IWGS Course Offerings
INSTITUTE FOR WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES
UM-ST. LOUIS SPRING SEMESTER – 2010
January 19, 2009 – May 16, 2010
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS & SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
WGS 2102 Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies
(Same as Sociology 2102/Hist 2102/Social Work 2102)
Nigro, Kathleen (300 Clark) (001) MW 11:00-12:15am, Class # 13275
Swindle, Monica (300 Clark) (002) TTh 9:30-10:45am, Class # 13276
This core class is required for all Women’s and Gender Studies Certificate earners. This class introduces students to cultural, political and historical issues that shape gender. Through a variety of disciplinary perspectives in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, the course familiarizes students with diverse female and male experiences and gendered power relationships. Satisfies General Education requirement for Social/Behavioral Science and Valuing.
WGS 2150 Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies: Topic: Women and Sexuality in Ancient Greece
(Same as Ancient Greek 2150, Engl 2200 & Anthro 2192
Phillips, Margaret (SSB 0034) TTH 11:00 – 12:15pm, Class 14255
Gender and sexuality from the Amazons in mythology and Helen of Troy through Plato’s notions about love and sexuality to the romance novels of late antiquity.
Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies: Topic: Sex and Gender Across Culture (Same as Anthro 1041)
Koziol, Catherine (LH 100) MW 9:30-10:45am, Class 14256
This course considers womanhood, manhood, third genders, and sexuality in a broad cross-cultural perspective. The focus of the course is on the diverse cultural logics that separate females, males and sometimes third genders into different groups in different societies, with the male group usually being the more prestigious one. Focusing on indigenous non-Western cultures, this course examines gender roles and sexuality within the broader cultural contexts of ritual and symbolism, family, marriage and kinship, economy, politics, and public life. This course will help students understand what it is like to be male or female in non-Western cultures.
WGS 2230 Psychology of Women
(Same as Psych 2230)
Buday, Sarah (RB-OR120) MW 12:30-1:45pm, Class 13281
This course will develop an understanding of the many dimensions of women’s psychological identity. It will examine female development across the lifespan, explore a wide variety of psychological issues that concern women and form a common language for the critical analysis of issues facing women today. We will explore, identify, and try to understand the differences and similarities between women.
WGS 2290 Gender and the Law
(Same as Pol Sci 2290)
Jalalzai, Farida (SSB 131) W 2:00-4:30pm, Class 14261
This course examines the ways in which laws and interpretations of laws affect gender equality in the United States. Emphasizing how traditional roles impact both women and men historically and currently, the course highlights major pieces of legislation and court rulings related to employment, economics, education, sexual harassment, pornography, rape, reproductive rights, and domestic relations. The course stresses the impact of federal and state institutions and non-governmental influences on equality. It also addresses gender representation in the legal profession and its effect on judicial decisions.
WGS 3032 History of Women in Comparative Cultures
(Same as Hist 3143/5143 and WGS 5032)
Cohen, Deborah (Clark 415) MW 11:00-12:15pm, Class 14257
An introduction to the historical development of women’s status in a variety of cultures and periods within the areas of Africa, Europe, the Far East, Latin America, and the Middle East. The course analyzes women’s political, economic, familial, and sexual roles and the economic, demographic, ideological, and political forces which promoted change and community in those roles.
WGS 3250 Sociology of Victimization
(Same as Soc 3250)
Shields, Nancy (SSB 218) TTH 11:00-12:15pm, Class14262
Prerequisites: Sociol 1010. Examines the role of social factors in a wide range of kinds of victimization – crime, violence, natural disasters, accidents disease, etc. The topic of social reactions to various kinds of victimization is also covered. Sociological theories of victimization are emphasized.
WGS 3350 Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies
Power and Practice: Introduction to Feminist and Gender Theory
Nigro, Kathleen (200 Clark) TTH 11:00-12:15pm, Class 13282
Prerequisite: WGST 2102 or consent of instructor.
This class is a continuation of WGST 2102: Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies. It is meant to serve as an initial intellectual investigation into the concepts of “how” and “why” concerning gender ideologies raised in the introductory class and as a bridge to the later advanced gender theory and methods class. In this class, we will study interdisciplinary feminist theories with a focus on gender equality, including masculinity theory, queer theory, muted group theory, and other evolving frameworks. Students will consider the various viewpoints presented about each theory and develop critical thinking and writing skills through written and oral expression; in other words, the students will apply the theory through praxis – translating a theory into action – rather than simply reading about it (“passive recipe ency”). There will also be an emphasis on rewriting and editing short papers, with some peer editing. There will be a final research requirement. This class fulfills a requirement for the certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies.
WGS 3350 Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies
(Same as Anthro 3291)
Topic: Anthropology of the Body
Brownell, Susan (SSB 328) TTh 12:30p – 1:45pm, Class 13696
Do people who live in an industrialized, capitalist nation like the U.S. feel differently about their bodies from other people? This course will compare uses of the body as a social signifier in Western and non-Western cultures. It will explore how culture shapes the images, uses, and meanings of the human body. It considers different historical and cultural beliefs in five areas: physiology; sex and gender; eating manners and food; pain and punishment; beauty and body mutilation.
WGS 3350 Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies
(Same as Anthro 3235)
Topic: Women in Subsuharan Africa
Clarke Ekong, Sheila (arr) (on-line)
Prerequisite: Anthro 1011, or introductory course in another social science, or consent of instructor.
Examines important traditional concerns of anthropologists such as nature of kinship obligation and privilege; gender as a basis for the division of labor; social organization for formal and informal networks; and ritual and ceremony. In addition we look closely at the changing role of African women, as related by African women testing the very limits of what is “socially and culturally acceptable.” The roles women continue to play in politics, comprehensive development (i.e., cultural and economic) and evolving social structures are reviewed to gain an understanding of the historical and contemporary mandates for their social action.
WGS 3352 Independent Studies in Women’s and Gender Studies
Gentile, Kathy (arr), Class # 13284
WGS 3700 Diversity and Social Justice
(Same as Social Work 3700)
Curtis, Lori W 5:30-8:10p BRH 101, Class # 13287
Prerequisite: Sociology 1010 or equivalent. Analyzes the structure, dynamics, and consequences of social and economic injustice, and the impact on diverse groups in American society. Examines theoretical models and practice principles for work with diverse groups.
WGS 4325 Gender, Crime and Justice
(Same as Crimin 4325)
Carbone-Lopez, Kristin TTH 11:00-12:15pm Clark 200 Class # 13289
Prerequisite: CCJ 1110, 1120, 1130, 2210, 2220
Analysis of the role of gender in crime and in the justice system. Emphasis on gender differences in crime commission, criminal processing, and the employment of women in criminal justice agencies. Fulfills CCJ diversity requirement.
WGS 4350 Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies
(Same as Art Hist 4411)
Topic: Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Art
Sandhoff, Bridget TTh 12:30-1:45p Lucas 203, Class # 13290
Prerequisites: One of the following: Art Hist 2211, 2212, 2213, 2214, or consent of instructor. Intensive study of some aspect of ancient art and archaeology, with emphasis prior to the common era. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor and adviser.
WGS 4350 Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies
(Same as Honors 3010 005, Engl 4950 002)
Topic: Growing Up Male: John Updike
Rota TTh 2:00-3:15pm HC OC209, Class # 14363
(Special Consent Form Required)
John Updike’s “Rabbit” novels offer one of the most important fictional accounts on the nature of growing up as an American male in the last half of the twentieth century. Using a form called “domestic realism” and a voice called the “cinematic present,” Updike reveals Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom’s intimate thoughts and actions regarding popular culture, gender, sex, religion, and family life. This course will examine the concept of growing up male in America by focusing on the four “Rabbit” novels, the sequel, and one other novel, Roger’s Version (in which a computer geek meets a theology professor, a sort of update of the Scarlet Letter story). We will probably examine a few classic Updike “growing up male” short stories as well. Grades will be based on daily quizzes, two papers, class participation, and oral reports.
WGS 4352 Independent Study in Women’s and Gender Studies
(Special Consent Form Required)
Gentile, Kathy, TBA, Class 13291
Prerequisites: WGS 2102 and consent of instructor. Independent, directed readings and research in women’s and gender related topic, to be determined in consultation with instructor.
WGS 4353 Internship in Women’s and Gender Studies
(Special Consent Form Required)
Gentile, Kathy, TBA, Class 13292
WGS 4930 Studies in Gender and Literature
Nigro, Kathleen, MW 2:00-3:15pm SC0019
Topic: Women Writing Nature
(same as Engl 4930 and Honors 3010)
(Special Consent Form Required)
We will survey and evaluate nature writing by women in American from various cultured perspectives and from various academic disciplines. We will examine how women’s observations about nature create, reflect, and/or support cultural and social attitudes toward the environment. Through the practice of feminist pedagogy and the theory of ecofeminism, the focus will be on the diversity created by individual convictions and how those convictions might be integrated in a nonviolent and productive way.
WGS 4938 American Women Poets of the 20th/21st Centuries
Sweet, Nan, MW 9:30-10:45am, Clark 308, Class 14263
(Same as Engl 4938)
Prerequisites: Students must satisfy English prerequisites for 4000-level courses or obtain permission of instructor. Introduction to American women poets since 1900: anarchists, Imagists, Harlem formalists, white lyricists, modernists (Ridge, H.D., Dunbar-Nelson, Millay, Stein): mid-century giants (Rukeyser, Brooks) and Confessionals (Sexton, Plath); feminists and multiculturalists (Rich, Lorde, Giovanni, Hogan) poets of witness and the play of language and the mind (Klepfisz, Olds, Mullen, Perillo).
GRADUATE COURSES
WGS 5031 Advanced History of Women in Comparative Cultures
Cohen, Deborah, MW 11:00 – 12:15pm, Clark 415, Class 14264
(Same as Hist 3143/5143 and WGS 3032)
Prerequisite: Junior standing or consent of instructor.
An introduction to the historical development of women’s status in a variety of cultures and periods within the areas of Africa, Europe, the Far East, Latin America, and the Middle East. The course analyzes women’s political, economic, familial, and sexual roles and the economic, demographic, ideological, and political forces which promote change and continuity in those roles.
WGS 5450 Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies
Topic: Comedy, Genders and Genres
Gentile, Kathy M 4:00-6:30pm Lucas 493 Class 13697
(Same as Engl 5950) (Special Consent Form Required)
This course will provide an overview of the development of comedy from the Greeks to film. Along with historical coverage, the class will examine definitions and theories of the comic from Aristotle to Bergson and Bakhtin. While our focus will be on the gender politics of the primary narrative genres of romantic comedy and the picaresque, we will also consider a variety of comic forms and techniques, including satire, parody, and sitcom.
WGS 5700 Diversity, Social Justice and Social Practice
Glenda Wells-Glover M 4:00-6:30pm Clark 315 Class 13293
(Same as SW 5700)
Prerequisites: Graduate standing. Analyzes the structure, dynamics, and consequences of social and economic injustice, and the impact on diverse groups in American society. Examines theoretical models and practice principles for work with diverse groups.
WGS 6353 Graduate Internship In Women’s and Gender Studies
Gentile, Kathy, (arr) Class 13294
(Special Consent Form Required)
WGS 6452 Special Readings in Women’s and Gender Studies
Gentile, Kathy (arr) Class 13295
(Special Consent Form Required)
Phone: (314) 516-5581
iwgs@umsl.edu
