Gender, Women, and Sexuality (GWS)

GENDER, WOMEN, AND SEXUALITY STUDIES (GWS)

Gustavus Adolphus College offers an inter-departmental major and minor in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies to demonstrate the usefulness of gender as a category of analysis. Through selected courses, students study interconnections among the fundamental questions raised by scholarship on women. Students also gain historical and cross-cultural perspectives on women’s experience through the examination of other issues, such as race, class, and cultural difference, which are central to the study of gender. A critical awareness of methodology (in the organizing of knowledge and the framing of analyses) also is important within each course.

Students are encouraged to study abroad to gain an international perspective and experience. Affiliated institutions abroad offer courses which could be substituted for Gustavus courses and applied toward the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies major or minor. Such programs are located in England and Scotland, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Major: Ten courses chosen in consultation with an adviser in Women’s Studies and including:

1. GWS-118 and GWS-380.
2. One course in feminist theory from COM-383, PHI-248, POL-380, REL-262, GWS-260.
3. One course in literature and arts from ART-250, ENG-117, ENG-124, FRE-363, GWS-264, SPA-375, T/D-236.
4. One course in history and culture from HIS-228, HIS-231, HIS-238, REL-250.
5. Two core or cognate courses in the natural or social sciences selected from POL-380, S/A-231, S/A-235 or from cognate courses approved by the instructor and major adviser at the beginning of the term. Students must work out a plan to demonstrate to their adviser how they are focusing on the study of women or applying a feminist perspective to the course.
6. A three-course concentration, focused by discipline, field, or research questions, distinguished by intellectual depth and rigor, and approved by the director, upon the recommendation of the curriculum committee for Gender, Women, and Sexuality and in consultation with the student’s adviser. Concentrations normally must be approved no later than May 1 of the student’s junior year. Examples of possible concentrations include Communication and Gender, Family Matters, Feminist Theory, Feminist Philosophy, Gender Theory, Queer Theory, Woman and Literature, Women’s History, Women and Religion, and Women and Science. Students may use one core course and up to two cognate courses to complete the concentration. At least one of the courses in the concentration must be level III.

At least 7 of the 10 courses required for the major must be Level II or Level III.

A student cannot use courses listed in more than one area (feminist theory, literature and arts, history and culture) to fulfill more than one requirement.

A course that is used to fulfill one of the areas above may not be used to satisfy the minimum concentration requirement.

Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Minor: The minor requires five courses chosen in consultation with a GWS advisor. No more than two courses offered by the same department may be counted toward the minor. There are two ways to fulfill the minor requirements. Option A: five courses, one of which must be GWS-118, three core courses, and one cognate course. Option B: Five courses, one of which must be GWS-118 and four core courses. With both options, no more than three of the courses selected for the GWS minor may be used also to satisfy requirements in a departmental major or minor.

Regularly Offered Core Courses for Gender, Women, and Sexuality: ART-250 Gender and Art, COM-383 Communication and Gender, ENG-117 British Women Writers, ENG-124 American Women Writers, FRE-363 Portrait of a Lady, HIS-228 Women in Pre-Industrial Europe, HIS-231 Women in the United States, HIS-238 History of Sexuality in the U.S., HIS-312 Family in Preindustrial Europe, HIS-335 The Women’s Rights Movement in the U.S., PHI-102 Racism and Sexism, PHI-109 Philosophies of the Environment, PHI-248 Feminist Philosophy, POL-285 Sex, Power, and Politics, POL-380 Feminist Political Thought, REL-250 Women and the Bible, REL-262 God and Gender, S/A-231 Kinship, Marriage and Human Sexuality, S/A-235 Social Inequality, SPA-375 Women Writers in Spanish, T/D-236 Theatre and Society, GWS-224 Staying Alive, GWS-236 Women and the Holocaust, GWS-260 Feminist Theories, GWS-264 African Women Writers, GWS-380 Colloquium. There are also special topics courses that carry core credit. A list of these is available each semester in the registration material.

Courses

GWS-118 Introduction to Women’s Studies (1 course) An interdisciplinary course introducing students to some issues and methods of women’s studies. Concepts to be explored include construction of gender, representations of sex roles and women’s lives in history, literature, and art, and issues of power in sexism, racism, and classism. Students will be expected to participate actively in discussions and class activities. WRITI, offered annually.

GWS-224 Staying Alive while Living on the Margins (1 course) This course explores the lives of disadvantaged populations, those people who live on the economic and social margins of our world. We focus on the plights of women and children, who are the fastest growing population of poor. We discuss the relationships between poverty, homelessness, mental illness, and the myriad problems associated with poor nutrition. We also discuss strategies for addressing these realities, especially the much-needed access to health care systems. Spring semester.

GWS-236 Women and the Holocaust (1 course) Despite the fact that Holocaust Studies is now a mature field, the topic of women and the Holocaust remains in its infancy. Why have Holocaust scholars been reluctant to adopt the insights of Women’s Studies? We will explore this question by reading memoirs, fiction, history and theory as well as screening films, meeting Holocaust survivors, and engaging in service-learning. We will also work specifically on next steps in this emergent field: bringing a specifically feminist methodology to understanding the experiences of women in the Holocaust. Among the many questions we will consider are these: Did gender matter? To the perpetrators? To the victims? How did Jewish culture and religious beliefs affect the experiences and response of Jewish women? What were the experiences of women in the resistance? What about the experiences of lesbians? What was the perspective of Nazi women? What were the connections among anti-Semitism, racism, and sexism in Nazi ideology? Spring semester, odd years.

GWS-260 Global Feminisms (1 course) This course explores theories developed by third world feminist theorists. We will consider the various ways that feminist theorists across the globe have addressed such phenomena as imperialism, decolonialization, national liberation, and global capitalism. We will analyze the cultural, economic and political conditions that promote or inhibit activism to promote women’s rights. This course encourages students to think about theoretical issues in relation to the everyday lives of women in various parts of the world, including the everyday world of St. Peter, Minnesota. Prerequisite: WOM-118 or permission of instructor. HIPHI, WRITD, Fall semester, odd years.

GWS-264 African Women Writers (1 course) This course examines how African women writers address the issue of clash of tradition and modernity in their society. It focuses on novels, plays, poetry, and other types of writing as well as films, written or produced in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. What experiences are peculiar to African women, and how can we understand those experiences from a feminist perspective? The course will, among other things, attempt to answer these important questions. NWEST, Spring semester, even years.

GWS-380 Colloquium: Special Topics (1 course) Possible topics include feminist ethics, feminist perspectives on the body, women and public policy, and feminist legal theory. Regardless of the topic, the course affords students the opportunity to examine the relationships among theory, activism, empirical research and feminist praxis. Students with diverse interests, perspectives, and expertise will have the opportunity to reflect on the significance of their women’s studies education in relation to their lives. This course may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: WOM-118. WRITD, Fall semester.