|
|
2020-2021 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Descriptions
|
|
| |
Women’s and Gender Studies |
| |
-
WGS 2310 - Gender and Diversity in Leadership Credits: 4
This course will explore cultural perspectives on what it means to be a leader and how notions of leadership are both socially constructed and reinforced in ways that reify gender norms, as well as gender, racial, and other biases. Using the lenses of feminist theory, critical race theory, queer theory, and intersectionality, students will explore how racialized notions of masculinity and femininity, along with heteronormativity, function to determine socially acceptable and culturally valued standards of leadership. We will look at historical and contemporary contexts, locally and globally, in which leaders emerge and the ways in which leadership has been/is defined and represented. In effect, then, this is a course that examines power and the ways in which norms and biases are deployed to grant or limit access to leadership. The course will examine leadership across a range of categories and fields such as political leadership (Congress/presidency); social movement leadership (and questions of the potential for leaderless movements); business/corporate/workplace leadership. This course will explore the ways in which leadership is represented in media, as well as the language and symbols associated with leadership. Finally, our study will focus on both those who seek leadership roles and “unintential leaders” – people who find themselves thrust into leadership positions by circumstances (i.e. Malala Yousafzai or Greta Thunberg). This course culminates by examing whether (and how) leadership as a concept can be reimagined and reinvented to allow for greater diversity.
Fulfills: SOSC, D, and X in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 2420 - Gender, Sex, and Film Credits: 4
This course will explore how film intentionally or unintentionally reflects and shapes our perceptions of sex and gender categories and norms. Throughout the course we will examine mainstream, independent, and international films looking at how gender, sex and race are represented. We will analyze how women and men and transgender persons have historically been portrayed in film and how sex and race are interlocked with gender. Questions and topics include how have sexualities and gender identities - i.e., cisgender, heterosexual, and LGBTQ – been represented during different socio-historical periods; how do different film genres from romance to horror to comedy position characters according to notions of sex and gender; who do we identify with and why; and how do different audiences respond to characters based on the intersections of sex, race, and gender? Students will have the opportunity to reverse the lens and experiment with video.
Fulfills: AL and D in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 2520 - Women in Historic Massachusetts Credits: 4
This course will explore the lives of women who shaped not only New England but the world. This class will be a hands on exploration into the lives and cultures of great Massachusetts women such as Maria Stewart, Louisa May Alcott, Margaret Fuller, the Peabody sisters, Tituba, Betsy Gump Chamberlain, and many others. Students in this class will explore the realities of these great women by going on field trips and reading informative articles. Students will walk the paths these women walked and travel back through time to explore what these great women did to make the world better for their having been there.
Fulfills: D and X in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 2880 - Gender, Race, and War Credits: 4
This course will look at war and its aftermath through the prism of gender, race, sexuality and nation. It will explore war and peace as gendered and racialized phenomena while examining the impact of war on individuals and groups in conflict zones, including within militaries and armed resistance. It will address both the construction of the enemy and the making of the soldier as gendered and racial projects. Using feminist inquiry, students will study processes of militarization to understand how officials deploy conceptions of gender, race, and sexuality to construct citizens, soldiers, and enemies as gendered and racialized subjects. The course will also explore the role of gender and race in processes on demilitarization, peacebuilding, and post-conflict reconstruction. Case studies will include both US wars and militarized political conflicts in other parts of the world. Organized thematically, course topics include constructions of violent and nonviolent masculinities and femininities; the history, roles, and treatment of women, people of color, and LGBTQ within militaries and as veterans; rape, sexual violence, and sexual slavery on battlefields and within militaries, including the treatment of women around military bases; the use of history and memory to maintain gendered and racial understandings of war through official commemorations and war memorials; the role of women and underrepresented groups in resistance to war and in peace movements; and the prospect of envisioning post-conflict societies based on justice and equality for all.
