Fall 2006 Course Guide
GWS 103: Black Women in the Diaspora
Same as AFRO 103 and AFST 103
Flynn CRN 46611 TR 1-2:20
Explores the historical, social, economic, cultural and political realities of black women in the African diaspora with an emphasis on the U.S., Canada, Britain, Africa and the English speaking Caribbean. How macro structures such as slavery, imperialism, colonialism, capitalism, and globalization shaped and continue to circumscribe the lives of black women across various geographic regions. Discussion of the multiple strategies/efforts that black women employ both in the past and present to ensure the survival of the self and the community.
GWS 150: Contemporary Women’s Issues
Morey CRN 30423 TR 10-11:20
Explores the most recent debates and research related to contemporary issues that primarily affect women. Review issues related to sexual and domestic violence, gender socialization, feminization of poverty, women’s health, sexual harassment, work and family, politics, and media influences from a multi-discipline and multicultural perspective.
GWS 199: Undergraduate Open Seminar
May be repeated, 1 to 5 hours, independent study. For independent study registration in this course, students should contact the departmental office. See other sections below.
CRN 10354 ARR Ind. Study
GWS 199 RW: Undergraduate Open Seminar
Topic: Fraternity Peer Rape Education and Prevention
Students must be members of fraternities and have permission of the instructor. To enroll contact Ross Wantland at wantland@uiuc.edu.
Wantland CRN 33101 T 6-7:50
Can fraternity men stop rape? This course seeks to answer this question by providing interested fraternity men with skills to become peer rape educators for their own chapters. In the fall semester, students go through an 8-week course that trains them to become peer rape educators. In the spring semester, students build on their existing facilitation skills, and develop, implement, and evaluate a series of presentations for their individual chapters. Students must be members of fraternities and have permission of the instructor.
GWS 199 U1: Undergraduate Open Seminar
Topic: Women in Film and Literature
This section of WS 199 is for students in Unit One, WIMSE, Weston Exploration, or by permission of Unit One director, h-schein@uiuc.edu. Parent Course III. Graded S/U.
CRN 33105 R 4-5:50
No description available.
GWS 240: Sex & Gender in Antiquity
Same as CLCV 240 and CWL 262
Tzanetou CRN 33551 MW 1-2:15
Understanding of the place of women in ancient societies can be gained through the examination of the ways in which the ancients conceptualized sex and gender. The myths, religion, art and literature of Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Near East contain a wide array of representations of men and women, of their emotions, as well as of their social, legal and political status and relations.
GWS 250: Gender Studies Humanities
Students must register for the lecture and one discussion section. This course fulfills the General Education Social Sciences requirement. Section U1 for Unit One, WIMSE, and Weston Exploration students through August 26 or by consent of the Unit One director.
Somerville Lect. AL1 CRN 35309 MW 2-2:50
Disc. AD 1 CRN 33300 R 1-1:50
Disc. AD 2 CRN 33384 R 9-9:50
Disc. AD 3 CRN 33490 R 10-10:50
Disc. AD 4 CRN 34879 F 11-11:50
Disc. AD 5 CRN 34915 F 10-10:50
Disc. AD 6 CRN 35231 R 3-3:50
This course provides an introductory overview of the interests, concerns, and controversies of contemporary feminisms. Each week’s lecture and discussion sessions will address one particular issue of importance to gender studies. Weekly topics include gender construction, the formation of sexualities, the concerns of race, and issues of family. Students will read articles that examine these topics in terms of their significance both in and out of the academy.
GWS 261: Gender Transnational Perspective
Same as SOC 261. Prerequisite: SOC 100, GWS 260, or consent of instructor. This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for a UIUC Social Sciences course.
Jennings CRN 35694 MW 3-4:20
Examines how gender inequality is structured on a transnational level. Emphasis will be placed on the interactive relationship among various countries, and how globalization promotes racial, ethnic, sexual, and national hierarchies among women, in both newly and advanced industrialized countries.
GWS 280: Women Writers
Same as ENGL 280
GWS 280F: Women Writers
Topic: Black American Women’s Autobiography
Deck CRN 39526 MW 2-3:15
We will study autobiographies by black women from Africa, the United States and the Caribbean. Our goal is a comparative examination of the lives of black women from these regions, and to study the various forms of their narratives.
