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Women's Studies Classical Languages & Literature Afro-American Studies Comparative Literature English Languages and Literature History Jewish Studies Music Psychology Religion and Biblical Literature Sociology |
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WST 100b
This course introduces students to issues raised by and in the emerging
interdisciplinary field of queer studies. Through a series of lectures by Smith
faculty members and invited guests, supplemented by film viewings, students will
learn about subject areas, methodological issues and resources in queer studies.
2 credits
WST 150b
An introduction to the interdisciplinary field of women's studies through a
critical examination of feminist histories, issues and practices. Focus on the
U.S. with some attention to the global context.
WST 300b
The course will examine constructions of lesbian, gay, queer, bisexual, and
transgender at the levels of individual and collective identities, communities of
various forms, and social protest, with a focus on the interplay between
resistance and accommodation at each of these levels of analysis. Drawing on
historical, theoretical, narrative, and ethnographic sources, we will examine
multiple sites of queer resistance including local communities, academic
institutions, media, the state, social movement organizations, and the Internet.
We will pay explicit attention to queer identities, communities, and movements as
racialized, shaped by class, gendered, and contextual. We will examine the
consequences of various theories of gender, sexuality, and resistance for how we
interpret the shapes that queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identity,
community, and social movements take. Readings will include primary source
documents from diverse groups, including published newsletters, organizational
position papers, individual narratives, and material from organizational and
personal Web sites and discussion groups, and students will conduct their own
research using such primary sources. Prerequisites: WST 150 or 250 and one other
Women's Studies course or permission of the instructor.
WST 310b
This class will explore the convergences and divergences of current Western
discourses of sexuality with local non-Western sites of dissident sexualities
within the contemporary climate of globalization. Our exploration will grapple
with locations such as the nation, diasporas, globals, margins, locals, borders,
the family, the home, and communities, and discuss what it means to read these
concepts as "transnational formations" across multiple genres of poetry, fiction,
theory and film. In specific we will attempt to bring several disciplinary
methodologies to bear upon one another to produce more complicated and satisfying
understandings of the intersections of race and sexuality. We will consider texts
such as Audre Lorde's Zami, Dorothy Allison's Bastard of Carolina, Achy Obejas's
Memory Mambo, Cherrie Moraga's "La Ofrende," as well as such films as Deepa
Mehta's "Fire", Richard Fung's "Dirty Laundry" and Shari Frilot's "Black Nations,
Queer Nations". Prerequisite: WST 220 or permission of the instructor; limited
enrollment.
WST 350b
The senior integrating seminar for the women's studies major. Together we will
define areas we want to study in depth and we will read a range of essays in
contemporary feminist theory. Students will also do independent projects building
on prior work in the major. Enrollment limited to senior women's studies majors.
AAS 212b
Study of conceptual models in family studies, with particular attention to the
Afro-American family from a social systems perspective. Extensive consideration
given to the influence of historical, cultural, structural, and class variables in
contemporary Afro-American families, using current research, family cases, and
implications of public policy.
AAS 220b
The course will focus on issues and themes central to the lives of women of the
African diaspora through a close reading of coming of age stories by and about
women from Africa, Britain, the Caribbean, and the United States. Together we
examine a wide range of texts that describe the experience of being and becoming
female in a world structured by race, gender class, and colonial relations of
power. We explore and analyze varied construction of concepts such as home and
family, the "traditional" and the "modern", as we follow the thread of young
women's lives through time and across space in a series of journeys.
ART 260b
This course focuses on photography by women from the mid-nineteenth century to the
present day. Looking at documentary photography, the pictorialist movement,
photojournalism, and modern and postmodern art photography, we will consider the
cultural, political and personal uses of the camera by women artists, reporters,
and hobbyist. Of particular interest will be the role that gender plays in the
production and reception of their work. Photographers discussed will include
Berenice Abbott, Diane Arbus, Julia Margaret Cameron, Gertrude Käsebier, Tina
Modetti, Dorothea Lange, Cindy Sherman, and Lorna Simpson. Pre-requisite: ARH 100
or 101, and one 200-level art history course in any subject; or permission of the
instructor.
