Course Catalog 2009-2010

Director: Associate Professor Kristina Mead (Biology and Women's Studies)

Associate Professor Toni King, Joint Appointment with Black Studies

Assistant Professor Isis Nusair, Joint Appointment with International Studies

Assistant Professor Jill Gillespie, Women's Studies

Faculty: Professors Robin Bartlett (Economics), Bernardita Llanos (Modern Languages), Marlene Tromp (English), Mary Tuominen (Sociology/Anthropology); Associate Professors Suzanne Condray (Communication), Susan Diduk (Sociology/Anthropology), Barbara Fultner (Philosophy), Karen Graves (Educational Studies), Toni King (Women's Studies and Black Studies), Linda Krumholz (English), Sara Lee (Physical Education), Sonya McKay (Chemistry), Kristina Mead (Biology), Gill Wright Miller (Dance), Lyn Robertson (Educational Studies), Joy Sperling (Art); Assistant Professors Jill Gillespie (Women's Studies), Amanda Gunn (Communication), Diana Mafe (English), Isis Nusair (International Studies and Women's Studies), Christine Pae (Religion), Megan Threlkeld (History); Academic Administrative Assistant Beth Jeffries

Mission Statement. The Women's Studies Program at Denison University takes its mission to be three-fold. We intend to foster a critical awareness of and intellectual sensitivity to content, method and real-life implications of the field:

First, to engage students in the intellectual content of the discipline: women's issues, the role of gender, and the relationship between gender and other politicized aspects of "identity," including race, class, age, religion, sexuality;

Second, to instill in students an appreciation of the holistic character of Women's Studies. Women's Studies scholarship is not just a question of content but also of method -- methods that are inflected by the interdisciplinarity of Women's Studies. Students explore how Women's Studies treats women's issues in different disciplines, such as literary studies, political science, sociology, communications, philosophy, biology, etc., as well as developing their understanding of these issues from an interdisciplinary perspective (i.e. one that takes into account and sees the interconnections between this array of disciplines).

Third, to show our students the real-life implications of their academic engagement. That is, we challenge students to see the relationship between theory and practice: to see how the academic study of women's issues and gender is informed by and has the power to transform real lives, both others' and our own.

Curricular Goals. Denison's Women's Studies faculty are dedicated to helping students develop rigorous analyses of culture, politics, ideas and text, as well as creative leadership skills. We hope to teach our students the history, analysis and practice of feminist scholarship, means of creative expression for their intellectual interests and concerns, and political service and activism.

To that end, we require our students to take an introductory course, "Issues in Feminism," a "Feminist Methods" course, and a "Feminist Theory" course, as well as a capstone experience that involves active community engagement and written response or a sustained research project.

These required courses in the major and minor should explore gender and justice issues, provide both the methods and information to conduct rigorous analysis, engage our students in ways that challenge them to take their thinking about the material into the world, and embody feminist pedagogy. The elective courses will do the same in the context of their field of study.

Students have the opportunity of participating in a variety of internships located throughout the country that acquaint them with women's issues. Students are encouraged to develop leadership skills by taking an active part in campus life, including projects developed by the program. Recent projects include a national grant application, a campus-wide study on violence, and a benefit concert.

The Women's Studies Program sponsors regular symposia on gender issues that include presentations by Women's Studies faculty as well as Women's Studies scholars from throughout the United States. With the support of the Laura C. Harris endowment, the Women's Studies Program has hosted internationally-renowned scholars like bell hooks, Gloria Anzaldua, Cynthia Enloe, Carol Cohn, Winona Duke, Spike Peterson and jazz musician and poet Joy Harjo. Program members also participate in the Great Lakes Colleges Association, which provides conferences for Women's Studies students and faculty.

Women's Studies majors are required to take a total of 32 credit hours. Many students double major in Women's Studies and another field. Students may sign up for a course either under the department number or under the Women's Studies number. Both numbers will count toward the Women's Studies major or minor. All courses except for WMST 101 will be at the 200 level or above. All Women's Studies majors must take the following:

One of the courses used to fulfill requirement (2), (3), or (4) must be a course cross-listed with Black Studies. The same course cannot be used to fulfill more than one of the above requirements.

Women's Studies minors are required to take a total of 24 credit hours. All courses except for WMST 101 will be at the 200 level or above. All Women's Studies majors must take the following:

The same course cannot be used to fulfill more than one of the above requirements.

Students are encouraged to consult with the Director of Women's Studies in making their choices.

