Women's and Gender Studies (WGS)
Consult the program office, 14N-213, for information about other subjects that may qualify for WGS credit.
Undergraduate Subjects
WGS.101 Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies
Prereq: None
U (Fall, Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-H; CI-H
Drawing on multiple disciplines - such as literature, history, economics, psychology, philosophy, political science, anthropology, media studies and the arts - to examine cultural assumptions about sex, gender, and sexuality. Integrates analysis of current events through student presentations, aiming to increase awareness of contemporary and historical experiences of women, and of the ways sex and gender interact with race, class, nationality, and other social identities. Students are introduced to recent scholarship on gender and its implications for traditional disciplines.
A. Walsh
WGS.109 Women and Global Activism in Media and Politics
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-H; CI-H
An interdisciplinary subject that examines questions of feminism, international women's issues, and globalization through the study of novels, films, critical essays, painting and music. Considers how women redefine the notions of community and nation, how development affects their lives, and how access to the internet and to the production industry impacts women's lives. Primary topics of interest include transformations of traditional values, social change, gender role distribution, identity formation, migration flows, globalization and development, popular culture, urban life, cyber-culture, activism, and human rights. Limited to 25 when Writing Tutor is assigned to the class. Otherwise, limited to 18.
A. Sur
WGS.110[J] Sexual and Gender Identities in the Modern United States
Same subject as 21H.108[J]
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered
Acad Year 2025-2026: U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Provides an introduction to the history of gender, sex, and sexuality in the modern United States, from the end of the 19th century to the present. Surveys historical approaches to the field, emphasizing the changing nature of sexual and gender identities over time. Traces attempts to control, construct, and contain sexual and gender identities. Examines the efforts of those who worked to resist, reject, and reform institutionalized heterosexuality and mainstream configurations of gendered power.
C. Horan
WGS.111[J] Gender and Media Studies
Same subject as CMS.619[J]
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Fall)
Acad Year 2025-2026: Not offered
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Examines representations of race, gender, and sexual identity in the media. Considers issues of authorship, spectatorship, and the ways in which various media (film, television, print journalism, advertising) enable, facilitate, and challenge these social constructions in society. Studies the impact of new media and digital media through analysis of gendered and racialized language and embodiment online in blogs and vlogs, avatars, and in the construction of cyberidentities. Provides introduction to feminist approaches to media studies by drawing from work in feminist film theory, cultural studies, gender and politics, and cyberfeminism.
Staff
WGS.115 Gender and Technology
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Fall)
Acad Year 2025-2026: Not offered
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Considers a wide range of issues related to the contemporary and historical use of technology, the development of new technologies, and the cultural representation of technology, including the role women have played in the development of technology and the effect of technological change on the roles of women and ideas of gender. Discusses the social implications of technology and its understanding and deployment in different cultural contexts. Investigates the relationships between technology and identity categories, such as gender, race, class, and sexuality. Examines how technology offers possibilities for new social relations and how to evaluate them.
Staff
WGS.118[J] Gender in the Visual Arts
Same subject as CMS.418[J]
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
Not offered regularly; consult department
3-0-9 units. HASS-A
Explores gender and race through interdisciplinary perspectives from film and visual studies, art history, and performance studies. Provides an overview of methodologies and practices, with an emphasis on contemporary artists working across mediums. Contextualizes artistic output within broader systems of power and cultural institutions. Reflects on the politics of visibility, hypervisibility, and invisibility through an intersectional feminist approach that draws on perspectives from trans*, queer, feminist, dis/ability, and critical race theory. Lectures are supplemented by screenings, discussions, workshops, guest lectures, and optional field trips. Culminates in a final creative project that includes a presentation.
Staff
WGS.120[J] Science in Action: Technologies and Controversies in Everyday Life (New)
Same subject as STS.012[J]
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
See description under subject STS.012[J]. Enrollment limited.
D. Banerjee
WGS.123 History of Women in Science and Engineering
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered
Acad Year 2025-2026: U (Fall)
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Provides a basic overview of the history of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Students discuss specific contributions of women across a variety of disciplines to form a broad perspective on how these contributions played a larger role in the advancement of human knowledge and technological achievement. Also grapples with how both historic and modern biases within the STEM disciplines, as well as in representations of women and girls in media and popular culture, can affect outcomes in these areas.
