College of Arts and Sciences
Women’s Studies
Director Shahla Haeri, Anthropology
Co-Directors of Undergraduate Studies Diane Balser, Barbara Gottfried
Assistant Professors Roberta Micallef (MLCL), Carrie Preston (EN)
Lecturers Brenda McSweeny, Jamie Sabino, Deborah Swedberg
Minor Concentration in Women's Studies (2240)
The interdisciplinary minor concentration in women's studies introduces students to the scholarship relating to women and gender in diverse fields and enhances their understanding of traditional academic disciplines. In consultation with the directors of undergraduate studies, students develop a minor concentration that complements their major concentration and is suited to their individual needs. Students must complete six women's studies courses with a grade of C or higher. These six are to include the introductory core courses, CAS WS 113 and 114; one additional WS course; and three other courses, two of which must be at the 300 level or higher, from Women's Studies and departmental offerings listed below.
Consult departmental listings or the department director for women's studies courses in American and New England studies, anthropology, art history, biology, classics, economics, English, history, modern foreign languages and literatures, philosophy, psychology, religion, and sociology. Some women's studies courses may be taught as departmental seminars. Courses offered by Metropolitan College or other University Schools and Colleges may be taken as electives with the permission of the women's studies director. Check departmental listings to ascertain that specific courses are being offered in the current year.
The Women's Studies Program also sponsors lectures on topics related to women's studies in its own series and in other departments and symposia.
For further information, contact Professor Shahla Haeri, Director of Women's Studies, at 704 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 101.
Courses that may be selected for the minor concentration include:
Women's Studies
†CAS WS 113 Women, Society, and Culture: Social Sciences
Women's economic, political, and familial situation in contemporary American society. Examination of work by feminist scholars in various disciplines, including psychology, biology, and history. Balser. 4 cr, either sem. (SS)
†CAS WS 114 Women, Society, and Culture: Humanities
Voices and visions of women writers and filmmakers. Considers how women's artistic productions contribute to understanding the social, cultural, and political history of women. Gottfried, Swedberg. 4 cr, either sem. (HU)
CAS WS 305 Critical Issues in Women's Studies
An interdisciplinary exploration of current topics in women's studies. Three topics are offered in 2007/2008; students may take one, two, or three sections for credit. Topics for Fall 2007: Section A1: Asian Women's Voices: Literature, Memoir, Film, History. Interweaves fiction by women, women's autobiographical narratives, and films featuring female protagonists to explore three periods of cataclysmic upheaval in twentieth century Asia from women's perspectives. Section B1: Performing Women: Drama, Dance, Film, and Feminism. History of women as performers and representations of women on stages from antiquity to the present. Also offered as CAS EN 326 A1. Spring 2008: Identities in Motion: Turkish and British Women Write One Another. Exploration of pivotal questions, related to the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, through readings of travel narratives by European and Ottoman women. Also offered as CAS LL 381. Gottfried, Preston, Micallef. 4 cr, either sem.
CAS WS 340 Women, Race, and Gender in Mass Media
Develops students' media literacy through hands-on analysis of media representations of women, femininity, and race; their relation to women's lived experience; and the place of "female" values in contemporary culture. Gottfried. 4 cr, 2nd sem.
CAS WS 342 Women, Law, and Society
A survey of the law's treatment of women, emphasizing constitutional law, family law, employment discrimination, and reproductive rights and technologies. The course includes historical/sociological analyses of the evolution of laws affecting women and evaluation of their impact. Sabino. 4 cr, Summer Term.
CAS WS 344 Images of Women in Popular Fiction
Formulaic genres—fairy tales, romance fiction, detective novels, horror stories, and science fiction—offer a medium for tracing the development of images of women. Course analyzes women's roles and functions in these genres, focusing on novels by American authors. Staff. 4 cr, Summer Term.
CAS WS 346 Women and Film
Study principally of American films, exploring how the medium has shaped and been shaped by cultural perceptions of women. Readings provide background for interpretation of films ranging from screwball comedy to film noir, "women's films," and films by women directors. Swedberg. 4 cr, 1st sem.
