, health activists' tactics and rhetoric, and the complex dynamic between lay activists and medical professionals.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-PAST or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: NA, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 337.  African Gender History.  3 Credits.  

Required preparation, at least one AAAD or WMST course. This course seeks to familiarize students with scholarly debates on the importance of gender as a category of analysis, while gaining a greater sense of the African past.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL or FC-PAST.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, BN.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 340.  Leadership in Violence Prevention.  3 Credits.  

Examines interpersonal violence, the factors that enable it, and prevention strategies. The course examines violence on both individual and structural levels, considering perpetrators, victims/survivors, and bystanders and drawing upon the expertise of local organizers and service providers in the system of care.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER, HI-SERVICE.
Making Connections Gen Ed: EE- Service Learning.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 345.  Gender and Film.  3 Credits.  

This course examines the representations of women in contemporary American film and also considers women as producers of film.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-KNOWING.
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: COMM 345.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 350.  Spitting in the Wind: "American" Women, Art, and Activism.  3 Credits.  

This course uses films, novels, and essays to engage with various notions of activism (as represented in art and social justice organizations) at play in hemispheric America.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-CREATE or FC-GLOBAL.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 352.  Rahtid Rebel Women: An Introduction to Caribbean Women.  3 Credits.  

This course uses films, novels, and essays to move beyond sun, sand, and sex representations of Caribbean women to examine how they negotiate imperial and national definitions of their place.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, BN.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
WGST 353.  War and Gender in Movies.  3 Credits.  

The course examines and compares the images of war and gender that movies from different time periods and countries propagate and explores the different factors that influence these images and thereby the perception and recollection of war. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 354, PWAD 354.  
WGST 354.  American Women's History to 1865.  3 Credits.  

This course will explore women's experiences in America from 1500 to 1865. Topics will include the ways in which women have shaped American politics, economy, society, and culture.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 355.  
WGST 356.  American Women's History, 1865 to the Present.  3 Credits.  

This course will examine the changing lives of women in the United States after 1865: Their contribution to economy, society, cultural change, and political struggles.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 356.  
WGST 360.  Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Histories in the United States.  3 Credits.  

This course investigates the history of people who might today be defined as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) in the United States. Key themes will include identity formation, culture, politics, medical knowledge, discrimination, and community.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 361.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 361.  Asian American Women's Writing.  3 Credits.  

This course covers writings by Asian American women and examines issues of gender, race, and sexuality.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, CI, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ENGL 361.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 362.  Mary in the Christian Tradition.  3 Credits.  

In certain eras, Mary has been more central to Catholic devotion than Christ. This course explores doctrine, liturgy, and popular devotion centering on the Virgin in medieval European Christianity, her impact on colonial religion in the New World, and her roles in Protestantism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Islam. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-PAST.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, WB.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: RELI 362.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 363.  Feminist Literary Theory.  3 Credits.  

Theories of feminist criticism in relation to general theory and women's writing. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ENGL 363.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 365.  Sexuality, Gender, and Public Policy.  3 Credits.  

Public policies affect men and women differently, and they participate differently in the policy-making process. This course examines several key areas of public policy, some expressly related to gender or sexuality and others that have significantly gendered impacts, organized around four themes: family, labor, body, and the world.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: PLCY 365.  
WGST 368.  Women of Color in Contemporary United States Social Movements.  3 Credits.  

This course will examine the role of women of color as grassroots activists, leaders, and thinkers in the new social and community movements of the postwar period.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, US.  
Requisites: Prerequisite, WGST 101.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 370.  Race, Sexuality, and Disability in the History of Western Christianity.  3 Credits.  

Over time, Christian institutions and traditions have helped constitute contemporary narratives of race, sexuality, and disability in society. This course examines shifting definitions and specific case studies from the premodern era through to contemporary discourses and polemics in America. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: RELI 368.  
WGST 371.  Women Mystics.  3 Credits.  

