WOMN 100A - Inro to Women's Studies
This course will provide an introduction to the scholarship related to the study of gender and feminist theory that defines the field of Women’s Studies. This class takes an interdisciplinary approach, exploring questions of gender and social justice within the disciplines of Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science, as well as Philosophy and History. Although our readings and discussions will foreground gender, they will also take us to the intersections of gender and race, sexuality, class, ethnicity, nationality, and (dis)ability, as well as other categories of identity, difference and stratification. You will be reading both empirical and theoretical literatures, and leave this class with a critical understanding of the strength (and sometimes limitations) of research as a tool for confronting inequality and injustice. You will explore the implications of gender inequality and injustice in areas such as economics, education, labor, sexuality, and safety in both the public and private spheres. You will learn about the various social movements and legal challenges that confronted these injustices. Upon leaving this class, you will have gained some of the tools needed to become agents of social change.
WOMN 221 - Anthro of Sex & Sexuality
Readings, lectures and films help students to explore historically and cross-culturally varying cultural productions of sexuality, its histories, meanings and uses in Euro-American and non-Western societies and in relationships among them (via colonialism, imperialism and globalization). Emphasis on links between sexuality and the development and maintenance of gender differences, class differences and race/racisms. Case studies range from 19th-century Europe and colonial Asia to late-20th-century Caribbean, Southeast Asia, North Africa, South America, Pacific Islands and U.S.; topical investigations include queer sexualities, transgender, prostitution, HIV/AIDS, sex tourism, "family values," cybersex and more.
WOMN 247 - Policy Debate
This class will teach you how to form arguments, different styles of argumentation, how to speak in public, and about U.S.-Sino international relations in the areas of trade, human rights, weapons non-proliferation and Taiwan. You will also learn how to debate abiding to the Cross-Examination Debate Association and the National Debate Tournament's rules. Ultimately, the course allows students to compete two to a team against each other, proposing what the United States federal government should do in response to a given topic area. Traditionally, it requires teams to think of and research policy proposals, causing an in-depth knowledge of issues surrounding any given situation. In recent years, more alternative approaches have been taken by some debaters that call for individual, not governmental, action to solve problems. Prior knowledge of U.S.-Sino relations or philosophy is helpful but not needed since the course will provide all background information necessary to debate.
WOMN 280C - Politics of Women of Color
The phrase "women of color" is not a racial designator >> imposed by the racial state, but an organic term of >> self-identification. Terms of organic self-identifications also make a >> reference to race, but they are terms of resistance, self-given by >> people in self-affirmation, solidarity and resistant collectivity. >> Black, African American, Afro Latina, Chicana, Asian American, Native >> American, First Nation People and Women of Color are examples of terms >> of organic self-identification. They always have a political edge. It >> was self-given by and for women who have been reduced, oppressed at >> the intersection of patriarchy, capitalism, heterosexualism and racism >> as a term of self-identification and resistance against racism in >> coalition among non-white women during the 1980s. It is important to >> note that the organism from within which the identification arose was >> one in formation rather than already formed, in transgression of >> social fragmentation, actively seeking deep coalitions among women who >> have been differently racialized, in appreciation of the differences >> among the histories, cultures and situations of the different women, >> intent on transformation from "object" into "subject" as Michelle >> Cliff put it and, thus, deeply attentive to coming to voice, and >> active subjectivity, but not as individual projects, attentive to the >> intersections of race, class, gender and sexuality. Thus Women of >> Color feminisms have been profoundly radical, the meaning of feminism >> itself tightly tied to the meaning of Women of Color, neither >> extensions of nor assimilable to white feminisms. In this course we >> will become familiar with some of the most important contributions of >> this period of Women of Color feminisms. The point of the course is >> not to look back, but to look forward at a time when a new, exciting, >> even more complex Women of Color movement is in formation.
WOMN 280M - Feminism and Activism
This course will examine the relationship between feminism and activism. Activism refers to the actions taken to empower people; so that they can fully participate in the decision making process that affects their everyday lives. Activism is about sharing power and resources, equity – not just equality, and inclusivity – particularly for those who have been historically marginalized. People of color, low income individuals and families, and women spearheaded social activism as a way to fight their disenfranchisement. Today these groups continue to be on the front line of activism working towards social justice. How does activism happen? Readings will explore local, grassroots activism and the community organizing that is essential for successful social change. Students will learn organizing tools, including, outreach, consensus building, conflict resolution, facilitation, and leadership development. At the beginning of the semester, class time will focus heavily on learning skills: the second part of the semester, students will apply their skills in the Binghamton community. Students are expected to perform 8-10 hour of community work outside of the classroom. Class time will be scheduled accordingly.