CLS 233b
The construction of gender, sexuality, and erotic experience is one of the major
sites of differences between Greco-Roman culture and our own. What constituted a
proper man and a proper woman in these ancient societies? Which sexual practices
and objects of desire were socially sanctioned and which considered deviant? What
ancient modes of thinking about these issues have persisted into the modern
world? Attention to the status of women; the role of social class; the ways in
which genre and convention shaped literary representation; the relationship
between representation and reality.
CLT 230b
Some cultures give the murdering mother a central place in myth and literature
while others treat the subject as taboo. How is such a woman depicted-as monster,
lunatic, victim, savior? What do the motives attributed to her reveal about a
society's assumptions and values? What difference does it make if the author is a
woman? Authors to be studied include Euripides, Seneca, Ovid, Anouilh,
Papadiamandis, Atwood, Walker, Morrison. Prerequisite: at least one course in
literature.
CLT 235b
A study of literary fairy tales in Europe from the 1690's to the 1990's, with
emphasis on the ways women have written, rewritten, and transformed them. Some
attention to oral storytelling and to related stories in other cultures. Writers
will include Aulnoy, Perrault, le Prince de Beaumont, the Grimms, Andersen,
Christina Rossetti, Angela Carter, Anne Sexton, Olga Broumas. Prerequisite: at
least one college level course in literature. Not open to first year students.
CLT 268b
This course examines the last twenty years of Latina writing in this country while
tracing the Latin American roots of many of the writers. Constructions of ethnic
identity, gender, Latinidad, "race," class, sexuality, and political consciousness
are analyzed in light of the writers' coming to feminism. Texts by Esmeralda
Santiago, Gloria Anzaldua, Sandra Cisneros, Demetria Martinez, Carmelita
Tropicana, and many others are included in readings that range from poetry and
fiction to essay and theatre. Knowledge of Spanish not required, but useful.
First-year students must seek permission of the instructor.
CLT 315b
The primary goal of this course is to examine how novels and short stories written
by African women deal with issues such as colonialism, cultural change, and
national reconstruction along egalitarian lines. Do African women's narratives
treat gender in a self-conscious and oppositional way? Do their texts, as meeting
grounds for a particular kind of testimony with theoretical concerns, correspond
in any way to the European concept of ecriture feminine? How does the novel, in
their hands, interweave African, Western narrative forms and influence? In
addition to primary texts by writers such as Ama Ata Aidoo, Buchi Emecheta, Grace
Ogot and Nawal el Saadawi, we will read short theoretical essays on African
feminisms.
ENG 286b
In this workshop, we will explore, through reading and through writing, the
presentation of self in autobiography. A major focus will be on the interweaving
of voice, structure, style, and content. As we read the work of ourselves and of
others, we will be searching for strategies, devices, rhythms, patterns, and
approaches that we might adapt in future writings. The reading list will consist
of writings by twentieth-century women. Admission is by permission of the
instructor. During the registration period, students should leave a sample of
their writings at the English Department office, Wright 101.
ENG 303b
A close study of representative texts from the rich variety of Woolf's work:
novel, essay, biography, and short story. Preliminary, essential attention to the
life, with particular concern for the Victorian/Edwardian world of Woolf's early
years and the Bloomsbury Group. Works to be studies will include Mrs. Dalloway,
To the Lighthouse, Orlando, The Waves, Between the Acts, A Room of One's Own, and
Three Guineas, as well as essays drawn from The Common Reader and stories.
Supplementary readings from biographies of Woolf and her own letters, journals,
and diaries.
ENG 342b
A study of the lives and works of the remarkable Brontė sisters and their shadowy
brother, exploring the literary, cultural and familial circumstances which aided
and impeded the development of their art. Novels, poetry, and paintings by
Charlotte Brontė, Emily Brontė, Anne Brontė and Branwell Brontė.
ENG 354b
A study of contemporary Asian American literature with an emphasis on issues of
race, gender, and sexuality. Dominant discourses figure Asian American men and
women as effeminate "pets," hypermasculine members of the "yellow peril,"
sexually-available "lotus blossoms," and sexually- emasculating "dragon-ladies."