M. Weinstock
WGS.125[J] Games and Culture
Same subject as 21W.768[J], CMS.616[J]
Subject meets with CMS.868
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
See description under subject CMS.616[J].
T. L. Taylor
WGS.130[J] Afrofuturism, Magical Realism, and Other Otherwise Worlds (New)
Same subject as 21L.032[J]
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Fall)
Acad Year 2025-2026: Not offered
3-0-9 units. HASS-H; CI-H
See description under subject 21L.032[J]. Limited to 18.
J. Terrones
WGS.137[J] Intersectionality, Neurodiversity, and Disability (New)
Same subject as CMS.337[J]
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
Examines key theoretical concepts, texts, and other media forms by disabled and neurodivergent writers, theorists, activists, and artists. Investigates medical and social models of disability and their interconnections with race, gender, class, sexuality, age, ethnicity, etc. Uses an intersectional lens to address emerging connections between disability and the environment, investigating issues of accessibility in natural and built environments. Explores themes of visibility/invisibility, community, vulnerability, power, access, and creativity.
K. Ragusa
WGS.140[J] Race and Identity in American Literature
Same subject as 21L.504[J]
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Can be repeated for credit.
See description under subject 21L.504[J].
S. Alexandre
WGS.141[J] International Women's Voices
Same subject as 21G.022[J], 21L.522[J]
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
Not offered regularly; consult department
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
See description under subject 21L.522[J].
M. Resnick
WGS.142[J] Narrative and Identity: Writing and Film by Contemporary Women of Color
Same subject as 21L.429[J]
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered
Acad Year 2025-2026: U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Explores the diverse voices and experiences reflected in writing and film by and about women of color. Examines the roles that culture, community, and kinship play in the development of the writer's individual voice, and compares the similarities and differences of the writer experience across texts and genres. Discussion and assignments, including an independent research presentation, consider the social and political contexts that inform each work, with an emphasis on gender, race, and economic status. Includes works by a variety of novelists, poets, and filmmakers.
Staff
WGS.145[J] Globalization: The Good, the Bad and the In-Between
Same subject as 21L.020[J]
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
3-0-9 units. HASS-H; CI-H
See description under subject 21L.020[J]. Enrollment limited.
M. Resnick
WGS.150[J] Cultures of Popular Music in East Asia: Japan, Korea, China (New)
Same subject as 21G.095[J], 21M.297[J]
Subject meets with 21G.595
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
Not offered regularly; consult department
3-0-9 units. HASS-A
See description under subject 21G.095[J].
I. Condry
WGS.151 Gender and Public Health
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
Not offered regularly; consult department
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
Draws on different disciplines, conceptual frameworks, and methodological approaches to examine gender in relation to health, including public health practice, epidemiologic research, health policy, and clinical application. Discusses a variety of health-related issues that illustrate global, international, domestic, and historical perspectives. Considers other social determinants of health as well, including social class and race. Limited to 15.
Staff
WGS.154[J] Gender and Japanese Popular Culture
Same subject as 21A.143[J], 21G.039[J]
Subject meets with 21G.591
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
Not offered regularly; consult department
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
See description under subject 21G.039[J].
I. Condry
WGS.160[J] Science Activism: Gender, Race, and Power
Same subject as STS.021[J]
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
3-0-9 units. HASS-E
Examines the role scientists have played as activists in social movements in the US following World War II. Themes include scientific responsibility and social justice, the motivation of individual scientists, strategies for organizing, the significance of race and gender, and scientists' impact within social movements. Case studies include atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and the nuclear freeze campaign, climate science and environmental justice, the civil rights movement, Vietnam War protests, the March 4 movement at MIT, and concerns about genetic engineering, gender equality, intersectional feminism, and student activism at MIT.
E. Bertschinger
WGS.161[J] Gender and the Law in US History
Same subject as 21H.320[J]
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
Not offered regularly; consult department
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
See description under subject 21H.320[J].