GWS 280P: Women Writers
Topic: American Women’s Writing in the Twentieth Century
Ivy CRN 39530 TR 11-12:15
In this course we will explore writing by American women in the twentieth century with the goal of understanding not only how individual writers have operated (what they have meant, and why, and to whom) but also how they have contributed to the conceptualization of "women's writing" as a particular kind of endeavor or object of study. How have American women writers thought about themselves and their writing in relation to questions of sex and gender? How does encountering them in a class on women's writing change the way we look at them? Our course materials will be varied, including fiction and non-fiction, criticism and journalism, poetry and prose, "artsy" experimental work and popular or formula fiction, even works intended for young adults. We will consider the following: how writing relates to speech and how it can "act" in a variety of political and cultural ways; how perceptions about the way women read are related to assumptions about women's writing; how explorations of the psyche contribute to large-scale visions of society and of the nation; how hierarchies based on class, race, and age become hierarchies in the literary realm, degrading certain kinds of writing and reading by associations; how books aimed at children and young adults can be harnessed to theories of how we develop as readers; how writers write about writing. Requirements will include active class participation, regular reading responses, two papers, a midterm and a final.
GWS 285: U.S. Gender History to 1877
Same as HIST 285.
Pleck CRN 34328 MWF 9-9:50
This course aims to introduce students to changing ideals and life experiences of American women from the period just prior to the arrival of European explorers to the Civil War. The readings draw on primary sources and historian's interpretations to emphasize the work, family, and political activities of American women, within the context of larger changes in colonial America and the United States. These larger changes include colonialism and European settlement, the role of Enlightenment ideas, the growth of an industrial economy, the expansion of slavery, and the rise of nineteenth century reform movements.
Students will learn to think critically about historical arguments and the use of evidence.
GWS 340: Gender, Relationships and Society
Same as HDFS 340, SOC 332. Prerequisite: SOC 100 or HDFS 105; or 6 hours of anthropology, geography, political science, or sociology.
CRN 38499 MW 11:30 – 12:50
This course examines the social construction of gender within personal relationships, and links interpersonal constructions to both social institutions and individual development. Also, looks at the intersection between gender and other identities and social positions.
GWS 350: Introduction to Feminist Theory
Priority given to Gender & Women’s Studies Majors until May 4th. Contact GWS for approval @ 333-2990.
Frost CRN 42908 TR 10-11:20
In this course, we shall examine two broad questions: How do we justify the political claims we make? and What is feminist politics? At first glance, these may seem to be fairly abstract questions. However, we can break them down into simpler, more direct ones that explore different dimensions of the relationship between our identities and our political visions and strategies. For example, the first question breaks down into the following: Do our gender, race, class, or sexual identities affect our perception of politics? Do they affect our credibility when we make political claims? Is that effect positive or negative? How should we take that effect into account? The second breaks down into these: In a liberal democracy, where does power lie? How does power work or affect our lives? What is the best way to challenge injustice?
All these questions are answered in a variety of ways by the feminist theorists we read for this class. Some of the feminist theorists are influenced by the traditions of liberalism, others by historical materialism (or Marxism), and yet others by post-structuralism. As you’ll see, they address similar topics but they do not generally agree with one another’s analyses of how our identities are shaped by politics and how politics shapes our identities. In this class, we will explore both how they answer the questions above and why they answer them in the way that they do. By the end of the semester, you will have a good grasp of some of the leading debates in feminist theory. Hopefully, you will also have a sense of your own answers to these questions.
In the first section of the course, we will examine different scientific and theoretical arguments about the political forces that make us into gendered and racialized people. The other three sections explore how different traditions of thinking in feminist theory respond to the historical and scientific insights of the first section. The response we get from each tradition shapes how they answer the questions that frame the course.
GWS 356: Sex & Gender in Popular Media
Meets with COMM 356
Rivera-Velasquez SECT A CRN 47811 TR 1-2:20
Kosovski SECT B CRN 47813 MW 2-3:20
This course examines the notion that the mass media influence our development as gendered individuals, looking at those who argue for and against this notion. We consider different forms of feminist theory applied to the study of mass media, the history and scholarly criticisms of the media and their portrayal of women, and feminist attempts to create alternatives to mainstream media images. Throughout the course we consider representation of minorities in the dominant media and examine newly created alternative representations.
GWS 361: Women in East Asian
Same as EALC 361
Takeyama CRN 41796 TR 8-9:20
Interdisciplinary inquiry into the cultural and social patterns that have shaped women’s lives in China, Japan, and Korea.
