Next Semester Courses
Fall 2013
- 1005 Topics: Black Studies in Culture: Writing Early Black Women's Spiritual Identity
- 1120 Bodies, Cultures, and Nations
- 1360 The Female Experience: Body, Identity, Culture
- 2010 Gender and Identity: Understanding Intersectionality
- 2250 Perspectives on Gender, Race, Class and Sexuality in the Americas: Latinas in the U.S.
- 2260 Studies in Mass Media: Constructions of Gender, Race and Sexuality: From Amos and Andy to Youtube
- 2410 African American Women in History
- 2960 Sexual Health Advocacy and Service Learning
- 3320 Sociology of Gender
- 3450 Feminist Methodologies
- 3480 Themes in Sexuality and Literature: Gay and Lesbian Literature and Culture
- 3560 Themes in Gender and Immigration: Documenting Current Controversies in Mexican/U.S. Immigration
- 3570 European Women in the 19th Century
- 3960 Strategies for Effective Peer Education
- 4110 Feminist Research and Criticism
- 4188 Major Women Writers, 1789-1890: Jane Austen & Her Contemporaries
- 4310 Adoption, Child Welfare and the Family, 1850-Present
- 4400 Contemporary Issues in Domestic Violence
- 4550 Gender and Human Rights in Cross Cultural Perspective
- 4874 Women's and Gender Studies Abroad - Social Science
- 4940 Internship in Women's and Gender Studies
- 4965 Special Readings in Women's and Gender Studies
- 7110 Feminist Research and Criticism
- 7188 Major Women Writers, 1789-1890: Jane Austen & Her Contemporaries
- 7310 Adoption, Child Welfare and the Family, 1850-Present
- 7400 Contemporary Issues in Domestic Violence
- 7550 Gender and Human Rights in Cross Cultural Perspective
- 7874 Women's and Gender Studies Abroad - Social Science
- 8040 Seminar: Problems and Issues in Feminist Scholarship
- 8965 Problems in Women's and Gender Studies
- 9440 Race, Gender, Ethnicity in Higher Education
Descriptions
English 1160/Black Studies 1705/WGST 1005 - Topics: Black Studies in Culture: Writing Early Black Women's Spiritual Identity
April Langley
TR 12:30-1:45pm | Strickland Hall 223
This course introduces students to the political, cultural, and historical aspects of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century black women's spiritual identity, and they ways in which they defined "spirituality" and "religion." It does so by exploring the origins of black women's religious and other worldly voices and experiences, through readings in various genres of literature and orature from poetry and slave narrative to political treatise, speeches, sermons, memoirs, letters and journals, and considering the significant role that spirituality played in the development of their intersecting social, political, and religious worlds. Investigating the claim of the African American gospel song-"We've Come this far by Faith"-we reflect on the extent to which black women both articulated their progress and empowerment and challenged the patriarchal limitations and oppression in terms of their faith. Course Requirements include three short informal response papers and one final essay.
Satisfies Humanities General Education Requirement
WGST 1120 - Bodies, Cultures, and Nations
Staff
Lecture MW 11:00-11:50am, Discussion Sections F 11-11:50am, F 9-9:50am or F 3-3:50pm
Lecture: MU Student Center 2501 (Auditorium)
This course examines some major strands of critical gender and sexuality and studies, relating them to and understanding them through the American cultural history of gender and sexuality. In this class, you will learn to analyze historical changes in the social organization and cultural meanings of gender, sexual practices, desires, and bodies in the United States. You will become familiar with the field of gender and sexuality studies as we examine the establishment of various sexual norms throughout history, from the 19th century to the present and from the US to the globalized world. While gaining familiarity with theories of gender and sexuality, we will analyze the contested boundaries drawn between same-sex socializing, friendship, and desire; racialized and sexualized violence; dis/ability, notions of "normal bodies," medical knowledge, and sexuality; and the emergence and historical contingence of sexual identities, such as heterosexuality and homosexuality, as prominent modes of understanding sexual experience, identity, politics, and cultural representation.
Satisfies Social Science General Education Requirement
WGST/Sociology 1360 - The Female Experience: Body, Identity, Culture
Jenna Pirok
MWF 1:00-1:50pm | Arts & Science Building 113
This course examines the ways individuals come to understand what it means to be a woman in U.S. culture. We explore the diversity among women's experiences with special attention to the meanings of body image, sexuality, and race/ethnicity. The course also examines institutions in U.S. society that exert social control over women's bodies, especially the media, the legal system, and the medical professions.
Satisfies Behavioral Science General Education Requirement
WGST 2010 - Gender and Identity: Understanding Intersectionality
Zakiya Adair
MWF 12:00-12:50pm | Strickland Hall 204
This intermediate level course will explore the historical and contemporary dimensions of social inequality centered in gender, race, class and sexuality. Using an interdisciplinary lens and feminist analysis this course will analyze social, cultural, political and economic experiences of various individuals and communities. Additionally the course will explore feminist theories of intersectionality and power. Readings, lectures, films and discussions will focus on diverse structures of power and inequality and their relationship to constructions of patriarchy, capitalism, heterosexism, racism, nationality, and ability. Emphasis will be placed on the socially constructed definitions of various groups and how these definitions affect individual and group experiences.
Satisfies Social Science General Education Requirement
WGST 2250 - Perspectives on Gender, Race, Class and Sexuality in the Americas
Rebecca Martínez
TR 11:00am-12:15pm | Switzler Hall 101
Semester Theme: Latinas in the U.S.
This course provides an introduction to the formation of Chicana and Latina identities in the U.S. We will take a feminist perspective as we explore the historical formation of these identities. In other words, we will take on gender as one of the central themes for understanding the social location of Chicana/Latinas. Chicana feminism has carved out a space for Chicanas and other women of color, a space where they can articulate their experiences at the intersection of race, class, gender, sexuality, among other considerations. Some of the areas covered are: immigration, transnational identity, popular cultural, literary expression, body image, spirituality, racism/sexism, assimilation, acculturation, and activism. Note: This course is writing intensive.
Satisfies Behavioral Science General Education Requirement
WGST 2260 - Studies in Mass Media: Constructions of Gender, Race and Sexuality
Zakiya Adair
MW 2:00-3:15pm | Tate Hall 101
Semester Theme: From Amos and Andy to Youtube
This course examines constructions of gender, race, class and sexuality in the U.S. media in the twentieth and twentieth first centuries. Emphasis will be placed on mass media's coverage, practices and uses of various socially constructed identities. In the course we will examine the historical relationship between media (television, major newspapers, radio, internet and social networks) and representations of underrepresented and marginalized groups. We will also explore the global economic forces which influence these representations.
Satisfies Social Science General Education Requirement
WGST 2410 - African American Women in History
Wilma King
TR 11:00am-12:15pm | Strickland Hall 117
African American Women in History covers major social, economic, and political issues affecting black women since their introduction into English-speaking North America to the present.
Satisfies Social Science General Education Requirement
WGST 2960 - Sexual Health Advocacy and Service Learning
Heather Eastman-Mueller
TR 2:00-3:15pm | Strickland Hall 117
The course will offer the student an opportunity to critically investigate sexuality as it exists within a cultural context including religion, politics, gender analysis, social justice, familial, and societal influences. Through assigned readings, reflection, experiential activities, and small group presentations, students will increase their awareness of sexual health issues, enhance self awareness and learn how to effectively educate their peers surrounding issues of sexual health.
Satisfies Social Science General Education Requirement
WGST/Sociology 3320 - Sociology of Gender
Ashley Vancil
TR 11:00am-12:15pm | Mumford Hall 133
Study of the ways in which femininities and masculinities are constructed in American society with particular attention to gender ideologies and the gendered nature of the social structure. Prerequisite: Sociology 1000, 1360, or equivalent. WGST 1120 is considered an equivalent.
Satisfies Behavioral Science General Education Requirement
WGST 3450 - Feminist Methodologies
Srirupa Prasad
TR 12:30-1:45pm | Tate Hall 101
A feminist methodology can be described as the application of feminist theory to the techniques and concepts indispensable for any intellectual investigation. The issue we will investigate is the way/s that a feminist standpoint can make a difference in doing research. The course, which is organized as a lecture-seminar, aims at critically investigating different aspects of the relationship between feminism and processes of knowledge production. Feminist methodologies take a critical and revisionist stance towards existing research methods, be it in the humanities or the social sciences.
The primary question to be examined is what it means for research to be feminist. This debate is an ongoing one and we will further it through our class discussions. Attention to the responsibilities, rights and particular knowledge of those studied and recognition of gendered power relationships in the conduct and process of research are essential components of feminist research methodologies. Another important aspect is redefining traditional categories and disciplinary concepts through its attention to gender and other social categories as race, class, culture, sexuality, age, and nation among others. We will examine a range of approaches within feminist scholarship, where the goal is to enable students to identify the research tools and strategies suited to questions they want to pursue.
