Women's Studies Courses and Cross-Listed Courses

201 Introduction to Women's Studies
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. An interdisciplinary and cross-cultural introduction to the perspectives and core concerns of Women's Studies.

206/AFAM 206/SOCY 206 African American Family Relationships
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Focuses on the African American family from the 1940s to the present. Examines the values and the interpersonal/role relationships that are involved in forming and maintaining African American families in the contemporary United States. Topics include dating and sexual relationships, marital relationships, parent-child relationships and relationships with members of the extended family. 

236 Women in Literature
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. A study of literature by and about women with the intent of exploring images of women as reflected in fiction, poetry and drama.

291 Topics in Women's Studies
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisites may be required, check with your instructor. May be repeated with different topics for a maximum of six credits. An in-depth examination of specialised areas of interest in women's studies.

301 Feminist Social Theory
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. This course examines the major theoretical traditions and thinkers of feminist theory from the works of earlyliberal feminists like Wollstonecraft to the present thought of postmodern and lesbian feminist like Wittig. It examines arguments about human nature, the origins and effects of patriarchy, the conflict between equality and gender difference, and feminist critiques of traditional theories of knowledge.

304 The Family
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisite: SOC 101 or ANT 103. The family in its social and cultural context. Analysis of child rearing, marriage, kinship, family crises, and family change in various societies around the world.

305 Sociology of the Black Family
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisite: SOC 101 or permission of the instructor. A sociohistory of the development of the dynamics of the black family.

309 Global Women's Health
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Explores issues of women's health from a national and international perspective with an emphasis on the experiences of women in the African diaspora. Theories in Medical Anthropology are employed to examine key themes.

316 Women and the Law
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. A survey of women's relationships to law in the U.S. and globally. Framed by feminist legal theories, topics to be covered include the judicial application of Equal Protection Analysis to employment, education and sport; case law on issues such as sexual violence, the particular rights of women of color and lesbians, and reproductive rights; the study of women criminals; and issues for women in the legal profession.

318 Politics of Race, Class, and Gender
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. A study of the racial, class and gender influences on the history and development of political values, conflicts, processes, structures and public policy in the United States.

319 Women and American Politics
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. This course analyzes the participation of women in American politics. Attention is given to both women's historical and contemporary roles in politics, their participation as voters and citizens, and their behavior as candidates and office holders. Additional topics may include workplace, family, and education issues, and reproductive rights.

333 Sociology of Sex and Gender
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisite: SOC 101 or permission of the instructor. a cross-cultural and evolutionary exploration of the interdependence between male and female roles in the following social institutions: family, and female roles in law, economics, politics, religion, education, and health.

334 Sociology of Women
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. SOC 101 or consent of the instructor. This course will examine the position and status of women across societies and the social forces that maintain existing patterns and arrangements. The integration of family and work in women's lives will be emphasized.

335 Psychology of Women
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Overview of issues in psychology relevant to women. Topics include: research methods of women's issues, sex-role socialization, women and hormones, psychological androgyny, personality theory and counseling strategies for women, women and languages, women and violence and rape and abuse.

336/SOCY 336 Violence Against Women
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. An examination of violence against women from a global and local perspective with a primary focus on violence perpetrated against women in the U.S. Requires a minimum of 20 hours of community service.

339, 340/History 339, 340 History of Women in Europe
Semester courses; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. A history of European women from the Greeks to the contemporary world. A major focus of both courses will be primary sources by and about women. First semester: from antiquity to the Enlightenment. Second semester: from the French Revolution to the present.

341/History 341 American Women's History
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Through lecture, reading, and discussion, this course analyzes historical changes in the social, cultural, and economic position of women in America over the past three centuries. It includes such topics as the differences and similarities of women's experiencesacross lines of class, race and ethnicity, the struggle for suffrage and socialreform, shifting gender roles, and changing employment opportunities.

352 Feminist Literary Theory
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisite: Three credits in 200 level literature courses or equivalent. The study of contemporary feminist thought and feminist approaches to analyzing literature and culture. This course examines the history and development of feminist theory as a methodology in the humanities, explores several of the major theoretical trends of the last 30 years, and examines applications of feminist theory to specific works of literature.