An investigation of the forms, characteristics, and variety of the mystical experiences of women in medieval and modern Christianity, with comparative consideration of women mystics and spiritual leaders in at least two other religious traditions.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: RELI 371.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 373.  Modern Women Writers.  3 Credits.  

The development of a women's literary tradition in the works of such writers as George Sand, George Eliot, Isak Dinesen, Colette, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, Marguerite Duras, Nathalie Sarraute, Marguerite Yourcenar.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: CMPL 374.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 374.  Southern Women Writers.  3 Credits.  

The study of fiction, poetry, plays, and essays by Southern American women writers of the past 200 years, continuing to the present.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ENGL 374.  
WGST 375.  History of Gender in America.  3 Credits.  

This course will explore how Americans from 1600 to the present have defined what is masculine and what is feminine and how they have constructed their identities around those definitions.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 375.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 380.  Almost Despicable Heroines in Japanese and Western Literature.  3 Credits.  

Authors' use of narrative techniques to create the separation between heroines and their fictional societies and sometimes also to alienate readers from the heroines. Austen, Flaubert, Ibsen, Arishima, Tanizaki, Abe.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-GLOBAL.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: CMPL 380, ASIA 380.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 382.  African American Women's History.  3 Credits.  

The course covers the history of black women in the United States from the 18th century to the present. It deals with such themes as work, family, community, sexuality, politics, religion, and culture. Previously offered as HIST/WGST 569.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-PAST or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 385.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 383.  Black Feminist Thought & the Speculative Imagination.  3 Credits.  

This class places transnational Black feminist thought in conversation with Black speculative fiction from across the diaspora, particularly emphasizing sci-fi and fantasy narratives set in dystopic or post-apocalyptic worlds. By reading these two traditions of writing together, we study how both genres theorize the potential sources of, responses to, and preventative measures against forms of political, social, and environmental catastrophe.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: AAAD 388.  
WGST 386.  Comparative Studies in Culture, Gender, and Global Forces.  3 Credits.  

Examines participatory development theory and practice in Africa and the United States in the context of other intervention strategies and with special attention to culture and gender.

Rules & Requirements  
Requisites: Prerequisites, AAAD 101 and 130.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: AAAD 386.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 388.  The International Politics of Sexual and Reproductive Health.  3 Credits.  

Permission of the instructor. Takes a feminist political economy perspective on debates over current health issues of international concern, including abortion, population control, and sexually transmitted infections. Focuses on the United States, Mexico, and Kenya, as well as on international organizations and social movements.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, BN, GL.  
Requisites: Prerequisite, WGST 101.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 393.  Internship in Women's and Gender Studies.  3 Credits.  

Permission of the instructor. A supervised internship designed to provide experience working in organizations concerned with women's or gender issues. Must be arranged with a faculty advisor during the semester prior to the internship. See the department's website for important information.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING or FC-VALUES, HI-INTERN.
Making Connections Gen Ed: EE- Academic Internship.  
Requisites: Prerequisite, WGST 101.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
WGST 396.  Independent Reading and Research.  3 Credits.  

Permission of curriculum chair. Faculty supervison required. Independent reading and research. A student can repeat the course as long as they work on a different topic each time they enroll.

Rules & Requirements  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit. 9 total credits. 3 total completions.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  

Advanced Undergraduate and Graduate-level Courses

WGST 402.  Feminist Ways of Knowing.  3 Credits.  

This course has two main purposes. First, it will build on the work students have done in WGST 202; students will explore more deeply significant trends, key theoretical texts, and epistemological and methodological debates in feminist thought. Second, by emphasizing connections among theory, method, evidence, and analysis, it will prepare students for the senior capstone course in which they develop and carry out a major research project.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: PH, CI, US.  
Requisites: Prerequisite, WGST 202.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
WGST 405.  Gender, Sexuality, Empire and Asian Pacific America.  3 Credits.  

