Kathleen Roberts Skerrett, Chair; Karla Erickson, Theresa Geller, Astrid Henry, Cecilia Knight, Lakesia Johnson, Asani Seawell

Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies is an interdisciplinary field in which women, men, gender, and sexuality are examined by looking at various culures and historical periods and by employing diverse methods of inquiry. Students in the major will gain a specific set of theoretical and methodological tools, grounded in feminist and queer scholarship. Majors will study the history and development of feminist and queer thought, as well as the evolution of the field of women's studies, with a strong emphasis on intersectional analyses (i.e., the ways in which race, class, gender, sexuality, age, and nationality interact). Students will become familiar with how theorists and researchers in gender, women's and sexuality studies critically engage theoretical paradigms, such as liberalism, post-structuralism, psychoanalysis, and post-colonialism. Majors will be introduced to research methods that uneart invisible or silenced knowledge, that contest hegemonic knowledge structures, and that revisit and revise previous readings of cultural products and practices. They will study methods of feminist and queer research in the social sciences and humanities, including oral history, case studies, archival research, visual and literary criticism, survey/content analysis, and field work. Majors will learn to ask the basic questions underlying the production of new knowledge, including: Who does research? Does it matter who the researcher is? How does the social location (race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality) of the researcher shape the production of knowledge? What is the relationship between feminist and queer research and social change?

The Major

A minimum of 32 credits, including:

1. Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies 111: Introduction to Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies (4 credits)
2. Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies 249: Theory and Methodology in Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies (4 credits)
3. Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies 495: Senior Seminar in Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies (4 credits)
4. Three courses from at least three of the following four topic areas:
1. Sexuality and Queer Studies
• Anthropology 225: Human Variation
• Anthropology 325: Biological Basis of Human Society Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies 211: Foundations of LGBTQ Studies
• Sociology 260: Human Sexuality in the United States
2. Cross-Cultural and Transnational Approaches
• Anthropology 200: Cultural Politics of Hybridity
• Anthropology 227: Mothers and Infants
• Anthropology 235: Anthropology of American Culture
• Anthropology 253: Anthropology of Ethnicities
• French 342: Orientalism Revisited
• Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies 324: Critical Race Feminisms
• Sociology 275: Race and Ethnicity in America
• Sociology 390: Global Feminism
3. Literary and Artistic Criticism
• Art 210: Women, Art, and History
• English 225: Introduction to Postcolonial Literatures
• English 273: Feminism, Gender, and Literary Theory
• English 332: The Victorians
• Humanities 211: Film Analysis
• Spanish 312: Women and Gender in Spanish Literature
• Theater 310: Studies in Dance
4. Political/Philosophical/Historical/Social Analyses
• Anthropology 210: Illness, Healing, and Culture
• Economics 218: Gender and the Economy
• History 222: The History of Women in the United States
• History 332: Gender and Empire in Victorian Britain
• Philosophy 261: Philosophy of Race and Gender
• Philosophy 265: Psychoanalysis/Constitution of the Self
• Philosophy 268: Cultural Critique
• Sociology 248: Self and Society
• Sociology 265: Sociology of Health and Illness
• Sociology 270: Gender and Society
• Sociology 320: The Family
• Sociology 350: NGOs: Organizing to Do Good
5. At least two courses at the 300-level, chosen from the above four course areas. See the list published during each semester's preregistration period for the most current course offerings in Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies.

Special-topic courses (195, 295, and 395) and other variable content courses may be counted toward the major with approval from the Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies Committee.

111 Introduction to Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies (Fall or Spring) 4 credits

This course introduces students to key topics, concepts, approaches, and problems in Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies as the field has developed over the past 40 years. We investigate the significance and meanings of gender at different periods in United States history and explore the development of United States feminism and feminist theory, adopting comparative and transnational perspectives throughout the semester. The ways in which race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, nationality, and age shape experience, culture, ideology, and politics are central areas of inquiry. We also address the means through which women have resisted inequality and effected social and political change. This course takes an interdisciplinary approach, and students are introduced to scholarship from a wide range of disciplines, including cultural studies, economics, history, philosophy, political theory, psychology, and sociology. Prerequisite: none. HENRY, JOHNSON

211 Foundations of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies (Fall or Spring) 4 credits

This course provides students with an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) studies. We study the emergence and transformation of LGBTQ identities, cultural practices, and political movements within the broader context of changes in social constructions of sexuality, as well as cultural, social, political, and economic transformations. We pay particular attention to the ways in which gender, race, ethnicity, and class have shaped same-sex sexuality in different historical periods. Prerequisites: Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies 111 and second-year standing; or permission of instructor. HENRY.

249 Theory and Methodology in Gender, Women's,and Sexuality Studies (Fall) 4 credits

This courses provides students with a comprehensive and in-depth exploration of the interdisciplinary field of Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies, including its theories, methods, debates, and relationships to other academic disciplines. We examine the history and development of feminist and queer theory, paying particular attention to the relationship between theory and activism. We explore the forms of privilege and power operating within feminist and queer theory and the intersections of race, sexuality, and gender. Prerequisite: Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies 111 or permission of instructor. HENRY, JOHNSON.

324 Critical Race Feminisms (Fall or Spring) 4 credits

This course provides an introduction to critical theoretical debates about gender, race, and class in the United States legal system. Students examine legal concepts, structures, and narratives that produce and/or reinforce patterns of discrimination and inequality, as well as examine alternative models proposed within critical legal scholarship. Prerequisite: Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies 111 and one GWS course at the 200 level or permission of the instructor. JOHNSON.

495 Senior Seminar (Spring) 4 credits

An advanced interisciplinary senior seminar for students who are completing the major in Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies. The course will provide and in-depth exploration of a topic with both historical and contemporary significance within the field of Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies. Prerequisite: senior status; Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies Major; Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies 111; Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies 249; or permission of instructor. HENRY, JOHNSON.