Women’s Studies Course Descriptions
Women's Studies Courses, New Courses, and Special Topics
Fall 2008
Distinguished Lectures on Women, Sex, and Gender
Cross-Disciplinary; Multi-Cultural
WS 2400
5:00-6:15 Tuesdays OLCB 1136 and Thursdays Belk Library 114
Instructor: Martha McCaughey
- TEENAGE GIRLS AND INTERNET PREDATORS
- WOMEN AND CAREERS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
- MEN AND MASCULINITY IN TODAY'S JOB MARKET
- RAPE AND BINGE DRINKING ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
- THE "GENDER" OF SCHOOL SHOOTINGS
This unique course introduces students to a variety of topics and methods of investigation in the study of women's and gender issues. Each Thursday students will attend a lecture given by a scholar from a different discipline. Students will have assignments and readings designed around each lecture and will meet on Tuesdays with the instructor of the course to interpret and analyze the featured lectures. This course stresses the importance of taking women and gender seriously for understanding a variety of real-world issues.
Sex, Gender, and Power: Introduction to Women's Studies for the Social Sciences
Writing; Multi-Cultural; Cross-Disciplinary
Core: Social Sciences
WS 2421
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30-10:45, LLA 223
Instructor: Kelly Clark/Keefe
This course introduces the study of gender and a diversity of women--both historic and contemporary, using a variety of methodologies and materials drawn primarily from the social sciences. It also serves as an introduction to the interdisciplinary discipline of Women's Studies for the major and minor in Women's Studies.
A Woman for President? Gender and Global Leadership from Victoria Woodhull to Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
IDS 2531
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00-3:15, OLCB 17
Instructor: Rachel Terman
In this course, students will examine three areas regarding women and political leadership. First, students will survey the historical basis of women and the presidency in the U.S. We will cover women in U.S. history from the Iroquois to Victoria Woodhull to Hillary Clinton. Second, taking transnational feminist we will examine women political leaders from around the world. Widowed leaders as well as other elected women from Africa, Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and other areas will inform our understanding of how gender informs power. Third, we will review the 2008 U.S. presidential election (pending primary and convention results) and/or the 2007-2008 U.S. presidential primary elections. This will include following current events in print and televised media and keeping a log of unfolding events. Students will be asked to think critically about questions of democracy, power, gender construction, and historical meaning.
Women in Indian Literature
ENG 3530-101 and WS 3530-101
MW, Sanford 307
Instructor- Premila Paul
We will read literature by and about Indian women. These texts are part of mainstream World Literature and help to create sensitive awareness of the Indian woman's predicament, her fight for rights, and possibilities of empowerment. These works deal with issues such as casteism, class structure, partition of the Indian subcontinent, religion, and marriage.
Feminist Theories
Speaking; Writing; Cross-Disciplinary; Multi-Cultural
WS 4650/5650
Tuesdays, 6:00-9:00pm, LLC 214
Instructor: TBA
This course surveys a wide range of contemporary theories of gender inequality. Students become familiar with these theories and learn to recognize the intellectual roots and theoretical assumptions of various arguments about sex and gender. Students also examine the complexity of identity and politics in a social context characterized by inequalities of opportunity, privilege, and authority and by rapid change, global media, and advancing technology. Important for the assessment of various theories is the proposition that any man or woman is positioned within other hierarchies of dominations, such as race, class, nationality, physical ability, and sexuality, in addition to gender.
Literature in Translation: Women and Dictatorships
FLL 2025
TR 11:00-12:15, Sanford 503
Instructor-Patricia Napiorski
This course is about women and autocracy in fiction and in real life. We will read texts written by women writers who have had first hand experience with totalitarianism and dictatorships. Women, from their private spaces, challenge and deconstruct the structures of fear and autocratic power. Through the reading of fiction and non-fiction texts, we will examine the ways in which women, from different social classes, cross limits that are forbidden to be crossed, thus creating spaces for their own empowerment.
Gender and the Study of Religion
REL 3533
T 5:00-6:15, Greer 222
Instructor-Sandie Gravett
This course investigates how religious beliefs and rituals construct femininity and masculinity. We will examine how both women and men find identity in the major world religions (and in a few other select communities) as well as the manner in which these traditions normalize gendered roles and practices. Particular focus will be placed on the nature, function, and development of religious beliefs and rituals, but we will also attend to theoretical paradigms that assist scholars in understanding the relevant issues. An emphasis on how gender issues help determine the roles of women and men in various societies--particularly in contemporary culture--will also inform our work.
