Students in the undergraduate program are part of a challenging environment with unique opportunities for learning and research. These students have the opportunity to work with some of the finest feminist scholars in the country who teach courses from an intersectional approach like:
WGSST 2340 – Latina Experience in the U.S.
This course explores how sexuality, gender, race, and class shape the individual and communal identities and struggles of Latinas. Through an engagement with literary and visual texts by and about Latinas, students will explore the shared and divergent experiences of Latinas in the U.S.
WGSST 2367.02 – U.S. Latina Writers: Text and Context
This course will enhance students’ critical and analytical reading and writing skills through an interdisciplinary analysis of literature by U.S. Latina women. The course centers on writing and analysis of Latina experiences with an emphasis on interdisciplinary relationships between literature and U.S. Latina socio-political history. Students will explore Latina writers’ strategies for articulating Latina experience (through intersections of race, class, sexuality and gender), and on the role of literature as a metaphor for social reality and catalyst for social and political change.
WGSST 2367.04 – Black Women Writers: Text and Context
This course will enhance students’ critical and analytical reading and writing skills through an interdisciplinary analysis of literature written by African American women. The interdisciplinary content of this course – a combination of literary, social, political and cultural readings – will enable the student to read, discuss, and write about how African American female authors have historically depicted and interpreted their own socio-political and cultural status in the USA.
WGSST 2702- Modern Arabic Literature in Translation
This course is a comprehensive overview of the emergence and development of fiction written by Arab women through translated works. Students will examine the differences and similarities between Western and Arab feminist theories as reflected in 19th and 20th century literature by Arab women. This course is taught in English language. Cross-listed in Arabic.
WGSST 2750H – Natives and Newcomers: U.S. Immigration and Migration
General survey of (im)migration history in the U.S. from pre-colonial times to the present. Topics include cultural contact, economic relations, citizenship, politics, family and sexuality. Cross-listed in History.
WGSST 4401 – Asian American Women: Race, Sex and Representations
This course examines the experiences and cultural representations of Asian American women to explore intersections of gender, race, class, and nationality in U.S. and Asian societies.
WGSST 4402 – Black Women: Representations, Politics and Power
This course examines the ways in which black womanhood is constructed and represented across cultural, social and political contexts in the U.S- and how black women make meaning of their lives.
WGSST 4405 – Race and Sexuality
Placing the concept of ‘race’ in the historical frameworks of colonialism, slavery and 19th century science, this course draws on feminist and anti-racist theorists, literature and film to investigate how race and sexuality intersect in all our lives.
WGSST 4520 – Women of Color and Social Activism
This course focuses on contemporary writing by women of color on citizenship, leadership, political activism, and democratic politics. We will consider the political roles of women of color in local, national and international contexts.
WGSST 4540 – Women of Color: Art Literature and Culture
This course is an interdisciplinary study of selected historical and cultural movements by women of color. Topics vary by genre and era.
WGSST 4576 Women & Visual Culture in Latin America
This interdisciplinary course offers students an introduction to Latin American women visual artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Focusing primarily on the mediums of photography, film, painting, and performance, students will examine visual texts produced by specific women artists in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Cuba, Panama, and other countries of Latin America for how they depict and analyze the intersections of gender, sexuality, class, disability, race and ethnicity within the contexts of colonialism, nationalism, and globalization.
WGSST 5623 – African Women: History and Socioeconomic Change
This course uses a cross-cultural approach to examine the cultures and roles of African women in the 20th and 21st centuries. Particular attention is given to the voices of African women as they confront and work to overcome the complex problems they encounter in their everyday lives. Cross-listed in History.
Women of Color Requirement