This advanced undergraduate course examines the diverse terms by which empire and sexuality have produced and reflected gender in Asian Pacific America. This seminar brings together two strains of politicized critical analysis: queer/feminist studies and postcolonial studies through the interdisciplinary standpoint of Asian American studies. Close readings are drawn from the social sciences, humanities, and arts.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: GL, US.  
Requisites: Prerequisite, WGST 101 or 111.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 410.  Comparative Queer Politics.  3 Credits.  

Permission of the instructor. Compares the histories, experiences, identities, and political struggles of sexual and gender minorities in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Américas and at the United Nations.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, BN, GL.  
Requisites: Prerequisite, WGST 101.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
WGST 415.  Queer Theory and Religion.  3 Credits.  

This course examines the differing philosophical approaches in queer theory (psychoanalytic, cultural, transnational) in order to understand how scholars have incorporated discussions of sex, sexuality, gender, and race into their own work on religions.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: PH, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 418.  Family and Gender in Early Modern China and Korea.  3 Credits.  

This course explores family and kinship in early modern China and Korea through the lens of gender and sexuality. In particular, it invites students to think beyond the bias that women in premodern East Asia were victims of patriarchy to understand their active participation in their world-making as well as their dynamic imagination and expression through writing, working, learning, loving.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-PAST or FC-POWER.
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ASIA 418, HIST 418.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 424.  Gender Theory and the Study of Religion.  3 Credits.  

An examination of contemporary gender theory, with particular focus on its application to the study of religion.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER or FC-VALUES.
Making Connections Gen Ed: PH.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: RELI 424.  
WGST 438.  Gender and Performance: Constituting Identity.  3 Credits.  

Examines the culturally and historically variable ways in which individuals constitute themselves as cis- or transgendered subjects, drawing upon extant expressive resources, modifying them, and expanding options available to others. Performance of self as the product of esthetically marked or unmarked, everyday actions.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ANTH 537, FOLK 537.  
WGST 440.  Health and Gender after Socialism.  3 Credits.  

This course examines postsocialist experiences of the relationship between political, economic, social, and cultural transitions, and challenges in public health and gender relations.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ANTH 442.  
WGST 441.  The Anthropology of Gender, Health, and Illness.  3 Credits.  

The course explores cultural beliefs, practices, and social conditions that influence health and sickness of women and men from a cross-cultural perspective.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ANTH 441.  
WGST 442.  Gender, Class, Race, and Mass Media.  3 Credits.  

The media play a critical role in the construction and contestation of ideas about gender, class, and race. Using a range of methods, students will analyze media messages past and present to understand how gender, race, and class influence media production and consumption.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: MEJO 442.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 443.  Cultures and Politics of Reproduction.  3 Credits.  

This course takes a cross-cultural approach to understanding how reproduction and associated phenomena become arenas where political debates are played out, and where global and local social relations are contested.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER.
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ANTH 443.  
WGST 444.  Race, Class, and Gender.  3 Credits.  

Conceptualizations of gender, race, and class and how, separately and in combination, they are interpreted by the wider society. Emphasis on how black and working-class women make sense of their experiences at work and within the family.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: SOCI 444.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 445.  Migration and Health.  3 Credits.  

This course examines the intersections between migration processes and the political, economic, and social dimensions of health and well-being among migrants, their families, and their communities.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ANTH 445.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 446.  American Women Authors.  3 Credits.  

American women authors from the beginnings to the present. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ENGL 446.  
WGST 447.  Gender, Space, and Place in the Middle East.  3 Credits.  

Examines gender, space, and place relationships in the modern Middle East. Investigates shifting gender geographies of colonialism, nationalism, modernization, and globalization in this region. (GHA)

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: GEOG 447, ASIA 447.  
WGST 448.  Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Judaism.  3 Credits.  

The seminar examines the developments in gender roles and in sexuality in contemporary Judaism.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: CI, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: RELI 444, JWST 444.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 450.  Sexuality in Jewish Tradition and History.  3 Credits.  