WOMN 312A - Negotiating Contemporary Asia
NEGOTIATING CONTEMPORARY ‘ASIA’ ALLEN Is ‘Asia’ a narrative of one’s own making? Can it ever be? Contemporary ‘Asia’, not as simply given, but as constantly in formation through multi-layered narratives of continent, nation, diaspora, colonization and globalization, is the focus of the course. How is contemporary ‘Asia’ produced, if it is, by the poetics and politics of how we know, remember, imagine? by the tensions, upheavals, and shifts of power and meaning that these activities engender? Where cultural, economic, and artistic interpretations of ‘Asia’ offered by new generations produce a plurality of ‘Asias’, what sorts of differences does that make? The class will emphasize recent transnational feminist, queer, and diasporic theory and cultural interpretation, film, new media technologies, and activist practices by writers and visual artists such as Amitava Kumar, Rey Chow, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Deepa Mehta, Myung Mi Kim, Shirin Neshat, Gayatri Spivak, and Kim Soo-Ja. Prerequisites: One course in Philosophy or one course in Asian Studies, Women’s Studies, Africana Studies, or Latin American & Caribbean Studies.
WOMN 340 - Women & U.S. Criminal Justice System
This course is designed to familiarize students with issues pertaining to women who come in contact with the U.S. criminal justice system. It focuses on the inter-relationship between gender, ethnicity, race, class and sexual orientation/preference and on how these influence the causes for which women are arrested and incarcerated, the punishment they receive, the treatment they face once institutionalized and their responses to imprisonment. Required films/documentaries will complement required readings. Some required films/videos will not be available outside class times. You are, therefore, expected to be in class when they are scheduled to be shown.
WOMN 380C - Psychology of Gender
Gender is not a new concept for most of us. We all have some sense of what gender is. However, the study of gender as a central variable in psychological research is a relatively new phenomenon (since the 1960s). Today, however, research related to the study of gender can found within most approaches within the field of psychology (such as cognitive, social, personality, clinical, and developmental). In this course we will explore the empirical and theoretical psychological (and other related social science) literatures related to the study of gender. In doing so, we will consider gender as not simply an identity or category of difference, but a system of meanings that shape all aspects of our lives. Because research and practice within psychology has taken place within social and historical contexts defined by patriarchy and sexism, our knowledge of women and gender has been shaped by these realities. Absent, inadequate and often inaccurate research related to women’s lives has defined much of the early history of psychology. Our readings and in-class discussions will highlight these problems and the work that has attempted to address them. This course will also emphasize that a person’s gender cannot be understood in isolation, but must be considered in relation to his or her race, class, sexuality, (dis)ability and other sites of identity, difference and stratification. An understanding of the various ways that status, power and privilege operate in other aspects of social life is critical to understanding the significance of gender. Finally, this course will also consider how feminism and the Women’s Movement have influenced psychological research and practice. We will consider what a feminist methodology looks like, and we will discuss how a Psychology of Gender can help us confront the injustice that we encounter in the world around us.
WOMN 380D - Modern Women in Literature & Film
This seminar explores works by key writers and filmmakers from Europe, the US and North Africa, who have created new narratives, poetic and visual languages, and a new consciousness about women in the modern world. We will examine novels, stories, and films with focus on different places and social contexts and will discuss the following questions: What are successful literary and visual strategies to represent the complexity of modern women’s lives? What kind of choices do women have in the modern world, the modern city, and the global world? How can they succeed or fail or both in pursuing happiness and fulfillment? What conflicts do they have to work through, what different practices and decision-making processes emerge from their lives? The seminar includes novels and stories by Lou Andreas-Salomé, Nella Larsen, Virginia Woolf, Anita Loos, Irmgard Keun, Leila Abouzeid, Ingeborg Bachmann, and the films A Doll’s House, The Hours, Julia, and How to Make an American Quilt. FORMAT: Lecture/discussion, two presentations, quiz, and final exam.
WOMN 380E - Issues in Feminine Writing & Film
This course aims to give an overview of the Civilization and Culture of the Arab peoples in Africa and elsewhere, starting with their origins and continuing through the present. A selection of texts in English dealing with and pertaining to different aspects and areas of Arabic life and culture will be read and discussed. The texts have been selected with the intent to compare and analyze approaches in those written by Arab writers and those written by non-Arab writers. Among the topics to be covered are but not limited to: The origins of the Arabs; pre-Islamic Arab society; Arab-Islamic society and the Islamic Empire; Arabs in Africa and Europe, Arab-African (Amazigh) Epires, Arabic-Islamic culture in Africa and its contribution to world culture; decadence and fall of the Arab-Islamic Empire; European Infiltration and Colonialism (18-19 C); Independence and the creation of Nation-States. We will also analyze and discuss modern concerns and problems of the area focusing on the Maghrib, the Sahel and West Africa. There is a requirement of two 5-page essays for those taking the course for a writing requirement.
WOMN 380K - Global Migration Flows & Procs
The course will provide a broad overview of the histories, geographies, economies and politics of human migration across time and space. The key intent is to understand the reasons behind the displacement and dislocation of populations as well as the processes involved in population transfer across the globe in our contemporary era. However, our analysis of the present will be anchored in multi-faceted historical perspectives. In addition, the course will not only focus on the experiences of those who migrate but will also concern itself with the impact of global migration flows on the spaces from which migrants originate as well as the so-called “host” spaces.