GWS 409: Women’s Helath
Same as CHLH 409
Sionean CRN 35435 TR 2-3:15
Examines the culture of women in relationship to their health. Study is devoted to selected health care issues, developmental and physiological changes in the life cycle, health problems that affect women, and the maintenance of health.
GWS 417: Leading Post-Perform Dialog
Same as THEA 417. Prerequisite: Junior standing or above or consent of instructor.
Best CRN 47939 TR 4-5:50
Study of the history, processes, and methods of leading discussions with social issues theatre audiences. Emphasis on the skills and techniques of facilitators/peer educators; artistic considerations; function and application of the dramaturg; and practical experience through facilitation of social issues theatre dialog.
GWS 418: Social Issues Theatre
Same as Same as THEAT 418. May be repeated in separate semesters to a maximum of 6 undergraduate hours or 8 graduate hours. Repeat and graduate students will be required to develop additional projects to be approved and assessed by instructor.
Morrissette Disc. A3 CRN 35470 MWF 3-4:50
Morrissette Disc. A4 CRN 35720 MWF 3-4:50
Research, writing, and production of original plays addressing selected health and social issues on the UIUC campus in cooperation with the Counseling and Health Center. Course emphasizes training in acting and in methods of peer education and discussion facilitation.
GWS 424: Gender and Race in Contemporary Architecture
Anthony CRN 41035 TR 11:30-12:50
Out of all licensed architects in the American Institute of Architects (AIA), why are only 11% women, 3% Latino/a, 2% Asian, and less than 1% African American? In 2006, what accounts for such staggeringly low figures? Why has architecture lagged so far behind its counterparts of law and medicine, where sizeable advances already have been made? When so-called “minorities” are rapidly becoming majorities in so many American cities, what are the consequences when the diversity of the population is not reflected in the diversity of the architectural profession? And how can this be changed? How can the new generation of architects better respond to diversity and begin to change the culture of the profession? How can you, personally, make a difference?
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to an aspect of architecture that has all too often been overlooked: the role of women and people of color (i.e., African Americans, Latino/Latina Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and others). As in many other fields, the work of white males has historically dominated architecture. Furthermore, due to the persistence of the "star system," valuable contributions of women architects and architects of color, for the most part, have not been recognized. To a certain extent, this pattern can also be seen in the related environmental design professions of landscape architecture and urban design. This course calls attention to the work of both women architects and architects of color as consumers, critics, and creators of the environment--as clients and users, writers and researchers, design practitioners, educators, and students.
GWS 432: Gender and Language
Same as LING 432, and SPCM 432
Mastronardi MMG CRN 41096 TR 12:30-1:50
Mastronardi MMU CRN 41095 TR 12:30-1:50
Study of actual and perceived differences and similarities in the use of language by women and by men’; emphasizes the social contexts of speech.
GWS 450: Topics in Bodies and Genders
Same as CWL 450. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.
Booth CRN 46568 M 2-4:50
How do gender, sexuality, and the body emerge through cultural representations and across artistic forms? How do literature, film, and the visual arts construct gender identities in various times and places? Topics and regions vary by semester and instructor. All readings in English.
GWS 475: Women and Society in Scandinavian Literature
Same as CWL 475 and SCAN 475
Prerequisite: One course in literature or GWS, or consent from the instructor.
Stenport CRN 35702 TR 1-2:20
The course will address significant theories of gender studies in conjunction with literary and narrative theory, including a discussion of the rise of the Scandinavian novel by women writers as an established (but today neglected) literary genre during the nineteenth century, the Nordic ‘Modern Breakthrough’ movement of social realism and women’s rights, the decadence movement, and the emergence of the Scandinavian New Woman literature during the early twentieth century. We will also spend time on recent constructions of feminist historiography, as well as on cinematic storytelling. Significant emphasis will be placed on developing close reading skills and on formulating critical arguments. All texts are available in recent English translations.
GWS 490: Individual Study
Interdisciplinary seminar on special topics in women’s studies. May be repeated one time if topics vary.
Prerequisite: GWS 250 or 260, and two courses in women’s studies at the 200-300 levels; junior standing; or consent of instructor. May be repeated once as content varies. For independent study registration in this course, students should contact the department office. See below for section.
