Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS)

WGSS 2013. Introduction to Women's Studies. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course introduces students to core concepts and frameworks in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, using interdisciplinary and intersectional approaches. Women and gender are studied as socially constructed categories created systemically through institutions. The course will provide students with the tools of critical feminist inquiry to assess how women’s lived experiences are shaped by such categories as race, ethnicity, class, nationality, sexuality, and disability. Through an emphasis on Women of Color feminisms, students will examine theories and analytical concepts that emerge from specific historical periods and social movements. May be applied toward the Core Curriculum requirement in Language, Philosophy and Culture. (Formerly WGS 2013 and WS 2013. Credit can only be earned for one course: WS 2013, WGS 2013, or WGSS 2013.) Generally offered: Fall, Spring, Summer. Course Fees: LRC1 $12; LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81; DL01 $75.

WGSS 2023. Introduction to LGBTQ Studies. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This interdisciplinary course introduces concepts and theories within LGBTQ Studies. Topics include issues related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, non-binary, queer, and other gendered and sexual communities. The central focus is to examine, challenge, and destabilize normative conceptualizations and representations of gender and sexuality. This class emphasizes different aspects of LGBTQ studies including history, queer theory, popular culture, media, and literature. Course work centers on complicating notions of queer identities and genders through intersections of race, class, gender, and other categories. May not be repeated for credit. May be applied toward the Core Curriculum requirement in Language, Philosophy and Culture. (Formerly WS 2023. Credit cannot be earned for both WGSS 2023 and WS 2023.) Course Fees: LRC1 $12; LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81; DL01 $75.

WGSS 3023. Global Blackness and Afro-Latinidad. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course offers a survey of the African Diaspora from a cultural perspective, exploring the ways African descendent peoples in the Americas have created Black selves, community, and struggle through transnational imagination and action. The role of Afro-Latinidad, Black social movements, culture, music, and the arts will be considered in terms of how they have come to shape the African Diaspora as an evolving space of Black social making and moving. (Same as AAS 3023 and MAS 3053. Credit can only be earned for one of the following: AAS 3023, MAS 3053, or WGSS 3023.) Course Fee: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

WGSS 3613. Feminist Research Methodologies. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Rigorous examination of theories, application, ethical, and epistemological concerns of feminist research. What does it mean to conduct feminist research? Investigating feminist and gendered perspectives using interdisciplinary, decolonial, and innovative methods, the course will engage issues of researcher subjectivity and reflexivity, representation, intersectionality, and community-embedded research. Students will have the opportunity to gain experience conducting feminist research. May be replaced by a REGSS methods course, such as REGSS Methods AAS 3113 or MAS 4083. (Formerly WS 3613. Credit cannot be earned for both WGSS 3613 and WS 3613.) Generally offered: Spring. Course Fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81; DL01 $75.

WGSS 3953. Special Topics. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course examines women’s texts with special attention to understanding gender as a category of analysis. Variable topics may include women in the sciences, women and technology, literary and cultural representations, women and business, historical and political change, questions of class and nation, queer or transgender theories, or medical and health experiences. This class may emphasize the importance of intersecting categories of analysis including gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. May be repeated for credit when topics vary. (Formerly WGS 4853, WS 3953, and WS 4853. Same as SOC 3263. Credit can only be earned for one of the following: SOC 3263, WGS 4853, WS 3953, WS 4853, or WGSS 3953) Generally offered: Spring. Course Fees: DL01 $75; LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

WGSS 4033. Women of Color Feminisms. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course centers feminist epistemological contributions of Women of Color. As a result of their positionalities, Women of Color have developed their own organizations, printing presses, research approaches, and critical theories, and have contributed to social change. This course examines critical theories that make up Black, Chicana/x and Latina/x, Indigenous, and Asian/Asian American feminisms. Women of Color feminisms have advanced change through their scholarship, activism, community organizing, participation in mutual aid, cultural production, and critique of and resistance to coloniality in all of its forms. This course uses an intersectional approach to examining the contributions of Women of Color feminisms across disciplines to include, but not limited to, education, public health, popular culture, community organizing, policy, and cultural production. (Same as AAS 4033 and MAS 4033. Credit can only be earned for one of the following: AAS 4033, MAS 4033, or WGSS 4033.) Course Fee: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

WGSS 4043. Chicana/x Feminisms. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course centers the development of Chicana/x Feminisms before, during, and after the Chicana/o/x Civil Rights Movement. Developed by Chicana/x mothers, activists, youth, community workers, academics, and artists. Chicana/x Feminisms reflect the embodied knowledges and resulting theories of Chicanas/x who live at the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality that provide them with the unique insight and strategies to advocate for social transformation within their communities and beyond. The course begins with an examination of the foundational scholars within Chicana/x Feminist Thought, surveys the various contributions Chicana/x feminisms have made to education, research, labor, cultural production, spirituality, and other areas, and extends to the present to explore the shifts and advancements within Chicana/x Feminist Thought since the Movement. (Same as MAS 4043. Credit cannot be earned for both MAS 4043 and WGSS 4043.) Course Fee: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

