Spring 2024 Women's and Gender Study Course Offerings

To view a list of courses offered in the Spring 2024 semester that can be applied to the Women's and Gender Studies Concentration requirements, please see the listing below:

WGS Spring 2024 Course Offerings

Anthropology 76 (CRN 13655): Introduction to Ethnobotany
Professor Nanci Ross
MW 2:00-3:15, Olin 234

Ethnobotany is a multidisciplinary field of study that investigates the role of  relationships between humans and plant populations in shaping human behavioral and biological adaptations as well as plant community structures. Topics will include uses of plants, how people think about plants and the natural world, the origins of agriculture, ecological relationships between humans and plants, and the relevance of ethnobotany to contemporary global issues.

**When registering for ANTH 076 Intro to Ethnobotany, please also register for the co-requisite lab BIO 092L. This course can be used to fulfill either the Life Science + Lab AOI or Global & Cultural Understanding AOI.**

Courses listed as Intermediate Topics in Anthropology are sophomore-level course topics offered on a temporary basis before being added to the approved curriculum.

Anthropology 150 (CRN 13645): Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Americas
Professor Kara Gravert
MW 8:00-9:15, Meredith 234

This class analyzes the historical and material construction of race, gender, and sexuality in the Americas by focusing on processes that started with the European colonization of the continent. This course begins with a theoretical framework that will allow students to understand the origin of racial, gender and sexual classifications as acts of symbolic power. We will explore the intertwined construction of these categories. Next, this course will focus on key historical processes—the emergence of settler colonialism, the transatlantic slave trade, and the rise of modern liberalism—to trace the genealogy of racial and gender classificatory systems that continue to be used today. The course will pay particular attention to how different political economies produce(d) different logics of racialization, gendering, and sexualization. We will engage with literature, art, and film that is particular to both North and South America, and the Caribbean from the 15th century to present day.

These courses are upper-level course topics offered on a temporary basis before being added to the approved curriculum. Prerequisites vary.

Education 164 (CRN 3300): Perspectives on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity
Professor Jennifer Chung
MW 12:30-1:45, Collier-Scripps 235

An historical, social, and cultural analysis of the interrelationships among racial, ethnic, class, and gender experiences in conjunction with an examination of the individual, institutional, and social constructs of prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping. The course will, through its comparative approach, aim to increase understanding of race, ethnic, and gender identity, and sensitize students to the subjective experience of marginalized groups. Case studies will augment the course content for the direct application of course content to the development of instruction programs. There will be an emphasis on African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, gender, sexual orientation, class structure, and people with disabilities. A 10-hour service- learning component at a social service organization is required. The course meets the human relations standards for teachers as outlined by the Iowa Department of Education.

Education 164 (CRN 6965): Perspectives on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity
Professor Kevin Lam
M 4:00-6:50 Collier-Scripps 135

An historical, social, and cultural analysis of the interrelationships among racial, ethnic, class, and gender experiences in conjunction with an examination of the individual, institutional, and social constructs of prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping. The course will, through its comparative approach, aim to increase understanding of race, ethnic, and gender identity, and sensitize students to the subjective experience of marginalized groups. Case studies will augment the course content for the direct application of course content to the development of instruction programs. There will be an emphasis on African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, gender, sexual orientation, class structure, and people with disabilities. A 10-hour service- learning component at a social service organization is required. The course meets the human relations standards for teachers as outlined by the Iowa Department of Education.

Women’s and Gender Studies/English/Sociology 75 (CRN 13636): Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies
Professor Melisa Klimaszewski
TR 12:30-1:45 Howard 111

This class explores gender and sexuality as categories that affect one’s experience of the world. How does gender operate as a category that organizes our world? How do we define feminism and simultaneously decenter whiteness? In what ways can feminist discourses empower societies? How do discourses of race, class, and religion coexist with, influence, or push against discourses of gender and sexuality? How do discourses of gender and sexuality shape institutional power? How does gender operate in popular culture? As we investigate these questions with an interdisciplinary approach, we will learn with an emphasis on collaboration and discussion. We aim to analyze discourses and representations of gender and sexuality with robust critical thinking skills and to communicate our analyses in clear speech and clear writing. Films and readings include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists and the films Moonlight and Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

Women’s and Gender Studies/English/Sociology 75 (CRN 8716): Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies
Professor Melisa Klimaszewski
TR 11:00-12:15 Howard 111

