GRADUATE SEMINARS IN THE CENTER
The following courses are graduate seminars offered in the Center. They are available to graduate students in the Center and those students working on certificates.
Advanced Feminist Theory
Jillian Hernandez
WST 6508-Section 6508
F 6-8; UST 108; 3 Credits
Contemporary theory with focus on common themes among academic disciplines. Since feminist theory is by its very nature interdisciplinary, this course is designed to acquaint students with some foundational feminist theory–in primary texts–across the disciplines: philosophy, art history, literary studies, sociology, anthropology, the sciences. By foundational” I mean feminist thought which has been influential in shaping academic feminist scholarship since the so-called “second wave” of United States and European feminism, beginning (roughly) in the late 1940s and moving up to the present. Simone de Beauvoir, Judith Butler, Whitney Chadwick, Janice Radway, Nancy Hartsock, bell hooks, Jane Gallop, Gayatri Spivak, Patricia Williams, Pat Hill Collins, Gayle Rubin will be some of the individuals discussed in the course. Course requirements include one 25-30 page final paper, 8 response papers, and one short presentation.
The syllabus can be found here.
Independent Study
Kendal L Broad-Wright
WST 6905-Departmentally Controlled
Variable Credits
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor and department chair and 1 Women’s Studies course or course that counts for women’s studies, For advanced graduate students who desire to supplement their regular courses by independent reading or research under guidance. On-line application.
Women and Aging
Constance Shehan
WST 6935-Section 61CS
M 6-8; UST 108; 3 Credits
The syllabus can be found here.
Global Women of Color
Manoucheka Celeste
WST6935-Section 62MC
T 8-10; UST 108; 3 Credits
This is an interdisciplinary course on women of color feminism(s). We engage with interventions of women of color feminist theorists and activists in thinking about race, class, gender, nation, and sexuality. We explore works by and experiences of women of color across topics including immigration, media & popular culture, globalization, colonialism, the state, and academia. We pay particular attention to scholars of Borderland, U.S. Third World, Caribbean, Latin American, and South Asian feminisms in addition to the works that students bring into the class. We continually ask the question: “what is the relationship between women of color feminisms and globality?”
The syllabus can be found here.
Women, Gender, Sexuality, and Religion
A. Peterson
WST6935-Section 66AP
T 5-6; MAT 0013; 3 Credits
This course will explore the relations between scholarship on gender, women, and sexuality and work in religious studies. We will examine both the ways that women’s and gender studies have influenced religious studies and also the distinctive contributions that religious studies might make to scholarship on women, gender, and sexuality, including attention to concrete practices and communal life as well as conceptions of the divine, normative judgments, social movements, and spiritual experience. We will read both theoretical pieces and historical and ethnographic case studies, including contemporary and classic works by a range of authors. Some of the course’s main themes will include the religious experiences of women and LGBTQ communities; the roles of religion in the construction of gender identity; and the interactions between religion and movements of reform, critique, and social change related to gender and sexuality. The course is open to graduate students in any field.
The syllabus can be found here.
Latina Narratives
Elizabeth Garcia
WST6935-Section 65EG
R 6-8; UST 108; 3 Credits
In this course we will explore how Latinx women navigate citizenship and belonging In the United States as represented in the literary narratives of Latinx women. Given the historical anti-immigrant discourse that has existed in this country and which has targeted Latinx populations in particular ways, how do Latinx women (re)define citizenship and belonging for themselves. We will focus on literary narratives representing various Latinx groups in order to also explore how the particular historical backgrounds of Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban-Americans, Dominican Americans, and Peruvian Immigrants, and their respective experiences of (im)migration to the United States influence their experiences of citizenship and belonging. Furthermore, we will use an intersectional feminist approach in our analysis, looking at how race, gender, sexuality, and class, intersect to construct national identities.
The syllabus can be found here.
Settler Colonialism, Anti-Blackness, and Women’s Resistance
Ryan Morini
WST6930-Section 69RM
T 3-5; TBA; 3 Credits
This course engages with a reality that scholarship has not historically explored with great thoroughness: that anti-Black violence has historically been enacted on Indian lands, and that Native dispossession and genocide has been significantly powered by anti-Black violence and exploitation. Lee D. Baker points out in Anthropology and the Racial Politics of Culture, that the United States was in its early years primarily conceived of as tri-racial: White, Black, and Indian/Native. In this course, we will explore the gendered aspects of that interrelationship through the work of Black and Indigenous writers past and present, some of whom examine these interrelationships directly, and some of whom focus on particular issues or examples that will help us to deepen our overall discussion.
The syllabus can be found here.
Internship
Kendal L. Broad-Wright
WST 6946-Departmentally Controlled
Variable Credits
Prerequisite: Permission of Graduate Coordinator. Designed for students desiring practical experience in the community. Students intern with a local agency, group or business involved in women’s issues. Click here for more information and an on-line application.