This course deals with various topics related to sexuality and marriage in Jewish tradition and history: sex outside of marriage, wedding ceremonies, regulations of marital sex, menstruation, homosexuality, and more.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-PAST or FC-VALUES.
Making Connections Gen Ed: PH, WB.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: RELI 450.  
WGST 451.  Women in the Visual Arts II.  3 Credits.  

Discussion of topics related to the representation of women in Western art and/or women as producers of art.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ARTH 451.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 458.  Archaeology of Sex and Gender.  3 Credits.  

Required preparation, at least one ANTH or one WMST course. A discussion of gender and sex roles and sexuality in past cultures; a cross-cultural examination of ways of knowing about past human behavior.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, WB.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ANTH 458.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 465.  Gender, (Im)migration, and Labor in Latina Literature.  3 Credits.  

Students will explore the representation of intersections between gender, identity, immigration, and migration in Latina/o literature. Emphasis will be placed on the intersections between labor, migration, and United States immigration policy.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-GLOBAL.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, US.  
Requisites: Prerequisite, WGST 101.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 471.  Gender and Sexuality in Middle Eastern Literature.  3 Credits.  

We examine gender and sexuality in literature written by various authors from the Middle East. Our discussions will focus on the significance of sexuality, harems, same-sex desire and homosexuality, construction of female sexuality, masculinity, contraception and abortion, the institution of marriage, gay/lesbian underground subcultures, and social media as sexual outlet.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL or FC-POWER, RESEARCH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, CI, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ASIA 471.  
WGST 475.  Philosophical Issues in Gender, Race, and Class.  3 Credits.  

Examines in greater depth and complexity one or more of the issues addressed in PHIL 275, investigating issues of gender, race, and class within the dominant theories of philosophy.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: US.  
Requisites: Prerequisite, PHIL 275 or WGST 101.  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit. 6 total credits. 2 total completions.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: PHIL 475.  
WGST 476.  History of Feminism.  3 Credits.  

This course will examine the unprecedented surge of feminist thought and activism in the postwar United States. Course materials and discussions will trace feminists' varied conceptions of empowered womanhood and their expectations of the state, society at large, and each other. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 475.  
WGST 477.  Advanced Feminist Political Theory.  3 Credits.  

Examines in greater depth and complexity current issues in feminist political theory. Topics: theories of subjectivity and solidarity, feminist poststructuralist and post-Marxist thinking, gender in the public sphere.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: PH, CI, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: POLI 477.  
WGST 479.  History of Female Sexualities.  3 Credits.  

Spanning the ancient, medieval, and modern West, this course explores normative and non-normative female sexualities, ideas about female bodies, and the regulation of female sexuality by families, religions, and states.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 479.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 480.  Queering China.  3 Credits.  

This course explores "queer" expressions in Chinese literature and visual culture from 1949 through the twenty-first century. It surveys a combination of all-time classics and lesser-known cultural texts featuring non-heteronormative sexual desire and gender-bending performance. We mobilize queer as a broad site of critique beyond Western models of the concept, asking not only how queer challenges normative bodyminds, but also how it negotiates notions of age, family, race, and the neoliberal order.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: BN.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: CHIN 480, CMPL 480.  
WGST 482.  Sex, Gender, and Religion in South Asia.  3 Credits.  

This seminar draws on feminist and philosophical theory, including the works of Plato, Butler, and Foucualt, as well as postcolonial theory, to explore the categories of sex and gender in South Asian religions. We also analyze the moral cultivation of the self in relation to gender identity in South Asia.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: PH, BN.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: RELI 482, ASIA 482.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 486.  Exploration of Russian "Women's Prose" and Svetlana Alexievich (Nobel Prize in Literature 2015).  3 Credits.  

Using Alexievich as our beacon, we will explore the writers behind the term "Russian Women's Prose": Valeria Narbikova, Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Tatyana Tolstaya, and Lyudmila Ulitskaya. The course will delve into gender identity and body politics as they manifest themselves in the literary texts of lasting aesthetic quality and social relevance. Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-GLOBAL.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, BN.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: RUSS 486, EURO 486.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 489.  Women, Margin, Writing, and Transnational Japan.  3 Credits.  

This course explores literary and media art produced by women from various political and social margins of Japan, voiced from their transnational subjectivities. The transnational situations include: immigration, colonialism, diaspora, and international coalition as well as globalizing feminist alliance. By focusing on literature, film, and performance, this course takes an interdisciplinary approach to women's creative political statements.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH.
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: JAPN 489.  
WGST 500.  Gender, Empire, and Nation.  3 Credits.  

This course explores the growing body of research on gender, empire, and nation/nationalism in modern European history by focusing on problems of national belongings and citizenship, state and nation building and empire formation, and the gendered discourses and representations of nation and empire.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 500.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 503.  Gender, Culture, and Development.  3 Credits.  

Classic writings and debates relating to gender and development, with emphasis on recent work that critiques conventional development models. The scope is global, with special attention to Latin America and to such questions as how alternative approaches to gender, culture, and development may be more inclusive of diverse peoples and grassroots movements for change.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ANTH 503.  
WGST 517.  Gender, Military, and War.  3 Credits.  

This course introduces students to new research on the history of gender, the military, and war in a comparative perspective. It explores the interrelations between changing military systems, types of warfare, the gender order, as well as political, social, and cultural currents in modern history.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 517, PWAD 517.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 524.  Gender, Communication, and Culture.  3 Credits.  

Course examines the speeches and other texts that announced and embodied the goals and political strategies of multiple branches of three waves of feminist activism in the United States.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER.
Requisites: Prerequisite, COMM 224; permission of the instructor for non-majors.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: COMM 524.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 533.  Women, Gender, and Judaism.  3 Credits.  

This course examines historical developments in the study of women and gender in Judaism. We will discuss efforts to challenge and revitalize Jewish tradition through the lens of gender theory and other critical interpretive approaches. Topics to be addressed include biblical interpretation, Jewish law, feminist Jewish theology and liturgy, the renewal of ritual, the rabbinic ordination of women, gender identity, race, sexuality, queer, trans, and non-binary approaches, and representations of these themes in various media.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING or FC-POWER, RESEARCH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, CI.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: RELI 533, JWST 533.  
WGST 537.  Women in the Middle East.  3 Credits.  

Explores the lives of women in the Middle East and how they have changed over time. Focus will change each year.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, BN.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 537, ASIA 537.  
WGST 553.  Theorizing Black Feminisms.  3 Credits.  

Introduction to the theoretical and practical contributions of African American feminists who maintain that issues of race, gender, sexuality, and social class are central, rather than peripheral, to any history or strategy for bringing about social justice in the United States.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS.  
Requisites: Prerequisites, WGST 101 and 202; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisites.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
WGST 555.  Women and Creativity.  3 Credits.  

This course will present an overview of the variety and diversity of contemporary American women's experiences of creative expressions. We explore how women have been historically excluded from the arts.

Rules & Requirements  
Requisites: Prerequisites, WGST 101 and 202; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisites.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
WGST 560.  Women and Religion in United States History.  3 Credits.  

An interdisciplinary consideration of women's roles, behavior, and ideas in the religious life of Americans from 1636 to 1982.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 561.  Performance of Women of Color.  3 Credits.  

Explores through performance contemporary poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and feminist thought by women of color in the United States. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH.
Requisites: Prerequisite, COMM 160 or COMM 260 or COMM 263.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: COMM 561.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 562.  Oral History and Performance.  3 Credits.  

This course combines readings and field work in oral history with the study of performance as a means of interpreting and conveying oral history texts. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: HI-PERFORM.
Making Connections Gen Ed: EE- Performing Arts.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: COMM 562, FOLK 562, HIST 562.  
WGST 568.  Women in the South.  3 Credits.  