WOMN 380L - Contemporary Black Britain
What are the many faces and voices of contempory black Britain today? This course will look at the writings, films and popular culture of major black artists and intellectuals from England, Scotland, and Wales, as we examine the development of black British identity, history, and presence in the 20th century. Works to be studied will include those by hip hop artist Dizzy Rascal, filmmaker Isaac Julien, and writers like Jackie Kay, Paul Gilroy, and Zaidie Smith.
WOMN 405 - Women and the Law
This course will examine the ways in which gender informs and is constructed by categories of race, citizenship, class, and sexuality within a legal context. Although much of the course will rely upon analyses developed on the basis of the legal system in the United States, students will engage recent scholarship that employs a multinational perspective on issues concerning women’s rights. A range of issues will be explored including the legal status of women within both family and labor markets as well as women’s rights to bodily integrity. Within this context students will develop a critical understanding of how the law operates to reify certain positions of power and status.
WOMN 411 - Social Dynamics of Punishment
This course discusses issues pertaining to women and men's experiences with the U.S. criminal justice system. The course problematizes the concept of crime and analyzes conservative, liberal, and radical theories of crime causation and punishment. It analyzes the interrelationship between ethnicity/race, gender/sexual orientation, class, and age and on how these influence the types of crimes for which people are arrested and incarcerated, the punishment they receive, the treatment they face once institutionalized, and responses to prisoners' calls for reforms and support. Required films and guest speakers will complement the course.
WOMN 412B - 21st Century Longings, in Transit
How can we engage rapidly expanding modes of communication and the potential for transdisciplinary tools to shape, translate, break the surface, of what we long for? In transit among blogospheres, street corners, and barren lands, cities and rural places, the body’s skin, the class will explore contemporary refigurations of our understandings of refuge and refugee, of intimate memory and the limits of knowledge. Recent African and Asian diasporic and feminist visual and sonic productions, literatures, theorizings, and digital habitations that enact hybrid spaces, will be our focus. In transit, drifting away from eurocentric strictures through remappings of power, identities and migrations, our points of departure include Sylvestre Amoussou’s Africa Paradis, Edouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation, Dionne Brand, What We All Long For, Theresa Cha, Exilée, Arjun Appadurai, Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Global Geography of Anger, Binyayanga Wainaina, Kwani?, Myung Mi Kim, Penury, Kiripi Siku, Mobile Phones, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Primitive, and Ching-In-Chin, Heart’s Traffic. Such works utilize imaginative and virtual linkages of aesthetics, economics, and politics, to forge languages with the skill to transmit the profusion of present day entanglements.
WOMN 432 - Holistic Health Practice
Concepts of holistic health, holistic health nursing and practice. Focus on investigation of non-traditional alternative health practices. Topics include nutrition and vitamin therapy, therapeutic touch, relaxation techniques, massage, hypnosis, herbology, meditation, chiropractics and alternative birthing. For juniors and seniors. For majors only. Format may vary by sections: Lecture, discussion, demonstrations and practice, guest presenters, student-led group presentations. Prerequisites: Upper-division course; junior, senior or BAT standing required. Corequisites: N/A Books may vary by sections: To be determined Notes may vary by sections: Simultaneously taught: *denotes primary course HDEV449 *NURS332 WOMN432
WOMN 480D - Feminist Theory, Psychoanalysis & Semiotics
A Critical History This seminar takes up feminist theory from the late 1970s to the mid-90s, focusing on the consolidation and critique of hetero-normativity in the realm of signification. While feminist practice will be considered in various fields of cultural production, emphasis will be placed on critical writings that explore the relation between representation and gender-normativity and that draw to varying degrees on psychoanalytic and semiotic theory. Readings will include selections from m/f (the British journal dedicated to psychoanalytic theory from critical feminist perspectives, which came to the fore in the late ‘70s), Juliet Mitchell and Jacqueline Rose, eds., Feminine Sexuality. Jacque Lacan and the ècole freudienne (1982), Kaja Silverman, The Subject of Semiotics (1983), and Teresa de Lauretis, Technologies of Gender (1987). Group readings will conclude with the interventions of Judith Butler (Gender Trouble, 1990; Bodies that Matter. On the Discursive Limits of Sex, 1993), her interrogation of the discursive origins of sex as well as gender, and her theorization of the performative dimension of the embodied self. Directed research in the second half of the semester, which is intended to develop skills in critical interpretation, may focus on aesthetic practices or interventions in any period, in any genre or medium, as long as students produce readings that make evident the organization and cultural mediation of sex/gender in specific examples of cultural production or, as the case may be, the destabilizing of naturalized signs and the disruption or “queering” of hetero-normativity.