Fulfills: SOSC, D, and X in LS Core
|
| |
-
WGS 2900 - Writing the Gendered Life Credits: 4
This course will use writing as a tool to raise students’ consciousness about gender - who we are as gendered beings, how gender functions in society, and what our constructs of gender mean in navigating our lives and our relationship to the broader world. Similarly, gender analysis will become a tool to teach and improve student writing. Where do students’ ideas of gender come from? How might they change when students factor in a wider and more diverse idea of gender and learn about cross cultural and global expectations, manifestations, and challenges of gender? In this writing-intensive course, students will ultimately develop the skill of balancing their analyses of the gendered self with that of the wider world. The course will be divided into thematic units that examine interdisciplinary approaches to gender and will include historical, sociological psychological, religious, feminist and critical race theory writings on gender. Students will look at how gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity and nation affect and interact with lived experiences and ideologies of childhood; love/marriage/family; education; media; the body; and age/aging. Students will begin each unit by writing about themselves in relationship to a given topic. They will then explore that topic through readings and films offering multicultural local and global perspectives on gender.
Fulfills: D and W in LS Core.
Note: Course is offered as writing intensive and fulfills the W in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 3000 - Thinking Green: Environmental Justice, Gender, and Animal Rights Credits: 4
This interdisciplinary course will examine theories and social movements focused on environmental justice, eco- feminism and animal rights. Students will study environmental racism and how pollutants and toxic waste impact the health, lives, and land of economically disadvantaged communities of color, including Native Americans, as well as efforts to change this. The class will examine legal challenges and movements to expose and end cruelty to animals and animal exploitation, and the linkage between thinking green and creating an earth democracy that fosters a more just and healthy environment for all. Students will investigate gender diversity and the impact that environmental degradation has on populations. And they will employ cultural environmental theories to analyze how the environment and the earth is represented and misrepresented in popular culture, literature and art.
Fulfills: SOSC and D in LS Core.
|
| |
|
| |
-
WGS 3110 - Global Gender Issues and Social Justice Credits: 4
This course provides a global perspective on gender and social justice issues. Students will learn to critically examine patterns of continuity and change in different parts of the world, as well as similarities and differences among women, men, and gender non-conforming individuals, across cultures and contexts. The course is structured to provide students with knowledge and analytical tools to understand the specific historical, political, and socioeconomic conditions that shape femininities, masculinities, as well as gender roles, relationships, and struggles. Students will also explore the ways in which activists on the ground seek to promote social justice. Topics include disparities in power and resources between the Global North and the Global South, gender-based violence, globalization, militarization, and human trafficking.
Fulfills: SOSC and D in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 3120 - Women and Film: The Politics of Representation Credits: 4
This course studies filmic representations of women and gender in US and international cinema, documentaries and independent film and the role of feminist film directors and producers. Students will study feminist film analysis, analyze the different film genres like horror films where a strong woman usually defeats the monster. The course will contrast US and International filmic representations of women. Issues to be addressed include how representations of women change historically and reflect shifting attitudes about gender, race, ethnicity, class, nation and sex. The course will also explore audience responses to films and some techniques of filmmaking. Additionally, students will produce short videos as a means to explore how to create a feminist film and what it is like on the other side of the camera.
Fulfills: AL and D in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 3140 - Studies in Masculinities Credits: 4
The critical study of masculinities is not only a burgeoning subfield within Women’s and Gender Studies, but also an increasingly important subject within progressive humanities and social science scholarship of all kinds. Emerging initially as a result of the women’s and gay liberation movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s, masculinity studies today is an interdisciplinary endeavor based on the notion that masculinities are historically produced, culturally specific, locally practiced, and (continually) subject to change. Students in this course will explore how masculinity – whether considered at the global, national, local, or personal level – is always informed and mediated by intersecting social categories of race, class, and sexuality.
Fulfills: SOSC and D in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 3230 - Gender, Race and Sexuality in Popular Culture Credits: 4
Popular Culture is the US’s second largest export after weapons. This course will examine how gender is used in popular culture artifacts from popular entertainment including sports, films, music and more. Employing popular culture methods and theories including cultural studies, students will study how the meaning system is used to reinforce the status quo and also challenge it. By focusing on advertising, music, television, magazines, film, and social media, this course will explore how cultural values, fears, hopes and dreams are coded into gender scripts, and how these scripts intersect with other aspects of identity such as race, class, ethnicity, and sexuality. The course will also examine what is at stake both in negotiating gender, race, and sexuality in contemporary culture and in doing “feminist” cultural criticism. Topics include changes in representations of bodies, relationships, and families; reflections of politics in popular culture; and the varied influence of popular culture as well as efforts by individuals and groups to use popular culture to promote social justice and political/social change. Case studies include media and popular culture representations of #MeToo, the movement for black lives, and issues of migration and immigration.