Satisfies Social Science General Education Requirement
WGST 3480/English 3119 - Themes in Sexuality and Literature
Elisa Glick
TR 9:30-10:45am | Middlebush Hall 304
Semester Theme: Gay and Lesbian Literature and Culture
What makes a book gay? How have mechanisms of social control, silence, and invisibility shaped modern literature by and about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people? What is the relationship of queer narratives to social change? Is there a specifically gay or lesbian aesthetic? This course explores these and related questions through twentieth-century literary and aesthetic engagements with same-sex desire and gender expression. Writers may include Oscar Wilde, Radclyffe Hall, Gertrude Stein, James Baldwin, John Rechy, Allen Ginsberg, Wallace Thurman, Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, Tony Kushner, and Dorothy Allison. Films by Andrea Weiss, Greta Schiller, Isaac Julien, and Kimberly Pierce. Fiction, drama, and poetry will be examined alongside critical, historical, and theoretical texts drawn from feminist and queer studies.
Satisfies Humanities General Education Requirement
WGST 3560 - Themes in Gender and Immigration
Rebecca Martínez
TR 3:00-4:15pm | Arts & Science Building 202
Semester Theme: Documenting Current Controversies in Mexican/U.S. Immigration
This course will explore current controversies in Mexican-U.S. immigration primarily through the use of documentary film. We will cover a number of topics, including, but not limited to: nationalism and citizenship, national identity, identity and fluidity, social inequality, cultural citizenship, border theory, border politics and surveillance, the politics of nativism, and popular cultural images and representations of Mexican/Latino immigrants. We will analyze social constructions of the "us/them" dichotomy that pervades popular understandings of Mexican-U.S. immigration. We will explore these current controversies and the process of "othering" primarily through analysis of various discourses of difference and pay particular attention to issues of race, gender, sexuality, and social class.
Satisfies Social Science General Education Requirement
WGST/History 3570 - European Women in the 19th Century
Linda Reeder
TR 11:00am-12:15pm | Pershing Dining Hall C241
This course will trace the history of European women from 1789 to 1900 exploring the ways women experienced the political, social, and economic transformations of the 19th century. We will look at how the French revolution, industrialization, class-formation, and colonialism redefined the lives of European women. Themes emphasized in this course include changes in family structure, work and gender-politics through the last century.
Satisfies Social Science General Education Requirement
WGST 3960 - Strategies for Effective Peer Education
Heather Eastman-Mueller
M 3:00-3:50pm | Strickland Hall 217
This course adopts the "students helping students" model of learning. Through education, experiential practice, skill building and reflection, students will improve their understanding of their own learning preferences as well as how to develop and conduct effective presentations. Emphasis will be placed on adapting the content to various topics target audiences, building a safe space for learning, and managing disruptive behavior in a classroom setting. This course is the second part of a two-part series that trains qualified students to assist their peers in effectively managing and negotiating health decisions as they matriculate through their academic career.
Satisfies Social Science General Education Requirement
WGST/Sociology 4110/7110 - Feminist Research and Criticism
Mary Jo Neitz
W 3:00-5:30pm | Strickland Hall 325
This course is centrally concerned with how feminists in the social sciences produce knowledge, what we do with that knowledge, and if the process is any different because we are feminists. We will examine feminist critiques of social science research methodogies, questions of feminist epistemology, and how feminists struggle with those questions in our work. We will be reading exemplars from anthropology, history, political science, psychology and sociology. Prerequisite: Sociology 2950 or equivalent.
Satisfies Behavioral Science General Education Requirement
WGST/English 4188/7188 - Major Women Writers, 1789-1890
Julie Melnyk
MWF 11:00-11:50am | Tate Hall 110
Semester Theme: Jane Austen & Her Contemporaries
Description pending.
Undergraduates: Satisfies Humanities General Education Requirement
WGST 4310/7310 - Adoption, Child Welfare and the Family, 1850-Present
Catherine Rymph
TR 9:30-10:45am | Strickland Hall 320
This course will examine the relatively new field of the history of adoption in America. It will address topics such as: the changing legal and social meanings of adoption since the mid-19th century; the historical connections between adoption and issues of poverty, family, gender, race, sexuality, class, and fertility; changing understandings of identity within the "adoption triad;" and more recent issues such as transnational adoption. The course will be conducted as a readings seminar, with students expected to read actively and engage in discussion of weekly topics.
