WFQS 241 - Topics in the Constructions of Gender

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

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.

Topic for 2024/2025b: Women of Color in the U.S.: Public and Private Cultures. This course explores cultural production and consumption by “women of color” in the U.S., with a focus on the way various groups have negotiated the presumed gap between private experience and public or political form. Historical, social, and cultural connections and disjunctions between African American, Arab American, Asian American, Native American, Latina, and other women are examined, especially in the context of feminism, cultural nationalism, and the scholarly discipline and practice of critical legal feminism and critical race studies. We explore the varied ways in which family, labor, and leisure practices can place women of color in social positions which blur the distinction between private and public culture, and which call for a reconsideration of the notion of “experience,” itself. Theorists and artists studied include Chela Sandoval, Chandra Mohanty, Claudia Rankine, Cherríe Moraga, and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. Kristin Sanchez Carter.

May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS