Spring 2006 Course Guide
GWS 103A: Black Women in the Diaspora
Same as AFRO 103 and AFST 103
Flynn CRN 44763 TR 9-10:20
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 34971 TR 10-11:20
Explores the most recent debate and research related to contemporary issues which affect primarily women. Reviews 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 multi-cultural perspective.
GWS 199 FN: Undergraduate Open Seminar
Topic: Asian/American Gender and Sexuality
Meets with AAS 199B. Instructor approval required.
Ngo CRN 44441 MW 2-3:20
"Asian.American Gender and Sexuality" will explore the intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality, dis/ability, and nation. The goal of the course is to introduce students to the subject, debates in the field, and to the critical language that surrounds those debates. We will draw from a wide range of sources including operas, plays, films, anthropological texts, music, fiction, and pornography. Classes will be interactive so come prepared to articulate your views. Ideally, the classroom serves as a respectful forum to exchange and debate ideas from a wide ranges of perspectives.
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@ad.uiuc.edu
Wantland CRN 34977 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 240: Sex/Gender in Antiquity
Same as CLCV 240 and CWL 262.
First Year Discovery Program Course. Registration restricted to freshmen. Students should enroll in only one Discovery course. Students who enroll in more than one discovery course may be dropped from the additional discovery Courses.
Tzanetou CRN 40090 MW 1-2:15
In Greece and Rome it is hard to hear the voices of women, which come to us transmitted almost entirely by male authors. And yet the surviving record reveals that their activities had a significant impact on the public and private domain. In this course, students will: use the historical evidence and compare it with the cultural ideal constructed in the literary record; analyze the ancient construction of gender and sexuality and seek to understand how the cultural categories of male and female were conditioned by social, political and religious constraints; read works on feminist theory, anthropology and sociology in order to relate current issues to the study of sex and gender in antiquity; and trace the origin of Western and Mediterranean attitudes towards women and gender to the societies of Ancient Greece and Rome. Specific topics include matriarchy and patriarchy, the antagonism between male and female in myth, religion and politics, women and the law, the ancient family, homosexuality and ancient theories of medicine regarding the female body.
GWS 245: Women & Gender Pre-Mod Europe
Same as HIST 245 and MDVL 245
McLaughlin CRN 43545 MWF 10-10:50
Examines the history of women and the evolution of concepts of gender in Western Europe from roughly 400 to 1700. Topics include the interactions of class and ethnicity with women's experiences, the social construction of sexuality and gender, the misogynist tradition and women's self-images.
GWS 260: Gender Studies Social Science
Same as HDFS 260 and SOC 220
Magnet AE1 CRN 38488 R 2-2:50
Mobley AE2 CRN 34595 R 11-11:50
Mobley AE3 CRN 34599 R 10-10:50
Magnet AE4 CRN 34602 R 12-12:50
Logue AE5 CRN 34606 F 12-12:50
Logue AE6 CRN 34609 F 10-10:50
Cole AL1 CRN 34612 MW 1-1:50
The course examines the relationships between gender and race, class, and sexuality and the ways in which those relationships shape experiences of work, family, popular culture, education, and science.
GWS 280: Women Writers
Topic: U.S. Women Writers
Same as ENGL 280.
Bauer CRN 32107 TR 9:30-10:45
This survey of American women’s writing will consider the following themes: women and identity, sexuality, and work. Our primary focus will be twentieth- and twenty-first century women’s writing, starting in the 1920s and moving, decade by decade, into the present. This class will take a historical and cultural approach to US women’s writing, as well as illuminating various literary methodologies. The reading list will include canonical and non-canonical readings from various genres--poetry, memoir, novel, drama-- in order to demonstrate both formal and thematic concerns in representative women’s texts.
GWS 281: Women in the Literary Imagination
Topic: You’ve Come a Long Way Baby: Chick Lit, Feminism and Postfeminism
Same as ENGL 281 Prerequisite: Completion of the Composition I requirement. May be repeated to a maximum of 6 hours if topics vary.
Baron CRN 43197 MWF 1-1:50
In 1996, Bridget Jones’s Dairy was published in the UK. Here author Helen Fielding relates her satirical tale of the ditzy thirty-something Bridget as she battles bad hair and badly behaved boyfriends through her exploits and sexploits in late 20th century London. As we read the diary entries, we see just how difficult it is for Bridget to balance hardcore feminism with the ever pressing demands of Cosmo culture such as searching for the perfect outfit, the perfect leg wax and the perfect husband. Yet Fielding often takes us beneath the comic dimensions of the novel to uncover the limitations that women must face in a world of ever-changing gender expectations as we enter the workforce in greater numbers and still hope for a union with just the right guy, a house in the suburbs and the obligatory 2.5 children to grace us with the joys of motherhood.
In this class, we’ll explore just what makes this type of comic confessional novel, dubbed Chick Lit, a new subgenre of women’s fiction and we’ll see why its pink and purple dust jackets dominate the shelves of bookstores. Next, we’ll examine the two competing theories of feminism and postfeminism and discuss how they intersect within the Chick Lit genre. In relationship to this, we’ll learn about body image and the beauty myth of the late 20th century. Through our fictional and non-fictional readings, we’ll also cruise the dating scene in contemporary England and America and discover why motherhood and marriage are still so highly venerated in Western culture in spite of the ever rising divorce rate, and why for women, success in the boardroom is so often equated with failure at home and in the bedroom.
GWS 286: US Gender History Since 1877
Same as HIST 286.
Pleck CRN 34133 MWF 9-9:50
Examines the experiences of women and men in modern America, focusing on variations according to class, race, ethnicity, religion, region, and sexual preference; considers the impact of social movements on gender politics; gender and the wars of the 20th century; gender, reform, and social welfare policy; and the place of popular culture in the production of gender ideologies.
GWS 342: Women in the Labor Market
Same as ECON 342. Prerequisite: ECON 102 or equivalent.
TBA CRN 33525 MW 4-5:20
Changing role of women in the labor market and the economy; supply and demand for women: nature, extent, and legal remedies for sex discrimination in employment; "earnings gaps" and variable employment costs, men versus women; new role of multi-earner families; and comparative use of women as a professional resource.
GWS 350: Intro to Feminist Theory
Priority given to Gender & Women’s Studies Majors. Contact Aprel Thomas in GWS at 333-2990 or by email at aprel@uiuc.edu to enroll.
Littlefield CRN 39477 TR 10-11:20
Interdisciplinary introductory survey of feminist theory. Traces developments in feminist theory and explores contemporary debates.
GWS 361: Women in East Asia
Same as EALC 361
TBA CRN 33158 TR 10-11:20
Interdisciplinary inquiry into the cultural and social patterns that have shaped women's lives in China, Japan, and Korea.
GWS 367: US History of Medicine
Same as HIST 368
Reagan CRN 40126 TR 1-2:20
Medicine and public health from the colonial period through the twentieth century; health care providers, patients, and public policy; incorporates issues of race and sex.
GWS 390: Individual Study
Special topics not treated in regularly scheduled classes. May be repeated to a maximum of 6 hours. Students may register in more than one section per term. Prerequisite: One course in Gender and Women’s Studies. Instructor Approval Required.
TBA TBA
GWS 418: Social Issues Theatre
Same as THEA 418.
Morrissette A3 CRN 37113 MWF 1-2:50
Morrissette A4 CRN 37114 MWF 1-2:50
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 421: Sex Role Theory in Counseling
Same as EPSY 421
Neville A CRN 44799 MW 3-4:20
Reviews research on sex role socialization related to career, family, and personal roles for both sexes; discusses counseling strategies aimed at freeing persons from attitudes and behaviors that limit their freedom to choose; and reviews strategies for change at policy, agency and individual levels.
GWS 432: Gender and Language
Same as LING 432 and SPCM 432
Mastronardi MMU CRN 37083 TR 9:30-10:50
Mastronardi MMG CRN 37087 TR 9:30-10:50
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 435: Commodifying Difference
Same as LLS 435, AAS 435 and COMM 432. Prerequisite: Any combination of 6 hours from Latina/o Studies, Asian American Studies, Afro-American Studies, Gender and Women Studies or Media Studies; graduate standing, or consent of instructor.
Molina EG CRN 40446 MW 3-4:20
Molina EU CRN 40517 MW 3-4:20
An interdisciplinary examination of how racial, ethnic and gender difference is negotiated through media and popular culture, and how racial, ethnic and gendered communities use cultural forms to express identity and difference. Among the theoretical questions explored are the politics of representation, ethnic/racial authenticity, cultural commodification and transnational popular culture. Some of the cultural forms examined are cultural festivals/parades, ethnic/race-based beauty pageants, cinematic and televisual texts and musical forms, such as Hip-Hop and Salsa.