Undergraduates: Satisfies Social Science General Education Requirement
WGST/Social Work 4400/7400 - Contemporary Issues in Domestic Violence
Jennifer Carter
M 6:00-8:50pm | Middlebush Hall 211
This course covers the history of the battered women's movement, violence theories, policy issues, prevention and intervention practice models for working with battered women, their children, and abusers. Contemporary issues such as teen dating violence, universal screening, healthcare issues, workplace violence and coordinated community approaches will be examined.
Undergraduates: Elective Course: no General Education Credit
WGST/Sociology/Peace Studies 4550/7550 - Gender and Human Rights in Cross Cultural Perspective
Tola Pearce
MWF 2:00-2:50pm | Physics Building 120
In 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since then, an increasing number of situations are being framed in terms of human rights. Gender issues were catapulted to the forefront of the global stage when in 1995 the UN reframed women's rights as human rights. Human right has remained interdisciplinary attracting scholars and activists from a wide range of disciplines who work on eliminating gender-based discrimination and who emphasize intersectionality. This course will focus on the global discourse on human rights emphasizing the competing ideas and theories developed within both Western and nonwestern perspectives. Although anchored in the Social Sciences, concepts from other disciplines such as history, philosophy and medicine will be used to examine a number of issues. Particular attention will be paid to the following issues: 1) the meaning of rights; 2) comparative perspectives on what constitutes human rights ; 3) feminist contributions to the human rights discourse; 4) some major dialogues including universalism vs. cultural relativism, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 'generation' rights; 5) gender and human rights situations (e.g. violence, sexuality, citizenship, health); 6) activism and solutions for human rights abuses.
Undergraduates: Satisfies Behavioral Science General Education Requirement
WGST 4874/7874 - Women's and Gender Studies Abroad - Social Science
Carolina Escudero
Time and Location arranged
Semester Theme: Gender Perspectives in the South American Media
This course is a portion of the Missouri School of Journalism Argentina Internship Program in Buenos Aires. It is designed to provide students knowledge about the mass media and gender issues in Argentina and South America. It is divided into eight units and it serves as an introductory module to the study of gender perspectives and media in the region. We will examine the gender perspectives in media as social and cultural systems. The course will introduce students to basic concepts such as gender, sex, sexuality, and gender socialization in the region. The seminar will then go on to examine how gender concepts and behaviours shape and are shaped by larger social institutions including class divisions, ethnicity, media, advertising, economic systems, health, organizations and governments.
More information on the Buenos Aires Program >>
Satisfies Social Science General Education Requirement
WGST 4940 - Internship in Women's and Gender Studies
Contact Joan Hermsen
Arranged
Directed professional experience in appropriate feminist related agency or organization. Prerequisite: junior standing; departmental consent. Graded on S/U basis only.
Elective Course: no General Education Credit
WGST 4965 - Special Readings in Women's and Gender Studies
Contact Mary Jo Neitz
Arranged
Independent readings for 1-3 credit hours in Women's and Gender Studies for highly qualified and motivated students. Topic selected in consultation with supervisory faculty member. Repeatable up to 6 hours. Consent of department required.
Elective Course: no General Education Credit
WGST 8040 - Seminar: Problems and Issues in Feminist Scholarship
Mary Jo Neitz and Trudy Lewis
R 3:00pm-5:30pm | 325 Strickland Hall
This is the required seminar for the interdisciplinary graduate minor in Women's and Gender Studies. Through an examination of classic texts and the work of contemporary feminist scholars who employ a range of critical frameworks, this course focuses on contemporary debates and the significance of interdisciplinary thinking in feminist scholarship and creative work. We engage a broad range of theoretical and methodological approaches to feminist work. Consent of department required.
WGST 8965 - Problems in Women's and Gender Studies
Contact Mary Jo Neitz
Arranged
Directed individual study on selected topics for qualified graduate students. Plan of study subject to approval by supervising faculty. Consent of department required.
WGST/ELPA 9440 - Race, Gender, Ethnicity in Higher Education
Jennifer Fellabaum
M 4:00-6:45pm | Hill Hall 305
This course is designed to focus on historical and current issues of race, gender, and ethnicity in colleges and universities. Issues faced by students, faculty, and staff will be included. Issues of access and equity will be explored, as will the salience of diversity in a higher education setting.
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