Issues in Feminism (WMST-101).  This interdisciplinary course will examine some aspects of institutionalized sexism in contemporary America, such as differential role socialization and its consequences; legal inequalities; job discrimination; reproductive issues; and violence against women. Every woman's experience of sexism is mediated by her class, race, age, religion, sexual preference and so forth; therefore the diversity of women's experience is a key factor in our study. The class format will be primarily a lecture-discussion format and may include small group discussions. 4

Black Women's Lives (WMST-102).  The purpose of this course is to explore personal narrative and autobiography as texts of resistance in Black women's lives. The course will use the multiple genres of autobiography such as poetry, essay, short narrative, memoir and major autobiographical works to illustrate Black women's resistance to race, class, and gender subordination or other forms of marginalization and oppression in their lives and in society. These autobiographical texts will be paired with select readings from women's studies and black studies to provide students with the analytical tools to identify how these texts function as forms of personal, social, political or institutional protest. 4

Sex, Gender & the Brain (WMST-103).  4

Self-Defense for Women (WMST-162).  This course is for women to learn basic self-defense techniques to prevent sexual assault. We will discuss and practice strategies that can be used in a variety of self-defense situations, including street and job harassment, date-rape, and stranger assault, fighting from the ground, defending yourself with or against a weapon, and defense against multiple attackers. Students will learn to combine mental, verbal and physical self-defense techniques in their personal lives. (Offered spring semester) 1

Science, Sex & Gender (WMST-190).  Current research on sex differences in humans and animals has raised our awareness of bona fide variations in brain chemistry and function between males and females. How do these legitimate research findings compare with our stereotypes about gender differences? During the semester we will investigate several perspectives on sex and gender differences - from popular media sources to leading research. We will also investigate the role of women and men in science in a historical and modern context. Ultimately our goal is to blend our knowledge with our personal experiences to answer the question, "Is the study of science divided by sex and gender?" 4

Sex and Gender in Society (WMST-210).  This course compares and evaluates a variety of theories which attempt to explain the origins, persistence and effects of gender in American society. In particular, it explores a number of settings that may include: the family, the work place, the political arena, religious activity, violence against women, and face-to-face interactional contexts. Special attention is given to the ways in which race,ethnicity, class and sexual orientation shape gender experiences. Although its primary focus is American society, the course compares problems of sexual inequality in American society with other, quite different, societies in order to gain a comparative understanding of how discrimination, prejudice, and structural inequality, wherever they are found, create special problems for women. Throughout, the focus is on learning to use structural, historical, and theoretical information as guides to understanding social change and the choices facing women and men. This course has no prerequisite. 4

Women in Modern Europe (WMST-213).  This course surveys the history of women in Europe from 1700 to the present. Topics covered include women in revolutions, the effect of industrialization on women and the family, changing views of sexuality, women's rights movements and socialism, the female experience of world wars, women under fascism and women in the welfare state. 4

Women in Music (WMST-220).  Historically, women have played an integral role in musical traditions around the world, although the extent of their contributions has only recently been recognized and studied in an academic context. This course traces the development and current state of women's roles in music, including Western art music composers, performers, critics, and teachers: performers of popular American genres such as jazz, country, and rock; and performers of popular "World Beat" and traditional world musics. 4

Women in United States History (WMST-223).  This course surveys the history of women in the United States from 1848 to the present. We will explore the lived experiences of many different kinds of women and analyze the ways in which other categories of identity?race, ethnicity, nationality, class, sexual orientation, age, etc.?affect those experiences. We will also explore the development of feminist consciousness among U.S. women, and analyze attempts to expand that consciousness both nationally and globally. 4

Women in Literature (WMST-225).  Selected poetry and prose by women guide inquiries into writing and gender and into related issues, such as sexuality, history, race, class, identity and power. 4

Exploring Women's Spirituality (WMST-227).  Are religions problematic to women's lives or vice versa? Inquiring about women's commitment to social activism in their respective religions and societies, this course will explore various spiritualities practiced by women. The students will be asked to contemplate what issues women are facing in their institutionalized religions and societies; how they create their own sacred space through spiritual practices; and in what ways these women interweave their lived experiences, religious traditions, and social activism together. This course will explore women's diverse spiritualities from cross-cultural and inter-religious perspectives. Prospective traditions will be drawn from Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Native-American religion practiced by eco-feminists, Latinas, Asian and African women, womanists, and western feminists. 4

Mediating Gender and Sexuality (WMST-229).  We will critically examine and evaluate the cultural construction and representation of gender and sexuality in contemporary American mass media, and trace their development throughout the 20th century. We will focus on a variety of mass-produced commercial media texts, surveying television, magazines, advertising, and popular music. Although gender is the primary identity construction examined in this course, we will pay close attention to other aspects of identity that define American women, such as ethnicity, class, and sexuality. We will investigate representational issues in relation to their political repercussions, and draw from a broad range of academic literature, including feminist television criticism, film theory, cultural studies, communication theory, and popular music criticism. 4

Black Women and Organizational Leadership (WMST-265).  This class explores Black women's leadership orientations in organizations. Afrocentric and womanist frameworks are used to inquire about Black women's leadership in the context of their lives. In this course we explore and theorize Black women's use of communal and generative leadership orientations as well as their application of a multiple and oppositional consciousness. Organizational dilemmas stemming from their race, class, and gender, as well as the unique challenges Black women leaders face in creating a supportive life structure are examined. Students will critique the omission of Black women's leadership styles in the mainstream theories about leadership, as well as explore the implications of Black women's leadership for expanding mainstream theory. 4

Goddesses and Gender in South Asian Religions (WMST-271).  Since the earliest days of contact Europeans have criticized the status of women in South Asia. Scholars, however, have struggled to reconcile women's apparent subjugation with the myriad religious traditions that honor the feminine divine. This course will explore gender in South Asian religions both through understanding the place of the Goddess in Hinduism and Buddhism and women's religious practices throughout the subcontinent. 4

Women and Western Religion (WMST-272).  An introductory course analyzing the historical experiences of women within Western religion and contemporary trends in feminist theological thought. Although emphasis will vary, students will be asked to evaluate critical topics such as: how the Bible presents women, feminist reconstructions of Biblical texts, arguments that Christianity and Judaism are essentially sexist, feminist Christian and Jewish theological reconstructions and contemporary Western Goddess spirituality. 4

Women and the U.S. Economy (WMST-273).  This course will focus on the market and nonmarket contributions of women to the U.S. economy. A historical framework provides the backdrop for examining the economic, political and social institutions that affect women's contributions to the nation's economic well-being. Prerequisite: 301. 4

Cultural Studies in Dance History (WMST-274).  We will frame Western concert dance as a complex political activity made public through various agendas of race, creed, national origin, sexuality, and gender. Students will simultaneously be exposed to poststructuralist epistemology and feminist theory while they are meeting a survey of historical works. In this way, the course is less about coming to know a canon of "masterworks" and more about learning how to interrogate dance in any culture from a western perspective. 4

Philosophy of Feminism (WMST-275).  Feminism can radically challenge traditional ways of doing philosophy. In asking why women and women's experience seem to be missing from the tradition of philosophy, it implicitly questions philosophy's claim to objectivity, universality, and truth. Thus, feminist criticism probes some of the most fundamental philosophical assumptions about our knowledge of and interaction with the world and other people. Are there philosophically significant differences between men and women? We will examine this and other questions, emphasizing contemporary feminist discussions of epistemology, ethics, and science. Prerequisite: One previous course in Philosophy or Women's Studies or consent. (Spring) 4

Gender, War and Conflict (WMST-276).  This course aims to make feminist sense of contemporary wars and conflicts. It analyzes the intersections between gender, race, class, and ethnicity in national conflicts. The class traces the gendered processes of defining citizenship, national identity and security, and examines the role of institutions like the military in the construction of femininity and masculinity. The course focuses on the gendered impact of war and conflict through examining torture, mass rape, genocide, and refugee displacement. It analyzes the strategies used by women's and feminist movements, to oppose war and conflict, and the gendered impact of war prevention, peacekeeping, and post-war reconstruction. The class draws on cases from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa. The class is interdisciplinary and gives equal weight to theory and practice while drawing on writings by local and global activists and theorists. 4

Topics in Women's Studies (WMST-290).  4

Cultural and Social Methods (WMST-298).  This course examines both scientific methods and social analysis based on empirical research and the interpretive strategies that have developed out of the humanities for understanding societies. It provides experience in the design and implementation of social and cultural research with a focus on women's studies. The course will examine the epistemological issues that underlie research in women's studies, the ethical and political questions involved, and the assumptions that shape various methods. Students will apply the methods learned to their own research projects. Prerequisite: One Women's Studies course or consent. 1-4

Intermediate Topics in Women's Studies (WMST-299).  A general category used only in the evaluation of transfer credit. 1-4

Psychology of Women (WMST-301).  This course reviews psychological research and theories on women. Topics include sex bias in psychological research, gender differences and similarities in personality and abilities, lifespan development, problems of adjustment and psychotherapy, language and communication, women's health, female sexuality, and violence against women (rape and wife battering). Prerequisite:s PSYC 100, PSYC 200, and junior or senior status, or consent of instructor. 4