C. Capozzola
WGS.172[J] For Love and Money: Rethinking the Family
Same subject as 21A.111[J]
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring)
Acad Year 2025-2026: Not offered
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
See description under subject 21A.111[J].
H. Paxson
WGS.181[J] Queer Cinema and Visual Culture
Same subject as CMS.481[J]
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
Not offered regularly; consult department
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Analyzes mainstream, popular films produced in the post-WWII 20th century US as cultural texts that shed light on ongoing historical struggles over gender identity and appropriate sexual behaviors. Traces the history of LGBTQ/queer film through the 20th and into the 21st century. Examines the effect of the Hollywood Production Code and censorship of sexual themes and content, and the subsequent subversion of queer cultural production in embedded codes and metaphors. Also considers the significance of these films as artifacts and examples of various aspects of queer theory.
Staff
WGS.183 Feminism and Data
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
Not offered regularly; consult department
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
Considers the implications of new technologies and their impact on how we receive and transmit various types of data: medical, genetic, financial, personal. Data is being generated in many ways from our physical bodies, and this form of "datafication" has far-reaching implications, particularly for historically marginalized and/or oppressed bodies, which are often subject to sexual objectification, surveillance, and other forms of control.
Staff
WGS.190[J] Black Matters: Introduction to Black Studies
Same subject as 24.912[J], 21H.106[J], 21L.008[J], 21W.741[J], CMS.150[J]
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-A, HASS-H; CI-H
See description under subject 24.912[J].
D. Wood, D. Harrell, M. DeGraff
WGS.220[J] Women and Gender in the Middle East and North Africa
Same subject as 21A.138[J], 21H.263[J]
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring)
Acad Year 2025-2026: Not offered
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Provides an overview of key issues and themes in the study of women and gender relations in the Middle East and North Africa. Includes readings from a variety of disciplines, e.g., history, anthropology, sociology, literature, religious studies, and media studies. Addresses themes such as the relationship between the concepts of nation and gender; women's citizenship; Middle Eastern women's activism and the involvement of their Western "sisters" to this movement; gendered interpretations of the Qur'an and the example of the Prophet Muhammad; and the three H's of Orientalism (hijab, harem, and hamam).
L. Eckmekcioglu
WGS.222[J] Women and War
Same subject as 21H.381[J]
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered
Acad Year 2025-2026: U (Fall)
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
See description under subject 21H.381[J].
L. Ekmekcioglu
WGS.224 Race, Gender and Social Inequality in Reproductive Health Care
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
Not offered regularly; consult department
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
Explores the politics of reproductive health care delivery in the United States and beyond, with a particular focus on how clinical care is shaped by--and, in turn, shapes--social inequality along axes of race and gender. Considers a variety of reproductive health issues from multiple perspectives, drawing on readings from the fields of history, anthropology, sociology, medicine, epidemiology, and law. Develops skills to interrogate how each field conceptualizes and values reproductive health, both explicitly and implicitly. Introduces major conceptual issues foundational to understanding the politics of reproduction. Goes on to cover topics such as the human biofemale reproductive lifecycle and social movements explicitly organized around reproductive health. Limited to 40.
Staff
WGS.225[J] The Science of Race, Sex, and Gender
Same subject as 21A.103[J], STS.046[J]
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Fall)
Acad Year 2025-2026: Not offered
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
Examines the role of science and medicine in the origins and evolution of the concepts of race, sex, and gender from the 17th century to the present. Focus on how biological, anthropological, and medical concepts intersect with social, cultural, and political ideas about racial, sexual, and gender difference in the US and globally. Approach is historical and comparative across disciplines emphasizing the different modes of explanation and use of evidence in each field.
A. Sur
WGS.226[J] Science, Gender and Social Inequality in the Developing World
Same subject as STS.023[J]
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered
Acad Year 2025-2026: U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Examines the influence of social and cultural determinants (colonialism, nationalism, class, and gender) on modern science and technology. Discusses the relationship of scientific progress to colonial expansions and nationalist aspirations. Explores the nature of scientific institutions within a social, cultural, and political context, and how science and technology have impacted developing societies
A. Sur
WGS.228 Psychology of Sex and Gender
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
Examines evidence (and lack thereof) regarding when and how an individual's thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by sex and gender. Using a biopsychosocial model, reviews the following topics: gender identity development across the lifespan, implicit and explicit bias, achievement, stereotypes, physical and mental health, sexuality, interpersonal relationships, work, and violence. Limited to 20.