CAS WS 348 Gender and International Development
Analysis of significant gender disparities worldwide in education, livelihoods, crisis settings, and political voice. Interdisciplinary approach combines discussion of novels, films, research on development, and lessons from field experience. Ideas on the advancement of gender equality and women's socio-economic empowerment. McSweeney. 4 cr, 2nd sem.
CAS WS 350 Seminar: Women and Politics
Readings, discussion, and field research on issues of women's relationship to the processes of political influence, change, and empowerment. Analysis of public policy related to women and children. Balser. 4 cr, 2nd sem.
CAS WS 360 Global Feminism: Race and Gender in International Perspectives
Prereq: CAS WS 113; recommended: CAS WS 114. Exploration of critical issues concerning women, gender, and race throughout the world. Topics include women and the global economy, health care, reproduction, the dynamics of sexism, violence against women, international women's movements and political/institutional change. Balser. 4 cr, 1st sem.
CAS WS 491, 492 Directed Study: Women's and Gender Studies
Individual instruction and supervised study project in women's or gender studies. Application form available in program office.
Other courses (offered intermittently):
African American Studies
CAS AA 304 Introduction to African American Women Writers
CAS AA 504 African American and Asian American Women Writers
CAS AA 588 Women, Power, and Culture in Africa
Anthropology
CAS AN 260 Women and Men: Cultural Expectations and Gender Experiences
CAS AN 290 Children and Culture
CAS AN 305 Comparative Family Systems in Asia (meets with CAS SO 305)
CAS AN 320 Women in the Muslim World
CAS AN 344 Modern Japanese Society: Family, School, and Workplace
CAS AN 505 Asian Development: The Case of Women (meets with CAS SO 505)
CAS AN 519 Kinship
CAS AN 554 Human Reproductive Ecology
Archaeology
CAS AR 262 Asian Gods and Goddesses
Biology
CAS BI 111 Brain, Hormones, and Behavior
CAS BI 112 Sex and Reproduction
CAS BI 442 Physiology and Biochemistry of Reproduction
Classics
CAS CL 206 Women in Antiquity
CAS CL 314 Women in Ancient Rome
English
CAS EN 596 Gender and American Culture
History
CAS HI 216 Women and Gender in European History
CAS HI/AM 375 A History of Women in the United States
CAS HI 425 Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe
CAS HI 488 Life Histories of African Women
Modern Languages and Comparative Literature
CAS LC 284 Introduction to Chinese Women's Writing (in English translation)
CAS LJ 480 Japanese Women Writers (in English translation)
CAS LL 381 Topics in Gender and Literature (meets with CAS WS 305)
CAS LY 281 Contemporary Arab Literature: Subversion, Censorship, and Exile (in English translation)
CAS LY 282 Qur'anic Negotiations: Contemporary Muslim Writers and The Holy Book
Philosophy
CAS PH 256 Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality
Political Science
CAS PO 342 Women and Politics (meets with CAS WS 350)
Psychology
CAS PS 352 Women and the Life Cycle
CAS PS 361 Racism, Sexism, and Prejudice
CAS PS 370 Psychology of the Family
CAS PS 472 Family Violence: Theories and Research
CAS PS 552 Topics in Family Research
CAS PS 572 Psychology of Women
Religion
CAS RN 337 Gender and Judaism
CAS RN 413 Gender in Medieval Christian Mysticism
Romance Studies
CAS LS 575 Women's Writing in the Spanish Golden Age
Sociology
CAS SO 205 The American Family
CAS SO 305 Comparative Family Systems in Asia
CAS SO 403 Seminar: Gender Stratification
CAS SO 404 Seminar: The Family
CAS SO 420 Seminar: Women and Social Change in the Developing World
CAS SO 505 Asian Development: The Case of Women (meets with CAS AN 505)
School of Management
SMG MG 472 Women Leaders and Entrepreneurs
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22 October 2007
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