Fall 2018 Course guide

WGSS 187 – Gender, Sexuality and Culture
Monday, Wednesday 10:10-11:00
Discussions: Friday, 12:20 and 1:25
Millann Kang

This course offers an introduction to some of the basic concepts and theoretical perspectives in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Drawing on disciplinary, interdisciplinary and cross-cultural studies, students will engage critically with issues such as gender inequities, sexuality, families, work, media images, queer issues, masculinity, reproductive rights, and history. Throughout the course, students will explore how experiences of gender and sexuality intersect with other social constructs of difference, including race/ethnicity, class, and age. Special attention will be paid to the ways in which interlocking systems of oppression have shaped and influenced the historical, cultural, social, political, and economical contexts of our lives, and the social movements at the local, national and transnational levels which have led to key transformations. (Gen. Ed. IDU)

WGSS 201 – Gender & Difference: Critical Analyses
Tuesday, Thursday 11:30-12:45 p.m. - Laura Ciolkowski
Tuesday, Thursday 10:00-11:15 a.m. - Laura Ciolkowski
Monday, Wednesday 2:30-3:45 p.m. - Elizabeth Williams

An introduction to the vibrant field of women, gender, and sexuality studies, this course familiarizes students with the basic concepts in the field and draws connections to the world in which we live. An interdisciplinary field grounded in commitment to both intellectual rigor and individual and social transformation, WGSS asks fundamental questions about the conceptual and material conditions of our lives. What are “gender,” “sexuality,” “race,” and “class?” How are gender categories, in particular, constructed differently across social groups, nations, and historical periods? What are the connections between gender and socio-political categories such as race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, (dis)ability and others? How do power structures such as sexism, racism, heterosexism, and classism and others intersect? How can an understanding of gender and power enable us to act as agents of individual and social change? Emphasizing inquiry in transnational feminisms, critical race feminisms, and sexuality studies, this course examines gender within a broad nexus of identity categories, social positions, and power structures. Areas of focus may include queer and trans studies; feminist literatures and cultures; feminist science studies; reproductive politics; gender, labor and feminist economics, environmental and climate justice; the politics of desire, and others. Readings include a range of queer, feminist and women thinkers from around the world, reflecting diverse and interdisciplinary perspectives in the field.

WGSS 230 – Politics of Reproduction
Monday, Wednesday 4:00-5:15 p.m.
~~Kirsten Len~~g Banu Subramaniam
Distribution Requirement: Sexuality Studies

From the Black Panther Party and Young Lords in the 1970s to SisterSong and Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice in the 1990s to Ferguson and Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement in the present, communities of color and socialist feminists have fought for a comprehensive reproductive freedom platform--birth control and abortion to be sure, but also the right to raise wanted children that are safe, cherished, and educated. The names of these issues have included freedom from sterilization, high quality affordable day care, IVF, immigrant justice, social reproduction and wages for housework, welfare and neoliberalism, foreclosure and affordable housing.

WGSS 291S – Scandal! The Politics of the Sex Scandal
Tuesday, Thursday 11:30-12:45 p.m.
Elizabeth Williams
Distribution Requirement: Sexuality Studies

Sex scandals have proven to be an enduring part of political discourse from the ancient times to the present. The first Roman Emperor, Augustus, exiled his daughter Julia after her philandering discredited his moral reforms; during the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette was accused of sleeping with men, women, and even her own son; and more recently, an unverified report from Buzzfeed involving Donald Trump and certain Moscow mattresses raised eyebrows and ire. Although sex scandals are often dismissed as lurid distractions from "real" political issues, in this course we will take them seriously as elements of political discourse. Through a close study of a number of political sex scandals, both past and present, students will consider the following questions: How and why are issues of sexuality morality tied to political legitimacy? Why is sex a useful discourse for expressing political discontent? How do issues of race, class, religion, and region influence the shape of sex scandals?

WGSS 292N – WGSS Reads the News
Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:15 p.m.
Banu Subramaniam/Karen Lederer

This course combines understanding world and local news alongside developing critical media skills. How can you bring your critical thinking skills to bear on analyzing news sources and stories? What are the social and political contexts of these accounts and reporters? In an era with news writing Bots, who or what is a reporter or journalist? What is a reliable source? Why do some news stories instantly travel world wide and others require intense digging? Why does the news report on the latest "viral video" while focusing little on in depth analysis of complex social problems. Whose stories are always covered, and whose are marginalized? How do differences of race, class, gender, sexuality and ethnicity impact the readers, writers and subjects of the news? This class will focus on discussing world and local news, while critically reading together news accounts of current issues. Together we will evaluate news stories and sources and share tips on finding and filtering information.

WGSS 295S – Sex and Liberation: The 1970s
Monday, Wednesday 5:30-6:45 p.m.
~~Kirsten Leng~~ Rachel Briggs
Distribution Requirement: Sexuality Studies

As a result of changing understandings of and attitudes towards women’s sexuality, homosexuality, and premarital sexuality, as well as the rise of new social movements such as the women’s and gay liberation movement, new technologies such as the birth control pill, and legal triumphs like Roe v. Wade, the 1960s and 1970s witnessed a "sexual revolution" in the United States and indeed in much of the world. Among other things, the sexual revolution was marked by new forms of sexual expression and practices and new visions for sexual relations, ethics, and sexual-social organization. Central to the sexual revolution was the concept of sexual liberation, the idea that repressed sexual subjects, desires, and practices were now freed of their previous constraints. This claim was seen as particularly true for women and for gay men and lesbians. But what did sexual liberation really mean for these actors? Did it mean the same thing to all? How did women differ in their understanding and experience of sexual liberation? Was liberation synonymous with pleasure? With emotional fulfillment? With independence? Was sexual liberation even financially tenable for women? And what did a politics of sexual liberation look like for different actors? This course will explore the complexity of sexual liberation by examining the history of the sexual revolution in the US from the 1960s and the 1980s, focusing on feminist and gay liberation thought and cultural products from the period. Moreover, we will consider the legacy of diverse visions and experiences of "sexual liberation" between 1960-1980 for the present day.

WGSS 297AA – Healthy Guys or Healthy Guise: Men, Masculinity and Health
Thursday 4:00-6:30 p.m.
Thomas Schiff
Distribution Requirement: Sexuality Studies

Utilizing a feminist critique of masculinity, this course will explore how constructions and performances of masculinity impact individual and collective health outcomes, with a particular focus on intersections of masculinity with race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, and culture. Our examination will include dialogue, experiential exercises, and media analysis. We will view and analyze numerous films, film clips, and other media imagery as part of our in class work. In addition to interrogating the intersection of masculinity, identity, and health, we also will explore strategies for individual, institutional, and cultural change.

WGSS 301 – Theorizing Gender, Race and Power
Tuesday, Thursday 10:00-11:15 a.m.
Kiran Asher

Ways of analyzing and reflecting on current issues and controversies in feminist thought within an international context sensitive to class, race, and sexual power concerns. Topics may include work and international economic development, violence against women, racism, class and poverty, heterosexism, the social construction of gender, race and sexuality, global feminism, women, nationalism and the state, reproductive issues, pornography and media representations of women.

WGSS 310 – Junior Year Writing
Tuesday, Thursday 4:00-5:15 p.m.
Cameron Awkward-Rich

Fulfills Junior Year Writing requirement for majors. Modes of writing and argumentation useful for research, creative, and professional work in a variety of fields. Analysis of texts, organization of knowledge, and uses of evidence to articulate ideas to diverse audiences. Includes materials appropriate for popular and scholarly journal writing. Popular culture reviews, responses to public arguments, monographs, first-person narratives and grant proposals, and a section on archival and bibliographic resources in Women's Studies. May include writing for the Internet. Nonmajors admitted if space available.

WGSS 391BG – Black Music, Gender and Sexuality
Tuesday, Thursday 10:00-11:15 a.m.
Fumi Okiji
Distribution Requirement: Critical Race Feminisms

This course explores how black popular music cultures are shaped by performances and representations of gender and sexuality. We will explore how artists, through their musical practice, counter the dehumanization of black life we find in mainstream discourse. Music will be considered for the ways in which it plays with those images and imaginings that strip away humanity from black bodies, and makes these bodies susceptible to the desire of others. Anchored in writing of key black feminist thinkers our discussions will identify the challenges presented by such exploitation, as well as the opportunities that black queerness holds. We will read music and film/video by artists such as Meshell Ndegeocello, Prince, Moor Mother, D’Angelo, Nicki Minaj, Missy Elliot and Tunde Olaniran as socio-historical texts that allow us access to an alternative source of knowledge, supplementing the more theoretical. Students will be expected to build on their appreciation of black music to develop tools with which to critically engage with the expression, and with which to attend to the social, historical, performative and artistic complexes at play.

WGSS 392M - Curry, Corsets, and Cricket: How Imperialism Made the Body
Monday, Wednesday 4:00-5:15
Elizabeth Williams

Picture it: you’re sitting in a café, looking up cat videos in order to avoid writing a paper. As you sip coffee farmed in Ethiopia, you type on a computer assembled in a factory in China, zip up a hoodie manufactured in Bangladesh, and munch a salad picked by migrant workers from Central America. Every day, your body is constituted through relationships with countries around the globe. In this class, we will explore the histories behind this everyday reality, asking how imperialism shaped the body. From the late 1400s, Europe embarked on program of conquering and colonizing wide swaths of the globe. As the institutions of slavery and imperialism developed, both colonized and colonizing bodies experienced drastic changes. This class will combine the history of food, sports, and fashion to examine the material consequences of imperialism. In addition, we will think about how imperialism influenced ideas about the body, with a particular focus on race, gender, sexuality, and class.

WGSS 392T – Reading Transgender
Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:15
Cameron Awkward-Rich

From newspaper chronicles of nineteenth-century gender outlaws to the present-day explosion of transgender poetry, our personal, cultural, and political understandings of gender nonconformity in the United States have long been tied to particular modes of representation. Through sustained engagement with such creative work, as well as background reading in transgender history and theory, this course will explore the literary history of trans. Although we will pull material from across time and genre, we will focus on contemporary writers like Janet Mock and Joshua Jennifer Espinoza. Together, we will ask questions about authorship; the relationship between social conditions and representational strategies; the possibilities and limitations of different genres; and, ultimately, what makes literature “trans.”

WGSS 393F/THEATER 393F/AFROAM 393F - Hip-Hop Feminisms: Performing Race/Gender/Sexuality on Page and Stage
Monday, Wednesday 10:10-12:05
Nia Witherspoon
Distribution Requirement: Critical Race Feminisms/Sexuality Studies

Hip-Hop Feminisms is a multidisciplinary course that investigates the theory, praxis, methodology, and impact of the multi-farious figures and genres that circulate under this umbrella. Holding critically the assumed contradictions in its title--hip-hop's assumed misogyny and feminism's assumed whiteness--Hip-Hop Feminisms intervenes fiercely in binary thinking, highlighting the ways in which examining figures like Nicki Minaj, Beyonce, Rihanna, Cardi B, Missy Elliot, Queen Latifah and Roxanne Shante, and performance forms like twerking and voguing place us at the nexus of significant cultural debates around identity, desire, representation, the body, and liberation. Foregrounding the critiques of black and women of color feminisms, and incorporating insights of queer studies, performance studies, critical race theory, and hip-hop studies, this course lifts up these often under-explored cultural transcripts and empowers young scholars to engage critically with influential pop culture phenomena and independent-artists alike.

WGSS 393L – LGBTQ Politics and Postcolonialism
Tuesday, Thursday 11:30-12:45 p.m.
Svati Shah
Distribution Requirement: Sexuality Studies/Transnational Feminisms

This seminar covers legal, activist, and historical debates on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer politics in British Commonwealth countries. Focusing on Indian LGBTQ movements’ efforts to overturn federal laws that harm queer and transgender people there, the course will move to cover discourses on these issues in other Commonwealth countries, including Uganda, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Nigeria. The seminar discusses efforts to repeal colonial era anti-sodomy law still in effect in countries in the Global South that were once part of the British Empire.

WGSS 493M /691GM – Conversations with the Ghost of Marx
Tuesday 1:00-3:30 p.m.
Kiran Asher
Distribution Requirement: Transnational Feminisms

In "Europe and the People without History," Eric Wolf, the late anthropologist notes that, “the social sciences constitute one long dialogue with the ghost of Marx.” Feminists and anti-colonialists are among the many advocates of social justice who have engaged with Karl Marx’s writing and fierce criticism of capitalism. This advanced seminar focuses on an exegesis of some of Marx’s oeuvre and the historical and current scholarship that draws on, critiques, and pushes its boundaries. In addition to selections from Marx’s key works, we will read the writings of his important interlocutors such as Silvia Federici, Donna Haraway, Antonio Gramsci, Stuart Hall, CLR James, Rosa Luxemburg, Gayatri Spivak, Raymond Williams, and others. Our discussions will emphasize the need to understand the parameters and debates about uneven capitalist development and its raced and gendered dimensions. This is an advanced seminar and requires you to have a solid analytical knowledge and transnational understanding of feminisms (syllabi for WGSS courses are found via our website), political economy, and social theory through course work or self-study. Suggestions for background readings will be posted on Spire.

WGSS 692F – Contemporary Black Feminist Thought
Thursday 1:00-3:30 p.m.
Fumi Okiji

This seminar considers contemporary Black feminist thought as a substantial critique of Western modernity, and as a source of social and epistemological alternatives. Focusing on a series of monographs published since the turn into the twenty-first century, we will sketch the current state of an undisciplined field, that coincides a thorough-going account of subjection and erasure with the founding—through thought and action—of new worlds and ways of being. Our enquiries will touch upon themes of pleasure and desire, black geographies, poetics/poethics, black iconicity, and care and affect. Alongside individual preparation and group discussion, participants will extend their skills for collaborative study.

WGSS 791B – Feminist Theory
Wednesday 2:30-5:00 p.m.
Svati Shah

This graduate seminar in feminist theory constitutes a core course for students enrolled in the Graduate Certificate in Advanced Feminist Studies. The seminar will be organized around questions that emerge for feminisms from the rubrics of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, transnationalism, human rights, economics and postcolonialism. Feminist theory is inherently interdisciplinary and we will draw on classic and contemporary writings from the many fields that contribute to the "field."

