Spring 2023 Undergraduate Courses

Matthew Chin, Lisa Speidel

An introduction to gender and LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) studies, including the fields of women’s studies, feminist studies, & masculinity studies. Students will examine historical movements, theoretical issues, & contemporary debates, especially as they pertain to issues of inequality & to the intersection of gender, race, class, sexuality, & nationalism. Emphasis will vary according to the interdisciplinary expertise & research focus of the instructor.

Special Note: Required for all WGS majors and minors, Intro courses do not count toward concentrations.

Matthew Chin

Offers a study of race-racialization in relation to gender-sexuality. Consider how the concept of race shapes relationships between gendered selfhood & society, how it informs identity & experiences of the erotic, & how racialized gender & sexuality are created-maintained-monitored. With an interdisciplinary perspective, we will consider how race & power are reproduced & resisted through gender & sexuality, individually-national-international.

Lisa Speidel

Examines human sexuality from psychological, biological, behavioral, social, and historical perspectives. Topics include sexual research and theoretical perspectives, sexual anatomy and physiology, sexual health, intimacy, communication, patterns of sexual response and pleasure and sexual problems and therapies. Course will also include examination of the development of sexuality and the intersections of other identities, gender identity, sexual orientation, sexuality and the law, sexual assault, and other social issues in sexuality. This course will focus on creating a safe environment for honest and authentic conversations about the issues.  Confidentiality and respect will be emphasized to create a community of trust. Students will learn about these issues of sexuality through discussion, experiential activities, film, readings, research, reflective writing and guest speakers.

Course Category: Sexuality Concentration

Abby Palko

Motherhood, mothering practices, and maternal identities have long been crucial elements of human existence that have not received the level of attention or support that their importance calls for. This course takes an interdisciplinary look (inc. anthropology, feminist theory, media studies, philosophy, psychology, sociology) at scholarly conceptualizations of "good" mothering and analyzes depictions of mothering practices.

Isabel Gonzales

Explores major debates, key ideas, and historical developments in women, gender, & sexuality theory. Students will gain familiarity with queer, trans, and feminist theory, including Black, Native, socialist, crip, and other approaches. Will consider the different methods that gender & sexuality scholars have used to explain the social world, and why such explanations are vital to WGS. Course emphasizes reading, discussion,and critical writing.

Maryam Zehtabi

This course places women, feminism, and activism in a transnational perspective, and offers students the opportunity to examine how issues considered critical to the field of gender studies are impacting women's lives globally in contemporary national contexts. We will look closely at how violence, economic marginality, intersections of race and gender, and varied strategies for development are affecting women in specific geographical locations.

Isabel Gonzales

This course is an interdisciplinary analysis of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) Studies. We will study historical events and political, literary and artistic figures and works; contemporary social and political issues; the meaning and development of sexual and gender identities; and different disciplinary definitions of meaning and knowledge.

Course Category: Sexuality Concentration

Issues and Controversies in Women's Sport

Bonnie Hagerman

This course develops fundamental skills for critical thinking, researching, writing, and communicating in WGS. Students will learn methods for finding and analyzing sources, approaches to framing arguments, and skills for effective written and oral communication. Seminars are offered on a variety of topics. This class fulfills the Second Writing Requirement and Enhanced Writing Requirement.

Queer American History

Doug Meyer

This course develops fundamental skills for critical thinking, researching, writing, and communicating in WGS. Students will learn methods for finding and analyzing sources, approaches to framing arguments, and skills for effective written and oral communication. Seminars are offered on a variety of topics. This class fulfills the Second Writing Requirement and Enhanced Writing Requirement.

Transgender Studies in the Americas

Cole Rizki

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subjects of women, gender and sexualities.

Pleasure Activism Across Time

Lisa Speidel

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subjects of women, gender and sexualities.

Sex and Resistance on the Internet

Isabel Gonzales

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subjects of women, gender and sexualities.

Bonnie Hagerman

This course explores the significance of gender and sexuality in the territory of the present-day U.S. during the period from the Civil War to the present..

Maryam Zehtabi

This course examines the politics of gender and sexuality in various Muslim societies since the 19th century. It covers a range of topics and themes, including historical, theological, political, and anthropological accounts of gender and sexuality discourses; various feminist movements; and sexuality, marriage, family, masculinity and LGBTQ issues

Doug Meyer

This course emphasizes violence against minority groups. Particular attention will be paid to violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, although the class will also focus on forms of abuse against other historically-marginalized groups. Topics covered will include racist and sexist violence, sexualized abuse, including rape and sexual assault, domestic violence, and the politics of hate crime.

Capstone: Gender Politics in Africa

Denise Walsh

This course focuses on the ways structures, institutions, and discourse shape gender in sub-Saharan Africa. It begins with the highly contested topics of pre-colonial gender relations and what gender means in Africa. Next, we turn to the colonial era, tackling themes such as white misperceptions of the Black body and the ways in which sex and gender were at the heart of the colonial state and national liberation movements. After independence, African women organized, moved into formal politics, and even brokered an end to violent conflicts, the third section of the course. Dramatic political transformations like these raised hopes that violence would diminish. The fourth section of the course explains why these hopes have yet to be realized, assessing gender-based violence and homophobia. Despite the odds against them, African feminists and queer theorists remain undaunted. In the final section of the course we consider their inspiring vision for the future that reaches beyond the continent and calls each one of us to action.

Capstone: Black & Indigenous Fem Survival

Tiffany King

Sarah Orsak

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject of studies of women and gender.