Carleton College: Women's and Gender Studies: Courses

Courses

2007-2008 Courses:
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WGST 110: Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies
This course is an introduction to the ways in which gender structures our world, and to the ways feminists challenge established intellectual frameworks. However, because gender is not a homogeneous category but is differentiated by class, race, sexualities, ethnicity, and culture, we also consider the ways differences in social location intersect with gender. 6; Humanities, Recognition and Affirmation of Difference Requirement; offered Spring 2008 -- B. Allen, A. Igra
WGST 111: American "Queer": An Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies
This course focuses on the emergence and development of LGBT identities in the United States from World War II to the present moment. The course considers the consolidation of lesbian and gay identities before 1969, the Stonewall Rebellion, the divergence of lesbian and gay male subcultures in the 1970s, the AIDS crisis and sexualized lesbian feminisms of the 1980s, new queer activism and commercialization of lesbian and gay identity in the 1990s, and the importance and visibility of transgender identities in the new century. This course functions as a foundational interdisciplinary introduction to LGBT experience in the United States. 6; Humanities, Recognition and Affirmation of Difference Requirement; offered Fall 2007 -- A. DeSoto
WGST 200: Feminist Ways of Knowing
In this course we will examine whether there are feminist ways of knowing, the criteria by which knowledge is classified as feminist and the various methods used by feminists to produce this knowledge. Some questions that will occupy us are: How do we know what we know? Who does research? Does it matter who the researcher is? How does the social location (race, class, gender, sexuality) of the researcher affect research? Who is the research for? How can research relate to efforts for social change? While answering these questions, we will consider how different feminist researchers have dealt with them. 6; Social Sciences; not offered 2007-2008
WGST 205: The Politics of Women's Health
This course will explore the politics of women's health from the perspective of women of different races, ethnicities, classes and sexual orientations in the U.S. The organization of the health care system and women's activism (as consumers and health care practitioners) shall frame for our explorations of menstruation, sexuality, nutrition, body image, fertility control, pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause. We will cover basic facts about the female body and pay particular attention to adjustments the body makes during physiological events (i.e. menstruation, sexual and reproductive activity, and menopause). We will focus on the medicalization of these processes and explore alternatives to this medicalization. 6; Social Sciences, Recognition and Affirmation of Difference Requirement; offered Fall 2007 -- M. Sehgal
WGST 230: Transgender: Culture, Politics, and Identity
Over the last ten years, transgender identity and activism have placed the "T" in acronym LGBT at the forefront of spirited debates within the LGBT community over gender, sexuality, identity, and transformation. This course examines this growing field of cultural, political, academic, and visual work, by examining a set of key questions: What is Transgender? What is the history of transsexuality and transgenderism? What are the differences between transsexualism and transgenderism? How do they challenge or undermine our assumed or unexamined ideas of gender and difference, and how do they relate to lesbian and gay sexuality and coalition-building efforts? 6; Humanities, Recognition and Affirmation of Difference Requirement; offered Winter 2008 -- A. DeSoto
WGST 234: Feminist Theory
Feminism has to do with changing the world. We will explore feminist debates about changing the world using a historical framework to situate feminist theories in the context of the philosophical and political thought of specific time periods and cultures. Thus, we will follow feminist theories as they challenged, critiqued, subverted and revised liberalism, Marxism, existentialism, socialism, anarchism, critical race theories, multiculturalism, postmodernism and post-colonialism. We will focus on how theory emerges from and informs matters of practice. We will ask: What counts as theory? Who does it? How is it institutionalized? Who gets to ask the questions and to provide the answers? 6; Recognition and Affirmation of Difference Requirement, Does not fulfill a distribution requirement; not offered 2007-2008
WGST 239: Transnational Feminisms
This course examines the field of transnational feminist theorizing and the practices of global feminisms. Using a comparative feminist solidarity model, we will learn how to cross the borders of nation, race, class and sexuality to engage with differently situated people. We will focus on postcolonial feminist critiques of the western feminist lens and start developing self-reflexivity in terms of learning how to situate one's identity and work transnationally. We will map out the transnational dimensions of gender, race, class and sexuality, focusing in particular on nationalism, religious fundamentalism, militarism, globalization, and the politics of resistance. 6; Social Sciences, Recognition and Affirmation of Difference Requirement; offered Winter 2008 -- M. Sehgal
WGST 396: Capstone Seminar-LGBT Film and Literature: Issues in Representation
Focusing on poly-genre works of film and literature in United States LGBT cultural history, this course will examine both content and form in the creation of literary and filmic representations of what constitutes the lesbian, the gay, and the transgender subject. Specific course foci include the politics of representation, critical models for analyzing film and literature, and debates both within LGBT communities and between LGBT communities and dominant heterosexual culture on representation in the project of "becoming visible." The course is designed to support the completion of a major research project in LGBT literature, film, or other visual media. 6; Arts and Literature, Recognition and Affirmation of Difference Requirement; offered Spring 2008 -- A. DeSoto

Carleton College

Women's and Gender Studies

Courses

WGST 110: Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies

WGST 111: American "Queer": An Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies

WGST 200: Feminist Ways of Knowing

WGST 205: The Politics of Women's Health

WGST 230: Transgender: Culture, Politics, and Identity

WGST 234: Feminist Theory

WGST 239: Transnational Feminisms

WGST 396: Capstone Seminar-LGBT Film and Literature: Issues in Representation

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