WGSS 4053. Intersectionality. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Intersectionality, a concept introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw, theorizes how interrelated systems of power, particularly racism, capitalism, and patriarchy, produce dilemmas for Black women distinct from white women and Black men. Over the last 25 years, the application of the concept has expanded into an analytical tool to study the experiences across a wide range of identities and communities. This course examines the historical trajectory of intersectionality as a theoretical concept and research paradigm rooted in Black feminism(s) and intersectional frameworks in Black women’s activism and writing, which has long drawn attention to how race, class, and gender mutually determine social location. (Same as AAS 4043. Credit cannot be earned for both AAS 4043 and WGSS 4053.) Course Fee: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

WGSS 4133. Black Social Movements. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Beginning with the violence of the Jim Crow South, and the ongoing segregation in the north and west, this course examines a variety of Black social movements through the current day. Readings, discussions, and assignments will explore the life cycle and impact of each Black social movement, as well as the historical, economic, and political contexts in which they developed. Ethnographies and oral histories from movement participants will be at the center of this exploration. (Same as AAS 4133. Credit cannot be earned for both AAS 4133 and WGSS 4133.) Course Fee: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

WGSS 4623. Feminist Theories. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course will introduce interdisciplinary feminist theories. Students will examine theoretical constructions of women, gender, and sexuality drawing primarily on Women of Color feminisms and queer theories. Students will examine how theories help explain our lives, experiences, and material conditions to creative collective movements for social change. Topics may include the ways in which women, genders, and sexualities get constructed socially with special consideration of race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and other categories. May be repeated for credit only once when topics vary, but no more than 6 semester credit hours of WS 4623, regardless of cross-listed courses and disciplines, will apply to a bachelor's degree. (Formerly WGS 4623 and WS 4623. Credit can only be earned for one course: WS 4623, WGS 4623, or WGSS 4623.) Course Fees: DL01 $75; LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

WGSS 4863. Transnational Feminisms. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Theoretical and historical analysis of how gender ideologies and processes of globalization are affecting the conditions of women’s lives and politics in complex and contradictory ways. Topics may include feminist exploration of colonialism, capitalism, resistance, agency, and social movements. (Formerly WS 4863. Credit cannot be earned for both WGSS 4863 and WS 4863.) Generally offered: Fall, Spring. Course Fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81; DL01 $75.

WGSS 4913. Independent Study. (0-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Prerequisites: Permission in writing (form available) from the instructor, the student’s advisor, the Department Chair, and Dean of the College with which the instructor is affiliated. Independent reading, research, discussion, and/or writing under the direction of a faculty member. A maximum of 3 semester credit hours of Independent Study in Women’s Studies may be applied to the Minor in Women’s Studies. May be repeated for credit, but no more than 6 semester credit hours of independent study, regardless of discipline, will apply to a bachelor's degree. (Formerly WGS 4913 and WS 4913. Credit can only be earned for one course: WGSS 4913, WS 4913, or WGS 4913.) Course Fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

WGSS 4933. Internship in Women's Studies. (0-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. Supervised experience relevant to Women’s Studies. May be repeated once for credit, but no more than 3 semester credit hours will apply to the Women’s Studies major. (Formerly WGS 4933 and WS 4933. Credit cannot be earned for both WGSS 4933, WGS 4933, or WS 4933.) Generally offered: Fall, Spring. Course Fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

WGSS 4953. Special Topics in Women's Studies. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course offers an examination of an individual topic or set of issues in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Students are encouraged to consult their Major Advisor about courses in African American Studies (AAS), Mexican American Studies (MAS), and Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (REGS) related to WGSS. May be repeated for credit when topics vary. (Formerly WS 3713 and WS 4953. Credit can only be earned for one of the following: WS 3713, WS 4953, or WGSS 4953.) Generally offered: Fall, Spring. Course Fee: DL01 $75; LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

WGSS 4973. Seminar in Women's Studies. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Prerequisite: 12 upper-division semester credit hours in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS). This undergraduate seminar, limited to junior and senior Women’s Studies/Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies majors and minors, offers the opportunity to study a special topic, issue, author, or period in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. For additional seminar options, students are encouraged to consult their Major Advisor about courses in African American Studies (AAS), Mexican American Studies (MAS), and Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (REGS) related to WGSS. May be repeated once for credit when topics vary. (Formerly WS 4973. Credit cannot be earned for both WS 4973 and WGSS 4973.) Generally offered: Fall. Course Fee: DL01 $75; LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

WGSS 4993. Honors Thesis. (0-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. Supervised research and preparation of an Honors Thesis for the purpose of earning Women’s Studies Honors. May be repeated once with advisor approval. (Formerly WS 4993. Credit cannot be earned for both WS 4993 and WGSS 4993.) Course Fee: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.