CONF CRN 10361 TBA Independent Study
GWS 490: Seminar in Women’s Studies
Topic: Transnational Sexualities
Meets with AAS 490 (CRN 47824 – grad sect.) and (CRN 47849 – undergrad)
Ngo FNG CRN 47820 T 3-5:50
FNU CRN 47844 T 3-5:50
This course interrogates the ways in which sexualities are constructed variously as national borders are crossed, re-crossed, negotiated, and re-defined. The course will be particularly interested in queer diasporas, and topics will include militarization, globalization, immigration, and travel.
GWS 490 JD: Seminar in Women’s Studies
Topic: Chicanas and Latinas in the U.S. Explores the Experiences of Chicana and Latina Women in the United States
Same as LLS 496
JD CRN 47374 MW 10-11:20
Topics to be discussed include: history, civil rights movements, Chicana/Latina feminism, sexuality, religion, health, community activism, family, immigration, education, work, media, and artistic expression. Readings are drawn from interdisciplinary sources, but examined from a sociological perspective
GWS 490: Seminar in Women’s Studies
Topic: The Politics of Fashion
Meets with AAS 490 (CRN 47848-undergrad) and (CRN 47822-grad)
Nguyen MNG CRN 47843 Grad Sect. T 1-3:50 MNU CRN 47816 Undergrad T 1-3:50
Because clothing is a medium for fashioning identities from commodities, it is hardly surprising that political and social tensions are embodied in its fabrications. The emotive politics of dress indicates an inseparable link between sartorial practice and political significance, as demonstrated in debates about Muslim women and practices of veiling (and their masculine counterpart, of turbans and terrorism), the role of clothing in colonialism’s “civilizing” mission, “traditional” Asian dress and body fashions (including foot-binding), immigrant and “third world” sweatshop labor and globalization. Clearly manifest throughout these politics is the role of gender, as well as race, nation, and sexuality, as relations of power and as critical factors in accessing “human and other rights.” Looking at a transnational framework of encounter and exchange, this course examines the discourses, political and economic conditions, and institutional formations that have produced the subjects of fashion as tradition-bound “others” in need of liberation or “modernization,” as “productive” and self-governing subjects embodying modernity, as cosmopolitan citizens of the world, and as the labor for transnational capitalism. We will focus on both the historical and cultural development of fashion, clothing and consumption between Asia and "the West" and within Asia, including South Asia and the Middle East. Using a variety of sources, including art, legal codes, protests and advertisements, we will pursue a careful articulation of fashion’s complicities and resistances with various regimes of power in the construction of gendered national and transnational subjects. Topics will include dress as a site of political contest, design as a locus of industry and ideology as well as aesthetics, and manufacture at the intersection of transnational circuits of labor, bodies, and capital.
GWS 490: Seminar in Women’s Studies
Topic: Gender, Science and Technology
Vostral SV CRN 48309 MW 1:30-2:50
This course examines how gender shapes scientific practice and technological development, and how science and technology shape notions of gender and sexuality. In this course, the idea of scientific “truth” will be evaluated to see how it changes at different times and different places concerning gender. In addition, ideas about technological progress, and what it means in terms of gender, will be studied. The course will start by looking at the current fields of science and engineering, and how women and men see themselves as practicing scientists, and how gender disparities affect the production of science and technology. Next, we will analyze how social elements influence the ways that scientific facts are derived, and how notions of gender become fixed into data collection. Finally, the course concludes with a look at the built environment, and how technologies of everyday life influence gender identity.
GWS 508: Feminism, Gender and Sexuality
Same as ANTH 508. Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor.
Lugo CRN 41033 W 9-11:50
In this advanced seminar we will examine feminist thought in socio-cultural anthropology. We will study the many ways in which anthropologists have theorized and represented the lives of both women and men in specific ethnographic contexts—all from a feminist perspective. We will also investigate how the cultural construction of gender articulates with ethnicity, class, sexuality, and race in particular ethnographic, literary, and historical studies. The ultimate goal of the seminar is to provide graduate students with a solid foundation of the ways anthropologists (often in conversation with other scholars) have contributed to a complex understanding of how women and men experience everyday life in different societies, and the extent to which they participate in socio-political transformations as well as in their own cultural reproduction.
GWS 550: Feminist Theories Humanities
Prerequisite: At least one graduate-level humanities course or consent of instructor.
Projansky CRN 30426 M 1-3:50
This course explores a wide range of questions in interdisciplinary feminist theory and gender studies, particularly those that have influenced and been shaped by the fields of literary studies, film studies, social and cultural history, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, critical race theory, and queer studies.
