Women's and Gender Studies (WGST)
Director: Professor Clara Hardy, fall, Associate Professor Annette Igra, winter and spring
Mellon Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow: Karina A. Eileraas
Assistant Professor: Meera Sehgal
Committee Members: Barbara Allen, Carol Donelan, Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg, Clara Hardy, Annette Igra, Diane M. Nemec Ignashev, Lance McCready, Annette Nierobisz, Meera Sehgal, Kathryn Sparling
The Women's and Gender Studies Program provides an interdisciplinary meeting ground for exploring questions about women and gender that are transforming knowledge across disciplinary lines in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Its goal is to include gender, along with class, sexual orientation and race, as a central category of social and cultural analysis. Courses focusing on women and gender are offered by the departments of Asian Languages and Literatures, Classics, English, German and Russian, Romance Languages and Literatures, History, Cinema and Media Studies, Music, Religion, Philosophy, Political Science, Art, Sociology and Anthropology, as well as Women's and Gender Studies itself. Carleton offers both a Major and a Concentration in Women's and Gender Studies that allows students to complement their major field with an interdisciplinary focus on women and gender. All courses are open to all students, if they have fulfilled the prerequisites.
Women's and Gender Studies 110, an entry point to the major, is a topical introduction to the field. Women's and Gender Studies 200 and 234 provide the theoretical and methodological tools for advanced work on women and gender. The capstone course, Women's and Gender Studies 396, offers students the opportunity to study a topic in depth and to produce a substantial research paper. The major culminates in a senior comprehensive project, directed by advisers from two disciplines, that builds on the skills and interests developed in previous coursework in Women's and Gender Studies. Each student devises an appropriate program of courses in consultation with the major adviser.
Requirements for a Major: (Total of 66 credits)
One introductory course, Women's and Gender Studies 110
One methodology course, Women's and Gender Studies 200 or 234
One Capstone Seminar, Women's and Gender Studies 396
Comprehensive Exercise, Women's and Gender Studies 400
In addition to these 24 credits, students must complete an additional 42 credits from the Women's and Gender Studies offerings listed below. Of these 42, no more than 12 credits should be at the 100-level and at least 12 credits should be at the 300-level. Ordinarily, no more than 18 credits may be applied to the major from outside of Carleton.
Students will plan these courses in consultation with the Program Director or a designated faculty adviser when they declare their major, and review their plan each term. The major they design should provide both breadth of exposure to Women's and Gender Studies across fields and depth of study in one discipline (normally at least two courses in one area or from one department).
Women's and Gender Studies Courses
WGST 110. Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies This course is an introduction to the ways in which gender structures our world, to theories of women's oppression and liberation, and to the ways feminist thought challenges established intellectual frameworks. However, because gender is not a homogeneous category but is differentiated by class, race, ethnicity, and culture, we also consider both the differences among women and the difficulties of inter-cultural dialogue. 6 cr., HU,RAD, Fall,Winter—K. Eileraas, D. Nemec Ignashev
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 cr., SS, Winter—M. Sehgal
WGST 205. Women's Bodies in Health and Disease
This course covers basic facts about the structure and functioning of the female body. We will examine the adjustments the body makes during normal physiological events (menstruation, sexual activity, reproductive activity and menopause) and during disease processes. We will focus on the medicalization of these normal physiological events in the context of the profit driven U.S. health care system and explore alternatives to this medicalization. Thus, the organization of the health care system and women's activism around health care issues shall be the larger frame for our explorations of menstruation, sexuality, nutrition, body image, fertility control, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, childbirth and menopause. 6 cr., SS,RAD, Fall—M. Sehgal
WGST 234. Feminist Theory Our aim in this course is to explore contemporary debates in feminist theory, paying special attention to the relationship between feminist theory and practice. The course will introduce students to theoretical approaches that have informed feminist inquiry, including theories of knowledge (e.g. standpoint epistemology), subjectivity, language, sexuality, culture, representation, violence, and embodiment. By situating gender as a complex analytical category intersected by race, class, ethnicity, religion, and sexuality, our readings and discussions will encourage students to think critically about conflicting interpretations of "difference," and to reflect on the global politics of knowledge production highlighted by transnational feminist scholars and activists. Open to first-year students by permission of the instructor only. 6 cr., ND, Fall—K. Eileraas
WGST 396. Representation and Resistance: Feminist Aesthetics
This course will ask how contemporary feminist artists and performers address questions of representation and resistance in their work. We will consider the diverse strategies with which these artists respond to cultural constructions of beauty, femininity, race, sexuality, nationality, religion, and ethnicity in music, performance, visual arts, the media, and popular culture. The course will highlight feminist engagements with Orientalist, nationalist, and colonialist imagery, paying special attention to works of art produced in the aftermath of 9/11. 6 cr., ND, Spring—K. Eileraas
Other Courses Pertinent to Women's and Gender Studies: