INTL 241 - Topics in the Construction of Gender

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as WMST 241) This course examines the construction of gender as a social category and introduces students to various methodologies of gender studies and feminist analysis. Particular attention is given to the connections between gender, class, race, sex, and sexual identity. Topics vary from year to year and may include the study of gender in the context of a particular historical period, medicine and science, or the arts and literature. May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.

Topic for 2013/14b: Raising Darwin’s Consciousness: Gender and Biocultural Interpretation. For the past two decades, emerging research in brain science, evolutionary psychology, cognitive linguistics and related fields has been transforming literary and cultural analysis. What are the implications of such developments for a feminist approach to cultural studies? Can we reconcile new theories of human nature with those of the social construction of gender difference? Or is evolutionary psychology inherently sexist and reactionary? What is a literary Darwinist? To pursue these questions, we examine the biocultural methods recently used by cultural studies scholars to interpret a variety of verbal and visual texts, from French and American literature and film, to the 2008 campaign rhetoric surrounding Sarah Palin and Barack Obama, to the syndicated advice column run by Amy Alkon, a.k.a., “The Advice Goddess.” Ms. Hart.

Prerequisite(s): WMST 130 or permission of the instructor.

Two 75-minute periods.