The course emphasizes the humanities over social and natural sciences but also questions the disciplinary boundaries drawn among these three areas and seeks to emphasize how work in the social and natural sciences has informed and been informed by feminist work in the humanities.
The goals in this first part of the course are to develop a common vocabulary for the class, to address the intersections of and tensions among various modes of thought, to take the time to read often-cited feminist scholarship in order to come to our own understandings about this influential material, and to consider how newer work contributes to and transforms the conversation. While not exactly an "overview" of feminist theory, this section of the course should provide a solid grounding in many of the key questions and debates in feminist theory.
The second section of the course builds on this grounding by addressing recent book-length case studies of recent interdisciplinary feminist scholarship (topics TBA). Our goal will be to explore the methodologies, theories, assumptions, objects of analysis, and legacies of early feminist studies work in each of these case studies. Among other things, these books will help us to address history, literature, popular culture, diaspora, ethnography, law, representation, and discourse. This section of the course not only brings these particular topics to the table but also gives students an opportunity to compare various methodologies, to think through the scope of book-length projects, and thereby to make explicit their own methodological and theoretical approach to feminist studies.
The course ends with a discussion of student work on the contemporary state of feminist studies in various disciplines and journals. Thus, we end by asking "What is the present state of feminist studies" and "How do we position ourselves in relation to that present?"
GWS 560: Feminist Media Studies
Same as COMM 560. Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor.
Gill CRN 41054 T 5-6:50
Addresses major areas of theoretical debate or interest in the broad topic of “Feminist Media Studies” and looks in depth at a number of theoretical issues which define it. Develops an understanding of historical, psychoanalytic, interpretive, and social scientific approaches to the study of film and television texts, their reception, and their production. Readings are extensive and directed toward illustrating the range of theoretical and empirical approaches applied to addressing questions of central interest in the field. Viewings will emphasize some lesser-known historical texts central to theoretical debates in the field. Viewings and readings are focused on “popular” film and television.
GWS 590: Topics in Gender & Women’s Studies
Topic: Imperialism and Sexuality
Meets with HIST 597A – CRN 48062.
Chandra CRN 48057 T 1-3:50
The kamasutra, the hottentot venus, the harem, the sotadic zone, A.I.D.S… How did the ‘east’, the ‘orient’ and the ‘non- west’ become synonymous with sex, sexuality and sexual desire? Why did the production of these associations and images increase with European and US imperial interests around the world? What is the role of sexuality in supporting imperial power regimes, internationally as well as ‘at home’? And finally, what structures and forms of social organisation become normative and desirable in this global division of sexual labour? This course uses a variety of sources – films, novels and history - to examine the generative relationship between imperialism and sexuality over the past three hundred years. Focusing on the European interaction with India, the 'Middle East', South and East Africa, and on the United States’ increasing interest in ‘South Asia’ we examine how transnational racism produced the sexual instability of the brown and black body, how present day globalisation depends on knowledge of the inequitable and repressed nature of non-western sexuality, and why the imperial nation-state ensures that its subjects compulsorily forge heteronormative alliances.
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AAS 397: Asian Families in America
Same as SOCW 397
Balgopal CRN 33282 TR 10-11:20
Offers a comparative analysis of Asian families as they cope and adapt to American society. Examines: 1) how families from four major Asian-American groups (Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Korean) function in American society; 2) how these families compare to families in their country of origin; and 3) how these families are similar to or different from the "typical American" family. Includes visits to Asian cultural institutions and with Asian families.
ACE: 476: Family Economics
Prerequisite: ECON 302 or consent of instructor; a course in statistics; senior standing.
Beller G2 CRN 36369 TR 1-2:20
Beller G3 CRN 36276 TR 1-2:20
Beller UG3 CRN 36368 TR 1-2:20
Economic welfare of American families, application of economic theory to the behavior of families and individuals with respect to time allocation between the home and the market; family forms; human capital accumulation; gender differences in income; income inequality; and poverty. Role of public policy is considered.
AFRO 498: African-American Families
Jarrett 1G CRN 47699 F 9-11:50
Jarrett 1U CRN 47698 F 9-11:50
Seminar on selected topics with particular emphasis on current research trends.
AFST 550: Special Topics
Topic: Women in Theatre from Africa
Meets with Theatre 591
Perkins CRN 46759 MW 2-3:50