366 Women and Global Politics
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. A study of women and global politics, providing both a feminist reexamination of traditional international relations theories and a comparative analysis of the political, legal, and economic status of the world's women. The impact of women on global political institutions such as the United Nations will be addressed as well as other feminist and grassroots means of taking political action.

370 Women and Religion
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Critical study of women and their role in the world's religions. The course will attempt to examine the role women play in religous ceromonies, orthodoxy, and belief systems.

371 Islam and Women (pre-requisite RELS 371)
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisite: RELS 312, 317 or knowledge of Islam. Critical study of the roles and rights of women in Islam.

372 Global Women's Spirituality
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Explores the spiritual writings of women in various cultures and religious traditions.

373 Women and the Bible
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Studies the Hebrew and Christian scriptures with emphasis on the participation and portrayal of women within these texts. Attention to traditional, feminist and womanist interpretations of the texts.

380 Lesbian and Bisexual Women
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. This course examines the lives of contemporary lesbian and bisexual women from psychological, sociological, developmental, political, and cultural perspectives. The intersection of race, class, ethnicity, religion, age, and locale with lesbian/bisexual identity will be explored.

382 Women in the Justice System
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Surveys the special situation of women in the justice system as offenders, as victims, and as professional practitioners. Applicable laws and public policy are studied in detail. Issues are punctuated by field trips to juvenile/adult programs and institutions.

384 Women Writers; African American Women Writers, African Women WritersSemester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. A study of selected literature written by women and about women writers. May be repeated once when different writers are studied.

387 Lesbian Texts/Queer Theories
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisite: 3 credits in a 200-level literature course (or equivalent.) A study of queer literature and theory, focusing on writing about female same-sex desire. Explores the idea of a “lesbian subject” and a “lesbian text” through directed study of literature, film, history and theory. Considers issues of aesthetics, politics, authorship and interpretive communities and examines the intersection of social identities with particular attention to race/ethnicity, sex/gender, class and nationality.

390 Africa and the Americas: Slavery, Gender, and Race
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. An examination of various aspects of slavery, in Africa primarily, and selected parts of the African Diaspora including the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean, with emphasis on African conditions of servility, the African slave trade, and chattel slavery. The role gender and race played in slavery will be given particular attention.

391 Topics in Women's Studies
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisites may be required, check with your instructor. May be repeated with different topics for a maximum of six credits. An in-depth examination of specialized areas of interest in women's studies.

392 Women’s Health Issues across the Life Span
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. This course is intended for upper-level undergraduate students. Introduces students to the health issues that affect women throughout the life span. The impact of physiological, psychological, cultural and political factors upon women’s well-being will be addressed.

393 Feminist Research and Methods
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Completion of STAT 210 (or equivalent) is strongly recommended. Explores the implications of feminist theorizing across disciplinary and cultural contexts for both methodology and epistemology. Examines how knowledge and power intersect, how gendertheory and feminist politics influence research, how the knower influencesknowledge production, and how social location shapes inquiry.

401 Topical Senior Seminar
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Prerequisite: student must be a women's studies major enrolled as a junior or senior. An in-depth examination of specialized areas of interest in women's studies.

414 Psychology of Women's Health
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Overviews the psychological research on women's health. Topics include health behavior change, personality and individual differences, cognitive factors, and disease-specific behaviors and interventions.

452 Language and Gender
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. A study of relationships between the ways women and men use language, relationships between language and power, and the ways women's and men's use of language reflects and reinforces cultural attitudes toward gender.

457 Women, Art and Society
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. A reexamination of a variety of issues concerning women, art, and society: the position assigned women within the history of art as it relates to historical place and the aesthetic values of the canon, the rendering of style, patronage, audience, and gaze. Through a survey of images of and by women, as well as through an analysis of art historical and critical texts, this course addresses the question: "How are the processes of sexual differentiation played out across the representations of art and art history?"

492 Independent Study
Semester course; variable credit. Maximum total in all independent study courses 4 credits. Open generally only to students of junior or senior standing who have acquired at least 12 credits in women's studies courses. Determination of the amount of credit and permission of the instructor and director must be obtained prior to registration for the course.

520 Gender Issues in Counseling
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Overview of gender issues and their relationship to the counseling process. Class focuses on understanding the unique issues men and women bring to counseling and providing appropriate counseling interventions. Focus is on appropriate gender developmental tasks and how diversity in age, religion, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and sexual orientation relates to relationships and to counseling men and women.