Women’s & Gender Studies

This course examines the history of sexuality from the Ancient world, through the 18th and 19th centuries, ending up in the twentieth century.

This introductory seminar approaches two intertwined questions: 1. What is the study of history? 2. How does gender figure into it? Over the course of the semester, this course explores these questions from several perspectives. This includes introductions to the theories and methods of historical scholarship and gender studies, as well as specific historical events and developments to which the theories and methods can be applied. The topics of investigation covers the United States from the colonial period until the Cold War, focusing on issues of femininity, masculinity, and queerness, as well as concepts such as indigeneity, blackness, and imperialism. The course discusses how to find and analyze scholarly literature and primary sources and how to write the seminar’s final research paper.

This course looks at constructions of gender in modern Japanese literature by both female and male authors. Readings cover some of the major authors, genres, and literary movements of modern Japanese literature, as well as secondary readings in gender theory.

The focus of this course is upon representations of the links between the British Empire and colonialism from the 1930s to the present time in colonial and postcolonial cinema. Students explore a variety of perspectives, from postcolonial studies to gender and cultural studies, in order to examine how the empire film relies on figures and stereotypes that the cinemas of decolonization and the diasporas re-appropriate through strategies of irony and subversion. Students study the way the identification of the nation to gendered figures informs narratives and representations and how female directors have offered alternative discourses in various contexts of production.

Taking the perspective of women and entrepreneurship, this course takes a different approach to the role of the individual in the entrepreneurial process.  This course acknowledges that there are differences between the way men and women go about being entrepreneurs by focusing on entrepreneurship with different gender, economic, and cultural contexts and exploring which lessons one may draw from these different contexts, both from an academic as well as from a practical perspective. Rooted in a strong academic base, the course considers entrepreneurial concepts in different contexts leading to context-rich learning and a better appreciation of diversified entrepreneurial solutions.

This course addresses the complex relationship between citizenship and sexuality by focusing on the historical debates of sexual citizenship studies with an emphasis on LGBTQ migrants. By incorporating the recent debates on borders and bordering, the course aims to develop a critical perspective on citizenship and the study of noncitizens. Students who finish this course have a theoretical understanding of specific readings in the literature of citizenship, migration, border studies with a focus on sexuality and gender.

The course explores how gender, both masculinity and femininity, is given various meanings in different time periods and how gender intersects with other social categories. The course is thematic and incorporates a long time span as well as various geographical regions but with an emphasis on European history. The course focuses on developing independent and analytical thinking through reading articles on various topic. Students develop a deeper understanding of the role gender has played in history, and they improve their critical thinking through examining and assessing historical arguments.