Fulfills: D in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 3250 - Sex and Gender Studies Credits: 4
This course examines the ways in which sex and gender are constructed in a range of interdisciplinary discourses including: political, legal, historical, psychological, medical, literary, popular culture and in embodied practices. Much of the focus of the course will be on the biological, social, cultural and ethical dimensions of sex and gender with an emphasis on how cultures are organized around sex and gender. Students will examine the construction of sex and gender identities. We will look at how these identities are informed by race, ethnicity, class, nation and age. We will also explore the role of gender and sexuality in social movements, citizenship and human rights.
Fulfills: SOSC and D in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 3290 - Women, Gender, and Business Credits: 4
This course will explore the nature, scope, and development of women’s relationship to the business world from an interdisciplinary and intersectional perspective. The goal is to examine how business practices and behavior have been shaped by gender norms and ideals, as well as by the experience of, and biases based on, race, ethnicity, class, and gender/sexual identity. Using a feminist analysis, students will study how business has been historically and socially constructed in gendered ways, how job categories became defined in gender and racial terms, as well as the strategies used by women, immigrants, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people of color to resist and overcome obstacles and biases. We will also look at the ways in which entrepreneurship serves as a form of economic activism and a vehicle for marginalized people to provide for themselves economically. Course topics include occupational segregation; the gender pay gap; the glass ceiling, glass escalator, and glass cliff; sexual harassment; Title VII, and affirmative action.
Fulfills: SOSC and D in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 3300 - U.S. Women’s History Credits: 4
This class will provide an examination of the history of women in America. It will include history prior to colonization, up to the present. The course will explore women’s roles in US Society and the intersection of class, culture, ethnicity and sexuality in shaping women’s historical experiences across time. The course will examine the transformations and continuities in women’s lives as well as the political, social, economic and cultural factors that inspired, infused or inhibited women’s changing roles. This class also explores the ways in which race, class, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity have operated to unite and divide disparate groups of women. Satisfies a Humanities distribution requirement.
Fulfills: H and D in LS Core.
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
-
WGS 3420 - Gender, Race, and the Media Credits: 4
In this course, students will examine theories of gender, race, class, ethnicity, and sexuality in mainstream and independent media, including social media. We will study who controls the media, whose story is told, and from what perspective. A focus will be on the historical and current impact racial and gender stereotypes in the media have on individuals and communities. Students will also examine how various audiences interpret the media differently, how oppressed groups worldwide are portrayed in mainstream media, and how these groups use the media to tell their own stories. Topics include media representations of power, privilege, and systemic inequality; media literacy; historical and current racial and gender stereotypes in the media, and the impact they have on individuals and communities; and the role of alternative media in a democracy.
Fulfills: SOSC and D in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 3630 - “Changing Woman:” The Reality and Myths of Native American Women Credits: 4
Changing Woman is the most important deity of the Navajo (Dine’) people. She personifies the earth and the cyclical path of the seasons. During a young girl’s rite of passage ceremony (Kinaaldá), she is evoked as the “ideal woman” and symbolizes the change into adulthood and subsequent female empowerment. This acceptance of female change and empowerment is a dynamic characteristic in Native American culture and one aspect that will be studied in this in-depth look at the reality and myth of the Native American woman. This course will examine the historical and contemporary reality illuminating the real lives of North American Indigenous women and debunks some stereotypical myths. Students will explore how gender is constructed in tribal societies and examine various matrilineal cultures. They will learn to understand and appreciate the significance of oral traditions and storytelling that is the fabric of Indigenous communities, and students will be introduced to different worldviews examining such concepts as circular time, “walking in beauty”, and the Fifth World. A variety of mediums will be used in this exploration including feminist theory, poetry, artwork, personal narrative and film.
Fulfills: Humanities distribution requirement. D in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 3710 - Gender and the Law Credits: 4
This course will begin with an introduction to constitutional law and develop into an intimate study of the inner workings of the Supreme Court and its major decisions affecting gender. Such topics and marriage and divorce, pornography, the right to privacy, as well as discrimination cases involving gender pay inequality, Title VII and Title IX, and LGBTQ rights will be discussed through an historical and legal framework. Debate and discussion regarding the historical evolution of these legal issues and their current trends will be emphasized.
Fulfills: SOSC and D in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 3720 - Gender, Immigration, and the Law Credits: 4
This course will examine the intersection of immigration, gender, and the legal system in the United States. Through a careful analysis of the influence of sex, race, ethnicity, and gender on the experience of migration and movement, students will develop an understanding of the state of immigration law and politics. Students will be immersed in the work of immigration studies pioneers, exploring the social, cultural, and political issues that surround modern immigration. Federal legislation and administrative policy will be discussed in conjunction with current trends of immigration. In addition to examining the lives of others, students will trace their families’ origins and craft the story of their ancestors to create a full picture of immigration in the United States.
Fulfills: SOSC and D in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 3830 - Gender and Global Health Credits: 4
This course will explore the issues surrounding the achievement of health equality around the world, focusing on the intersection of gender, race, class, and location in determining health and well-being for global citizens. Using gender- based approach to study, students will examine the status of global health in a variety of areas including: access to care, HIV/AIDS, violence against women, human trafficking, reproductive health, and aging. Throughout the course, students will discover the challenges faced in ensuring global health care equality and analyze the response of non- governmental organizations (NGOs), local governments, and the health care community in addressing these challenges.
Fulfills: SOSC and D in LS Core.
|
| |
-
WGS 4100 - Gender Studies Credits: 4
This interdisciplinary course will explore major issues, theories, and activism around the issue of gender including an analysis of gender stereotypes in the mass media. We will look at how gender identities are constructed, contested and mapped on the body. Topics will include transgender, transsexual, intersex politics, identity and representation, the new masculinity studies, queer theory, hate crimes and what does feminism have to do with gender politics. And as always we will ask what is a woman and what is a man and how these identities have shifted and changed in various cultures throughout history and what it means politically.
Fulfills: D in LS Core
|
| |
-
WGS 4800 - Directed Study Credits: 4
In lieu of a formal course, qualified upper-class students may, with the approval of the director, substitute an intensive program of reading and research under the direction of a faculty member of the program. Such research and reading will focus on local, national, and/or transnational issues related to women, gender, sex, race, class, and ethnicity and will emphasize intersectionality.
Prerequisite(s): Consent of the director and the member of the program under whose supervision the Directed Study will be conducted.
|
| |
-
WGS 4850 - Internship in Women’s and Gender Studies Credits: 4
The Internship in Women’s and Gender Studies is a semester-long opportunity for students to combine practical experience with an in-depth academic theoretical analysis. Students will be expected to spend a number of hours per week in the field working in a setting where they experience firsthand issues related to women’s and gender studies. Such work may be individual or group/based. Students will arrange with the supervisor at their site an agreed upon work schedule, specific responsibilities, and tasks expected to be accomplished by the student over the course of the semester. In addition to the responsibilities assumed as part of their placement, students must fulfill the academic component of the internship which requires regular meetings with the internship director to discuss internship experiences and also requires that the student complete a research paper on a topic related to the internship experience. Past internships have included work with adolescent girls who are substance abusers, work with victims of domestic violence, political internships at the statehouse, working with LGBTQ+ youth, working in a feminist publishing house, and creating and implementing Diversity programs in a local high school.
Prerequisite(s): Approval of the department chair and the internship director.
Fulfills: X in LS Core
|
| |
-
WGS 4990 - Senior Seminar Credits: 4
This is the capstone course for Women’s and Gender Studies majors. Students will learn and employ feminist research methodologies and reflect on their intellectual journey in a semester-long project that is the culmination of their studies. The course will also include exploration of career development and future jobs that use their WGS education, as well as preparation for possible graduate studies. Throughout the semester, students will share their research, participate in classroom workshops to gain feedback and aid in the completion of their seminar paper. While required of majors, the senior seminar is open to WGS minors.
|
World Languages and Cultural Studies |
| |
-
GCS 1700 - The Global Zombie Credits: 4
Formerly: WLC1200
Using the zombie as a powerful metaphor, the course will discuss the role of the zombie in a series of national and international blockbuster movies, from classical Hollywood to nowadays. Starting from the premise that there is some kind of inverse relationship between the zombie and the cyborg (Sci-Fi’s number one nightmare scenario before the return of the zombie: Cylons and Terminators and the Borg), we’ll explore how we moved from the cyborg (humanity’s attempt to triumph over nature and rule the world) to the zombie (Nature gone terribly awry, humanity’s complete loss of control). We’ll discuss how zombies can help us interpret our anxieties vis-à-vis such topics as: globalization, global health, international relations, environmentalism, race and gender relations, consumer culture, and societal norms.
Fulfills: AL and D in LS Core.
|
| |
-
GCS 1900 - Introduction to Latinx Studies Credits: 4
This course will introduce Latinx culture in the US through a variety of media such as literature, mural art , film, poetry and music. Drawing from cultural studies, sociology, and history, this class will create a framework that will allow students to understand and analyze such phenomena as transnational spaces, hybrid and/or hyphenated identities, and the emergence of Latinx culture in the US. The course will apply this framework also to specific cultural art ifacts such as nuyorican poetry, border cultures, and reggaeton. Four Latinx groups will be the focus of this course: Chicanx, Puerto Rican, Dominic an -American, and Cuban-American, with the possibility of adapting the course to changing historical conditions. The course is taught in English. Students who want it to count towards their Spanish Major Concentration will need to do coursework in Spanish .
Fulfills: AL and D in LS Core
|
| |
-
GCS 2000 - Introduction to Cultural Studies Credits: 4
This course’s objective is to prepare students for the advanced cultural analysis of upper level WLCS courses by introducing them to the practice of Cultural Studies. Drawing from both the Anglo-American Cultural Studies tradition as well as from global perspectives on Cultural Studies, the course will focus on the tools and approaches provided by a selection of cultural theory readings centered on ideology, community, power, class, race and gender. The concepts will later be applied to the analysis of a series of cultural and literary artifacts (translated into English when necessary) from different parts of the world, with an occasional emphasis on the Spanish-speaking world. Thus, students will develop their own critical voice and tools while they build up a general historical and geopolitical framework within which to understand artistic and social movements, as well as the work of individual authors.
Fulfills: AL and D in LS Core
|
| |
-
WLC 1000 - International Cultures, Customs, and Languages Credits: 4
This course explores the culture (or cultures) of a non-English-speaking country. The course aims to stimulate cultural curiosity and cross-cultural communication, along with providing practical knowledge of the customs and culture(s) of the specfic country that will be covered each semester. The aspects of the country’s culture that will be covered include Culture and Arts, Social values, Food and other customs, Economics, Geography, History, Politics, Demographics and other social issues such as immigration/emigration, the environment, and mass media. There will also be a language component at the introductory level to provide students with the tools to navigate the target culture. This course is available exclusively for Degree Completion students who are taking courses through the Office of Graduate and Continuing Studies.
Fulfills: FL in LS core
|
Writing |
| |
-
WRT 2010 - Writing Across Cultures Credits: 4
This course focuses on the study of identity, diversity, and multiculturalism as represented through the examination of cross/inter cultural intersections, past and present. Through the examination of theory and textual representations, films, and videos, and listening to the stories of individuals, students will engage in reflective inquiry, develop discourse strategies, and scholarly research. Formal and informal writing will include blogging, online discussion, and research.
Fulfills: D and W in LS Core
|
| |
-
WRT 2020 - Writing for Social Change Credits: 4
This course examines the impact of writing on social change through analyzing existing texts and composing original texts. Students will analyze articles, books, pamphlets, web sites, advertising campaigns, court decisions, and other documents, focusing on how writers have contributed to social movements such as abolition, women’s suffrage, temperance, civil rights, and pro-choice/pro-life. Students will also compose a variety of texts advocating change on an issue of their choice.
Fulfills: D and W in LS Core
|
| |
-
WRT 3700 - Special Topics in Rhetoric Credits: 4
These courses focus on the study of writing in particular professional, academic, or cultural contexts. Sample topics include: Writing About Families, Death, and Violence; Travel Writing; Issues in Second Language Writing; Feminist Rhetoric; Visual Rhetoric; Social and Political Rhetoric; and Religious Rhetoric.
|
Interdisciplinary Institute |
| |
-
IDS 1010 - Special Topics in Interdisciplinary Studies Credits: 4
The course will introduce students to current world problems, examined from multiple disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives. Examples include: Global Pandemics, Climate Change, Refugees & Migration, and Violence & Nonviolence. This experiential course will include readings, workshops, films, guest lectures, field trips and participation is community events.
Fulfills: STEM in LS Core
|
| |
Page: 1
| 2
| 3
| 4
| 5
| 6
| 7
| 8
| 9
| 10
| 11
|
|
|
Print this Page