Often, these stereotypes follow from rigid and oppressive assumptions tenuously
connecting race, gender and sexuality. Asian American writers, theorists, and
activists respond to these assumptions in a variety of ways. Texts will include
essays by David Eng, Frank Chin, King-Kok Cheung, and Yen Le Espitiru; novels by
R. Zamora Linmark, and Jessica Hagedorn; poetry by Kitty Tsui and Li-Young Lee,
plays by David Henry Hwang and Velina Hasu Houston; short stories by Hisaye
Yamamoto and Shani Mootoo; and films by Stephen Okazaki and Helen Lee.
FRN 230b
A study of literary and cultural topics through a variety of texts. Images of
slavery, sexuality and France in the works of contemporary Black Women writers
from Africa and the Caribbean. Such authors as Mariama Ba, Maryse Conde, and
Simone Schwarz-Bart. (some readings may change) Readings and discussion in
French.
GOV 204b
This course examines the growth and development of political communities in
metropolitan areas in the United States, with specific reference to the
experiences of women, black and white. It explores the social restructuring of
space; the way patterns of urban development reflect and reinforce prevailing
societal views on issues of race, sex and class; intergovernmental relations; and
the efforts of people --through governmental action or popular movements -- to
affect the nature and structure of the communities in which they live.
GOV 305b
Explores the status of the family in American political life and its role as a
mediating structure between the individual and the state. Emphasis will be placed
on the role of the courts in articulating the rights of the family and its
members. Enrollment limited to 12, permission of the instructor required.
GOV 322b
The politics of gender, education, and democratic transformation will be examined
in a range of countries. Prerequisite: GOV 226 or the equivalent. Enrollment
limited. Permission of the instructor required.
HST 253b
Sex and gender in work and family life from the 1600's to the present. Variations
by religion, class, and age amid transformations in production and reproduction.
Emphasis on concrete social history.
HST 259b
The creation and evolution of identities during the colonial period in Africa,
among both colonizers and colonized, including women and children. themes include
the exercise of power, resistance and complicity and the interdependent yet
oppositional forces of identity formation. Use of literature as a historical
source.
HST 383b
Enrollment limited. Permission of instructor required.
JUD 224b
An introduction to the Jewish textual tradition, the world of rabbinic discourse
and the literary genres produced by the place Rabbis imagined for women in their
society. Explorations of the legal status of women in the Mishnah, Gemara, and
Midrash, addressing issues of marriage, the family, divorce, adultery, rape,
education, ritual, prayer, and sexuality. All readings will be in English
translation.
MUS 100b
Using case studies ranging from the Middle East to Native America as points of
departure, this course will explore the role of music in processes of
socialization, segregation, and gender-based power relations. Although the
readings will focus primarily on non-Western musics, contemporary manifestations
of American popular music culture will also be considered. Writing intensive
course, enrollment limited to 15.
PSY 366b
We will explore past and current theories and research about the psychology of
women, with a focus on how women's experiences are shaped by their social
contexts. Aspects of the social context considered in this class include race and
ethnicity, social class, generation, and sexual orientation. We will examine how
aspects of the social context interact to affect women's psychology and life
experiences in complicated ways. Prerequisites: PSY 112a or b and PSY 266.
REL 244b
An introduction to traditional formulations of basic Christian doctrines and to
some of their "reimaginings" offered by Christian feminist scholars. We will
attempt to evaluate the extent to which such reconstructions resemble their
traditional analogues, and to examine the assumptions about the very nature of
doctrine and Christian confession on which such reformulations are built. Are the
reconstructed doctrines telling the same story as the traditional doctrines were
articulated to express? If not, why and with what results? What are the gains
and losses of the feminist reconstructions of Christian doctrine?
SOC 315b
In this seminar we will draw on sociological and interdisciplinary perspectives to
consider features of the social construction, regulation, control, and experience
of the body. Through diverse theoretical frameworks, we will view the body both
as a product of discourses (such as medical knowledge and practice, media
representations, and institutional regimens), and as an agent of social activities
and interactions in daily life. We will consider the salience of bodies in
constituting identities, relationships, and differences; as bases for inequalities
and forms of oppression; and as sites of resistance and struggles for change.