C. Kapungu
WGS.229 Race, Culture, and Gender in the US and Beyond: A Psychological Perspective
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
Examines the biopsychosocial factors which impact racial-ethnic identity, racial and cultural socialization, and experiences of prejudice, bias, discrimination, and racial microaggressions across gender identities. Reviews topics in multicultural psychology from the lens of challenging ethnocentric biases in the field. Critically evaluates the intersection of race with other social identities (e.g., gender, sexual identity, and socioeconomic status) and how it impacts human behavior. Using a case study approach, students integrate empirical evidence from international psychosocial research on oppression in order to provide more breadth in understanding the influence of race and gender upon human behavior. Develops multicultural competency skills essential for practice in clinical and non-clinical organizational settings. Limited to 25.
C. Kapungu
WGS.231[J] Writing about Race
Same subject as 21W.742[J]
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
3-0-9 units. HASS-H; CI-H
See description under subject 21W.742[J]. Enrollment limited.
K. Ragusa
WGS.233[J] New Culture of Gender: Queer France
Same subject as 21G.325[J], 21L.324[J]
Prereq: One intermediate subject in French
Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring)
Acad Year 2025-2026: Not offered
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Can be repeated for credit.
See description under subject 21G.325[J].
B. Perreau
WGS.235[J] Classics of Chinese Literature in Translation
Same subject as 21G.044[J], 21L.494[J]
Subject meets with 21G.195
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Fall)
Acad Year 2025-2026: Not offered
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
See description under subject 21G.044[J].
E. Teng, W. Denecke
WGS.236[J] Introduction to East Asian Cultures: From Zen to K-Pop
Same subject as 21G.030[J]
Subject meets with 21G.193
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Spring)
Acad Year 2025-2026: Not offered
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
See description under subject 21G.030[J].
E. Teng
WGS.238[J] Intersectional Feminist Memoir
Same subject as 21L.438[J], 21W.738[J]
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: U (Fall, Spring)
Acad Year 2025-2026: Not offered
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Explores the memoir genre through a feminist intersectional lens, looking at the ways in which feminist writers ground personal experience within a complex understanding of race, gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity, immigration status/nationality, and dis/ablity. Gives particular attention to the relationships between the personal and the political; form and content; fact, truth, and imagination; self and community; trauma and healing; coming to voice and breaking silence. Readings include books by Audre Lorde, Janet Mock, Daisy Hernandez, Jessica Valenti, and Ariel Gore, and shorter pieces by Meena Alexander and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Drawing on lessons taken from these works, students write a short memoir of their own.
K. Ragusa
WGS.240[J] Jane Austen
Same subject as 21L.473[J]
Prereq: One subject in Literature
U (Fall)
Not offered regularly; consult department
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
See description under subject 21L.473[J].
R. Perry
WGS.242 The Latina Experience in Literature, Film and Popular Culture
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
Not offered regularly; consult department
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Explores the rich diversity of Latina and Latino voices and experiences as reflected in various media. Studies cross-cultural expressions of solidarity and examines the Latina experience as it relates to both other women of color and Latino men. Considers how Latinas are represented by mainstream Hollywood and independent filmmakers, and explores the intersections of popular culture and feminism in productions such as music videos and Latina-centered television series. Limited to 30.
S. E. King
WGS.243 Topics in Gender, Data, and Design (New)
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered
Acad Year 2025-2026: U (Fall)
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
Can be repeated for credit.
Explores how city design and planning impact communities, through the lens of data activism. Students develop, implement, and evaluate digital tools that support community-based organizations, addressing diverse domains such as housing, violence prevention, and environmental health. Through interactions with relevant organizations, students interpret data and explore how issues of gender, race, sexuality, disability, and other identities impact how policies, technology, and activism are employed. Specific topics vary but may include data activism in social change, production of activist data, potential pitfalls of AI, and machine learning. Prior experience with coding, visualization, mapping/GIS, or data analysis helpful but not required. May be repeated once for credit if specific topics studied differ.
C. D'Ignazio
WGS.245[J] Identities and Intersections: Queer Literatures
Same subject as 21L.480[J]
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered
Acad Year 2025-2026: U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Focuses on LGBT literature from the mid-19 century to the present, with an emphasis on fiction and poetry. In particular, analyzes how LGBT identities and their literary representations have changed over time. Covers authors such as Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Cherrie Moraga, Melvin Dixon, Leslie Feinberg, and Luis Negron.
J. Terrones
WGS.247[J] Race, Place, and Modernity in the Americas
Same subject as 21L.592[J], 21W.781[J]
Prereq: None
U (IAP)
3-3-3 units. HASS-E
Students travel to São Paulo for three weeks. Examines the relationship between race and place in the formation of modern Brazil and the US through comparative analysis and interdisciplinary study. In addition to participating in class discussions on literature, film, and visual art, students visit key cultural and historical sites; interact with archives and museum collections; and, most importantly, engage in dialogue with local activists, religious leaders, community organizers, and scholars. Focusing on the work of Black and Indigenous people, particularly women, places a strong emphasis on the ways in which art and cultural activism can have an impact on racial justice issues. Taught in English; no Portuguese needed. Contact Women's and Gender Studies about travel fee, possible funding opportunities, and other details. Enrollment limited to 20. Application required.
J. Terrones
WGS.250[J] HIV/AIDS in American Culture
Same subject as 21L.481[J]
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Examines cultural responses to HIV/AIDS in the US during the first fifteen years of the epidemic, prior to the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy. Students consider how sexuality, race, gender, class, and geography shaped the experience of HIV/AIDS and the cultural production surrounding it, as well as the legacy of this cultural production as it pertains to the communities most at risk today. Materials include mainstream press coverage, film, theater, television, popular music, comic books, literature, and visual art.
J. Terrones
WGS.255[J] Gender, Myth, and Magic (New)
Same subject as 21W.725[J]
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
3-0-9 units. HASS-A
Explores ways contemporary writers re-imagine myth and fairy tales through lens of gender and sexuality. Examines how old stories can be retold to resonate with issues of power, violence, courage, resistance, identity, community, silence, and voice. Students complete writing project where they re-imagine a myth or fairy tale.
K. Ragusa
WGS.260 Topics in Queer Studies (New)
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Develops critical understanding of queer theory through foundational and contemporary texts and other media forms. Examines relationships between queer theory and other social and cultural theories that probe and critique power, privilege, and normativity including critical race theory, transgender studies, feminist theory, and disability theory. Topics may include social movements, queer of color critiques, transnational activisms, and transgender politics.
J. Terrones
WGS.264[J] Sport as Performance (New)
Same subject as 21T.240[J]
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
3-0-9 units. HASS-A
See description under subject 21T.240[J]. Limited to 18.
C. Conceison
WGS.271[J] Dilemmas in Biomedical Ethics: Playing God or Doing Good?
Same subject as 11.133[J], 21A.302[J]
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
Not offered regularly; consult department
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
See description under subject 11.133[J].
E. C. James
WGS.274[J] Images of Asian Women: Dragon Ladies and Lotus Blossoms
Same subject as 21A.141[J], 21G.048[J]
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
See description under subject 21A.141[J].
M. Buyandelger
WGS.275[J] Gender, Race, and Environmental Justice
Same subject as 21A.407[J], 21G.057[J], STS.022[J]
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered
Acad Year 2025-2026: U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
Provides an introduction to the analysis of gender in science, technology, and environmental politics from a global perspective. Familiarizes students with central objects, questions, and methods in the field. Examines existent critiques of the racial, sexual and environmental politics at stake in techno-scientific cultures. Draws on material from popular culture, media, fiction, film, and ethnography. Addressing specific examples from across the globe, students also explore different approaches to build more livable environments that promote social justice. Taught in English. Limited to 18.