UMASS	Critical Race Feminisms	Transnational Feminisms	Sexuality Studies
WGSS 230 – Politics of Reproduction			X
WGSS 291S – Scandal! The Politics of the Sex Scandal			X
WGSS 295S – Sex and Liberation: The 1970s			X
WGSS 297AA – Health Guys or Healthy Guise: Men, Masculinity and Health			X
WGSS 391BG – Black Music, Gender and Sexuality	X
WGSS 392T – Reading Transgender			X
WGSS 393F/THEATER 393F/AFROAM 393F - Hip-Hop Feminisms: Performing Race/Gender/Sexuality on Page and Stage	X		X
WGSS 393L – LGBTQ Politics and Postcolonialism		X	X
WGSS 493M /691M – Conversations with the Ghost of Marx		X
AFROAM 326 – Black Women in U.S. History	X
AFROAM 330 – Songbirds, Blueswomen, Soulwomen	X
ANTHRO 224 - Gender in Hip Hop Culture	X
ANTHRO 494BI – Global Bodies			X
CHINESE 394WI – Women in Chinese Cultures		X
COMM 209H – LGBT Politics and the Media			X
COMM 497QP – Queer Performance and Publics			X
ECON 397LG – Economics of LGBT Issues			X
HISTORY 265H – U.S. LGBT and Queer History			X
HISTORY 349H – Topics in European History: Sex and Society		X	X
HISTORY 397RL – Rape Law: Gender, Race, (In)Justice	X
HISTORY 397RR – History of Reproductive Rights Law			X
POLISCI 297GC – Gender, Conflict, and Security		X
PSYCH 391ZZ – Psychology of the Gay, Lesbian And Bisexual Experience			X
Continuing and Professional Education (CPE)	Critical Race Feminisms	Transnational Feminisms	Sexuality Studies
SOCIOL 287 – Sexuality and Society			X
AMHERST COLLEGE	Critical Race Feminisms	Transnational Feminisms	Sexuality Studies
SWAG 238/ANTH 238 – Culture, Race, and Reproductive Health	X		X
SWAG 248/BLST 282 - Black Mestizx: Gender Variance and Transgender Politics in the Borderlands	X		X
SWAG 305 - Gender, Migration & Power: Latinos in the Americas	X
SWAG 330/BLST 236 – Black Sexualities	X		X
SWAG 347/BLST 347 - Race, Sex and Gender in the & U.S. Military	X
SWAG 331/ENG 319 – The Postcolonial Novel: Gender, Race and Empire		X
SWAG 433 - Queer and Trans Child			X
SWAG 440/MUSIC 440 - Race, Gender, Sexuality in American Popular Music	X		X
AMST 265/SOCI 265 – Unequal Childhoods: Race, Class and Gender in the United States	X
HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE	Critical Race Feminisms	Transnational Feminisms	Sexuality Studies
CS 278 – Sex on the Brain: Gender, Sex, and Neuroscience			X
CSI 182 – Introduction to Queer Studies			X
CSI 211 – The Black Feminist Archive	X
CSI 256 – Creating Families			X
CSI 279 – Feminist, Queer, and Trans Theories of Race	X		X
MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE	Critical Race Feminisms	Transnational Feminisms	Sexuality Studies
GNDST 204CW/ASIAN 215/THEAT 235CW – Androgyny and Gender Negotiation in Contemporary Chinese Theater		X
GNDST 204RP/LATST 250RP – Race, Racism, and Power	X
GNDST 212HS/Psych 217 – Psychology of Human Sexuality			X
GNDST 221QF – Feminist and Queer Theory			X
GDNST 241HP/ANTHR 216HP – Feminist Health Politics			X
GNDST 333AD/CST 349AD – Abolitionist Dreams/Resistance	X
GNDST 333EG/ANTHR 316EG – Reproductive and Genetic Technology			X
GNDST 333UU/LATST 360/CST 349UU – Latina/o Immigration	X	X
SMITH COLLEGE	Critical Race Feminisms	Transnational Feminisms	Sexuality Studies
SWG 200 – The Queer ’90s			X
SWG 234 – Postcolonial, Posthuman, Queer			X
SWG 227 – Feminist & Queer Disability			X
SWG 318 – Women Against Empire		X
AFR 249 – Black Women Writers	X
AFR 360/ENG 323 – Toni Morrison	X
CLT 239/ EAL 239 – Intimacy in Contemporary Chinese Women’s Fiction		X
HST 259 – Femininities, Masculinities and Sexualities in Africa		X	X
HST 265 - Aspects of Latin American History: Women and Gender in Latin America	X	X
IDP 320 – Women’s Health in India, Including Tibetans Living in Exile		X
SOC 214 – Sociology of Hispanic Caribbean Communities in the United States	X
SPN 250 – Sex and the Medieval City		X

AFROAM 326 – Black Women in U.S. History
Monday, Wednesday 2:30-3:45 p.m.
Traci Parker

The history of African American women from the experience of slavery to the present. Emphasis on the effect of racist institutions and practices on women. The ways in which women organized themselves to address the needs of African Americans in general and their own in particular. The achievements of such leaders as Mary Church Terrell, Harriet Tubman, Ella Baker, and Mary McLeod Bethune as well as lesser known women. (Gen.Ed. HS, DU)

AFROAM 330 – Songbirds, Blueswomen, Soulwomen
Thursday 4:00-6:30 p.m.
Yemisi Jimoh

The focus for this course is the cultural, political, and social issues found in the music and history of African American women performers. The primary emphasis in the course will be on African American women in Jazz, Blues, and Soul/R&B, but students also will study African American women composers as well as Spiritual-Gospel and Opera performers.

ANTHRO 205 – Power and Inequality in the U.S.
Monday, Wednesday 10:10-11:00 a.m.
Discussions: Thursdays 10:10, 2:30-3:20 and Friday 10:10, and 11:15 and 12:30
Jennifer Sandler

The roots of racism and sexism and the issues they raise. The cultural, biological, and social contexts of race and gender and examination of biological variation, genetic determinism, human adaptation, and the bases of human behavior. (Gen Ed SB, DU)

ANTHRO 224 - Hip Hop Cultures
Tuesday, Thurday 1:00-2:15 p.m.
Whitney Battle-Baptiste

This course will critically examine issues of race, representation and the sexual politics of hip-hop culture. We will trace the historical implications of race and gender in U. S. culture from slavery onwards and connect how past images of African Americans continue to influence contemporary notions of Black identity. We will trace the early historical moments of the hip-hop movement in order to understand how the culture became synonymous with male dominated spaces and silent women. This course will also explore the role of misogyny, sexual exploitation, and hypermasculinity in current rap music and contrast this with the rise of independent artists challenging and reshaping hip-hop music today. Ultimately, we will look at the role of the internet and alternative forms of media as a means of how hip-hop has moved from the board room to the global stage, giving the power back to the people.

ANTHRO 494BI – Global Bodies
Tuesday, Thursday 11:30-12:45 p.m.
Betsy Krause

The human body has increasingly become an object of anthropological study. The body is rich as a site of meaning and materiality. Similarly, culture inscribes itself on the body in terms of ‘normalization’ and governance. This course will explore pertinent issues surrounding the body today. Topics such as personhood, natural vs. artificial bodies, identity and subjectivity (nationality, race, class, sex, gender), domination and marginalization, and policy will be discussed. We will focus on the body in three main stages: birth, life, and death, with relevant case studies in each stage (e.g., embryos, reproduction, breastfeeding, organs, immigrant bodies, etc.) The course has a digital ethnography component as a final project option. Satisfies the Integrative Experience requirement for BA-Anth majors.

CHINESE 394WI – Women in Chinese Cultures
Tuesday, Thursday 10:00-11:15 a.m.
Elena Chiu

This course focuses on the representation of women and the constitution of gender in Chinese culture as seen through literature and mass media. It focuses on literary and visual representations of women to examine important issues such as the relationship between gender and power, self and society, and tradition and modernity. This course has a dual goal: to explore how women's social role has evolved from pre-modern China to the present and to examine important issues such as women's agency, "inner-outer" division, and the yin-yang dichotomy in Chinese literature and culture. Satisfies the Integrative Experience requirement for BA-Chinse majors.

CLASSICS 335 – Women in Antiquity
Tuesday, Thursday 4:00-5:15 p.m.
Teresa Ramsby

Lives, roles, contributions, and status of women in Greek and Roman societies, as reflected in classical literature and the archaeological record. (Gen.Ed. HS)

COMM 209H – LGBT Politics and the Media
Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:15 p.m.
Seth Goldman

This course aims to further understanding about 1) historical trends in media portrayals and public opinion about LGBT issues; 2) the effects of mass media on attitudes toward sexual and gender minorities; 3) the interplay of LGBT issues and electoral politics; and 4) the evolving role of sexuality and gender identity/expression in U.S. politics and society. (Gen. Ed. SB, DU). Open to Commonwealth Honors College Students only. This course was formerly numbered COMM 290H. If you received credit for taking COMM 290H, you cannot receive credit for taking this class.

COMM 397GC – Gender and Interpersonal Communication

Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:15 p.m.

Devon Greyson

What is gender and how does it affect the way we communicate with each other? This course provides an overview of the ways gendered identities, expressions, discourses, norms and roles affect our information interactions on an individual basis and in groups, online and off. Students will explore topics ranging from communication in family relationships to classroom and workplace communication dynamics to online self representation, applying an intersectional lens to the role of gendered power dynamics in shaping interpersonal communication.

COMM 494GI – Media and the Construction of Gender

Tuesday, Thursday 10:10-11:15 a.m.

Lynn Phillips

This Communication course draws on research and theory in communication, psychology, sociology, gender and cultural studies, education, and anthropology to examine how various forms of media shape our understandings of ourselves and others as gendered beings. We will discuss how media messages not only influence our behaviors, but also permeate our very senses of who we are from early childhood. Through a critical examination of fairy tales, text books, advertisements, magazines, television, movies, and music, students will explore the meanings and impacts of gendered messages as they weave with cultural discourses about race, class, sexuality, disability, age, and culture. Satisfies the Integrative Experience requirement for BA-Comm majors. COMM Seniors only. COMM 121 and COMM 288 are strongly recommended before taking this course. Formerly numbered COMM 491A. If you have taken COMM 491A, you cannot take this course.

COMM 497QP – Queer Performance and Publics

Tuesday, Thursday 2:30-3:45 p.m.

Kimberlee Perez

The culture and legislature of the United States shape discourses that produce the rights, recognitions, relations, im/mobilities, in/visibility, and mis/understandings of LGBTQIA persons and groups. In the context of history and from various social positions, these changes are read and enacted in multiple ways. This course considers the ways LGBTQIA persons and groups use performance, on the stage and in everyday life, as a form of communication, as communicative strategies that generate dialogue, resistance, and social action in order to more fully participate in mainstream publics as well as create counterpublics and queer world-making.

COMP-LIT 592A – Medieval Women Writers

Wednesday 2:30-5:15 p.m.

Jessica Barr

Selected medieval women writers from the point of view of current theoretical perspectives. Writers include Heloise, Marie de France, Christine de Pizan, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete, Margery Kempe, and others. Themes to be discussed include love and desire in women's writing; representations of women in medieval literature and philosophy; gendered representations of sanctity; and critical approaches derived from Marxist and feminist theory.

ECON 348 – The Political Economy of Women

Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:15 pm.

Lisa Saunders

A critical review of neoclassical, Marxist, and feminist economic theories pertaining to inequality between men and women in both the family and the firm.

ECON 397LG – Economics of LGBT Issues

Monday, Wednesday 4:00-5:15 p.m.

Lee Badgett

See department for description.

ENGLISH 132 – Gender, Sexuality, Literature and Culture

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 11:15-12:05 p.m. Sharanya Sridhar

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12:20-1:10 p.m. Subhalakshini Gooptu

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:10-11:00 a.m. Thakshala Tissera

Literature treating the relationship between man and woman. Topics may include: the nature of love, the image of the hero and heroine, and definitions, past and present, of the masculine and feminine. (Gen.Ed. AL, DG)

ENGLISH 300 – Intensive Literary Studies in the Major

Tuesday, Thursday 10:00-11:15 a.m.

Asha Nadkarni

This course addresses the relationship between writing and identity, focusing explicitly on issues of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Through an examination of postcolonial and diasporic poetry, short stories, novels, and dramatic works, we will ask how different genres generate different expressions of identity and voice. Questions we will consider include: what kind of voice is enabled by the formal aspects of each genre? How does the play of identity work similarly or differently across genres? What is the relationship between postcolonial and diasporic writings and their American and British antecedents—is it merely imitative or does it entail a radical remaking of Western forms? Over the course of the semester we will develop the literary vocabulary and skills necessary to begin to answer these questions, focusing on close readings and theoretically informed analyses.

FRENCH 280 – Love and Sex in French Culture

Tuesday, Thursday 10:00-11:15 a.m.

Patrick Mensah

Course taught in English. This course offers a broad historical overview of the ways in which love and erotic behavior in French culture have been represented and understood in the arts, especially in Literature and, more recently, in film, from the middle ages to the twentieth century. (Gen.Ed. AL)

HISTORY 265H – U.S. LGBT and Queer History

Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:15 p.m.

Julio Capo

This honors general education course explores how queer individuals and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities have influenced the social, cultural, economic, and political landscape in United States history. Topics include sodomy, cross-dressing, industrialization, feminism, the construction of the homo/heterosexual binary, the "pansy" craze, the homophile, gay liberation, and gay rights movements, HIV/AIDS, immigration, and same-sex marriage. (GenEd: DU HS)

HISTORY 349H – Topics in European History: Sex and Society

Monday, Wednesday 4:00-5:15 p.m.

Jennifer Heuer

This honors course examines the social organization and cultural construction of gender and sexuality. We will look at how women and men experienced the dramatic changes that have affected Europe since 1789 and consider how much these developments were themselves influenced by ideas about masculinity and femininity. We will explore topics such as revolutionary definitions of citizenship; changing patterns of work and family life; fin-de-siecle links between crime, madness, and sexual perversion; the fascist cult of the body; battle grounds and home fronts during the world wars; gendered aspects of nationalism and European colonialism, and the sexual revolution of the post-war era.

HISTORY364/POLISCI 364 - ~~History of U.S. Social Policy, Politics of Gender, Race and Class~~ Gender & Race in U.S. Social Policy and History

Tuesday, Thursday 11:30-12:45 p.m.

Elizabeth Sharrow

What are the problems associated with developing equitable and just policy? Why does social policy in the United States continue to be marked by tensions between the principle of equality and the reality of inequalities in social, political, and economic realms? How might policy subvert or reinforce these differences and inequalities? This class examines the history of social policy in the United States, particularly those policies affecting concerns of gender, race, and class. We will examine a wide range of social policies, focusing on those affecting groups such as: women, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBT people, and low-income people. We will study primarily empirical work, while asking questions about how political culture, interest groups, social movements, government institutions and other factor influence U.S. social policy.

HISTORY 397MJ – The Woman in Modern Japan

Tuesday, Thursday 2:30-3:45 p.m.

Garrett Washington

In this course students will learn about the history of women in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Japan. We will examine the constantly shifting ways in which Japanese society defined womanhood as well as the actual ideas and actions of Japanese women. This course in gender history course will introduce students to the legal, political, intellectual, social, and cultural developments that have shaped the place of women within Japan. The course will explore these themes through scholarly secondary sources and a variety of primary sources.

HISTORY 397RL – Rape Law: Gender, Race, (In)Justice

Tuesday, Thursday 10:00-11:15 a.m.

Jennifer Nye

The history of the legal response to rape has often resulted in injustice for both the victim/survivor and the alleged perpetrator. This course will examine the evolution of the U.S. legal system's treatment of rape, paying particular attention to the movement against lynching in the post-civil war era, the rise of the feminist anti-rape movement in the 1970s and the student movement against campus sexual assault. Through an analysis of court cases, legislation, and other texts we will consider the role sexual violence has played in maintaining gender and racialized power relationships. We will examine how and why such violence came to be seen as a crime, including who is worthy of the law's "protection" and who is subject to the law's “punishment." We will explore issues such as: rape as a form of racialized and imperial violence, especially against black and Native American women; the criminal legal treatment of rape and the evolution of the legal concepts of force, resistance, and consent; and the civil responses to rape under the Violence Against Women Act and Title IX. We'll also look at the international law responses to rape as a weapon of war. Finally, we'll think about how the legal responses, or non-responses, to rape have differed over time depending on factors such as the race/ethnicity, income level, immigration status, sexual orientation/gender identity, age, and marital status of the victim/survivor and the perpetrator. Finally, we’ll consider how the legal system can or should respond to rape, particularly in this age of mass criminalization and mass incarceration, and whether restorative justice responses might be preferable. Prior law-related coursework is helpful, but not required.

HISTORY 397RR – History of Reproductive Rights Law

Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:15 p.m.

Jennifer Nye

This course will explore the history of reproductive rights law in the United States, centering the reading of statutes, court decisions, amicus briefs, and law review articles. We will look at the progression of cases and legal reasoning involving a wide variety of reproductive rights issues, including forced sterilization, contraception, abortion, forced pregnancy/c-sections, policing pregnancy (through welfare law, employment policies and criminal law), and reproductive technologies. We will pay particular attention to how differently situated women were/are treated differently by the law, particularly on the basis of age, class, race, sexual orientation, and ability. We will also examine the role lawyers have historically played in advancing (or constraining) the goals of the reproductive rights movement(s) and explore the effectiveness of litigation as a strategy to secure these rights. Finally, we will consider the question of reproductive rights versus reproductive justice and whether reproductive justice can be obtained through advocating for reproductive rights

JUDAIC 318 – Family and Sexuality in Jewish History and Culture

Tuesday, Thursday 11:30-12:45 p.m.

Jay Berkovitz

An examination of transformations in the Jewish family and attitudes toward sexuality in Judaism, from antiquity to the present. Topics include love, sexuality, and desire in the Bible and Talmud; marriage and divorce through the ages; position and treatment of children; sexuality and spirituality in the Kabbalah; sexual stereotypes in American Jeish culture and Israeli society. Interdisciplinary readings draw on biblical and rabbinic literature, comparative Christian and Islamic sources, historical and scientific research on family and sexuality, and contemporary fiction. (Gen. Ed. HS, DG).

PHIL 371 – Philosophical Perspectives on Gender

Tuesday, Thursday 10:00-11:15 a.m.

Louise Antony

This course will offer systematic examination of a variety of philosophical issues raised by the existence of gender roles in human society: Is the existence or content of such roles determined by nature? Are they inherently oppressive? How does the category gender interact with other socially significant categories, like race, class, and sexual orientation? What would gender equality look like? How do differences among women complicate attempts to generalize about gender? In the last part of the course, we will bring our theoretical insights to bear on some topical issue related to gender, chosen by the class, such as: Is affirmative action morally justifiable? Should pornography be regulated? Is abortion morally permissible? Reading will be drawn from historical and contemporary sources. Methods of analytical philosophy, particularly the construction and critical evaluation of arguments, will be emphasized throughout. (Gen.Ed. SB, DU)

POLISCI 297GC – Gender, Conflict, and Security

Tuesday, Thursday 2:30-3:45 p.m.

Meredith Loken

This course investigates the gendered dimensions of armed conflict, foreign policy, international governance, peace-building, and post-conflict insecurities. Students will engage with academic and policy debates about how gendered power distributions shape international and human security. We will explore the issues raised in these debates by considering historical and contemporary global cases, including the role of masculinity in foreign policy, women's participation in political violence, gender-based civilian targeting, international post-conflict courts and transitional justice.

POLSCI 395F – Women and Politics

Tuesday, Thursday 11:30-12:45 p.m.

Maryann Barakso

Women have made tremendous gains in every aspect of social, economic and political life in the United States, particularly since the second wave of the women's movement in the 1960s. Yet, women's progress in terms of achieving elected office has reached a puzzling plateau since the 1990s. We will examine the course of women's movements towards achieving political incorporation in the United States. We consider the debate over why women's political progress has stagnated and we consider the impact of the gender imbalance in American electoral politics - to what extent do these disparities matter?
We begin by exploring women's suffrage campaigns and voting behavior in the period immediately following their achievement of the right to vote and beyond. We then turn to the relationship between women and party politics before discussing the challenges women face as candidates in American politics. We will focus on understanding why women remain underrepresented as legislators. We then consider the extent to which women's participation in campaigns and elections makes a substantive difference in policy making.

PSYCH 391ZZ – Psychology of the Gay, Lesbian And Bisexual Experience

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 11:15-12:05 p.m.

John Bickford

This course will explore psychological theory and research pertaining to gay, lesbian, and bisexual people. Topics include sexual orientation, sexual identity development, stigma management, heterosexism & homonegativity, gender roles, same-sex relationships, LGB families, LGB diversity, and LGB mental health. Open to Senior and Junior Psychology majors only. Prerequisite: PSYCH 241.

PUBHLTH 328 – Fundamentals of Women’s Health

Thursday 4:00-6:30 p.m.

Sara Sabelawski

This course will provide a comprehensive overview of issues related to health in women, addressing areas including but not limited to biology, psychology, geography, economics, health policy, and social issues.

SOCIOL 106 – Race, Gender, Class & Ethnicity

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:10-11:00 a.m. (RAP)

Kathleen Hulton

Open to first year Exploring Society RAP students in Moore Hall. SOCIOL 106-01 See http://www.umass.edu/rap/exploring-society-rap Students in Exploring Society RAP in Moore Hall will enroll together in "Race, Gender, Class and Ethnicity" (Sociology 106). In this class, we will examine how sociologists study social inequalities related to race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality. (1) We will begin by exploring how these identities are experienced in people's everyday lives. (2) Next, we will examine how these identities are constructed and maintained within our dominant institutions from families, schools, and workplaces, to media and the state. (3) We will end the course by considering creative solutions that work to end social inequalities as seen through resistance and social change efforts. Besides thinking sociologically about the world around you through engaging with foundational and cutting edge sociological research and theory, you will take part in interactive lectures, class discussions and group work with your peers. This course is designed to be useful for your success in college by developing your critical thinking, writing, researching, and speaking skills. It will also be of interest to those concerned with social justice efforts, and who wish to discuss ways of creating positive social change.

SOCIOL 106 – Race, Gender, Class & Ethnicity

Monday, Wednesday 4:00-5:15 p.m.

Dan Clawson

Introduction to Sociology. Analysis of the consequences of membership in racial, gender, class and ethnic groups on social, economic and political life. (Gen.Ed. SB, DU)

SOCIOL 222 – The Family

Tuesday, Thursday 11:30-12:45 p.m.

Mahala Stewart

First part: historical transformations in family life (relationships between husbands and wives, position and treatment of children, importance of kinship ties); second part: the contemporary family through life course (choice of a mate, relations in marriage, parenthood, breakup of the family unit). (Gen.Ed. SB, DU)

SOC 283 – Gender and Society

Tuesday, Thursday 10:00-11:15 a.m.

~~Joya Misra~~ Ben Johnson

Analysis of: 1) historical and cross-cultural variation in positions and relationships of women and men; 2) contemporary creation and internalization of gender and maintenance of gender differences in adult life; 3) recent social movements to transform or maintain "traditional" positions of women and men. Prerequisite: 100-level Sociology course.

~~SOC 385 – Gender and the Family~~
~~Tuesday, Thursday 8:30-9:45 a.m.~~
~~Ana Villalobos~~

~~This course explores the family as a gendered social construction. It considers how the family reflects and reproduces gender roles that are woven into the social norms of our society.~~

THEATER 393F/AFROAM 393F/WGSS 393F – Hip-Hop Feminisms: Performing Race/Gender/Sexuality on Page and Stage

Monday, Wednesday 10:10-12:05 p.m.

Nia Witherspoon

Hip-Hop Feminisms is a multidisciplinary course that investigates the theory, praxis, methodology, and impact of the multifarious figures and genres that circulate under this umbrella. Holding critically the assumed contradictions in its title-- hip-hop's assumed misogyny and feminism's assumed whiteness-- Hip-Hop Feminisms intervenes fiercely in binary thinking, highlighting the ways in which examining figures like Nicki Minaj, Beyonce, Rihanna, Cardi B, Missy Elliot, Queen Latifah and Roxanne Shante, and performance forms like twerking and voguing place us at the nexus of significant cultural debates around identity, desire, representation, the body, and liberation. Foregrounding the critiques of black and women of color feminisms, and incorporating insights of queer studies, performance studies, critical race theory, and hip-hop studies, this course lifts up these often under-explored cultural transcripts and empowers young scholars to engage critically with influential pop culture phenomena and independent-artists alike.

UMass majors and minors must focus their work on gender or sexuality in order for component courses to count. 200-level and above automatically count towards the UMass major or minor.

AFROAM 236 – History of the Civil Rights Movement

Monday, Wednesday 11:15-12:05 p.m.

Traci Parker

Examination of the Civil Rights Movement from the Brown v. Topeka decision to the rise of Black power. All the major organizations of the period, e.g., SCLC, SNCC, CORE, NAACP, and the Urban League. The impact on white students and the anti-war movement. (Gen.Ed. HS, DU)

ANTHRO 384 – African American Anthropology
Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:15 p.m.
Amanda Johnson

This course will introduce students to both the study of African-diasporic peoples in the Americas by anthropologists, as well as the practice of anthropology by African American scholars. We will contextualize African American anthropologies within the historical developments, social movements, cultural and artistic production, and political philosophies that have shaped African American communities. By critically engaging with seminal texts and writings, we will consider contradictions, challenges, critiques, and contributions present within African American Anthropology. This course will also work to de-marginalize gender, sexuality, and class in conceptions of race and Blackness, attending to the complexity and nuance in interpretations and analyses of African American culture and communities.

ANTHRO 394AI – Europe After the Wall
Monday, Wednesday 2:30-3:45 p.m.
Julie Hemment

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was a seismic event that took the world by storm. It gave rise to dizzy optimism and hope for a new, post-ideological age and greater global unity, within and beyond Europe. Twenty years on, these hopes have not been realized. Cold War hostilities are alive and well and although the EU has expanded, Europe is, arguably, more divided than ever. This course explores the implications of the Wall and its passing for Europe, focusing on anthropological accounts of the (former) East bloc. The course is divided into three main parts: Europe behind the Iron Curtain (the cultural logics of state socialism); What Came Next? (the fall of the wall, international interventions to ‘democratize’ post-socialist space); and a section that explores the post-socialist present. During this last bloc, we will explore themes of gender and generation, nostalgia and the politics of history, and the return of the state. As we go, we’ll be reading some of the most exciting new ethnographies of the region, grounded accounts that explore the transformations in social and cultural logics, power relations and practices that accompanied political and economic change. Through a mixture of group work, collaboratively designed projects and reflection papers, assignments are specifically tailored to enable you to bring the threads of your Gen Ed experience together as you consider the specific topics of the Cold War, state socialism and the global implications of its passing. Satisfies the Integrative Experience requirement for BA-Anth majors.

ASIAN 397B – Bridging Asia and Asia-America
Wednesday 6:00-8:00 p.m.
C.N. Le

Talks by local and visiting faculty, as well as film screenings and performances, designed to introduce students to the multi-layered connections between Asia and Asian America. Areas that will be considered include: popular culture, youth subcultures, labor, issues of gender and sexuality, and migration and immigrant communities. Discussions emphasize how issues play out at local, national and transnational levels.

COMM 271 – Humor in Society
Monday, Wednesday 1:25-2:15 p.m.
Discussions: Friday 10:10, 11:15, 12:20, 1:25
Stephen Olbrys Gencarella

This course examines humor as a significant form of creative expression in social and political life. In recent decades, scholars of all persuasions from the humanities, social sciences, and even hard sciences have examined this subject through a critical lens, leading to the development of an interdisciplinary field known as humor studies. This course provides an introduction to that burgeoning field. Topics will include different theories of humor, the relationship between humor and play, the differences between humor and comedy, the use of humor in the redress of political and social tensions, the importance of the body in humor, and the role of humor in maintaining identity, especially in the negotiation of race, gender, class, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation. (Gen Ed SB, U) This course was formerly numbered COMM 297C. If you have already taken COMM 297C you cannot take this course.

COMM 297FA – Spirit and Stories: The Folklore of Alcohol
Monday, Wednesday 2:30-3:45 p.m.
Stephen Olbrys Gencarella

This course examines the vast store of folklore inspired by and directed at alcohol and its cultural reach. Folklore means traditional expressive practices ranging from the verbal arts (such as stories and songs) to material culture (such as crafts and medicine) to customary activities (such as rituals and beliefs). The range of folklore herein is both global and ancient; that is, it concerns the entire history of alcohol, which in effect necessitates attention to the entire history of humanity in a global perspective. Specific lectures will address cultural differences concerning alcohol in the negotiation of race, ethnicity, class, nationhood, religion, gender, and political identity.

COMM 338 – Children, Teens and Media
Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:15 p.m.
Erica Scharrer

In this seminar, we will explore the role of media (television, internet, video games, mobile media, film, etc.) in shaping the lives of children and teens. We will consider how much time children devote to various media, what they think about what they encounter through media, and the implications of media for children's lives. We will draw on social science research to examine a wide range of topics, including: depictions of race, class, gender, and sexuality in ads, programming, and other media forms; the role of media in the development of adolescent identity; media uses and effects in the realms of educational TV and apps, advertising and consumer culture, violence, and sex; and the possibilities of media literacy, parental rules and dialogue, and public policies to shape children's interactions with media. Open to Senior and Junior Communication majors only. Prerequisites: COMM 121. This course was formerly numbered COMM 397U: ST-Children, Teens and Media. If you have taken COMM 397U, you cannot take this course.

COMM 394EI – Performance & Politics of Race
Tuesday, Thursday 11:30-12:45 p.m.
Kimberlee Perez

This course looks at the ways race, racial identities, and interracial relations are formed through and by communication practices in present-day U.S. America. Though focusing on U.S. America in the current historical moment, the course takes into account the ways history as well as the transnational flows of people and capital inform and define conversations about race and racial identities. Race will be discussed as intersectional, taking into account the ways race is understood and performed in relation to gender, sexuality, class, and nation. The course will focus on the performance and communications of race, ranging from everyday interactions, personal narratives and storytelling, intra- and inter-racial dialogue, and staged performances.

COMM 493M – Fashion, Media, Culture, Style
Monday 4:00-6:45 p.m.
Anne Ciecko

This course examines "Fashion" (and the aesthetics of the clothed body and projected identity) as a socio-cultural and mediated phenomenon. This interdisciplinary seminar in critical fashion studies incorporates diverse texts, case studies, theoretical perspectives, analytical tools, hands-on projects, and at least one field trip.

COMP-LIT 231 – Comedy
Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:15 p.m.
Marco Lobascio

Our course begins with the premise that contemporary American comedy is informed by the histories of ethnic American groups -- African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans and U.S. Latinos/Latinas -- along with issues of race, class, sexuality and citizenship. American comedians, independent filmmakers, feminists and transgendered comics deploy the language of comedy to invoke serious social matters in contemporary American life: racism, heterosexism, homophobia, class biases against the poor and the undocumented, misogyny, war and other burning issues of the day. We will thus consider that the ends of comedy are more than laughter. Comedy confronts political issues that are constitutive of and threatening to the U.S. body politic. (Gen Ed AL)

EDUC 167 – Education and Film
Monday, Wednesday 12:20-1:10 p.m.
Discussions: Friday 10:10, 12:20, 1:25
Kysa Nygreen

What do movies like Mean Girls, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Freedom Writers teach us about education? Do the way films represent school, students, and teaching reflect or reproduce our views about particular students and schools? What and how do movies teach us and why does it matter? This course introduces students to selected essential topics in modern educational theory and practice using depictions of teachers, students, and schools in movies as springboards for inquiry.

EDUC 210 – Social Diversity in Education
Tuesday 11:20-12:45 p.m.
Discussions: Thursday 11:30
Kevin Goodman

Focus on issues of social identity, social and cultural diversity, and societal manifestations of oppression. Draws on interdisciplinary perspectives of social identity development, social learning theory, and sociological analyses of power and privilege within broad social contexts. (Gen.Ed. I, DU)

EDUC 392B – Racism in a Global Context
Saturday, Sunday 9:00-5:00 p.m.
Oscar Collins

This section is sponsored by CMASS. Permission of the instructor is required. For enrollment procedures and instructor's consent to register, please contact Eun Y. Lee at CMASS (cmassdialogues@gmail.com) This weekend seminar will meet from 9 am to 5 pm, 10/22 & 10/23 Saturday & Sunday.

ENGLISH 300 – Junior Year Writing: Outsiders in Literature
Monday, Wednesday 4:00-5:15 p.m.
Caroline Yang

This class will ask students to reflect on the notion of an "outsider" as a social category through their readings and viewings of literary texts and films and their written analyses of them. We will study how our understanding of the category has been constructed historically in the United States through literature and film. Some of the questions we will engage with are: who determines who is an insider and who is an outsider? How has the category of the outsider been shaped by and also shaped in turn dominant understandings of citizenship, race, gender, class, sexuality, ability, and religion? What is the relationship between the category and structures of power? Is the category always a tool of domination? In what ways do the literary texts, films, and critical essays that we’ll be studying offer us a transformative way of thinking about the category so that we might begin to imagine it as one of empowerment?

ENGLISH 300 – Junior Year Writing: US Literature in a Global Context
Monday, Wednesday 2:30-3:45 p.m.
Laura Doyle

The history of the United States has from the beginning unfolded through interaction with other nations and communities around the globe. U.S. authors have been aware of those dynamics and have engaged with them as they grappled with questions of freedom, democracy, collectivity, race, gender, and class. Our main goal will be to understand the art and the political imaginations of these authors, including both nineteenth- and twentieth-century authors. We'll have readings in both history and literature so as to enrich our thinking about both of them. The class fulfills the Junior-writing requirement; it will include regular writing as well as required drafts and revisions.

ENGLISH 349 – Nineteenth-Century British Fiction
Thursday 4:00-6:30 p.m.
Suzanne Daly

A survey of novels written in the British Isles between 1789 and 1901, with emphasis on historical context, form and genre, and themes including industry and empire, gender and class, and religion and science.

ENGLISH 372 - Caribbean Literature
Tuesday, Thursday 11:30-12:45 p.m.
Rachel Mordecai

In this course we will read contemporary works from the English-, French-, and Spanish-speaking literatures of the Caribbean (all texts will be read in English), comprising a mixture of "canonical" and emerging authors. Lectures (rare) and discussions (regular) will address central themes in Caribbean writing, as well as issues of form and style (including the interplay between creole and European languages). Some of the themes that will preoccupy us are history and its marks upon the Caribbean present; racial identity and ambiguity; colonial and neo-colonial relationships among countries; gender and sexuality. Assignments will include an informal reading journal and three major papers of varying lengths; there may also be student presentations, small-group work, and in-class writing activities. Authors may include Maryse Conde, Tiphanie Yanique, Kei Miller, Rene Depestre, Dionne Brand and Mayra Santos-Febres.

FILM 397PP/SPANISH 397PP – Spanish Cinema
Monday 4:00-6:30 p.m.
Elisabet Pallas

Analysis of several films by some of the most important directors from the sixties to the early 21st Century, in the context of Iberian history, society, culture and politics. The following topics will be analyzed: representation of gender; history; filmic narrative; role of religion; sexual and sociopolitical repression; violence and transgression; and other topics. Films have sub-titles. Course taught in English. Film Studies Undergraduate Certificate category: IIB, V

HISTORY 242H – American Family in Historical Perspectives
Tuesday, Thursday 2:30-3:45 p.m.
Martha Yoder

An historical, cross-cultural, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of families in America. We will examine the histories of various groups, exploring how these experiences have resulted in different family dynamics. We will then take up the question of the continuing relevance of race, ethnicity, and social class to families in America today and to the discussion of family in American politics. (Gen.Ed. HS, DU)

JAPANESE 135 – Japanese Art and Culture
Tuesday, Thursday 2:30-3:45 p.m.
Stephen Miller

Exploration of Japan's secular and religious arts and their impact on gendered literary texts, such as early aristocratic women's writings and medieval warrior epics. Films about the traditional theater, which influenced the culture of sexuality, and about the Zen-inspired art of the tea ceremony, which reflected political upheaval. Locating points of intersection between art and literature, religion and politics in modern Japan under Western influence. Conducted in English. No prerequisites. (Gen.Ed. I, DG)

JUDAIC 344/MIDEAST 344 – Film and Society in Israel
Wednesday 4:00-6:45 p.m.
Olga Gershenson

This course uses film to discuss Israeli society. Topics include: foundation of Israel, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Holocaust survivors, religion, gender, and interethnic relations. All film showings are with English subtitles. (Gen. Ed. AT, DG)

POLISCI 201 – American Politics Through Film
Monday, Wednesday 4:00-4:50 p.m.
Discussions: Fridays 8:00, 9:05, 12:20 and 1:25
Michael Hannahan

Movies are used to explore the development of American politics. The forces that shaped our politics early in the century (immigration, reform, religion), the rise of "big" government in the depression and World War II years (the new roles of the federal government, the enhanced presidency, internationalism, and anti-communism), and selected issues (race, gender, modern campaigns) prominent since the 1960s. The meaning of political democracy in America and how our understanding of it has adapted to changing times and conditions. (Gen.Ed. HS)

PUBHLTH 389 – Health Inequities
Monday, Wednesday 4:00-5:15 p.m.
Luis Valdez

While the health and wellbeing of the nation has improved overall, racial, ethnic, gender and sexuality disparities in morbidity and mortality persist. To successfully address growing disparities, it is important to understand social determinants of health and translate current knowledge into specific strategies to undo health inequalities. This course will explore social justice as a philosophical underpinning of public health and will consider the etiology of disease rooted in social conditions. It aims to strengthen critical thinking, self-discovery, and knowledge of ways in which socioeconomic, political, and cultural systems structure health outcomes.

PUBHLTH 499C – Honors Project-Community Based Participatory Research, Chronic Disease Prevent and Stress Biomarkers
Tuesday, Thursday 11:30-12:45 p.m.
Louis Graham

Those positioned at the intersections of multiple marginalized identities or social positions face significant health disparities. This two-semester Honors Thesis/Project Seminar will explore the use of community-based participatory approaches to health equity research focused on race, gender, socioeconomic status, age, and geographic location. In this course, students will examine the relationship between inequalities in the social determinants of health, cortisol (a stress response hormone in the body), and chronic disease risks (e.g., obesity). Half of the students in the class will concentrate on quantitative data collection and analysis and the other half on lab-based fingernail sample processing and analysis.

STPEC 189 – Introduction to Radical Social Theory in Historical Context
Wednesday 4:00-6:30 p.m.
Graciela Monteagudo

This is an introductory course to radical social theory. Our focus is the history of social thought in the West, and the postcolonial critiques of some of these ideas. In this course, students will learn that "radical" means "at the root," and radical social theory is theory that explains the roots of social inequalities and proposes ways of transforming society to achieve justice. As a General Education course, our goal is for students to have the opportunity to discuss key societal issues through a variety of disciplines, including philosophy, anthropology, history, economy, African-American, Native American and gender and sexuality studies. Through analysis of readings and films, we will explore the connection between cultural processes and power in the West and the implications for non-Western people on a global scale and on different times and places.

STPEC 320 – Writing for Critical Consciousness

Tuesday, Thursday 11:30-12:45

Gregory Purcell

The STPEC Junior Writing Seminar focuses on individual development of voice. We will weave this theme through standard essay assignments, weekly response papers, cover letters and resumes, and a student-driven class project of your choosing. Since you and your classmates with be struggling together to find your voices, we’ll focus on peer-editing and tutoring techniques at the beginning of the semester. As we discuss peer-editing, we may consider issues of language and dialect, Black English, Standard Written English and feminism. The second half of the semester will focus on political, environmental, educational, cultural, and philosophical texts. Throughout all assignments I expect to see cultivation of your voice and communication of your own creative ideas. I encourage integration of ideas from your other courses and experiences. Be prepared to think critically and examine texts carefully. We will be sharing our writing with each other – be ready to give and receive constructive feedback.

STPEC 391H – Core Seminar I

Tuesday, Thursday 2:30-3:45 p.m.

Graciela Monteagudo

STPEC Core Seminar I focuses on major theoretical currents in political theory and the historical circumstances that gave rise to those theories-in particular Liberalism, Marxism, Anarchism, Postcolonial, and Poststructural theories. As this is an interdisciplinary class, we will be bringing in analytic tools from various disciplines paying attention to the historical construction and reception of ideas.

STPEC 392H – Core Seminar II

Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:15 p.m.

Shemon Salam

STPEC Core Seminar II focuses on a series of interrelated political, social and theoretical movements of the 20th and 21st Century with an emphasis on how political practices and philosophies relate to the successes and catastrophic failures of modernism in complex and contradictory ways. Some of the topics addressed include anti/post-colonialism, the role of identity in political theory/practice and poststructuralism. We will research the connection between race, class, gender, sexuality, able-bodiness and other axes of oppression resistance under neoliberalism, including violence against women under neoliberalism. A major research paper of the student's choosing will be produced over the course of the semester allowing her/him to more deeply engage with a topic, and to practice applying the critical methodological and theoretical tools developed in the STPEC curriculum.

STPEC 491H – The Insurrectionary Imagination: The Politics and Poetics of Anti-Capitalism and Revolution

Tuesday 4:00-6:30 p.m.

Ruth Jennison

How do 20th- and 21st-century poets engage with the political movements and philosophies of their times? How can reading poetry enhance our study of the social and cultural contours of progressive and revolutionary movements? Weekly reading assignments will pair poetry with key primary documents and histories of anti-capitalist, anti-colonial and feminist movements, as well as struggles for gay liberation, Black self-determination, and radical environmental justice. We will pay special attention to the relationship between poetry and direct actions and street insurrections, such as the riot, the swarm, the strike, the boycott, the occupation, the commune, the sit-in, the picket and the mass demonstration. Our guiding questions will be: How does poetry offer ways for its readers to grasp the contours of capitalism as a system structured by racism, sexism, and class struggle? What strategies of resistance do modern and contemporary poets embrace and elaborate in their popular and experimental forms? What is the relationship between politics that take place in the streets and politics that take place on the page? What tensions arise between the poet acting as militant and the poet acting as artist? Most broadly: what is the relationship between art and social movements? Political and historical documents will include works by Marx and Engels, Silvia Federici, The Black Panther Party, Malcolm X, Robin D.G. Kelley, Fred Moten, the Movement for Black Lives, Angela Davis, and Chicago Gay Liberation. Poetry will include works by Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Muriel Rukeyser, Amiri Baraka, Gwendolyn Brooks, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Diane Di Prima, Juliana Spahr, and Sean Bonney.

SOC 103 – Social Problems

Tuesday, Thursday 11:30-12:45 p.m. – Donald Tomaskovic-Devey

Monday, Wednesday ~~2:30-3:45 p.m. - TBD~~ 4:00-5:15 p.m. Tanya Whitworth

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9:05-9:55 a.m. - Cathryn Brubaker

Introduction to sociology. America's major social problems--past and present--are examined. These include crime, mental health, drug addiction, family tensions and inequalities based on race, gender, ethnicity and social class. (Gen.Ed. SB, DU)

SOC 248 – Conformity and Deviance

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:10-11:00 a.m.

Anthony Rainey

This course examines the social processes of rule-making and rule-breaking, and how categories of "normal" and "deviance" change historically. We examine different theories of conformity and deviance, using topics such as sexuality and politics.

SOC 105 – Self, Society and Interpersonal Relations

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9:05-9:55 a.m.

Choonhee Woo

Introduction to sociology and social psychology. Topics reviewed include social perception, socialization, concepts of self, personal and gender identity, expressions of emotion, social roles, group formation and power, prejudice, racism, sexism, and other topics relevant to studies in social psychology. (Gen.Ed. SB)

SOC 397ED – Sociology of Eating Disorders

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12:20-1:10 p.m.

Veronica Everett

This course is designed to look at eating disorders through the lens of Sociology. We will be discussing relevant topics such as social narratives around body image and media (including social media), gender norms, race, feminism, socioeconomic influences related to weight, the history of some of these variables and how they've evolved over time. We will also look at issues related to development and mental health including self-esteem, peer relationships, family systems/environment, mood disorders, trauma, diagnoses, healthcare policy and treatment. Lastly, as its relevant to you as students, we will look at college life and eating disorders as it is often a time when eating disorders develop or peak.

SPANISH 324 – Introduction to Latino/a Literature

Tuesday, Thursday

Stephanie Fetta

In this course students will think critically about the various "wild tongues" that have defined U.S. Latinx literature and culture in the 20th and 21st centuries. Our analysis will center on issues of power as they are experienced by diverse U.S. Latinx populations. Specifically, we will focus on Latinx writers, performers, and scholars that push the boundaries of acceptable gender, sexuality, and racialization within U.S. Latinx cultures, focusing specifically on Caribbean and Chicanx populations in the United States. Students will be required to engage critically with primary texts, as well as reflect on the ways in which these issues exist in the world around us. Because Latinx thinkers often blur the boundaries of traditional literary and scholarly genres, we will consider pinnacle works of Latinx studies - such as those of Pedro Pietri, Gloria Anzaldua, and Junot Diaz - alongside other forms of cultural production, such as performance art and film. We will also try our hands at these art forms in an effort to find new, embodied ways to interact with expressions of Latinx culture. Course texts are written in both English and Spanish. Class discussion will take place in Spanish. All assignments must be completed in Spanish. (Gen. Ed. AL, DU)

SPANISH 397PP – Spanish Cinema

Monday, Wednesday 4:00-6:30 p.m.

Elisabet Pallas

THEATER 130 – Contemporary Playwrights of Color

Tuesday, Thursday 10:00-11:15 a.m.

Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:15 p.m.

Priscilla Page

Theater movements of Blacks, Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans, and the body of literature by contemporary playwrights of color within a historical context. (Gen.Ed. AL, DU)

THEATER 336 – Multicultural Theater and the Latino Experience

Monday, Wednesday 2:30-3:45 p.m.

Priscilla Page

This course will examine the landscape of American theater and its relationship to the politics of diversity in the U.S. We will study the theater work of Latinos/as in the U.S. to broaden our understanding of multicultural theater. In addition to studying the dramatic texts, we will also consider the political implications of the work and its relationship to social activism. We will also look at theater companies whose primary missions are to produce Latino/a theater and the history of the representation of Latinos on stage in this country.

WGSS 691GM/493M – Conversations with the Ghost of Marx

Tuesday 1:00-3:30 p.m.

Kiran Asher

In "Europe and the People without History," Eric Wolf, the late anthropologist notes that, ?? the social sciences constitute one long dialogue with the ghost of Marx.? Feminists and anti-colonialists are among the many advocates of social justice who have engaged with Karl Marx?s writing and fierce criticism of capitalism. This advanced seminar focuses on an exegesis of some of Marx?s oeuvre and the historical and current scholarship that draws on, critiques, and pushes its boundaries. In addition to selections from Marx’s key works, we will read the writings of his important interlocutors such as Silvia Federici, Donna Haraway, Antonio Gramsci, Stuart Hall, CLR James, Rosa Luxemburg, Gayatri Spivak, Raymond Williams, and others. Our discussions will emphasize the need to understand the parameters and debates about uneven capitalist development and its raced and gendered dimensions. This is an advanced seminar and requires you to have a solid analytical knowledge and transnational understanding of feminisms (syllabi for WGSS courses are found via our website), political economy, and social theory through course work or self-study. Suggestions for background readings will be posted on Spire.

WGSS 692F – Contemporary Black Feminist Thought

Thursday 1:00-3:30 p.m.

Fumi Okiji

WGSS 791B – Feminist Theory

Wednesday 2:30-5:00 p.m.

Svati Shah

SUMMER 2018

Departmental

(100-level courses taught in other UMass departments can count towards the WGSS minor, but NOT the WGSS major)

~~WGSS 187 – Gender, Sexuality and Culture~~
~~Session 1 - Julieta Chaparro~~
~~Session 2 – Rachel Briggs~~

COMM 288 – Gender, Sex and Representation
Session 1 - Sut Jhally

This course will examine the relationship between commercialized systems of representation and the way that gender and sexuality are thought of and organized in the culture. In particular, we will look at how commercial imagery impacts upon gender identity and the process of gender socialization. Central to this discussion will be the related issues of sexuality and sexual representation (and the key role played by advertising).

ENGLISH 132 – Gender, Sexuality, Literature, and Culture
Session 1 - Michelle Brooks
Session 2 - Korka Sall

FILM 497W – Women’s Cinema
Session 2 - Barbara Zecchi

A close examination of films directed by women from around the globe through the viewpoint of gender and film theories. This class will engage several of the most recurrent topics that shape women's films (such as patriarchal society and traditional gender roles, motherhood, violence against women, the female body and women’s sexuality, among others) in comparison with how these same themes surface, if they do, in hegemonic cinema (i.e. in mainstream Hollywood and in national male-authored productions). By tackling the so-called gender-genre debate, it will address how women use (or subvert) different male-dominated cinematic forms (i.e. if there is a female version of the comedy, a women’s road movie, film noir, etc.). Finally, it will address whether and how these films reflect a female idiosyncrasy, a woman's language, a female gaze. Class will include recent films by women filmmakers such as Chantal Akerman (Belgium), Isabel Coixet (Catalonia), Lucia Puenzo (Argentina), Claire Denis (France), Alankrita Shrivastava (India), Deniz Gamze Erguven (Turkey), Iciar Bollain (Spain), Nadine Labaki (Lebanon), among others. Films are shown in their original versions with English subtitles. Course will be taught in English. UMass Undergraduate Film Certificate category: IIA, IV, V

FRENCH 280 – Love and Sex in French Culture
Patrick Mensah

ITALIAN 333 – Women’s Bodies: Poetry, Politics, and Power
Session 1 - Stacy Giufre

In this course, students will explore the mind-body connection and its implications for conceptions of gender, identity, and power, both interpersonal and political through close analysis of visual art, texts, and films. Though the works we will analyze in this class were all produced in 20th-century Italy and center on representations of women and their bodies, all of these works appeal to a broad base of students. The course is appropriate for all types of learners and will employ methods of instruction that take into account students' varying interests and learning modalities. This course will help students develop skills that are useful not only for the study of the humanities but also the practice of healthcare professions. (Gen. Ed. AL, DG)

PSYCH 397A – Gender, Psychopathology and Psychotherapy
Session 1 - Hillary Halpern

~~See department for description~~.

PSYCH 391MC – Multicultural Psychology: Intersections of Race, Class and Gender
Session 2 - Alexandrea Craft

This course explores intersections of race, class and gender within families, and attends to the ways in which families are differently impacted by identity, privilege and social marginalization. This course will also explore how different racial, social class or gender identities may impact therapy or clinical practice.

SOCIOL 106 – Race, Gender, Class & Ethnicity
Session 1 - Youngjoon Bae

Introduction to Sociology. Analysis of the consequences of membership in racial, gender, class and ethnic groups on social, economic and political life. (Gen.Ed. SB, DU)

SOCIOL 287 – Sexuality and Society
Session 1 - Swati Birla

The many ways in which social factors shape sexuality. Focus on cultural diversity, including such factors as race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual identity in organizing sexuality in both individuals and social groups. Prerequisite: 100-level Sociology course. (Gen.Ed. SB, DU)

UWW 397SV – Sexual Violence
Session 1 - Lisa Fontes

This course explores sexual violence in the United States from psychological, sociological, public health, feminist, legal, historical, and criminal justice perspectives. It addresses the sexual victimization of teenagers and adults of all genders in a variety of social contexts, using an anti-oppression framework. The course also focuses on ways to make sexual violence prevention and intervention services better suited to culturally diverse people.

COMPONENT

(WGSS majors and minors must concentrate their work on gender or sexuality. (100-level courses taught in other UMass departments can count towards the WGSS minor, but NOT the WGSS major)

ANTHRO 106 – Culture Through FilmA
Session 1 - Seda Saluk

Exploration of different societies and cultures, and of the field of cultural anthropology through the medium of film. Ethnographic and documentary films; focus on gender roles, ethnicity, race, class, religion, politics, and social change. (Gen.Ed. SB, DG)

ANTHRO 258 – Food and Culture
Session 1 - Dana Conzo

This course surveys how cultural anthropologists have studied the big questions about food and culture. How and why do people restrict what foods are considered ?edible? or morally acceptable? How is food processed and prepared, and what does food tell us about other aspects of culture like gender and ethnic identity? How have power issues of gender, class, and colonialism shaped people?s access to food? How has industrialization changed food, and where are foodways headed in the future? Along the way, students will read and see films about foodways in Europe, Africa, Asia, the United States, and Latin America. (Gen. Ed. SB, DG)

EDUC 210 – Social Diversity in Education
Session 1 – Warren Blumenfeld

EDUC 377 – Introduction to Multicultural Education
Isabel Castellanos

Introduction to the sociohistorical, philosophical, and pedagogical foundations of cultural pluralism and multicultural education. Topics include experiences of racial minorities, white ethnic groups and women; intergroup relations in American society, sociocultural influences and biases in schools; and philosophies of cultural pluralism.

FILM 497A – Alien Encounters
Session 1 - Daniel Pope

Could there be extraterrestrial life in the cosmos? Scientists say yes, possibly billions of planets in our galaxy alone, according to recent discoveries. What would happen in an encounter between humans and intelligent aliens? Since the beginning of cinema, the figure of the alien has visited the big screen with its promise of otherworldly wonders and its threat of unthinkable perils. Why do we find the alien movie so alluring? How do we understand themes of alien encounters in relation to the realities of our human world? This course explores how alien encounters reflect the haunting of historical realities (such European voyages of discovery, conquest, and colonization) as well as contemporary issues, such as international conflict (war or global migration), questions of identity (race, gender, sexuality), and the power and perils of emerging technologies (nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, space travel). Imagining encounters with intelligent beings beyond our own cultural and ideological sphere provides powerful new perspectives on what we think we know about the world, about ourselves, and about others.

HISTORY 154 – Social Change in the 1960’s

Julia Sandy-Bailey

Few periods in United States. history experienced as much change and turmoil as the "Long Sixties" (1954-1975), when powerful social movements overhauled American gender norms, restructured the Democratic and Republican parties, and abolished the South's racist "Jim Crow" regime. This course examines the movements that defined this era. We will explore the civil rights and Black Power movements; the student New Left and the antiwar movement; the women's and gay liberation movements; struggles for Asian American, Chicano/a, Native American, and Puerto Rican freedom; as well as the rise of conservatism. Throughout the semester, we will assess Sixties social movements' ideals, strategies, and achievements, and their ongoing influence upon U.S. politics, society, and culture. (Gen.Ed. HS, DU)

HISTORY 264 – History of Health Care and Medicine in the U.S.

Sessions 1 and 2, Emily Redman

This course explores the history and social meaning of medicine, medical practice, health care, and disease in the United States from 1600 to the present. Using a variety of sources aimed at diverse audiences students will investigate topics such as: the evolution of beliefs about the body; medical and social responses to infectious and chronic disease; the rise of medical science and medical organizations; the development of medical technologies; mental health diagnosis and treatment; changing conceptions of the body; the training, role, and image of medical practitioners and the role of public and government institutions in promoting health practices and disease treatments. We will pay particular attention to the human experience of medicine, with readings on the experience of being ill, the delivery of compassionate care, and the nature of the relationship between practitioners and patients. Course themes will include race, gender, cultural diversity, women and gender, social movements, science, technology, politics, industry, and ethics. (Gen. Ed. HS, DU)

STPEC 190X – American Nightmare: Police Killings and Incarceration in the United States
Session 2 – Graciela Monteagudo

This course will examine the complex intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and class to understand the phenomenon of police killings and high rates of incarceration in the United States. Students will read about incarceration as a normalizing technique by the state to discipline the population, and will reflect on multiple instances of police killings of People of Color on the streets of this country. The goal of this course is for students to have the opportunity to discuss these key societal issues through a variety of disciplines, including philosophy, anthropology, history, economics, Black, Native American, and women, gender and sexuality studies. (Gen. Ed. SB, DU)

SOCIOL 397AM – Asylums, Madness and Mental Illness
Session 1 - Janice Irvine

This course uses the rise and fall of the asylum movement to examine shifting ideas about "mental illness" and its treatment, from the mid-19th century to the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1970s. Born of a utopian spirit dedicated to healing minds broken by the modern world, insane asylums devolved into "theaters of madness" where "lunatics" were stigmatized and warehoused. Race, gender, class, and sexuality shaped how mental illness has been conceptualized and treated over a pivotal century in American culture. Using sociological research and popular culture - such as films, novels, and television - we examine the asylum as a type of social control, and mid-20th century criticisms of asylums as "total institutions."

FALL 2018

Departmental

(100-level courses taught in other UMass departments can count towards the WGSS minor, but NOT the WGSS major)

SOCIOL 397GF – Gender, Crime, and Families
Sarah Becker

Families are a major social institution that operate as a cornerstone of human experiences. They also deeply impact broader social structures due to their central position as an arbiter between individuals and an array of other institutions such as communities, schools, and the criminal justice system. In this course, we examine the interrelationship between gender, crime, and families. Doing so provides an opportunity for nuanced engagement with existing social science research on gender and crime and how that relationship impacts and is shaped by family/families.

ENGLISH 132 – Gender, Sexuality, Literature, and Culture
Sohini Banerjee

Component

(WGSS majors and minors must concentrate their work on gender or sexuality. (100-level courses taught in other UMass departments can count towards the WGSS minor, but NOT the WGSS major)

AFROAM 236 – History of the Civil Rights Movement

Kourtney Senquiz

EDUC 210 – Social Diversity in Education

Warren Blumenfeld

HISTORY 154 – Social Change in the 1960’s
Julia Sandy Bailey

LEGAL 397RE – Law and Politics of Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.
Lisa Soloweij

This course examines legal constructions of race and ethnicity by introducing case law, federal legislation, and scholarly essays in the United States. Special attention will be paid to desegregation and voting law, as well as the topics of immigration, affirmative action, and policing the borders. We will also explore how the legal system has on an effect on race and ethnicity while exploring such topics as environmental justice and health outcomes, the prison system, and the relationship between race, ethnicity and law enforcement.

~~SOCIOL 105 – Self, Society and Interpersonal Relations~~
~~TBA~~

SWAG 210/ANTH 210 – Anthropology of Sexuality
Tuesday, Thursday 11:30-12:50
Sahar Sadjadi

This course draws on anthropological literature to study the socio-cultural making of human sexuality and its variations. We will critically examine theories of sexuality as a domain of human experience and locate sexual acts, desires and relations in particular historical and cultural contexts. The course offers analytical tools to understand and evaluate different methods and approaches to the study of human sexuality. We will examine the relation of sex to kinship/family, to reproduction and to romance. As we read about the bodily experience of sexual pleasure, we will explore how sexual taboos, norms and morality develop in various cultures and why sex acquires explosive political dimensions during certain historical periods. The course will explore the gendered and racial dimensions of human sexual experience in the context of class, nation and empire. How do class divisions produce different sexual cultures? What economies of sex are involved in sex work, marriage and immigration? What has been the role of sexuality in projects of nation building and in colonial encounters? When, where and how did sexuality become a matter of identity? In addition to a focus on contemporary ethnographic studies of sexuality in various parts of the world, we will read theoretical and historical texts that have been influential in shaping the anthropological approaches to sexuality. We will also briefly address scientific theories of sexuality.

SWAG 238/ANTH 238 – Culture, Race, and Reproductive Health
Monday, Wednesday 2:30-3:50 p.m.
Haile Cole

This course concerns the reproductive health experiences, including those focused on sexuality, birth, and motherhood, of women in the United States. It explores the relationship between these experiences and the fact of having a black female body (as was first constructed under slavery). It also explores the complex relationship between women’s reproductive experiences and their contemporary racial and socioeconomic locations in American society. The aim is to garner a thorough and sophisticated understanding of why “reproductive justice” is elusive in the contemporary United States and to consider what might be done about it.

SWAG 243/AMST 240 – Rethinking Pocahantas: An Introduction to Native American Studies
Monday, Wednesday 12:30-1:50 p.m.
K. Vigil

From Longfellow's Hiawatha and D.H. Lawrence's Studies in Classic American Literature to Disney's Pocahontas and James Cameron's Avatar, representations of the indigenous as "Other" have greatly shaped cultural production in America as vehicles for defining the nation and the self. This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the broad field of Native American Studies, engaging a range of texts from law to policy to history and literature as well as music and aesthetics. Film and literary texts in particular will provide primary grounding for our inquiries. By keeping popular culture, representation, and the nature of historical narrative in mind, we will consider the often mutually constitutive relationship between American identity and Indian identity as we pose the following questions: How have imaginings of a national space and national culture by Americans been shaped by a history marked by conquest and reconciliation with indigenous peoples? And, how has the creation of a national American literary tradition often defined itself as both apart from and yet indebted to Native American cultural traditions? This course also considers how categories like race, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and religion have contributed to discussions of citizenship and identity, and changed over time with particular attention to specific Native American individuals and tribal nations. Students will be able to design their own final research project that may focus on either a historically contingent or contemporary issue related to Native American people in the United States.

SWAG 247/HST 245 – U.S. Carceral Culture
Tuesday, Thursday 2:30-3:50
Jen Manion

An overview of punishment from the Enlightenment to modern times. Topics include theories of criminality; birth of the penitentiary; growth of carceral culture; role of reform movements; relationship between slavery, abolition, and punishment; rise of criminology, eugenics, and sexology; persistence of poverty among carceral subjects; and the emergence of the contemporary prison industrial complex. Primary sources for consideration include newspaper articles, reform and abolition organizational records, official prison reports, and legal and sociological papers. Secondary readings will be primarily historical with some critical theories of difference and power including critical race theory, feminist theories of intersectionality, queer theory, and contemporary critical prison studies.

SWAG 248/BLST 282 - Black Mestizx: Gender Variance and Transgender Politics in the Borderlands
Tuesday, Thursday 2:00-3:20 p.m.
Sony Coranez Bolton

Historically speaking, discourses of mestizaje or racial mixture in Latin America, the Philippines, and the US-Mexican borderlands have implicitly or explicitly used “blackness” as a monolithic signifier connoting a perversity and backwardness to be rehabilitated by civilizational uplift. Students in this class will explore queer and trans texts that challenge this tradition and problematize the connection of the transracial to the transgender. Some of the theorists and authors we will engage include: Cathy Cohen, Fernando Ortiz, CLR James, Sylvia Wynter, Jessica Hagedorn, and Junot Díaz. While some class materials will be in English, the course will be conducted in Spanish.

SWAG 302/ENG 300 – Polemical Women of the Seventeenth Century
Tuesday, Thursday 10:00-11:20 a.m.
Amanda Henrichs

The seventeenth century was a time of rapid and profound political, religious, and social change in England. Civil wars saw the execution of a divinely-sanctioned monarch; new lands were colonized; new forms of science changed the way the universe was perceived; religious and social shifts reframed the definition of marriage. Through it all, women wrote, and they increasingly wrote for audiences outside their immediate familial circle. This course reads selections from women authors who wrote in, for, and sometimes at the public, and who attracted varying degrees of censure for doing so. We will consider the devotional writing of Aemilia Lanyer, royal poetry by Queen Elizabeth I, selections of a long prose romance (a precursor to the novel) by Mary Wroth, Lucy Hutchinson’s biography of her husband, Margaret Cavendish’s scientific writings, and collections of recipes, letters, and other household documents. Along the way we will consider questions such as: What counts as publication? Was there such a thing as gender in the seventeenth century? What were the social and political implications for women who decided to write, in public?

SWAG/AMST/SOCI 305 - Gender, Migration and Power: Latinos in the Americas
Tuesday, Thursday 10:00-11:20 a.m.
Leah Schmalzbauer

In this course we draw from sociology, anthropology, and geography to explore the gendered dynamics and experiences of Latino migration to the United States. We begin by situating gendered patterns of migration in the context of contemporary globalization and relating them to social constructions of gender. Next we look at experiences of settlement, analyzing the role of women’s and men’s networks in the process of migration, especially in terms of employment and survival strategies. We also analyze how specific contexts of reception influence the gender experience of settlement. For example, how does migration to rural areas differ from migration to traditional urban migration hubs, and how does gender influence that difference? We then look at Latino family formation, paying special attention to the experiences of transnational mothers and fathers, those who have left children behind in their home countries in the process of migration. Finally, we explore the relationship between migration and sexuality.

SWAG 310 – Witches, Vampires and Other Monsters
Tuesday, Thursday 2:30-3:50 p.m.
Natasha Staller

This course will explore the construction of the monstrous, over cultures, centuries and disciplines. With the greatest possible historical and cultural specificity, we will investigate the varied forms of monstrous creatures, their putative powers, and the explanations given for their existence-as we attempt to articulate the kindred qualities they share. Among the artists to be considered are Valdés Leal, Velázquez, Goya, Munch, Ensor, Redon, Nolde, Picasso, Dalí, Kiki Smith, and Cindy Sherman. Not open to first-year students.

SWAG 330/BLST 236 – Black Sexualities
Tuesday, Thursday 2:30-3:50 p.m.
Khary Polk

From the modern era to the contemporary moment, the intersection of race, gender, and class has been especially salient for people of African descent—for men as well as for women. How might the category of sexuality act as an additional optic through which to view and reframe contemporary and historical debates concerning the construction of black identity? In what ways have traditional understandings of masculinity and femininity contributed to an understanding of African American life and culture as invariably heterosexual? How have black lesbian, gay, and transgendered persons effected political change through their theoretical articulations of identity, difference, and power? In this interdisciplinary course, we will address these questions through an examination of the complex roles gender and sexuality play in the lives of people of African descent. Remaining attentive to the ways black people have claimed social and sexual agency in spite of systemic modes of inequality, we will engage with critical race theory, black feminist thought, queer-of-color critique, literature, art, film, “new media” and erotica, as well as scholarship from anthropology, sociology, and history.

SWAG 331/ENG 319 – The Postcolonial Novel: Gender, Race and Empire
Tuesday 1:00-3:30 p.m.
Krupa Shandilya

What is the novel? How do we know when a work of literature qualifies as a novel? In this course we will study the postcolonial novel which explodes the certainties of the European novel. Written in the aftermath of empire, these novels question race, class, gender and empire in their subject matter and narrative form. We will consider fiction from South Asia, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa. Novels include South African writer J.M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and Caribbean novelist Dionne Brand’s In Another Place, Not Here.

SWAG 342/FREN 342 – Women of Ill Repute: Prostitutes in Nineteenth-Century French Literature
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 11:00-11:50 a.m.
Laurie Katsaros

Prostitutes play a central role in nineteenth-century French fiction, especially of the realistic and naturalistic kind. Both widely available and largely visible in nineteenth-century France, prostitutes inspired many negative stereotypes. But, as the very product of the culture that marginalized her, the prostitute offered an ideal vehicle for writers to criticize the hypocrisy of bourgeois mores. The socially stratified world of prostitutes, ranging from low-ranking sex workers to high-class courtesans, presents a fascinating microcosm of French society as a whole. We will read selections from Honoré de Balzac, Splendeur et misère des courtisanes; Victor Hugo, Les Misérables; and Gustave Flaubert, L’éducation sentimentale; as well as Boule-de-Suif and other stories by Guy de Maupassant; La fille Elisa by Edmond de Goncourt; Nana by Emile Zola; Marthe by Joris-Karl Huysmans; La dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils; and extracts from Du côté de chez Swann by Marcel Proust. Additional readings will be drawn from the fields of history (Alain Corbin, Michelle Perrot) and critical theory (Walter Benjamin, Michel Foucault, Julia Kristeva). We will also discuss visual representations of prostitutes in nineteenth-century French art (Gavarni, Daumier, C. Guys, Degas, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec). Conducted in French.

SWAG 344 – Gender and Technology
Wednesday, Friday 2:30-3:50 p.m.
Lisa Cornfeld

This course investigates key issues in feminist approaches to technology. Throughout the semester, we will examine the role of technology in structuring social relations as well as the social and cultural dimensions of technology’s development. Central themes will include the relationship between technology and domesticity, with emphasis on family life and household labor; technology and industry, with attention to gendered and racialized workforces; and technology and embodiment, including the role that technology plays in sexuality and in trans and disability ontologies. Our objects of study will include both today’s emerging technologies and historical technological innovations, as we ask after the social implications of technology’s emergence in diverse cultural contexts. With guidance from our course material, each student will engage in a research project focused on a technology of their choosing, culminating in a term paper that analyzes social forces that shape the production of technology and its cultural connotations.

SWAG 347/BLST 347 – Race, Sex and Gender in the U.S. Military
Tuesday, Thursday 10:00-11:20 a.m.
Khary Polk

From the aftermath of the Civil War to today's "global war on terror," the U.S. military has functioned as a vital arbiter of the overlapping taxonomies of race, gender, and sexuality in America and around the world. This course examines the global trek of American militarism through times of war and peace in the twentieth century. In a variety of texts and contexts, we will investigate how the U.S. military's production of new ideas about race and racialization, masculinity and femininity, and sexuality and citizenship impacted the lives of soldiers and civilians, men and women, at "home" and abroad. Our interdisciplinary focus will allow us to study the multiple intersections of difference within the military, enabling us to address a number of topics, including: How have African American soldiers functioned as both subjects and agents of American militarism? What role has the U.S. military played in the creation of contemporary gay and lesbian subjectivity? Is military sexual assault a contemporary phenomenon or can it be traced to longer practices of sexual exploitation occurring on or around U.S. bases globally?

SWAG 410 - Epidemics and Society
Wednesday 2:00-4:30 p.m.
Sahar Sadjadi

This seminar explores the gender dimension of the HIV epidemic in the U.S. and globally, and the role of socio-economic, political and biological factors in the shaping of the epidemic. This course encourages students to think about AIDS and other diseases politically, while remaining attentive to their bodily and social effects. We will engage with AIDS on various scales, from the virus and T cells to the transnational pharmaceutical industry, and from intimate sexual relations to the political economies of health care. We will consider the processes by which some groups of people become more vulnerable to the epidemic than others and we will read about the power dynamics involved in negotiations over condom use. Global processes that guide our investigation include the feminization of poverty, the neoliberal economic restructuring of health systems and the politics of scientific and medical research on AIDS. In addition, the course examines the role of social movements in responding to the epidemic.

AMST 265/SOCI 265 – Unequal Childhoods: Race, Class and Gender in the United States
Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:20 p.m.
Leah Schmalzbauer

This class explores the ways in which race, class, gender and immigration status shape children’s lives. We begin by conceptualizing childhood as a social construct whose meaning has changed over time and that varies across context; for class privileged individuals, for example, childhood or adolescence may extend into the third decade of life, whereas for “others,” poverty and/or family responsibilities and community struggles may mean it scarcely exists at all. The bulk of the course draws from ethnographic scholarship focused on the relationship between childhood and inequality in key institutional contexts including school, family and the legal system. Through ethnography, we will critically examine the ways in which inequalities among and between groups of children shape their daily life experiences, aspirations and opportunities, and what this means for overall trends of inequality in the United States.

SWAG 433 - Queer and Trans Child
Thursday 1:00-3:30 p.m.
Vooris

Sexuality and gender identity have until recently been considered adult identities; even in the late twentieth century, the concept of the "gay child" was largely a creation of gay adults reflecting back on their childhood. This seminar explores children's gender and sexuality, focusing in particular on the lives of transgender, gender-creative, gender non-conforming, gay and queer children who are under twelve years old. We will explore the ways that our society thinks about children’s autonomy, place within familial structures, and relationships to adults. Most important, we will listen to the voices of children and consider their own perspectives on matters of identity, expression and desire. Students will complete a semester research paper on a topic of their choice that relates to children’s gender and sexuality.

SWAG 440/MUSI 440 – Race, Gender and Sexuality in American Popular Music
Monday, Wednesday 2:30-3:50 p.m.
Amy Coddington

How do popular musicians express their identity through their music? And how do listeners explore their own identities by consuming and interacting with this music? This course explores how American popular music of the last sixty years has expressed the race, gender, and sexual identities of its performers and consumers, and how the music industry has affected the production and meaning of popular music from the 1950s into the present, through rock and roll, soul, country, hip hop, and more. Combining historical and cultural inquiries with the analysis of recorded music, students in this course will examine how popular musicians sound their identity while simultaneously resisting essentialism, analyze how musical sounds are shaped by the gender politics of their specific cultural context, and evaluate how the music industry encourages and challenges racial inequality. Seminar work will culminate in a creative research project designed in consultation with the professor.

CS 278 – Sex on the Brain: Gender, Sex, and Neuroscience
Tuesday, Thursday 9:00-10:20 a.m.
Jane Couperus

This course is designed to examine sex, gender, and sexuality in multiple contexts. The course will examine how biological and environmental factors influence sex gender and sexuality across development and how these factors influence differences in brain and behavior. Course requirements will include reading primary research articles in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, and gender studies. Students will also be asked to conduct library research, present readings in class, write several short response and review papers and write a longer research paper. Students are not required to have a scientific background but they are asked to be open to reading and evaluating scientific research.

CSI 182 – Introduction to Queer Studies
Monday, Wednesday 10:30-11:50 a.m.
Stephen Dillon

Introduction to Queer Studies explores the emergence and development of the field of queer studies since the 1990s. Together, we will examine the relationship between queer studies and fields like postcolonial studies, feminist studies, transgender studies, disability studies, and critical race studies. Students will come away with a broad understanding of the field, particularly foundational debates, key words, theories, and concepts. The course begins by examining the ways queerness has been defined and theorized and then explores the ways artists, scholars, and activists have engaged the queer politics of topics like: the racial state; science and medicine; the U.S. Mexico-Border; slavery and colonialism; sex and love. The course also focuses on critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. Students will have a broad understanding of Queer studies while also working to reimagine its history and future.

CSI 211 – The Black Feminist Archive
Monday 4:00-7:00 p.m.
Tammy Owens

The hashtags #sayhername #blackgirlmagic #blackjoy #blacklivesmatter #intersectionalfeminist and others are rooted in a long history of Black Feminist consciousness in the U.S. While these hashtags have made feminism more accessible to people across multiple lines of difference, they have also silenced a rich genealogy of black women and black queer intellectuals, educators, and activists who created the original theories long before the hashtag was created. Thus, the creators are not cited for their work and originality, but rather relegated to the dark corners of history. In this course, students will follow the hashtag offline to recover its intellectual roots. Analyzing films, archives, texts, and social media, students will examine key issues and scholarly interventions in Black Feminist Thought from the nineteenth century to our contemporary moment. Throughout the course, students will create a web-based hashtag archive that links some of the most popular hashtags to Black Feminist thinkers.

CSI 228 – African American Labor Movement of Twentieth Century
Monday, Wednesday 4:00-5:20 p.m.
Amy Jordan
Component

This course will focus on the emergence of African American Working-Class Movements in the late 19th and 20th Centuries. We will explore multiple dimensions of working class lives, including social and cultural practices, work and communal cultures as well as the broad range of organizing campaigns in service, industrial and agricultural work. We will examine activism in both rural and urban sites. The readings will provide critical perspectives on how class, educational status, and gender shaped the formation, goals, leadership styles and strategies of various movements. Some of the movements include the late nineteenth century washerwomen strike in Atlanta, the Sharecroppers Union in Alabama, the cross-regional efforts of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and the League of Revolutionary Workers in Detroit. By extending our exploration over the course of the twentieth century, we explore organizing traditions in depth and consider their long-term impact on African-American political activism and community life.

CSI 256 – Creating Families
Tuesday, Thursday 12:30-1:50 p.m.
Marlene Fried/Pamela Stone

This course will investigate the roles of law, culture and technology in creating and re-defining families. We will focus on the ways in which systems of reproduction reinforce and/or challenge inequalities of class, race and gender. We will examine the issues of entitlement to parenthood, domestic and international adoption, surrogacy, birthing and parenting for people in prison, and the uses, consequences and ethics of new reproductive technologies designed to help people give birth to biologically-related children. Questions to be addressed include: How does a person's status affect their relation to reproductive alternatives? What is the relationship between state reproductive policies and actual practices, legal, contested, and clandestine, that develop around these policies? How are notions of family and parenting enacted and transformed in an arena that is transnational, interracial, intercultural, and cross-class?

CSI 260 – Black Women Artists, Black Movements, & Black Cool
Wednesday 5:30-8:30 p.m.
TBA

There is a rich history of African American women creating art in all its many forms in American cultural history. They have created music, fine and popular art, dance, and fashion that has left an indelible imprint on American culture. This course will explore iconic Black women artists and performers during the twentieth century and their impact on American culture. We will specifically look at the construction of "Black cool" and consider the influence that black women artists have had on this concept in the US and globally. This class will also provide an overview of social and political movements they were often involved in and resistance waged by them. It is an interdisciplinary course and will rely on both historical and cultural narratives as well as key theoretical lens.

CSI 265 – Histories and Theories of Racial Capitalism
Friday 1:00-3:50 p.m.
Stephen Dillon

This course examines historical and theoretical scholarship capitalism. Focusing on the United States, the course explores research areas such as slavery, settler-colonialism, immigration and migration, the war on terror, economics, and the law. At the same time, we will also explore the relationship between gender, sexuality, and racial capitalism examining feminist, queer, and trans understandings of the foundational relationship between capitalism and race.

CSI 274/HACU 274 – Cuba: Nation, Race, and Revolution
Tuesday, Thursday 2:00-3:20
Tuesday Lab, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Michelle Hardesty/Flavio Risech-Ozeguera
Component

This interdisciplinary course critically engages a range of frameworks (geopolitical, historical, literary) for a study of the complex and contested reality of Cuba. We will critique and decenter the stereotypical images of Cuba that circulate in US popular and official culture, and we will examine the constructions of race, gender, and sexuality that have defined the Cuban nation. We will also explore how Cuba should be understood in relation to the U.S., to its diaspora in Miami, and elsewhere. Students will write frequent short response essays and undertake a 12-15-page independent research paper that will include a proposal, draft, and revision. This course is open to all, though it is best suited to students beyond their first semester of study. The class will be conducted in English, with many readings available in Spanish and English. Papers may be submitted in either language. For students wishing to apply for the Hampshire in Havana spring semester program, this course will offer critical foundational knowledge and application support. (Concurrent enrollment in a Spanish language class is strongly recommended for non-fluent speakers considering the Hampshire in Havana program.)

CSI 279 – Feminist, Queer, and Trans Theories of Race
Tuesday, Thursday 12:30-1:50 p.m.
Stephen Dillon

This course examines how scholars in feminist, queer, and transgender studies theorize the politics of race, racialization, and white supremacy. Focusing primarily on the racial state in the United States, we will examine the ways race, gender, and sexuality emerged out of colonization, enslavement, incarceration, immigration, science, and the law. Students are expected to have some familiarity with theories and histories of race, gender, and sexuality. Students should also be prepared to engage a variety of written texts ranging from poetry and memoir to dense, difficult theoretical essays.

