WGS.101 - Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies
Undergrad (Fall, Spring) HASS Humanities, Communication-Intensive HASS
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: MW 3-4:30
Drawing on multiple disciplines - such as literature, history, economics, psychology, philosophy, political science, anthropology, media studies and the arts - to examine cultural assumptions about sex, gender, and sexuality. This class will introduce the student to several different frameworks for thinking about sex and gender, among other social categories - like race and class - across a variety of social and cultural contexts. We will consider the ways that gender functions in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, and how it interacts with race and class in the media and in the concrete reality of women's and men's lives. The class will focus on in-class discussions of the readings and on their application to the U.S. and beyond.
A. Walsh

WGS.109 - Women & Global Activism in Media & Politics
Undergrad (Fall) HASS Humanities, Communications-Intensive HASS
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: TR 3-5
Through the study of novels, films, art, and critical essays, we consider how women redefine the notion of community, nation, and development internationally. We explore traditional values, social change, gender roles, identity formation, migration flows, globalization and development, popular culture and urban life, cyber-culture, activism, and human rights. We will consider the following questions: What is the relevance of western feminist critical thinking for Third-World literature or cinema? Is feminism western? How have Third-World women been addressing and defining women's issues on their own terms?
A. Sur

WGS.110 - Sexual and Gender Identities
Undergrad (Fall) HASS Humanities
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: T EVE (7-10 PM)
Introduces scholarly debates about sexual identities, gender identities and expressions, and sexual orientation and its representation in various media. Topics may include lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) sexual identities as well as their histories in Western and non-Western cultures; queer theory and theories of identity; the origins of social movements for equality; issues of race and diversity within LGBT communities; questions of visibility and media representation; and the politics of sexual orientation in contemporary American institutions. Materials include secondary readings in history, philosophy and cultural theory as well as novels and plays, films and television programs, community studies, oral histories, and legal cases.
K. Surkan

WGS.111J/ CMS.619J - Gender and Media Studies
Undergrad (Fall) HASS Humanities
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: W EVE (7-10PM)
Examines representations of race, gender, and sexual identity in the media. Considers issues of authorship, spectatorship, and the ways in which various media (film, television, print journalism, advertising) enable, facilitate, and challenge these social constructions in society. Studies the impact of new media and digital media through analysis of gendered and racialized language and embodiment online in blogs and vlogs, avatars, and in the construction of cyberidentities. Provides introduction to feminist approaches to media studies by drawing from work in feminist film theory, cultural studies, gender and politics, and cyberfeminism.
K. Surkan

WGS.125J/ CMS.616J - Games and CultureNew!
Undergrad (Fall) HASS-Social Sciences
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: T EVE (7-10PM)
Examines the social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of digital games. Topics include the culture of gameplay, gaming styles, communities, spectatorship and performance, gender and race within digital gaming, and the politics and economics of production processes, including co-creation and intellectual property. Students taking graduate version complete additional readings and assignments.
T.L. Taylor

WGS.222J/ 21H.381J - Women and War
Undergrad (Fall) HASS-Social Sciences
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: W10-1
Examines women's experiences during and after war and genocide, covering the first half of the 20th century in Europe and the Middle East. Addresses ways in which women's wartime suffering has been used to further a variety of political and social agendas. Discussions focus on a different topic each week, such as sexual violence, women survivors, female perpetrators of genocide, nurses, children of genocidal rape, and the memory of war.
L. Ekmekcioglu

WGS.228J/ 9.75J - The Psychology of Gender and Race
Undergrad (Fall) HASS Social Sciences
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: R EVE (7-10PM)
The goal of this course is to examine the biopsychosocial factors that influence the lives of the girls and boys; and men and women across race and ethnicities. We will review essential topics in the field of psychology of gender and race. More specifically, we will critically evaluate psychosocial research and various psychological theories from Freud to feminist thought with specific emphasis upon how biases exist in the psychological field. We will explore how psychological dialogue can be expanded to become more inclusive of the role of ethnicity, race, and class upon one's psychological experience. Also, we will consider whether similarities and/ or differences in behavior exist between the sexes/genders across the lifespan, as a function of gender, race/ethnicity, and class. Finally, we will examine why and how these similarities and/or differences occur.
C. Kapungu

WGS.240J/ 21L.473J - Jane Austen
Undergrad (Fall) HASS Humanities
Prereq: One subject in Literature
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: TR 3:30-5
We will study the full range of Jane Austen's work, reading not just her novels, but her earlier juvenilia, several unfinished fragments, and her wonderful letters to her sister Cassandra. This great writer's work will be examined in relation to both biography and history. We will learn to analyze Austen's characteristic style and techniques, thereby gaining an enhanced appreciation of her writing - its intelligence, its wit, its themes - and of the times that produced it.
R. Perry

WGS.270J/ 21A.442J - Violence, Human Rights, and Justice
Undergrad (Fall), HASS Social Sciences
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: R 1-4
An examination of the problem of mass violence and oppression in the contemporary world, and of the concept of human rights as a defense against such abuse. Explores questions of cultural relativism, race, gender and ethnicity. Examines case studies from war crimes tribunals, truth commissions, anti-terrorist policies and other judicial attempts to redress state-sponsored wrongs. Considers whether the human rights framework effectively promotes the rule of law in modern societies. Students debate moral positions and address ideas of moral relativism.
E. C. James

WGS.301J/ 17.007J/ 24.237J - Feminist Thought
Undergrad (Fall), HASS Humanities
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: MW 1-2:30
In this course we will examine the development of feminist theory over time. Some subjects we will examine in detail include suffrage and equality; radical feminism; psychoanalysis and feminism; theories of power; sexuality and gender; embodied knowledge; pornography; identities and global feminism; militarism; and the welfare state. Throughout the course we will analyze different ways of looking at power and political culture in modern societies, issues of race and class, poverty and welfare, sexuality and morality.
S. Haslanger