This class explores gender and sexuality as categories that affect one’s experience of the world. How does gender operate as a category that organizes our world? How do we define feminism and simultaneously decenter whiteness? In what ways can feminist discourses empower societies? How do discourses of race, class, and religion coexist with, influence, or push against discourses of gender and sexuality? How do discourses of gender and sexuality shape institutional power? How does gender operate in popular culture? As we investigate these questions with an interdisciplinary approach, we will learn with an emphasis on collaboration and discussion. We aim to analyze discourses and representations of gender and sexuality with robust critical thinking skills and to communicate our analyses in clear speech and clear writing. Films and readings include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists and the films Moonlight and Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

Women’s and Gender Studies/English/Sociology 75 (CRN 13624 ): Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies
Professor Leah Huizar
MW 11:00-12:15 Howard 212

What is gender and sexuality? How do systems of power impact gender and sexuality? How do society and culture shape these concepts? This interdisciplinary course is designed to familiarize students with the central concepts of women's studies, as well as with the ways in which society and culture shape notions of gender and sexuality. In this course, we ground our thinking in theory and scholarship while we also respond to prominent essayists, sociological analysis, legal writing, literature, media, and much more from across a broad range of contributing fields. Expect that we will read, think, and respond to these ideas as an engaged and thoughtful community. We will take seriously the intersectional perspectives and movements which challenge uncritical dialogue around these topics. By the end of the semester, students will have gained the skills to apply, analyze, and respond to the various ways that contemporary social and cultural life informs our sense of gender and sexuality.

English 137 (CRN 13642): Gender and Horror
Professor Beth Younger
W 5:00-7:50PM Howard 308

Gender in Horror Film & Fiction explores depictions of gender (masculinity, femininity, gender-queerness) in American horror film and fiction. In this course you will examine how horror interacts with culture, history, social values, race, and the idea of a “monster.” We will view many films, read a few novels and many critical essays; we will also read cultural criticism and contemporaneous film reviews. English 137 is a course that complicates dominant cultural views of gender in horror; if you are not already a fan of horror films this course may persuade you to become one. However, if you are squeamish, and you are wary that you might be uncomfortable—we will watch a documentary the first night of class that will help put horror films into context. Requirements: weekly writing, a midterm, and a final. Films may include Watcher, Hereditary, Night of The Living Dead, and Rosemary’s Baby.

Women’s and Gender Studies 145/Politics 119 (CRN 13747): Gender and Sexuality in American Politics
Professor Sharonda Woodford

T 4:00-6:30pm Meredith 233

Gender and sexuality are important personal identities. Yet, people whose gender and sexuality are at the margins are sometimes excluded and invisible in mainstream society. The lack of attention is costly in multiple ways. However, research has shown how groups that society renders invisible and powerless find power via personal agency, advocacy, and collective organizing. As such, the most vulnerable identities in society are capable of being active producers of political critique and cause significant change to suppressive social structures.

This course uses feminist, queer, and intersectional theories to examine the ways in which gender and sexuality shape and are shaped by American politics and public policy. Using various theoretical and methodological approaches, this course examines the history, debates, controversies, and representation in gender and sexuality research as it relates to American politics. This course explores intersections of gender and sexuality with other categories, identities, and forms of marginalization. Students will learn about gender and sexuality in relation to agency, activism, citizenship, political participation and representation, and social rights.

Sociology 154 (CRN 13652): Poverty and Society
Professor Elizabeth Talbert
M 5:00-7:50PM

A focus on a sociological exploration of the relationship between poverty and current social concerns, the changing nature of poverty, changes in social responses to poverty, with a special emphasis on public policy implications. Prereq.: Entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructor's consent.

Sociology 174 (CRN 13653): Feminist Theories
Professor Amira Allen
MW 9:30-10:45 Howard 309

This course is a critical, in-depth examination of contemporary feminist theories of subjectivity. The central concern is for students to gain an understanding of the relationships between sexual difference, subjectivity and social relations of power. Students explore theories that address the psychic and subjective roots of relations of gender, power and domination, as well as the socio- historical dimensions of gender subjectivity. Materials and the approach used in the course are interdisciplinary, drawing on sociology, literary criticism, film studies, philosophy and psychoanalysis. Prereq.: Introduction to Women's Studies (WS 75/SCSS 75/ENG 75) or one entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructors consent. Counts toward SOC and ANSO theory-intensive requirements. May be used as part of Women's Studies Concentration.