CSI 326 – Feminism’s Sciences
Tuesday 12:30-3:20 p.m.
Angela Willey

For decades now feminists have insisted on the importance of thinking about science, nature, and embodiment to understanding the worlds in which we live and to imagine other worlds. I use "feminism's sciences" here to refer to the sciences feminists have critiqued, revised, reinterpreted, and reclaimed as well as to those feminist knowledge-making projects that have been excluded from the definition of science. The class will draw the parameters of feminist sciences wide here to include epistemological, methodological, conceptual, metaphysical, and other critical-creative insights of a wide range of feminist theories and projects. We will read about feminist concerns with knowledge, power, and embodiments to explore possibilities for a contemporary queer feminist materialist science studies. This class will be reading and research intensive. We will explore rich debates in feminist theories of science and materiality over the last several decades and today.

HACU 163 – What is African American Literature
Monday, Wednesday 2:30-3:50
Doctor Bynum
component

We will examine the very meaning of African-American literature by reading a variety of major (and not so major) writers from the revolutionary era to the present. We will explore the idea of the African-American experience(s) of citizenship, race, sexuality, gender, class, and privilege. Instead of focusing upon the ways in which this literature emerges within history, we will address (across time) the various ways in which writers, orators, poets, rappers, and authors tackle these themes within literary forms: fiction, creative non-fiction, autobiography, poems, songs, etc. We will examine the following questions: What is citizenship? What does it mean to belong to a country? How do we (as individuals and members of diverse communities) experience race? Who/what determines the meaning of race? How do we (as individuals and members of diverse communities) shape our relationship to race (our race and those of others)? How does race shape our individual and communal relationship to place, gender, and ideas of sexuality? Readings and texts (printed and visual) may include works by: Phillis Wheatley, Douglass, Marrant, Hurston, Cooper, Walker.

HACU 277 – Theories and Methods in Film Studies
Monday, Wednesday 1:00-2:20
Screenings, Thursday 7:00-9:00
Lise Sanders

In her seminal essay "Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess," Linda Williams observed, "The repetitive formulas and spectacles of film genres are often defined by their differences from the classical realist style of narrative cinema." In this course, we will use the relationship between gender and genre as a lens through which to view these differences in American and global cinema of the 1950s and 1960s as we trace the evolution of film theory since the 1970s. Readings will draw on foundational texts in psychoanalysis, feminist and queer theory, postcolonial theory, and other trends in film criticism, accompanied by weekly screenings. This course is designed to meet the needs of students pursuing Division II concentrations in film and media studies and related fields, and will meet the film theory requirement for the Five College Major in Film Studies.

HACU 279 - #HipHop to @BarackObama: 21st Century African American Literature
Monday 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Doctor Bynum
Component

What makes literature literary and hip hop music? What do these two have in common? We will examine the very meaning of African-American literature by reading and listening to contemporary writers. We will explore national experiences of race and African-American experience(s) of race, sexuality, gender, class, and privilege right now. Instead of focusing solely upon the ways in which this literature emerges within a book-based history, we will address (across time) the various ways in which poets, rappers, authors tackle these themes within literary forms: fiction, creative non-fiction, autobiography, poems, songs, etc. Writers, musicians, and rappers may include: Jesmyn Ward, Jay-Z, Migos, Kiese Laymon, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Chimamanda Adichie.

~~IA 286 – Lucille Clifton: Poet and Witness~~
~~Wednesday 6:00-9:00 p.m.~~
~~John Murillo~~
~~Component~~

When Lucille Clifton passed away in February 2010, American poetry lost one of its brightest and most consistent lights. The author of thirteen poetry collections, as well as many volumes of children's literature, Ms. Clifton was that rare poet whose work could reach into lecture hall, prison dayroom, coffee shop, or community center, and touch anyone who was ready to be annealed. In art and in life, she has inspired legions of writers and readers and continues to give us much to consider. This semester, an in depth study of Clifton's body of work will provide us ample opportunity to explore the myriad possibilities of the short, plainspoken lyric, as well as such themes as race and gender politics, canon formation, and disenfranchisement in 20th and 21st century America. Required text: The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton: 1965-2010 (BOA Ltd.)

GNDST 204CW/ASIAN 215/THEAT 235CW – Androgyny and Gender Negotiation in Contemporary Chinese Theater
Wednesday 1:30-4:20 p.m.
Y. Wang

Yue Opera, an all-female art that flourished in Shanghai in 1923, resulted from China's social changes and the women's movement. Combining traditional with modern forms and Chinese with Western cultures, Yue Opera today attracts loyal and enthusiastic audiences despite pop arts crazes. We will focus on how audiences, particularly women, are fascinated by gender renegotiations as well as by the all-female cast. The class will read and watch classics of this theater, including Romance of the Western Bower, Peony Pavilion, and Butterfly Lovers. Students will also learn the basics of traditional Chinese opera.

GNDST 204RP/LATST 250RP – Race, Racism, and Power

Wednesday 9:30-10:45 a.m.

Vanessa Rosa

This course analyzes the concepts of race and racism from an interdisciplinary perspective, with focus on Latinas/os/x in the United States. It explores the sociocultural, political, economic, and historical forces that interact with each other in the production of racial categories and racial "difference." In particular, we focus on racial ideologies, racial formation theory, and processes of racialization, as well as the relationship between race and ethnicity. The course examines racial inequality from a historical perspective and investigates how racial categories evolve and form across contexts. The analysis that develops will ultimately allow us to think rigorously about social inequality, resistance and liberation.

GNDST 210JD/JWST 234/RELIG 234 – Women and Gender in Judaism

Friday 9:30-10:45 a.m.

M. Benjamin

This course examines gender as a key category in Jewish thought and practice. We will examine different theoretical models of gender, concepts of gender in a range of Jewish sources, and feminist Jewish responses to those sources.

GNDST 212HS/Psych 217 – Psychology of Human Sexuality

Thursday 1:30-2:45 p.m.

C. Flanders

This course is an introduction to the psychological study of human sexuality. We will take a psychobiosocial perspective in this course, covering topics such as reproductive anatomy and physiology, sexual response, sexually transmitted infections, contraceptive choices, pregnancy and birth, attraction and dating, love, sexual and relational communication, and consent. The goals of the course are to have students develop a strong understanding of human sexual biology, identity, behavior, and health, to understand how each of these areas is impacted by social context, and to engage with current research in the field.

GNDST 221QF – Feminist and Queer Theory

Thursday 2:55-4:10 p.m.

C. Gundermann

We will read a number of key feminist texts that theorize sexual difference, and challenge the oppression of women. We will then address queer theory, an offshoot and expansion of feminist theory, and study how it is both embedded in, and redefines, the feminist paradigms. This redefinition occurs roughly at the same time (1980s/90s) when race emerges as one of feminism's prominent blind spots. The postcolonial critique of feminism is a fourth vector we will examine, as well as anti-racist and postcolonial intersections with queerness. We will also study trans-theory and its challenge to the queer paradigm

GDNST 241HP/ANTHR 216HP – Feminist Health Politics

Thursday 1:30-2:45 p.m.

Jacquelyne Luce

Health is about bodies, selves and politics. We will explore a series of health topics from feminist perspectives. How do gender, sexuality, class, disability, and age influence the ways in which one perceives and experiences health and the access one has to health information and health care? Are heteronormativity, cissexism, or one's place of living related to one's health status or one's health risk? By paying close attention to the relationships between community-based narratives, activities of health networks and organizations and theory, we will develop a solid understanding of the historical, political and cultural specificities of health issues, practices, services and movements.

GNDST 333AD/CST 349AD – Abolitionist Dreams/Resistance

Wednesday 1:30-4:20 p.m.

M. Romero-Diaz

This seminar will offer close theoretical readings of a variety of anti-colonial, abolitionist, anti-imperialist, insurgent and feminist-of-color memoir, autobiographical and social justice texts. We will read works from Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Assata Shakur, Patrisse Cullors, Grace Lee Boggs, Audre Lorde, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarsinna, Leila Khaled, Fannie Lou Hamer, Sarah Ahmed, Lee Maracle, Kai Cheng Thom, Angela Davis, Sojourner Truth, adrienne maree brown, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Mary Brave Bird, Jamaica Kincaid, Gabby Rivera and Haunani-Kay Trask. We will center the interlinking and capacious concepts of liberation, revolution, freedom, justice and decolonization.

GNDST 333EG/ANTHR 316EG – Reproductive and Genetic Technology

Friday 1:30-4:20 p.m.

Jacquelyne Luce

This seminar will focus on emerging innovations in the development, use and governance of reproductive and genetic technologies (RGTs). How do novel developments at the interface of fertility treatment and biomedical research raise both new and enduring questions about the'naturalness' of procreation, the politics of queer families, the im/possibilities of disabilities, and transnational citizenship? Who has a say in what can be done and for which purposes? We will engage with ethnographic texts,documentaries, policy statements, citizen science activist projects, and social media in order to closely explore the diversity of perspectives in this field.

GNDST 333SS/ENGL 323 – Gender and Class/Victorian Novel

Thursday 1:30-2:45 p.m.

Anthony Martin

This course will investigate how representations of gender and class serve as a structuring principle in the development of the genre of the Victorian novel in Britain. We will devote significant attention to the construction of Victorian femininity and masculinity in relation to class identity, marriage as a sexual contract, and the gendering of labor. The texts chosen for this course also reveal how gender and class are constructed in relation to other axes of identity in the period, such as race, sexuality, and national character. Novelists will include Dickens, Eliot, Gaskell, C. Bronte, and Hardy. Supplementary readings in literary criticism and theory.

GNDST 333UU/LATST 360/CST 349UU – Latina/o Immigration
Thursday 1:30-2:45 p.m.
D. Hernandez

The course provides an historical and topical overview of Latina/o migration to the United States. We will examine the economic, political, and social antecedents to Latin American migration, and the historical impact of the migration process in the U.S. Considering migration from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, we will discuss the social construction of race, the gendered nature of migration, migrant labor struggles, Latin American-U.S. Latino relations, immigration policy, and border life and enforcement. Notions of citizenship, race, class, gender, and sexuality will be central to our understanding of the complexity at work in the migration process.

SWG 200 – The Queer ’90s
Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:50 p.m.
Jennifer M. DeClue

In this course we will immerse ourselves in the 1990s, looking specifically at the emergences and points of contention that made the ‘90s a queer, radical, deeply contested decade. The Queer 90s examines the moment in lesbian and gay studies when the recuperation of the term “queer” emerged. By engaging with the readings and films assigned in this course students will gain an understanding of the AIDS crisis and the rage that mobilized ACT UP. Students will learn what the Culture Wars, Welfare Reform, and the conservative attacks against the National Endowment for the Arts have to do with one another. In order to grasp the charged feeling, the urgency, the upheaval of this era we will read foundational queer theoretical texts and analyze a selection of films from the movement known as New Queer Cinema.

SWG 222 – Gender, Law and Policy
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 11:00-12:10 p.m.
Carrie N. Baker

This course explores the impact of gender on law and policy in the United States historically and today, focusing in the areas of constitutional equality, employment, education, reproduction, the family, violence against women, and immigration. We study constitutional and statutory law as well as public policy. Some of the topics we will cover are sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination, pregnancy/caregiver discrimination, pay equity, sexual harassment, school athletics, marriage, sterilization, contraception and abortion, reproductive technologies, sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and gender-based asylum. We will study feminist efforts to reform the law and examine how inequalities based on gender, race, class and sexuality shape the law. We also discuss and debate contemporary policy and future directions.

SWG 227 – Feminist & Queer Disability
Monday, Wednesday 1:10-2:30 p.m.
Jina Boyong Kim

In the essay “A Burst of Light: Living with Cancer,” writer-activist Audre Lorde forges pioneering connections between the work of social justice and the environmental, gendered, and healthcare inequities that circumscribe black and brown lives. Following Lorde’s intervention, this course examines contemporary feminist/ queer expressive culture, writing, and theory that centrally engages the category of dis/ability. It will familiarize students with feminist and queer scholarship that resists the medical pathologization of embodied difference; foreground dis/ ability’s intersections with questions of race, class, and nation; and ask what political and social liberation might look like when able-bodiedness is no longer privileged.

SWG 234 – Feminist Science Studies: Postcolonial, Posthuman, Queer
Monday 1:10-4:00 p.m.
Angela Willey

Feminist science studies is a rich and diverse interdisciplinary field with genealogies in science practice, history, social sciences, and philosophy. Science studies has been a vital resource to feminist, queer, critical race, post- colonial, and disability theory and has also been profoundly shaped and extended by work in these fields. This class introduces core epistemological interventions and innovations in feminist and postcolonial science studies in order to frame readings of exciting new and classics works in the field. In particular we will explore themes of post/colonialism, posthumanism, and the queer.

SWG 250 – Methodologies of Gender Studies
Wednesday, Friday 9:00-10:20 a.m.
Elisabeth Brownell Armstrong

This course introduces students to the theory and practice of research in gender, queer, and women's studies. The course begins with an introduction to key terms and debates in the field about how knowledge is produced. We focus particularly on how the power relations of gender combine with related relations of inequality/domination/oppression, such as race, class, sexuality, religion and nation. We then examine the distinguishing qualities of feminist methodologies in the social sciences, arts, humanities and sciences. The course gives particular attention to the interdisciplinary focus of feminist research and future directions of feminist methods.

SWG 318 – Women Against Empire

Thursday 3:00-4:50 p.m.

Elisabeth Brownell Armstrong

Anti-imperialist movements across the globe in the 20th century carried with them multiple projects for the liberation and equality of people. These movements sought to build sovereign nations independent of colonial power and to develop radically new social orders. For women in these movements, the problem of empire had complex regional and local inflections that began with the politics of reproduction.

SWG 333 – Sexual Harassment and Social Change

Tuesday 1:00-4:00 p.m.

Carrie N. Baker

This course is an interdisciplinary examination of sexual harassment and assault historically and today in a variety of locations, including the workplace, schools, the home, the military, and on the street. We will explore the emergence and evolution of social movements against sexual harassment and assault, and how these movements advanced law and public policy on these issues in the United States. A central focus will be on how relations of power based on gender, race, class, sexuality, age, disability, and nationality shape people’s experiences of sexual harassment and assault and their responses to it.

AFR 249 – Black Women Writers

Monday, Wednesday 1:10-2:30 p.m.

Daphne M. Lamothe

How does gender matter in a black context? That is the question we will ask and attempt to answer through an examination of works by such authors as Harriet Jacobs, Frances Harper, Nella Larsen, Zora Hurston, Toni Morrison, Ntozake Shange and Alice Walker.

AFR 360/ENG 323 – Toni Morrison

Tuesday 3:00-4:50 p.m.

Flavia Santos De Araujo

This seminar focuses on Toni Morrison’s literary production. In reading her novels, essays, lectures and interviews, we pay particular attention to three things: her interest in the epic anxieties of American identities; her interest in form, language, and theory; and her study of love.

AMS 240 – Introduction to Disability Studies

Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:50 a.m.

Sarah Orem

Component

This course serves as an introductory exploration of the field of disability studies. It asks: how do we define disability? Who is disabled? And what resources do we need to properly study disability? Together, students investigate: trends in disability activism, histories of medicine and science, conceptions of “normal” embodiment, the utility of terms like “crip” or "disabled” and the representation of disability in culture.

AMS 351 – Writing Women

Thursday 1:00-2:50 p.m.

Susan C. Faludi

Women have historically exerted their voice and power through writing, even as the professional writing trades of journalism and publishing have historically been unwelcoming of their presence. This class examines reporting and writing by and about women, and engages students in the practice of writing about gender, feminism, and women's lives. This is a workshop class where students produce their own research and reported magazine-style writing, while simultaneously inspecting how the media represents women's issues and learning the history of women writers in American journalism. As we examine these works, we grapple with questions of interviewing, structure, ethics, fair representation and more. This critical approach informs the course's workshop component, in which students compose and revise their own stories, receiving feedback from peers as well as the instructor.

~~ANT 267 – Contemporary South Asia~~

~~Monday, Wednesday 2:40-4:00 p.m.~~

~~Pinky Hota~~

~~Component~~

This course introduces students to the culture, politics and everyday life of South Asia. Topics covered include religion, community, nation, caste, gender and development, as well as some of the key conceptual problems in the study of South Asia, such as the colonial construction of social scientific knowledge, and debates over “tradition” and “modernity.” In this way, we address both the varieties in lived experience in the subcontinent and the key scholarly, popular and political debates that have constituted the terms through which we understand South Asian culture. Along with ethnographies, we study and discuss novels, historical analysis, primary historical texts and popular (Bollywood) and documentary film.

CLT 239/ EAL 239 – Intimacy in Contemporary Chinese Women’s Fiction

Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:50 a.m.

TBD

How do stories about love, romance and desire (including extramarital affairs, serial relationships and love between women) challenge our assumptions about identity? How do pursuits, successes and failures of intimacy lead to personal and social change? An exploration of major themes through close readings of contemporary fiction by women from China, Taiwan and Chinese diasporas. Readings are in English translation and no background in China or Chinese is required.

EAL 242 – Modern Japanese Literature

Monday, Wednesday 2:40-4:00 p.m.

Kimberly Kono

Component

A survey of Japanese literature from the late 19th century to the present. Over the last century and a half, Japan has undergone tremendous change: rapid industrialization, imperial and colonial expansion, occupation following its defeat in the Pacific War, and emergence as a global economic power. The literature of modern Japan reflects the complex aesthetic, cultural and political effects of such changes. Through our discussions of these texts, we also address theoretical questions about such concepts as identity, gender, race, sexuality, nation, class, colonialism, modernism and translation. All readings are in English translation.

EAL 261 - Gender and Sexuality in Late Imperial Chinese Literature

Monday, Wednesday 2:40-4:00 p.m.

Lingqian Kong

This class will examine Chinese literary traditions in various different genres such as fiction, poetry and drama from the 16th through the 18th centuries from perspectives of gender and sexuality. Through the class, you will learn to examine Chinese literary tradition from the perspective of gender, discussing the gendering of new modes of expression in de/constructing men and women as social categories over the long course of Chinese literary history. We will pay special attention to how women were represented in classical literature, primarily poetry and fiction, both through their own writing and in the writing of men.

ENG 223 – Contemporary American Gothic Literature

Tuesday, Thursday 3:00-4:20 p.m.

Andrea Stephanie Stone

Component

This course traces the emergence of a 21st-century gothic tradition in American writing through texts including novels, films and television shows. We analyze the shifting definitions and cultural work of the Gothic in contemporary American literature in the context of political and cultural events and movements and their relation to such concerns as race, gender, class, sexuality and disability. From the New Mexican desert to the rural south, from New York City, San Francisco and the suburbs of Atlanta to cyberspace, these literary encounters explore an expanse of physical, psychological, intellectual and imagined territory.

ENG 224 – Frankenstein: The Making of a Monster

Tuesday 3:00-4:20 p.m., Thursday 3:00-4:20 p.m. (Amherst)

Lily Gurton-Wachter

Component

At the age of 19, Mary Shelley began writing the first science fiction novel. Frankenstein not only describes fears about monstrosity and accelerating technology; it also sets the stage for continuing discussions about gender, reproduction, race, ethics, and disability. To celebrate this groundbreaking novel’s 200th anniversary, this co-taught class will explore the making of the text, alongside its monstrous legacy in contemporary culture. We will look at the novel’s influences and afterlives – from the Frankenstein collection in Smith’s rare book room to a range of films, electronic novels, and comics that reveal the enduring role of gothic monstrosity today. Meets on alternating days at Smith and Amherst College.

ESS 240 – Exercise and Sport for Social Change

Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:50 a.m.

Erica S. Tibbetts

Component

This class is designed for students who wish to understand more about the role sport and exercise can play in relation to social justice and civil rights movements, the way that current inequities influence who is able to participate in various types of sport/exercise, and methods for addressing these inequalities and injustices. Students will have the chance to learn about social justice and social change as they relate to the following topics: athlete activism, coaching, administration, participation, fairness, and non-profit community based and governmental level interventions.

FRN 320 – Women Defamed, Women Defended

Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:50 a.m.

Eglal Doss-Quinby

What genres did women practice in the Middle Ages and in what way did they transform those genres for their own purposes? What access did women have to education and to the works of other writers, male and female? To what extent did women writers question the traditional gender roles of their society? How did they represent female characters in their works and what do their statements about authorship reveal about their understanding of themselves as writing women? What do we make of anonymous works written in the feminine voice? Readings include the love letters of Héloïse, the lais and fables of Marie de France, the songs of the trobairitz and women trouvères, and the writings of Christine de Pizan.

GOV 224 – Globalization from an Islamic Perspective

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:00-10:50 a.m.

Bozena C. Welborne

Component

This course introduces students to the diversity of political and economic challenges and opportunities facing the Muslim world in a globalizing context. We cover a range of contemporary topics from the legacies of colonialism, evolving human security issues, and the emergence of Islamist politics to the popularity of Islamic banking and commerce, as well as changing gender roles.

GOV 367 – Politics, Wealth & Inequality

Monday, Wednesday 2:40-4:00 p.m.

Gary L. Lehring

Component

Since Plato and Aristotle, wealth inequality has been the subject of political interrogation. In the last 50 years, most economic benefits have gone to the top 1 percent of the population; corporations and the very rich have paid lower taxes and corporations have received more corporate support from government while federal, state and local budgets for social welfare programs have been cut and working people's salaries have fallen. This course examines and compares what contemporary political theorists and mainstream authors have to say about the connection between wealth, inequality and the health of a political system.

HST 253 – Women and Gender in Contemporary Europe

Tuesday, Thursday 3:00-4:20 p.m.

Darcy C. Buerkle

Women’s experience and constructions of gender in the commonly recognized major events of the 20th century. Introduction to major thinkers of the period through primary sources, documents and novels, as well as to the most significant categories in the growing secondary literature in 20th-century European history of women and gender.

HST 259 – Femininities, Masculinities and Sexualities in Africa

Monday, Wednesday 2:40-4:00 p.m.

Jeffrey S. Ahlman

This course examines the political, social and economic role of women, gender, and sexuality in African history, while paying particular attention to the ways in which a wide variety of Africans engaged, understood, and negotiated the multiple meanings of femininity, masculinity, and sexuality in the changing political and social landscapes associated with life in Africa. Key issues addressed in the course include marriage and respectability, colonial domesticity regimes, sex, and religion. Additionally, students interrogate the diversity of methodological techniques scholars have employed in their attempts to write African gender history.

HST 263 – Women and Gender in Latin America

Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:50 a.m.

Diana Sierra Becera

This course will use gender as an analytical lens to understand key themes and periods of Latin American history, from the pre-Columbian era to present-day neoliberalism. Drawing from a variety of methodological approaches, the course will illuminate how gender has shaped social relationships, institutions, identities, and discourses in the region. It will prioritize the role of women and how their individual and collective actions have impacted Latin America. Special attention will be paid to the racial and class differences among women, and their social movement participation.

HST 265 – Citizenship in the United States, 1776 – 1861

Tuesday, Thursday 9:00-10:20 a.m.

Holger Droessler

Component

Analysis of the historical realities, social movements, cultural expression and political debates that shaped U.S. citizenship from the Declaration of Independence to the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. From the hope of liberty and equality to the exclusion of marginalized groups that made whiteness, maleness and native birth synonymous with Americanness. How African Americans, Native Americans, immigrants and women harnessed the Declaration of Independence and its ideology to define themselves as citizens of the United States.

HST 267 – United States Since 1877

Monday, Wednesday 9:00-10:20 a.m.

Holger Droessler

Component

Survey of the major economic, political and social changes of this period, primarily through the lens of race, class and gender, to understand the role of ordinary people in shaping defining events, including industrial capitalism, colonialism, imperialism, mass immigration and migration, urbanization, the rise of mass culture, nationalism, war, feminism, labor radicalism, civil rights and other liberatory movements for social justice.

HST 355 – Women and WWI: The Smith Relief Unit

Tuesday 1:00-4:00 p.m.

Jennifer L. Hall-Witt

How did women imagine their place in a war defined as quintessentially masculine? That is a central question in this seminar, which surveys women’s varied contributions to the war effort. Then students undertake archival research in the papers of the Smith College Relief Unit (SCRU), a unit comprised of Smith alumnae who led reconstruction efforts in one of the regions of France most devastated by the war. By studying the letters these women wrote home, and other archival sources, students undertake a research project using the SCRU papers to address broader questions engaging women’s complex relationships with the war.

IDP 320 – Women’s Health in India, Including Tibetans Living in Exile

Tuesday 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Leslie Richard Jaffe

This seminar examines women’s health and cultural issues within India, with a focus on Tibetan refugees, and then applies the knowledge experientially. During interterm, the students travel to India, visit NGOs involved with Indian women’s health, and deliver workshops on reproductive health topics to students living at the Central University of Tibetan Studies in Sarnath.

PSY 265 – Political Psychology

Monday, Wednesday 1:10-2:30 p.m.

Lauren E. Duncan

Component

This colloquium is concerned with the psychological processes underlying political phenomena. The course is divided into three sections: Leaders, Followers and Social Movements. In each of these sections, we examine how psychological factors influence political behavior, and how political acts affect individual psychology.

PSY 266 – Psychology of Women and Gender

Monday, Wednesday 1:10-2:30 p.m. / BASS 002

Randi Garcia

An in-depth examination of controversial issues of concern to the study of the psychology of women and gender. Students are introduced to current psychological theory and empirical research relating to the existence, origins and implications of behavioral similarities and differences associated with gender. We examine the development of gender roles and stereotypes, power within the family, workplace and politics, and women’s mental health and sexuality, paying attention to social context, and intersectional identities.

SOC 214 – Sociology of Hispanic Caribbean Communities in the United States

Monday, Wednesday 2:40-4:00 p.m.

Ginetta E. B. Candelario

This community-based learning course surveys social science research, literary texts and film media on Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. Historic and contemporary causes and contexts of (im)migration, settlement patterns, labor market experiences, demographic profiles, identity formations and cultural expressions are considered. Special attention is paid to both inter- and intra-group diversity, particularly along the lines of race, gender, sexuality and class. Students are required to dedicate four (4) hours per week to a local community-based organization. In addition, students are required to enroll in SOC309 (Thursdays 7 to 9:30).

SOC 229 – Sex and Gender in American Society

Tuesday, Thursday 9:00-10:20 a.m.

William Cory Albertson

An examination of the ways in which the social system creates, maintains and reproduces gender dichotomies with specific attention to the significance of gender in interaction, culture and a number of institutional contexts, including work, politics, families and sexuality.

~~SOC 239 – How Power Works~~

~~Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:50 a.m.~~

~~Marc William Steinberg~~

~~Component~~

This course focuses on a series of perspectives that examine the workings of power. These include Bourdieu, critical race, feminist, Foucault, Marxist, and post-structuralist and queer theories. The course spans the very micro-bases of social life, starting with the body, to the very macro-ending with the nation-state and the world system. On the macro side specific attention is given to the neoliberal state, including welfare and incarceration. In addition, the course focuses on several key institutions and spheres of social life, including education, media and culture, and work.

SOC 317 – Inequality in Higher Education

Thursday 3:00-4:50 p.m.

Tina Wildhagen

Component

This course applies a sociological lens to understanding inequality in American higher education. We examine how the conflicting purposes of higher education have led to a highly stratified system of colleges and universities. We also address the question of how students’ social class, race, ethnicity and gender affect their chances of successfully navigating this stratified system of higher education. Finally, we examine selected public policies aimed at minimizing inequality in students’ access to and success in college.

SPN 230 01 – Families in Spanish Cinema: Concepts, Theories and Representations

Monday, Wednesday 1:10-2:30 p.m.

Adrian A. Gras-Velazquez

Component

This is an introductory course in Spanish cinema with a focus on the representation of the family. The objective is to understand how the concept of the family operates in society, and how cinema reflects and shapes the cultural, political, economic, and social understanding of what constitutes family. Studying films from different periods, the course will offer an overview of, amongst others, the role of women and the family in Francoist Spain, new LGBTQ families, immigration and Spain’s plurinational identities, and the deconstruction of the family-state in contemporary Spanish film. It will also offer an introduction to Spain’s film industry.

SPN 230 02 – Creative Writing of Spain By and For Women

Tuesday, Thursday 1:00-2:30 p.m.

Reyes Lázaro

This is a hinge course between beginning-intermediate and advanced-intermediate courses. Students read and practice creative writing (essays and pieces of fiction) with the aid of fictional and biographical pieces written by Spanish women from the 12th century to our day. Its goal is to develop students’ competence and self-confidence in the analysis of short and longer fiction in Spanish, knowledge of the history of women’s writing in Spain, and acquisition of linguistic and cultural literacy in Spanish through playful fiction writing.

SPN 250 – Sex and the Medieval City

Tuesday, Thursday 3:00-4:50 p.m.

Ibtissam Bouachrine

This course covers topics on the cultural history of the Iberian Peninsula from Medieval times to the early 20th century. Assignments will consist of a combination of primary and secondary sources, including literature, images, essays, and films. Different topics will cover specific periods, authors, regions, and/or themes. May be repeated with a different topic. This course examines the medieval understanding of sex and the woman’s body within an urban context. We read medieval texts on love, medicine and women’s sexuality by Iberian and North African scholars. We investigate the ways in which medieval Iberian medical traditions have viewed women’s bodies and defined their health and illness. We also address women’s role as practitioners of medicine, and how such a role was affected by the gradual emergence of “modern” medical institutions such as the hospital and the medical profession.

SPN 260 – Decolonizing Latin American Literature

Monday, Wednesday 2:40-4:00 p.m.

Michelle Joffroy

Component

This course covers topics on the cultural history of Latin America from precolonial times to the early 20th century. Assignments will consist of a combination of primary and secondary sources, including literature, images, essays, and films. Different topics will cover specific periods, authors, regions, and/or themes. May be repeated with a different topic. This course offers critical perspectives on colonialism, literatures of conquest and narratives of cultural resistance in the Americas and the Caribbean. Decolonial theories of violence, writing and representation in the colonial context inform the study of literary and cultural production of this period. Readings explore several themes including indigenous knowledge, land and the natural world; orality, literacy and visual cultures; race, rebellion and liberation; slavery, piracy and power, and the coloniality of gender.

THE 319 - Shamans, Shapeshifters and the Magic If

Tuesday 3:00-4:50 p.m. or Wednesday 7:00-10:00 p.m.

Andrea D. Hairston

To act, to perform is to speculate with your body. Theatre is a transformative experience that takes performer and audience on an extensive journey in the playground of the imagination beyond the mundane world. Theatre asks us to be other than ourselves. We can for a time inhabit someone else’s skin, be shaped by another gender or ethnicity, become part of a past epoch or an alternative time and space similar to our own time but that has yet to come. As we enter this “imagined” world we investigate the normative principles of our current world. This course investigates the counterfactual, speculative, subjunctive impulse in overtly speculative drama and film with a particular focus on race and gender. We examine an international range of plays by such authors as Caryl Churchill, Tess Onwueme, Dael Orlandersmith, Derek Walcott, Bertolt Brecht, Lorraine Hansberry, Craig Lucas and Doug Wright, as well as films such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Pan’s Labyrinth.

Useful Links

Fall 2018 Course guide