B. Stoetzer
WGS.276[J] Cultures of Computing
Same subject as 21A.504[J], STS.086[J]
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered
Acad Year 2025-2026: U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
See description under subject 21A.504[J].
H. Beltrán
WGS.277[J] D-Lab: Gender and Development
Same subject as EC.718[J]
Subject meets with EC.798
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
3-0-9 units
See description under subject EC.718[J]. Limited to 12; must attend first class session.
E. McDonald, S. Haslanger
WGS.278 Topics in Critical Disability Studies (New)
Prereq: None
U (Fall)
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
Examines various intersections of health and disability studies within a framework of gender and sexuality studies, critical race theory, geography, decolonized psychology, and cultural studies. Topics vary each year; examples include carceral states, social categorizations of populations, historical and literary studies, and healthcare.
L. Tam
WGS.280[J] Critical Internet Studies
Same subject as 21W.791[J], CMS.614[J]
Subject meets with IDS.405
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-S
See description under subject CMS.614[J].
T. L. Taylor
WGS.301[J] Feminist Thought
Same subject as 17.007[J], 24.137[J]
Subject meets with 17.006[J], 24.637[J]
Prereq: None
U (Fall, Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Analyzes theories of gender and politics, especially ideologies of gender and their construction; definitions of public and private spheres; gender issues in citizenship, the development of the welfare state, experiences of war and revolution, class formation, and the politics of sexuality. Graduate students are expected to pursue the subject in greater depth through reading and individual research.
E. Wood, S. Haslanger
WGS.303[J] Gender: Historical Perspectives
Same subject as 21H.109[J]
Subject meets with 21H.983[J], WGS.310[J]
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
See description under subject 21H.109[J].
L. Ekmekcioglu, E. Wood
WGS.310[J] Gender: Historical Perspectives
Same subject as 21H.983[J]
Subject meets with 21H.109[J], WGS.303[J]
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered
Acad Year 2025-2026: G (Spring)
3-0-9 units
See description under subject 21H.983[J].
L. Ekmekcioglu, E. Wood
WGS.315[J] Colonialism in South Asia and Africa: Race, Gender, Resistance (New)
Same subject as 21H.358[J]
Subject meets with 21H.958
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
2-0-10 units. HASS-H
See description under subject 21H.358[J].
S. Aiyar
WGS.321[J] French Feminist Literature: Yesterday and Today
Same subject as 21G.344[J], 21L.621[J]
Prereq: One intermediate subject in French or permission of instructor
U (Fall)
Not offered regularly; consult department
3-0-9 units. HASS-H
See description under subject 21G.344[J]. Limited to 18.
B. Perreau
WGS.400 WGS Undergraduate Independent Study
Prereq: Permission of instructor
U (Fall, IAP, Spring)
Units arranged
Can be repeated for credit.
Individual supervised work for undergraduate students who wish to study topics not covered in the regular Women's and Gender Studies curriculum. Before registering for this subject, students must plan a course of study with a member of the WGS faculty and secure the Director's approval. Normal maximum credit is 6 units, but exceptional 9-unit projects occasionally approved.
Staff
WGS.UR Undergraduate Research in Women's and Gender Studies
Prereq: Permission of instructor
U (Fall, IAP, Spring, Summer)
Units arranged [P/D/F]
Can be repeated for credit.
Undergraduate research opportunities in the Women's and Gender Studies Program.
Staff
WGS.URG Undergraduate Research in Women's and Gender Studies
Prereq: Permission of instructor
U (Fall, IAP, Spring, Summer)
Units arranged
Can be repeated for credit.
Undergraduate research opportunities in the Women's and Gender Studies Program.
Staff
WGS.S10 Special Subject in Women's and Gender Studies
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered
Acad Year 2025-2026: U (Spring)
3-0-9 units
Can be repeated for credit.
Covers topics not included in regular curriculum; taught in seminar format. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor.
M. Weinstock, KJ Brown
WGS.S20 Special Subject in Women's and Gender Studies
Prereq: None
U (Spring)
3-0-9 units
Can be repeated for credit.
Covers topics not included in regular curriculum; taught in seminar format. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor.
Staff
WGS.S30 Special Subject in Women's and Gender Studies
Prereq: None
Acad Year 2024-2025: Not offered
Acad Year 2025-2026: U (Fall)
3-0-9 units
Can be repeated for credit.
Covers topics not included in regular curriculum; taught in seminar format. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor.
Staff
Graduate Subjects
WGS.600 Workshop for Dissertation Writers in Women's and Gender Studies
Prereq: Must apply to the Graduate Consortium in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality
G (Fall, Spring)
3-0-9 units
Addresses the main challenges faced by dissertation writers: isolation, writing schedules, and cogent arguments. Opportunity for members to exchange ideas and experiences, learn general principles of academic argument, and receive feedback. Open to graduate students in all phases of dissertation writing. Meets bi-weekly, spans Fall and Spring terms. Limited to 10.
Consult Graduate Consortium in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality
WGS.605 WGS Graduate Independent Study
Prereq: Permission of instructor
G (Fall)
Not offered regularly; consult department
Units arranged
Can be repeated for credit.
Individual supervised work for graduate students who wish to study topics not covered in the regular Women's and Gender Studies offerings. Before registering for this subject, students must plan a course of study with a member of the Women's and Gender Studies faculty and secure the Director's approval. Normal maximum is 6 units; exceptional 9-unit projects occasionally approved.
Staff
WGS.610 Special Topics in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality Studies
Prereq: Must apply to the Graduate Consortium in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality
G (Fall, Summer)
3-0-9 units
Can be repeated for credit.
Syllabi vary depending on instructors. Limited to 10.
Information: Graduate Consortium in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality
WGS.615 Feminist Inquiry: Strategies for Effective Scholarship
Prereq: Must apply to the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies
G (Spring, Summer)
3-0-9 units
Can be repeated for credit.
Investigates theories and practices of feminist inquiry across a range of disciplines. Feminist research involves rethinking disciplinary assumptions and methodologies, developing new understandings of what counts as knowledge, seeking alternative ways of understanding the origins of problems/issues, formulating new ways of asking questions and redefining the relationship between subjects and objects of study. Focus on methodology, i.e., the theory and analysis of how research should proceed. Special attention to epistemological issues--pre-suppositions about the nature of knowledge. What makes research distinctively feminist lies in the complex connections between epistemologies, methodologies and research methods. Explore how these connections are formed in the traditional disciplines and raise questions about why they are inadequate and/or problematic for feminist inquiry and what, specifically, are the feminist critiques of these intersections.
Information: Graduate Program in Women's Studies
WGS.640 Studies in Women's Life Narratives
Prereq: Must apply to the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies
G (Spring)
3-0-9 units
Can be repeated for credit.
Close examination of women's life narratives. Topics vary from term to term. Limited to 10.
Information: Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies
WGS.645 Topics in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality Studies
Prereq: Application to the Graduate Consortium in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality
G (Spring)
3-0-9 units
Can be repeated for credit.
An examination of various topics in gender, culture, women, and sexuality studies. Syllabi vary depending on instructors.
Consult Graduate Consortium in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality
WGS.680 The Economic History of Work and the Family
Prereq: None
G (Fall)
Not offered regularly; consult department
3-0-9 units
Explores the changing map of the public and the private in pre-industrial and modern societies and examines how that map affected men's and women's production and consumption of goods and leisure. The reproductive strategies of women, either in conjunction with or in opposition to their families, is another major theme. Subject asks how an ideal of the "domestic" arose in the early modern west, and to what extent did it limit the economic position of women; and how has that idea been challenged, and with what success in the post-industrial period. Focuses on western Europe since the Middle Ages and on the United States, but also examines how these issues have played themselves out in non-Western cultures. Graduate students are expected to pursue the subject in greater depth through reading and individual research.
A. McCants
WGS.700 Feminist and Queer Theories
Prereq: Must apply to the Graduate Consortium in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality
G (Fall, Spring)
3-0-9 units
An interdisciplinary seminar aiming to familiarize students with the core texts and key debates that have shaped feminist and queer theories. Syllabi vary depending on instructors.
Consult Graduate Consortium in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality
