courses

Fall 2008
Spring 2009
(click on course titles for syllabi and/or course Websites)
Please note: some syllabi may be from previous terms. Current versions should be made available by the start of the semester.

Courses outside WGS that count
for concentration credit

Courses That Count for LGBT
Secondary Field or Focus

Harvard Course Catalog
(can also link to course syllabi here)

Fall 2008

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 91r. Supervised Reading and Research
Catalog Number: 6225
Director of Studies and staff
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Hours to be arranged.
The study of selected topics in studies of women, gender, and sexuality.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 98r. Tutorial — Junior Year
Catalog Number: 8094
Director of Studies and staff
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Note: Ordinarily taken by concentrators for one term in the second term of the junior year. Concentrators planning to study abroad in the second term should take WGS 98r in the first term of the junior year.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 99a. Tutorial — Senior Year
Catalog Number: 6763
Linda Schlossberg
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Note: Both WGS 99a and 99b are required of all concentrators in their senior year.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1000gm. Introduction to WGS: The Gender Mystique
Catalog Number: 9620
Alice Jardine
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 10, and a one-hour section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
An overview of major questions raised by the interdisciplinary study of women, gender, and sexuality and the challenges thus raised to traditional divisions of knowledge. Our approach will be contemporary and our subjects will range across history, science, economics, literature, and film, moving through feminist, postcolonial, and queer theories, towards an examination of how such fields as public health, medicine, education, and law have been forever changed by gender theory since WW II.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1122. The Romance: From Jane Austen to Chick Lit
Catalog Number: 8181
Linda Schlossberg
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 12, and a one-hour section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 5
A critical investigation of the genre’s enduring popularity, beginning with Austen’s satirical Northanger Abbey and three novels credited with providing narrative templates for contemporary romances (Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights). We will then read twentieth-century revisions of these works (Rebecca, The Wide Sargasso Sea, Bridget Jones’s Diary). Topics: the female writer and reader/consumer of literature; moral warnings against romance, “sensation,” and titillation; the commodification of desire; Harlequins; the relationship between high culture and low.
Note: This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the Core requirement for Literature and Arts A.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1154. I Like Ike, But I Love Lucy: Women, Popular Culture, and the 1950s
Catalog Number: 6855
Alice Jardine
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 12, and a one-hour section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 14
A diagnosis and analysis of this formative decade for the US babyboomer. Taught from a cultural studies perspective, the course focuses on gender politics in print media, film, television, and rock of the early cold war era. Topics include: the bomb and TV, the Rosenberg trial, early civil rights movement, beat generation, Hollywood dreams of true love, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball, Jack Kerouac, Joe McCarthy, Rosa Parks, and others.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1172. Men and Women, War and Peace - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 3691
Ian Keith Lekus
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 11, and a one-hour section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
We will investigate the gendered definitions of war and peace, both past and present. Focusing on the U.S. within a global framework, we will examine the ways that women and men have experienced warfare, military service, terrorism, and militarism, as well as their roles in building and maintaining peace. We will consider these questions from various perspectives, including combatants, nurses, and support personnel, diplomats, pacifists and terrorists, and spouses, partners, and sex workers.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1180. Hollywood Films and Postwar LGBT Politics
Catalog Number: 9658
Michael Bronski
Half course (fall term). M., 1–3. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7
This course will examine the interplay between post-World War Two film representation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals and the development of a national LBGT political consciousness. In addition to film screenings, texts will include feminist and queer film theory, primary source movement documents, and popular writings on homosexuality. Emphasis will be placed on how Hollywood films reflect social change brought about by the LBGT movement working in conjunction with other movements.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1200qh. Transgender History and Urban Spaces
Catalog Number: 5244
Susan Stryker
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a one-hour section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
This class explores the history of transgender communities and identities in the United States. Over the course of the semester, we will link transgender history to issues in contemporary critical, queer, and feminist theory, and develop an argument about the interrelationship between embodiment and the built environment.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1233. Gender, Sexual Violence, and Empire
Catalog Number: 4121 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Katherine Stanton
Half course (fall term). Th., 1–3. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16
Making the case for what Deepika Bahri identifies as the "constitutive" role of gender in colonial formations, this course will examine the feminization of colonized peoples and crises in European masculinity, the myth of the black male sexual threat, and the notion of European women’s moral authority. Yet we will also consider the importance of gender to national projects and postcolonial theorizations. We will read cultural history, literary theory, and literary works in this course.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1238. Consuming Passions - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 5605 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Caroline Light
Half course (fall term). W., 1–3, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7
In what ways do sexuality and desire frame our contemporary experiences of consumption, and how do unequal distributions of global power influence the relationship between producers of globally marketed goods and services and those who consume them? Topics include sex tourism, migrant domestic labor, international adoption and surrogacy, and the commercialization of same-sex desire.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1256. Black Motherhood across the Diaspora - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 3994 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Laurie A. Nsiah-Jefferson
Half course (fall term). W., 3-5. Hours to be arranged.
The unique role of black mothering in the United States, Africa, the Caribbean and across the globe will be explored. We will focus on how mothers negotiate the terrain of dominant images of motherhood within and outside their communities, and the influence of gendered racism on themselves and their families. We will also explore public policies that impact on black motherhood, and how motherhood has been used as a subversive tool to fight oppression.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1300. Approaches to Research and Writing in WGS
Catalog Number: 4429 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Afsaneh Najmabadi
Half course (fall term). Tu., 1–4. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16, 17
An analysis of the production of knowledge and research methodologies across a variety of interdisciplinary topics in WGS. Specific research and writing requirements in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences are addressed as interdisciplinary questions are explored. The course is designed to deepen students’ thinking about their research questions, their roles and responsibilities as researchers, feminist epistemologies and the challenges of representation in the writing process.
Note: Required of all full and primary concentrators. Strongly recommended for joint concentrators with WGS as the allied field.

*Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1460. Somatechnics: Bodies and Technology
Catalog Number: 4785 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Susan Stryker
Half course (fall term). W., 3–5. EXAM GROUP: 8, 9
"Somatechnics" is a newly coined term that calls attention to the linked nature of bodies and technologies. This advanced seminar will investigate technologies of embodiment in the fields of medicine, education, information technology, the arts, surveillance, science, and law. We will explore such topics as prostheses, the selling of human organs and tissues, assisted reproductive technologies, cybersex, and robotics.

Spring 2008

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 91r. Supervised Reading and Research
Catalog Number: 6225
Director of Studies and staff
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Hours to be arranged.
The study of selected topics in studies of women, gender, and sexuality.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 97. Tutorial-Sophomore Year
Catalog Number: 7217 Enrollment: Limited to concentrators.
Caroline Light
Half course (spring term). Th., 3–5.
[syllabus]
An introduction to foundational concepts and analytical tools in the study of gender and sexuality. Focus on the ways in which diverse people have understood gender, sexuality, race, and nationhood as categories of knowledge. Case studies of activists and theorists forging complex alliances across unstable differences. Readings include Gloria Anzaldúa, Adrienne Rich, Simone de Beauvoir, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Donna Haraway, Patricia Hill Collins, Inderpal Grewal, Judith Butler, Monique Wittig, Alison Bechdel, and Michel Foucault.
Note: Required of, and limited to, Women, Gender, and Sexuality concentrators in their first year in the concentration.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 98r. Tutorial — Junior Year
Catalog Number: 8094
Director of Studies and staff
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Note: Ordinarily taken by concentrators for one term in the second term of the junior year. Concentrators planning to study abroad in the second term should take WGS 98r in the first term of the junior year.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 99a. Tutorial — Senior Year
Catalog Number: 6763
Linda Schlossberg
Half course (fall term). Hours to be arranged.
Note: Both WGS 99a and 99b are required of all concentrators in their senior year.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 99b. Tutorial — Senior Year
Catalog Number: 5847
Linda Schlossberg (spring term)
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Note: Both WGS 99a and 99b are required of all concentrators in their senior year.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1162. Imagining Asian America - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 9404
Jigna Desai (University of Minnesota)
Half course (spring term). Th., 1–3. EXAM GROUP: 15, 16
Note:  Mandatory film screenings will be held on Thursday evenings. 
Please see the syllabus for exact dates and times.
[syllabus]
This interdisciplinary course investigates the identities, experiences, and racial formations of Asian Americans within the larger context of capitalism, Orientalism, and American empire. We discuss the history of the United States as a "gate-keeping" nation-state as well as the current climate of increased xenophobia, nativism, and racialization. The course introduces "Asian American critique" as an intellectual mode of inquiry that critiques racialized regimes of power and inequality within America.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1177. AIDS: Politics, Culture, and Science - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 8642
Ian Keith Lekus
Half course (spring term). M., W., at 11, and a one-hour section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
This course introduces the political, social, cultural, and medical constructions of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Drawing upon diverse interdisciplinary texts, we will investigate the pandemic’s historical epidemiology; state, medical, and grassroots responses to AIDS; and evolving media representations of AIDS. We will explore both continuities and changes in these dynamics from local, national, and transnational perspectives. To do so, we will focus on examples from the U.S., Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1210ft. Feminist Theory: Feminism and Psychoanalysis
Catalog Number: 5590
Amy Hollywood (Divinity School)
Half course (spring term). Tu., 3–5. EXAM GROUP: 17, 18
The course explores feminism’s long and contentious relationship with psychoanalysis. From its inception, women were intensely involved in the psychoanalytic enterprise as- patients, analysts, and critics. Sexuality is at the core of psychoanalysis, and as a result the status of men and women, maleness and femaleness, masculinity and femininity, have been subject to continual debate. Through historical exploration of these issues we ask if, how, and why psychoanalysis matters to feminist theory and practice today.

*Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1215. Off the Page and Into the World: Feminist Praxis in the Community - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 3232 Enrollment: Limited to 12.
Deborah J. Cohan
Half course (spring term). M., 2–5. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
[syllabus]
This course will involve students in experiential learning in community agencies that serve women, girls, and/or gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. The course will require students to apply feminist theory to the challenges of organized social change. Internship placements of 8 hours a week in a community agency or non-profit organization must be approved by the instructors, in projects that advance students’ knowledge of the intersection of identities, feminist ideologies, and feminist praxis.
Note: Interested students must attend a mandatory orientation meeting to be scheduled in December, 2008. Students will be required to arrange for an approved internship, and are encouraged to begin that process with the help of the instructors starting in December. Please contact the WGS main office for more information.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1241. Race-Gendered Adolescence - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 3076 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Laurie A. Nsiah-Jefferson
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
What is the meaning of being an African-American male adolescent, or a 15 year old female Vietnamese immigrant? How do adolescents of color see themselves? How does society view them? What are the current challenges and opportunities for these youth? What role does government policy, families and communities play? How do young people negotiate the raced-gendered terrain of their lives? Memoirs, novels, reports, legislation, and other documents will be utilized to explore these topics.

*Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1407. Harlots, Dandies, Bluestockings: Sexuality, Gender, and Feminism in the 18th and 19th Centuries
Catalog Number: 0730 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Linda Schlossberg
Half course (spring term). W., 1–3. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7
How did social forces in the 18th and 19th centuries shape (and contest) new theories of womanhood, sexuality, and political equality? Readings from a variety of literary and political sources, including "Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure," "Moll Flanders," "The Picture of Dorian Gray," "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," "A Vindication of the Rights of Women." Areas of inquiry: prostitution, the suffrage movement, motherhood, property rights, psychology, manliness, sexology, Victorian pornography.

*Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality 1453. South Asians in America: Nation, Migration, Diaspora - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 4326 Enrollment: Limited to 15.
Jigna Desai (University of Minnesota)
Half course (spring term). W., 3–5. EXAM GROUP: 8, 9
[syllabus]
Using South Asian migration to the US as a case study, this course provides an overview of important concepts and trends in the study of gender, migration, and citizenship. From an interdisciplinary feminist and queer perspective, we examine the relationship between postcolonial nations, "host" countries, and racialized diasporas. Spanning from early twentieth century Sikh farmers to contemporary post-9/11 America, the seminar develops critical lenses for understanding the identities and experiences of South Asian Americans.