An exploration of the distinctive themes in Southern women's lives, using the evidence of history and literature.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 568.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 573.  Psychology of Women and Gender.  3 Credits.  

This course will discuss theories, methods, and empirical research findings on the physical, cognitive, emotional, and social aspects of the psychology of women, as well as topics such as feminist psychology, intersectionality, bias in psychological research, sexual orientation, sexuality, lifespan development, work, and health. Men and masculinity, the psychology of transgender persons, and a critique of the gender binary are also discussed.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER.
Requisites: Prerequisite, PSYC 101 or WGST 101.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: PSYC 573.  
WGST 576.  The Ethnohistory of Native American Women.  3 Credits.  

Introduces students to the study of Native American women through the perspectives of anthropology, history, and autobiography.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: HIST 576.  
WGST 583.  Gender and Imperialism.  3 Credits.  

Required preparation, one course in gender or non-Western societies. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the preparation. Focuses on feminist perspectives on imperialism, the effects of imperialism on colonized and European women, women's participation in anti-imperialist movements; and the legacies of imperialism for feminism today.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
WGST 620.  Women in Hispanic Literature.  3 Credits.  

The image of woman in 16th- and 17th-century Hispanic literature. A study of texts by Spanish and Spanish American authors. Readings in Spanish or in English translation. Lectures in English.

Rules & Requirements  
Requisites: Prerequisites, SPAN 371 and 373.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: SPAN 620.  
WGST 662.  Gender Issues in Planning and Development.  3 Credits.  

Permission of the instructor required for undergraduates. Examination of the environmental and health risks, policy institutions, processes, instruments, policy analysis, and major elements of American environmental policy. Lectures and case studies.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: PLAN 662.  
WGST 664.  Body and Suffering in Christian Mysticism.  3 Credits.  

Permission of the instructor for nonmajors. Medieval Christians consistently focused on the suffering body as a means of reflecting on Christ's sacrifice. This course considers how medical theories of cognition, gender, and pain influenced the potential role of the body in medieval mystical experience.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: NA, WB.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: RELI 665.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 665.  Queer Latina/o Literature, Performance, and Visual Art.  3 Credits.  

This course explores literature, performance art, film, and photography by Latinas and Latinos whose works may be described as "queer" and that question terms and norms of cultural dominance.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP, NA, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ENGL 665.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 666.  Queer Latina/o Photography and Literature.  3 Credits.  

This course explores Latina/o literature about photography in relation to photography by "queer" Latina/o artists and, through this double focus, poses certain questions about identity, subjectivity, and culture.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP, NA, US.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ENGL 666.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 691H.  Honors in Women's Studies.  3 Credits.  

Senior standing and permission of the department. The first semester of the yearlong honors thesis in women's and gender studies. Completing WGST 691H fulfills the WGST 695 requirement for the major.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: RESEARCH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: EE- Mentored Research.  
Requisites: Prerequisites, WGST 101 and 202.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 692H.  Honors in Women's Studies.  3 Credits.  

Permission of department. Second semester of the yearlong honors thesis project.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: RESEARCH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: EE- Mentored Research.  
Requisites: Prerequisite, WGST 691H.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoWGST 695.  Senior Seminar: Principles of Feminist Inquiry.  3 Credits.  

Required preparation, at least one additional WGST course and senior standing or permission of the instructor. Required for majors; strongly recommended for minors. An advanced writing-intensive course drawing on a student's interests and background. Major research of specific topics utilizing feminist perspectives. Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING, RESEARCH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: CI.  
Requisites: Prerequisites, WGST 101 and 202.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  

Department of Women’s and Gender Studies

Visit Program Website

208 Smith Building, CB# 3135

(919) 962-3908

Chair

Ariana Vigil

avigil@email.unc.edu

Director of Undergraduate Studies

Karen Booth

kmbooth@email.unc.edu