GWS 450: Topics in Bodies and Genders
Topic: Gender Benders
Same as CWL 450/ENGL 461
Hilger CRN MW 1-2:20
This course examines literary texts and other cultural documents (biographies, opera, films) from the Antiquity to the twenty-first century, which all question the gender roles of their time through a representation of characters with unstable, ambivalent, or ambiguous gender identities. We will pay special attention to social and historical contexts and try to understand the function of transvestites, hermaphrodites, castrati and other gender benders in these documents. We will also read selections from Thomas Laqueur’s Making Sex and Londa Schiebinger’s The Mind Has No Sex? To help us understand how biology and science are used to construct and justify gender identity at various historical moments. This course therefore has particular relevance to current debates about gender and sexual identity, marriage, reproductive rights, etc.
GWS 480: Gender Roles & International Development
Prerequisite: One course in Gender and Women’s Studies or one course in international, social, economic, or political development, or consent of instructor.
Summerfield A4 CRN 35018 R 1-3:30
Interdisciplinary seminar examining theoretical and empirical research on gender and the transformation of social and economic structures. Students will develop a comparative perspective on issues of women and public policy by contrasting and comparing such policies in North and South America, Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, and Africa.
GWS 490: Seminar in Women’s Studies
Topic: Latinas in Television, Film and Popular Culture
Prerequisite: GWS 250 or GWS 260 and two courses in Gender and Women’s Studies at the 200-300 levels; junior standing; or consent of instructor. May be repeated one time if topics vary.
Valdivia 1U CRN 35021 W 5-6:50
Valdivia 1G CRN 44738 TR 9:30-10:50
Within the past few years, numerous government as well as media reports have noted the emergence of Latina/os as a growing, vibrant, and undeniable component of US popular culture. Truth is, of course, Latina/os not only have lived in the US for many generations, but, in fact, many predate the Anglo population. Yet we might say, that in terms of popular culture, especially in the mainstream, we are beginning to witness a Latina/o presence, whether it be in front or behind of the camera. Using a framework of analysis that combines Media Studies, Latina/o Studies, and Women’s Studies we will study and explore contemporary and recent historical issues, concepts, and people as they are connected to Popular Culture. For the purposes of this class, we will focus on issues of film, television, popular music and dance, as well as advertising, magazines, girl fiction, toys, and food as forms of popular culture. While there are many other huge areas of popular culture such as visual arts and literature, these fall beyond the scope of the class [and they are also studied in other classes]. When we study forms of popular culture we will follow a path that is outlined both by media theory in terms of issues of production, content, and audiences as well as by contemporary cultural studies analysis that is through the concepts of culture, identity and difference, representation, and culture of consumption. From Latina/o Studies, we will draw on a framework that acknowledges the diversity and heterogeneity of the U.S. Latina/o population while remaining ever vigilant to specificity and calls for nation or region specific affiliations. From Women’s Studies we, of course, employ the need to pay attention to issues of gender as a major form of difference that we use to make sense of our world. We use multicultural feminism as well as the accumulating amount of work conducted by Chicana and Latina feminists. There is some overlap between all these areas of study as they potentially inform each other. We will explore these areas of intersection.
GWS 490: Seminar in Women’s Studies
Topic: Violence Against Women
Meets with PSYC 496 LF3, PSYC 496 LF4. Prerequisite: Junior standing and consent of instructor.
Fitzgerald BG CRN 35032 TR 9-10:20
Fitzgerald BU CRN 35035 TR 9-10:20
This course provides a survey of the relationship between gender and violence, particularly sexual violence. We examine classic and contemporary studies of sexual assault, battering, childhood sexual abuse, and sexual harassment. We also look at related topics such as sex work, pornography, sexual slavery, sex tourism, and cultural institutions that condone, encourage, or incorporate violence against women.
GWS 490: Seminar in Women’s Studies
Topic: Feminist Science Studies the Body
Littlefield ML4 CRN 41642 W 1-3:50
Littlefield ML3 CRN 44574 W 1-3:50
This course explores how scientists, sciences and technologies envision, create and politicize our bodies. Our focus will be female bodies and feminist perspectives, but this lens also allows us to explore the ways in which men are constituted as subjects and objects of the scientific gaze. We will begin by asking several practical questions: who’s doing science? How are these sciences constituted? We will then work through a series of case studies, like those listed above, that address the ways in which female bodies have been used in science and created by scientific discourse. Finally, we will address the ways in which science fiction provides a tool-kit for scientists and theorists interested in challenging traditional relationships between science and the body.
GWS 498: Senior Seminar
Prerequisite: Senior standing and enrollment as a major in Gender and Women’s Studies, or consent of instructor.
