WMST 241 - Topics in the Construction of Gender

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as ASIA 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 2016/17b: Asian/American Gender and Sexuality Politics: This interdisciplinary seminar examines how “sexuality” and “gender” dynamics have shaped encounters between “Asia” and “America,” in both the U.S. and abroad. We begin the course by interrogating the meanings of these key terms and then continue chronologically. We consider the roles of gender and sexuality within the early history of anti-Asian exclusion in the U.S. and trace how these exclusionary logics transitioned into highly contingent Cold War intimacies. We link this historical inquiry to visual analysis, examining how Asian/Americans have been represented in Hollywood and on Broadway. The course concludes by looking at how sexuality and gender continue to shape the differential valuation of Asian/American bodies within neoliberal globalization. Throughout, we employ transnational feminist analysis and queer of color critique to deepen our understanding of how race, gender, sexuality, class, and nation intersect within Asian/American encounters. Christina Owens.

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

May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.

Two 75-minute periods.