Women’s & Gender Studies

The course examines theoretical and research perspectives on gender in education, with particular attention to the intersections of gender, race, class, and sexualities. It investigates how educational policies and practices address gender issues and introduces discourse analysis as a critical analytical tool. The course explores the role of feminist thought in understanding gender in educational contexts in Aotearoa New Zealand, engaging with contemporary feminist debates and questions such as: Does feminism still matter? Are we in a post-feminist phase? Or does feminism matter more than ever? Topics include gender-inclusive curriculum, pedagogy, and policy; the critique of popular gender-normative advice literature; and approaches to queering the curriculum, with opportunities for discussion and engagement with current media debates.

This course examines the developments of feminist theories and feminist activism over the last 200 years. Topics include: types of feminism, genealogies of exclusion; private vs public and equality vs difference; conceptions of sex and genders; queer status and a deconstruction of binaries; intersectionality and decentered feminism in the context of post-colonial or de-colonial views.

The world faces a variety of identity-based politics that are considered a cause of social divisions today. Ongoing globalization—the process of human movements, networking, and intensifying interconnectivity—has facilitated various interactions, often causing disparities, conflicts, and injustices. At globalization hubs, racially and culturally diversifying populations experienced geographically uneven social transformation. Sometimes, people form “identity” to create “others” as an enemy, and other times, they do so to become “we” to achieve a common goal.  

This course pays special attention to women’s experiences in the United States, a nation known for the diversity of its population. Hoisting the banner of freedom, democracy, and capitalism, the United States engaged in settler colonialism and imperialism through the nineteenth century to lead in shaping the world order and globalization process. The course examines major historical events in their respective socio-historical contexts. By taking local, national, and transnational perspectives, the course explores the complex workings of gender, class, race/ethnicity, ideology, sex, age, etc., in women’s collective power-building and analyze how they affected their identities and society. The course discusses similarities and differences among American, Japanese, and/or societies of class interest, pursuing lessons to be learned from American examples and how this knowledge can better communities today. 

This course considers the philosophy and politics within gender studies. It briefly examines the works of Plato and Aristotle before exploring modern texts on feminism, gender, and sexual identity. Topics of study include: natural and cultural constructions of sex and gender; equality and difference; sex, gender, and sexual identity; intersectionality.

Students complete an internship with a local organization or company. Each placement includes oversight and regular check-ins with an internship supervisor from the company or organization. The Internship Methodology Seminar accompanies the internship placement and offers a platform for reflection, enhancement of skills, and development of cultural competence. It focuses on practical skill application, cultural understanding, and adaptability within professional environments to provide a bridge between academic learning and real-world experience.

This course examines the global condition of women and girls through a feminist lens, discussing this condition as political and sexual. It canvasses topics that exemplify global sexual politics and discusses the harmful results for women and girls. The course aims to cultivate theoretical insight and critical analysis skills that exercise knowledge and examples specifically from feminist scholarship. It aims to promote comprehension of feminist frameworks as well as contemporary problems affecting women and girls globally. 

This course examines the global condition of women and girls through a political-economic lens; specifically, the sexual politics that underpin the global economy. It canvasses different perspectives on women's place in the global economy starting in the 19th century and examines topics like the labor market; class, and waged-based exploitation that exemplify the sexual politics of the capitalist economy and the harmful results on women and girls.

This course examines how frameworks/concepts/tools of social justice are deployed in the context of globalization, and examine to what extent they are effective vehicles for social changes, in what ways, and for whom. Through keywords and themes on coloniality, class, race, gender, and sexuality, it analyzes structural oppressions across borders and generations, while envisioning a less exploitative, more sustainable, and more just world.

In this course, student participants will analyze how ideas about gender and sexuality influenced left-wing revolutionary movements and right-wing military dictatorships in Latin America since 1959, considering both political history and the experiences lived by contemporary people in the cases of Cuba, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and Nicaragua, among others.

This interdisciplinary course examines how gender and sexuality were experienced, represented, and contested in Weimar-era Germany (1918-1933). Drawing on a diverse array of primary sources - including theater, visual art, literature, film, and theoretical texts - students explore how marginalized individuals and communities navigated, expressed, and politicized their identities. Key topics include the emergence of sexual science and the conceptualization of the "third sex"; the proliferation of queer spaces, subcultures, and social movements in 1920s Berlin; intersections of gender, sexuality, race, class, and disability; artistic and literary depictions of gender fluidity and erotic desire; medicalization, criminalization, and the state's response to gender/sexual nonconformity; the rise of fascism and the violent backlash against LGBTQ+ rights. Through close engagement with primary sources and cutting-edge scholarly work, students gain a nuanced understanding of the complex, often contradictory dynamics that defined gender and sexuality in Weimar Germany. This course equips students with the critical tools to analyze the interplay between cultural production, social movements, and the politics of identity.