Treichler CRN 35012 M 1-3:50
Considers the relationship between theory and research in Women’s Studies. Reviews and examines the key issues of feminist scholarship. Provides students with the methodological knowledge and opportunity to carry out a research project.
GWS 501: Problems in Comparative Women’s History
Topic: Gender and Colonialism
Same as HIST 503
Burton CRN 40143 R 3-4:50
This course provides a thematic overview of the intellectual questions, methodological challenges and historiographical innovations that arise when gender as a category of historical analysis is brought to bear on colonialism as a world-historical phenomenon. The first half of the semester is devoted to exploring the multiple and conflicting sources through which historians have sought to reconstruct gendered colonial pasts. In the second half of the course, we examine a series of recent historical works which address conceptual problems entailed by attempts to historicize the relationship between gender and colonialism as analytical categories. Among the specific subjects under consideration are the civilizing mission; the subaltern subject; domesticities; sexuality and intimate colonialisms; racialized pathologies; gender, citizenship and nation. We will be operating from the assumption that colonial regimes are never self-evidently hegemonic, but are always in process, subject to disruption and contest, and therefore never fully or finally accomplished. As we shall see, the gendered and sexualized social orders produced by such regimes are equally precarious, and hence offer us unique opportunities to see the incompleteness of colonial modernities. In this sense the course is not simply about gender and sexuality as self-evident categories, but about their capacity to interrupt, thwart, and sometimes reconfirm modernizing colonial regimes -- in part because they are not simply dimensions of the socio-political domain, but represent its productive and uneven effects.
GWS 508: Feminism, Gender and Sexuality
Same as ANTH 508
Kelsky CRN 44661 W 10-12:50
Theoretical issues raised in recent feminist writings in anthropology. Theoretical approaches to be explored include constructionist, postmodern, textual and historical materialist perspectives. Selected contemporary ethnographies introduce the integration of feminist theory into data analysis.
GWS 550: Feminist Theories Humanities
Prerequisite: At least one graduate-level humanities course or consent of instructor.
Treichler CRN 39537 T 4-6:50
Interdisciplinary graduate-level course in feminist theory, with an emphasis on the humanities. Explores current debates in feminist theory as they pertain to humanities disciplines.
GWS 570: Feminist Research Social Science
Same as SOC 520. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and previous coursework in women's or gender studies, or consent of instructor.
Kenney CRN 35052 T 1:30-3:20
Interdisciplinary feminist theory and research course with emphasis on the social sciences. Examines theoretical, methodological, and empirical research on sex, gender, and women in the social sciences.
GWS 590 EM: Topics in Gender and Women’s Studies
Topic: The History of 20th Century Black Women’s Activism
Same as HIST 572
McDuffie CRN 41599 W 2-4:50
This is a readings class in the history of twentieth century African American women’s activism and their involvement in social movements. We are concerned with appreciating their critical roles in building, sustaining, and leading all-Black organizations such as the Women’s Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention, National Association of Colored Women, Universal Negro Improvement Association, Black Panther Party, National Black Feminist Organization, and Combahee River Collective as well as interracial organizations like the Communist Party, USA and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. This class will be grounded in social movement and Black feminist theory. We will analyze how Black women activists formulated Black feminist, transnational, diasporic frameworks to understand the global nature of racism, economic inequalities, sexism, and in some cases homophobia. We will examine how gender, race, class, sexuality, femininity, masculinity, age, and culture have structured social movements and positioned black women and men within them. In addition, we will focus on how black women’s activists have grappled with black nationalist discourses, which have often narrowly defined the struggle for black liberation in masculinist terms. We will also examine the transformative effects of activism on Black women’s subjectivities. Interdisciplinary in approach, we will use the latest scholarship from the fields of History, Women’s Studies, Sociology, and Political Science as well as memoir and fiction to explore these issues. Students will be required to write an interpretative essay as their final project. If successful, this class should be very useful for students interested in researching and teaching in the fields of Black Women’s Studies, African American History, and African Diaspora Studies.
GWS 590M: Sex, Love and Globalization
Conference
Manalansan CRN 44861 T 3-5:50
“What’s love got to do with it (I mean globalization)?”
Escalating global flows of people, ideas and technology unravel banal notions such as sex and love as these movements defy the paradoxical juxtaposition of the “intimate and the proximate.” To think sex and love in the 21st century demands an understanding of globalization.