Women and the Arts (WMST-302).  This course will consider how women artists have expressed what goes into the building of a home. We will think about different settings (during peacetime, wartime, in various cultures with or without partnes and/or families), in different individual needs and tastes, and different genres for the recording of that expression. This will entail four kinds of considerations: First, we will read sections from Timeless Way of Building, Language of Landscape and House Thinking; then we will deconstruct those readings to explore issues addressed by feminist theory, issues like comparable worth, coming to voice, single-parenting. All the while we will look at those issues expressed in artworks by and about women -- paintings, dances, music, novels, short-stories, and finally over the course of the semester, we will create a work ourselves around a physical dwelling -- whether that means dressing a window, painting a wall, or making something physical happen within it. No dancing involved. (Offered every other year) 4

The Gendering of Self and Culture: Women in Latin American Arts (WMST-305).  This course will examine different forms of discourses by Latin American women writers, filmmakers and artists from the 60s to the present. The focus will be the analysis and discussion of the different cultural operations used by Latin American women to question and critically examine their cultural tradition and society. 4

Transnational Feminism (WMST-306).  This class provides students with the ability to understand, critique, and comparatively analyze the politics of gender in transnational contexts. The course traces the development of feminist thinking and practice within national, regional and transnational contexts, and maps the political agendas of women's and feminist movements in various countries around the world. The course focuses on how feminism emerges in a particular context and the specific issues that galvanize women to act for change. The course explores the connections between feminism, colonization, nationalism, militarization, imperialism, and globalization, and analyzes the processes by which the agendas of women from the global north and south come together or clash. The course examines through specific examples from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa the concerns and challenges facing transnational women's and feminist movements today. The class is interdisciplinary and draws on writings by local and global activists and theorists. 4

Feminist Theory (WMST-307).  This course examines various ways of understanding gender by looking at a variety of feminist theories. Theories studied may include psychoanalytic, feminist theory, cultural materialist feminist theory, etc. Particular consideration will be given to issues raised by multiculturalism, women of color, womanist perspectives, queer theory, class concerns and international feminist movements. The course will introduce students to a variety of theories to enable them both to recognize and use those theories in their research and social practice. Students will be encouraged to become reflective about their own theoretical stances and to consider how societies can move closer to justice for both women and men. Prerequisite: One Women's Studies course or consent. 4

Families, Sexuality and the State (WMST-313).  In this seminar we explore the ways in which race,ethnicity, social class and sexuality shape family/kinship structures in and beyond the contemporary U.S. We explore specific issues including sexuality and kinship;reproductive technologies and surrogacy; transnational families; and women's political activism in the context of families. These issues are explored using sociological, anthropological, and feminist theories. Prerequisite: S/A 100 or consent. 4

Women in Sport (WMST-320).  This course is designed to give students a comprehensive look at women in sport: past, present and future. This course will examine, analyze and synthesize the issues surrounding women. Each topic will be studied through readings, films, class discussions and reflect sport from historical, psychological, sociological, physiological, political and philosophical perspectives. This course satisfies the G.E. Minority/Women's Studies requirement. Cross-listed with Women's Studies. (Spring) 4

African-American Women's Literature (WMST-325).  Historical and contemporary African-American women's literature grounds an inquiry into black women's literary and intellectual traditions within the matrix of race, gender, class and sexual relations in the United States. 4

Gender and Communications (WMST-329).  This course focuses on (1) the role of interpersonal, social and political communication in the construction of gender expectations in American culture, and (2) how those expectations get communicated/performed, and thus reified, in our daily lives. We will explore the complex interplay between self expectations and social expectations of gender that get expressed, challenged, and ultimately influenced by and within a variety of social and interpersonal contexts: education, the body, organizations, friends and family, romantic relationships, the media, and politics. 4

Special Topics (WMST-345).  4

Directed Study (WMST-361).  1-4

Directed Study (WMST-362).  1-4

Independent Study (WMST-363).  1-4

Independent Study (WMST-364).  1-4

Queer Theory (WMST-379).  An interdisciplinary course designed to introduce students to historical and theoretical treatments of topics such as the essentialism vs. constructionism debate; intersections of race/gender/class and sexual orientation; science and representation; performativity and normativity; and ethics, politics and law. 4

Sex and Sexuality in Latin America (WMST-383).  This course critically examines of gender and sexuality in Latin America. Particularly it will explore the various attempts by the ruling elite to define acceptable and deviant gender roles and sexual identities, how the non-elite resisted the imposition of those elite notions of propriety to create their own codes of conduct, and how those conflicts have changed over time. 4

Topics in Women's Studies (WMST-390).  4

Critical Pedagogy: Gender, Race and Class in U.S. Education (WMST-391).  In its examination of current critical issues in U.S. education, the central concern throughout this course is the relationship between school and society. Particular attention is given to critical and feminist pedagogies. This course includes a two-hour commitment each week to social service agencies or local schools. 4

Senior Research (WMST-451).  4

Senior Research (WMST-452).  4