Enrollment limited to seniors.
SOC 323b
This course examines theory and research on the construction of and change in
gender categories in the United States. Particular attention will be paid to
social movements that seek to change gender definitions and stratification,
including both feminist and anti-feminist movements. Theoretical frameworks will
be drawn from feminist theory and social movement theory. Readings will examine
historical shifts in gender relations and norms, changing definitions of gender in
contemporary everyday life, and politicized struggles over gender definitions.
Themes throughout the course include the social construction of both femininity
and masculinity, the intersection of race, class, and identity. Case studies of
social movements will include feminist, lesbian and gay, right-wing, self help,
men's, anti-abortion and pro-choice movements. Enrollment limited. Permission of
the instructor required.
Issues in Queer Studies
Thursday 7:30-9:00 p.m.
Marilyn Schuster
Introduction to Women's Studies
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 11:00-12:10 p.m
Martha Ackelsberg
Marilyn Schuster
Susan Van Dyne
Queer Resistances: Identities, Communities, Nancy Whittier
TBA
Queer Globalizations, Local Homosexualities Transnational Formations
Anjali Arondekar
Gender, Culture and Representation
Monday, Wednesday 2:40-4:00 p.m.
Susan Van Dyne
Culture and Class in the Afro-American Family
Tuesday, Thursday 9:00-10:20 a.m.
Ann Ferguson
Women of the African Diaspora
Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:30 p.m.
Ann Ferguson
Women in the History of Photography
Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:50 a.m.
Leigh Culver
Constructions of Gender and Sexuality in Greco-Roman Culture
Tuesday, Thursday 9:00-10:20 a.m.
Nancy Shumate
"Unnatural" Women: Mothers Who Kill Their Children
Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:50 p.m
Thalia Pandiri
Fairy Tales & Gender
Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:50 p.m.
Elizabeth Harries
Latina and Latin American Women Writers
Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:50 a.m.
Nancy Saporta Sternbach
Gender Issues in African Women's Narratives
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 2:40-4:00 p.m.
Katwiwa Mule
Reading and Writing Autobiography
Thursday 1:00-2:50 p.m.
Ann Boutelle
Virginia Woolf
Tuesday 1:00-2:50 p.m.
Robert Hosmer
The Brontes
Tuesday 1:00-2:50 p.m.
Cornelia Pearsall
Gender and Sexuality in Asian American Literature
Thursday 3:00-4:50 p.m.
Floyd Cheung
Black Francophone Women Writers
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 1:10-2:00 p.m.
Curtis Small
Urban Politics
TBA
Martha Ackelsberg
Seminar in American Government: Law, Family and State
Monday, 7:30-9:30 p.m.
Alice Hearst
Seminar in Comparative Government: Gender, Education and Democracy in Latin
America
Tuesday 1:00-2:50 p.m.
Susan Bourque
Women in Modern Europe
Monday, Wednesday 1:10-2:30 p.m.
Ernest Benz
Aspects of African History: Race and Gender in Colonial Africa
Monday 7:00-9:30 p.m.
Jacqueline Woodfork
Research in U.S. Women's History: The Sophia Smith Collection
American Women in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Wednesday 1:10-3:00 p.m.
Daniel Horowitz
Women in Rabbinic Literature
TBA
Elizabeth Shanks Alexander
Music And Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:00-10:50 a.m.
Margaret Sarkissian
Women's Lives in Context
Tuesday 1:00-2:50 p.m.
Lauren Duncan
Feminist Reconstructions of Christian Doctrine
TBA
Kathryn Greene-McCreight
The Body In Society
Wednesday 1:10-4:00 p.m.
Libby Wheatley
Gender and Social Change
Tuesday 1:00-2:50 p.m.
Nancy Whittier
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WOST Program Departmental Component |
Women of Color Graduate Level Winter 2000 |
Amherst College Hampshire College Mount Holyoke |