In this course, we will examine how discourses on love and sex travel. That is, how they encounter, confront and negotiate the logics of the capitalist market, the discrepant narratives of modernity, and the gripping reality of desire. We will be concerned with the various ways the cultural artifacts of intimacy are rendered, fetishized and reified in various geographical and virtual sites. Utilizing multiple genres – including theoretical works from Plato to Kipnis and recent ethnographies, we will navigate the treacherous relationship between sex and emotions –specifically love, and their articulations in global realities such as emerging internet cultures, sex work, development programs, migration, political/social movements, pornography, and debates around marriage.
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AFRO 342: Black Men in U.S. Society
Same as SOC 325. Prerequisite: Introductory social science course.
Hamer CRN 43467 MW 9-10:20
The sociological study of African American men in the contemporary United States. Specifically, the experiences of this demographic group as it relates to the economy, state, policy, and institutions such as family, criminal justice system, and education.
AFRO 381: Black Women and Film
Same as CINE 381. Prerequisite: College level film course or consent of instructor.
Gateward CRN 43233 MW 10-11:50
An examination of the contribution of Black women film directors to cinema. The study of documentary, experimental, animated, fictional shorts, and feature films will reveal their unique approach to constructions of the intersection of race and gender. Starting from the 1920's up to the present, the course considers themes, aesthetics, historical contexts, and ideological discourses presented in the films.. Prerequisite: College level film course or consent of instructor.
AFRO 398: Political Socialization: The Poetics and Politics of African American Girlhood
(Counts for advanced hours in Liberal Arts & Sciences)
Brown CRN 44283 W 1-3:50
This course is designed to introduce students to traditional and contemporary theories, methods, and issues of political socialization. Political socialization, the processes and outcomes involved in learning to become and acting as citizens was once a major foundation of political science inquiry and is once again becoming central to discipline. This course focuses particularly on understanding children and youth political socialization based on the experiences of African American girls. Understanding the social, political, and cultural realities of African American girlhood provides a foundation to critique seminal work in the discipline as well as inspires creative and innovative possibilities for studying children and adolescents as political actors. Because we will examine scholarly approaches (course readings), critique cultural phenomenon (poetry, literature, and music), and do in class activities (performance) this course is inherently interdisciplinary and will require students to understand the boundaries of the political, as well as to transcend them. Students will be challenged to think critically about race, class, gender, and sexual orientation as it relates to the course material and classroom interactions.
ANTH 209: FOOD, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY
Manalansan CRN 43563 TR 1-2:20
As American as apple pie!
Let’s have a coffee break.
I can’t eat any more – I have to fit into a bikini this summer.
A Thanksgiving dinner without turkey – impossible!
You have not eaten French haute cuisine? Oh you poor thing!
You can’t be friends with them – they eat dogs!
Food is part of our daily life. More importantly, food goes beyond providing nutrition and biological sustenance it establishes relationships, meanings and practices that revolve around family, kinship, religion, gender, class, ethnic, national and other collective identities. It marks routine, important life events and special holidays. Food influences how we see ourselves against others. It is a medium for creating intimacy and for discriminating against people.
The course introduces students to the anthropological and sociological study of food in order to better understand how food practices, culinary cultures and dietary rules are embedded in our individual and collective memories, desires, and struggles. Some of the themes to be explored in this class include: cookbooks and cooking shows; diet and gender; ethnic foods; haute cuisine and class inequalities; religion and food taboos; cannibalism, fast-foods and nationalism; McDonaldization and globalization; and world hunger.
ARTH 522: Studies in Medieval Art
Topic: Medieval Studies: Gender East and West
Same as MDVL. Prerequisite: Consent of Instructor.
Ruggles CRN 43768 R 9-11:40
The seminar topic is the architectural and arts patronage of women and the gendering of space, both urban and residential, material and performative, from 500-1500 CE. The primary focus will be Islamic society, contrasted with the West for the purposes of comparing methodological approaches and the different kinds of archival and archaeological sources. Guest speakers from on and off campus will contribute to the discussions. Students will write a lengthy seminar paper that both explores a historical problem and discusses its intellectual framework.
ASST 199: Gender, Sexuality, and Popular Culture in Contemporary Japan Takeyama CRN 44524 TR 1-2:20 Do you like popular culture? Do you want to study about Japanese society? This course will explore novels, films, advertising and other media and examine women’s, men’s, and gays/lesbians’ cultures in contemporary Japan. We will ask: What is gender? How it is different from sex? How, for instance, are women variously represented in the media, by whom, and how do women and men consume these images? This course also extends its scope to gendered and sexualized representation and understanding of class, urban/rural regional differences, and race/ethnicity within Japan and in its relationship with the rest of the world.
