WST 150 A-Z - (IS) Topics in Women’s StudiesSemester Hours: 3
This course will offer an in-depth study of major issues in Women’s and Gender Studies. Topics will reflect current developments in the field and will address issues such as women’s roles in work, family, sexuality, and reproduction; language, representation, and performance; feminist politics and policies; transnational and cross-cultural perspectives of gender; and the impact of science and technology on women’s lives.
Current Special Topics
WST 150A - Women in ‘STEAM’: History, Advocacy, and the Future!
Women have historically been discriminated against in every “STEAM” discipline: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. In this course, students will survey some of the history of this discrimination, explore some of the advocacy that has ended some of it, and write their own messages for future women in these fields. Weekly class sessions will feature: discussions of readings including “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly, “A Lab of One’s Own: One Woman’s Personal Journey Through Sexism in Science” by Rita Colwell and Sharon Bertsch McGrayne, selections from the press about the “Guerrilla Girls”, and policy documents; discussions of viewings such as “Picture a Scientist”; presentations from other women in STEAM; writing workshops for and student presentations on three different types of writing projects; and individual writing conferences. Goals for students of the course include producing three revised pieces of writing: a documented report on some aspect of the history of women in STEAM, a persuasive essay advocating for equality in one of the STEAM disciplines, and an advice column about being “other” in STEAM.
WST 150G - Crossdressing and Passing: On stage and in the Streets
For hundreds of years, when straight cis women, lesbians, and people who today would have identified as trans men chose to pursue opportunities otherwise closed to them, they often cross-dressed, “passing” as cis men to escape enslavement, serve as soldiers or physicians, portray male characters on the stage, in ‘drag’ performances, or live as partners. We will examine how these choices have been represented in literature and film to illustrate the changeable, unstable, and fluid nature of gender performance in earlier historical periods and the meanings and possibilities of such choices for people today. This course will also focus on ways constructions of race are implicit in notions of gender “passing.” We’ll study fugitive enslaved persons Ellen Craft, Clarissa Davis, and Ann Maria Weems; Puerto Rican labor leader Luisa Capettillo; doctors James Miranda Barry and Mary Walker; Harlem Renaissance singer Gladys Bentley; and others.
WST 150L - From Tango to Reggaeton: Gender and Sexuality in Popular Music in Spanish
From Tango to Reggaeton: Gender and Sexuality in Popular Music in Spanish Course Description: From Tango to Reggaeton, and beyond, this course will look at the role of popular music in the production, representation, performance, and interpretation of gender identities and sexuality in Latin American and Spanish popular music. How have musicians negotiated traditional categories of gender and sexuality? How have audiences (and dancers) utilized popular music genres to express their sexuality or to subvert societal norms regarding gender and sexuality? The course will look at popular music genres through the lenses of feminist theory, queer theory, and critical race theory. The course invites students to critically analyze the ways in which pop music both reflects and shapes gender, identity, and racialized experiences, using the tools and insights provided by these interconnected theoretical frameworks. (SPLT 50M/LACS 015T/WST 150L) The course is taught in English; no knowledge of Spanish is necessary. (Crosslisted Courses: SPLT 50M/LACS 015T/WST 150L)
WST 150U - Black Health, Trauma and Resistance
No longer enslaved people, Black Americans set about redefining their bodies, aspirations, and roles in American society. This course will explore how evolving ideas about Black health, trauma, resistance, and healing led by Black women informed Black freedom and liberation strategies throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
WST 150Y - (IS) LGBTQ+ Relationships
This course is intended for students across disciplines who are interested in couple, family, and other close personal relationships for LGBTQ+-identified people. Relationships considered will include both intrapersonal (a person’s relationship with themselves) and interpersonal (relationships between two or more people) dynamics, as well as the couple, family, friend, and societal systems of relationships relevant for LGBTQ+ individuals. This course will provide a primarily psychological, sociological, and developmental view of LGBTQ+ relationships; however, coursework will provide ample opportunities for students to consider the applications of the topic to their major field of study and prospective careers.
Prerequisite(s)/Course Notes:
Subjects will change from semester to semester and the course may be repeated for credit when topics vary. Specific titles and course descriptions for special topics courses are available in the online class schedule.
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