CHLH 206: Human Sexuality
See course schedule for sections.
Emphasizes the behavioral aspects of human sexuality. Topics include: birth control; prenatal care, pregnancy and childbirth; sex roles; premarital sex; lifestyles; marriage and divorce.
CHLH 314: Introduction to Aging
Same as HDFS 314, RST 314, PSYC 314 and REHB 314
Armstrong CRN 31214 MW 10-11:15
No description available.
COMM 321: Film Culture
Topic: Blaxploitation Films
Gill CRN 31377 MW 1-1:50
This course will consider some of the best-known instances of what are called “blaxploitation” films, a term that has been disputed since its inception. Blaxploitation, the combination of “Black” and “exploitation,” is used to describe a group of wildly popular U.S. films of the 1970s, generally produced and directed by white men, that targeted urban African-American audiences. Although blaxploitation films often addressed contemporary racial issues with a forcefulness and candor not found in many other films of the time, their reliance on criminal themes, depictions of unbridled sex and excessive violence, and propensity for morally ambiguous, socially offensive, or criminal protagonists prompted the NAACP and other civil rights groups to condemn them as irredeemably stereotypical and injurious to the race. Because these films employed mostly African American actors, made use of innovative funk and soul music written and sung by African American musicians, and gave audiences culturally viable, sexually powerful, and coolly authoritative African American protagonists, they are important to examine critically and historically. Class readings and discussions will focus on the social issues, depictions of violence, formation of racial identities, and constructions of masculinity and femininity elaborated in these brutal, improbable narratives. By looking at exemplary selections of this group of films and reading pertinent theoretical essays, the class will examine the narrative premises, gender constructions, and visual and musical strategies of blaxploitation films, assessing their historical significance as well as their explorations of a social identity that both violates and confirms traditional American values.
CWL: 205: Islam and the West through Literature
Prerequisite: CWL 241 and CWL 242 or one year of college literature.
Booth CRN 30981 MW 1-2:20
Organized around major cultural/historical/religious topics presented in literature through Western and Islamic eyes, beginning with the Crusades and proceeding into the present. This course will examine stereotypes, fantasies, identifications and political opportunism promoted by the encounter between the West and the Islamic World.
ENG 199: Women Writers of the Caribbean
Discovery Course
Castro CRN 39025 TR 11-12:15
This course focuses on novels and short stories by twentieth-century and contemporary Caribbean women writers. Hailing from a region whose inhabitants can trace ancestry to Africa, Asia, Europe, and naturally, the Americas, these writers invite reflection on “New World” histories and the societies they have produced. Reading some works in translation, but focusing mainly on texts in English, the course will examine what commonalities exist among Caribbean nations that have been subject to different European colonial powers, asking various questions of the readings: What visions of cultural and racial “mixture” emerge from these works? How are histories of slavery and colonialism intertwined with sexual politics and gender expectation? How do the various diasporas that structure Caribbean community factor into the “home” these authors attempt to write for themselves? How do international relations become an intimate affair in their writings? Featured authors will include Jean Rhys, Michelle Cliff, Jamaica Kincaid, and Julia Alvarez.
ENG 272E: “Minority Images” in American Film
Same as AFRO 272. Prerequisite: Fulfillment of Composition I English requirement; sophomore standing or above.
Curry CRN 43497 MW 1-2:50
The writing- (and discussion)- intensive course explores how cinema in the U.S. has represented diverse ethnicities and cultures throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, in relation to each other and to dominant American media conventions and social ideals. The course considers a range of “Hollywood” movies and independently-produced works, with a selected feature film showing each week in the required lab screening.
NOTE: Required film screening on Mondays from 7:30-10 p.m.
ENG 300X: Writing About Literature
Topic: Women’s Stories of Immigration in Contemporary American Literature
Mohr CRN 32119 MWF 12-12:50
This course will focus on contemporary works by American women writer’s whose stories have roots around the world, including Mexico, China, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. Our discussions will focus on issues related to racial, national, and gender identities as we compare the different perspectives on “America” that each author presents. We will also explore the role of literature as a bridge between past and present in stories that span generations. Because this course covers a period still in the process of definition, our task includes contributing to a critical framework for comparing these diverse contributions to American literature.
ENG 396G: Honors Seminar
Topic: “Graphic” Discourses: Violence and Sex in Popular Culture
Curry CRN 3