Fall 2009 WGS Courses

WGS Course Offerings

WGS 101: Window on Women’s and Gender Studies (1 hr)
Wanda Balzano/Ana Leon-Tavora
Meets Tuesday: 8/26/09 and 12/12/09 at 11:00-11:50 am
TBA
An opportunity to experience and reflect analytically on the diverse cultural and intellectual life of Wake Forest, with an emphasis on Women’s and Gender Studies events and topics.  Students will attend events and write about them. Class meets twice.  P/F only. Please see WGS 101 for more information.

WGS 221A/WGS 620AG: Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies (3 hr)
Wanda Balzano/ Mary DeShazer
Wednesday 3:00-5:30 pm
Tribble A4
An interdisciplinary course that integrates materials from the humanities and the sciences, taught by women’s and gender studies faculty representing at least two fields.  Topics include critical methods and practical solutions, history and theory of women’s and gender studies, women in culture and society, and cross-cultural issues of gender, ethnicity, social class, disability, and sexual orientation.  (CD) More Information  

WGS 321A/ WGS 621AG: Research Seminar: Women and Reproduction (3hr)
Teresa Smith
Thursday  3:00-5:30 pm
Tribble A4
A course that addresses the issue of reproduction in women’s lives.  Explores a variety of aspects of the topic such as the menstrual cycle, fertility and contraception, pregnancy, childbirth, abortion, reproductive technology, adoption and menopause.  A goal of this course is to make class members aware of alternative views and information about these issues.

WGS 321B/WGS 621BG: Research Seminar: Gay and Lesbian Film and Culture (3hr)
Gary Ljungquist
Monday 3:00 – 5:30 pm
Tribble A4
This course analyzes the portrayal of gays and lesbians in film, and they ways in which film has created images of same-sex love and gay/lesbian identities. Feminist and queer film theory are used to develop an analytical method for interpreting various types of films with special emphasis on New Queer Cinema. Same as COM 370D. Counts for Media Studies Concentration in COM. Counts toward FLM minor.

WGS 321C: Research Seminar: Feminist Political Thought (3hr)
Michaelle Browers
Tuesday/Thursday 9:30-10:45 am
Tribble A309
An introduction to feminist thought and its implications for the study and practice of political theory. Topics include feminist critiques of Western political tradition and schools of feminist political theory. Same as POL 277.

WGS 377A/WGS 677AG: Special Topics: U.S. Women Poets (3hr)
Mary DeShazer
Tuesday/Thursday 3:00-4:15 pm
Tribble A202
This course will examine the poetry, aesthetic strategies, and historical contexts of selected U.S. women poets from the 17th-20th centuries. Among our central themes will be breaking silence and finding voice; representing embodiment, sexuality, spirituality, and maternity; incscribing political resistance; and envisioning cultural transformation. P-ENG 111. Same as ENG 302A/602AG.

WGS 377B: Special Topics: Sexuality and the Law (3hr)
Shannon Gilreath
Tuesday/Thursday 1:30-2:45 pm
Tribble A4
This course will explore a wide variety of issues related to sexual identity and orientation, particularly as those issues continue to push the law to address the wide variations of patterns in which human beings relate.  The course will look at the law as it both constricts societal development at times, and acts as a catalyst for radical social change at other times.  We will look at the ways in which religion and popular morality shape the law and, in some instances, are shaped by it.

WGS 377F: Special Topics: Japanese Women Writers (3hr)
David Phillips
Tuesday/Thursday 12:00-1:15 pm
Wingate 314
A survey of literary works by women writers in Japan, focusing on modern (late 19th to mid-20th centuries) and contemporary fiction. Themes examined include gender roles, status, autobiographical data, literary structure and representation, and the historical development in Japanese culture paralleling/conflicting with the viewpoints of the authors of this body of literature. Same as HMN 347. Counts toward East Asian Languages major and East Asian Studies minor.

WGS 396/ WGS 696: Independent Study (1-3 hr)
Staff
TBA
TBA
Independent projects in women’s and gender studies which either continue study begun in regular courses or develop new areas of interest.  Permission of Department. POI.                                                   

WGS 100: RAD:  Rape Aggression Defense for Women (1 hr)
Mary Gerardy
(8 sections)
All sessions 3:00-4:50 pm for 7 weeks in Luter Lounge
A  8/31-10/12, Monday
B   10/19-11/30, Monday
C   9/1-10/13, Tuesday
D   10/20-12/1, Tuesday
E   8/26-10/7, Wednesday
F   10/21-12/2, Wednesday
G   8/27-10/8, Thursday
H   10/22-12/3, Thursday
A class that develops and enhances the options of self-defense for women in case of attack.  Includes basic physical self-defense tactics, risk reduction, and avoidance.  Requires violence against women readings.  P/F only.

WGS Crosslisted Course Offerings

AES 151: Race and Ethnic Diversity in America (3hr)
TBA
Tuesday/Thursday 12:00-1:15 pm
Carswell 302
Different race and ethnic experiences are examined through an institutional approach that focuses on religion, work, schooling, marriage patterns, and culture from cross-cultured perspectives.  (CD)

ART 351: Women and Art (3hr)
Margaret Smith
Wednesday 3:00-5:30 pm
SFAC 103
A historical examination of the changing image of women in art and the role of women artists. Same as ART 251.

CLA 252: Women in Antiquity (3hr)
Mary Pendergraft
Monday/Wednesday/Friday 12:00-12:50 pm
Tribble A301
This course explores the place of women in Greek and Roman society through the study of a wide range of primary sources, literary and non-literary. A knowledge of the Greek and Lating languages in not required. (CD)

COM 340/COM 640: American Rhetorical Movements to 1900 (3 hr)
Meg Zulick
Monday/Wednesday/Friday 2:00-2:50 pm
Carswell 301
Examines the interrelation of American rhetorical movements through the 19th century by reading and analyzing original speeches and documents with emphasis on antislavery and women’s rights.

COM 370C: Special Topics: Culture and the Sitcom (3 hr)
Mary Dalton
Monday/Wednesday/Friday 1:00-1:50 pm (class meets), Wednesday 3:00-3:50 pm (film screening)
Carswell 111
This course explores the intersection of American culture and the television situation comedy, one of the oldest and most ubiquitous forms of television programming. In addition to the history of the sitcom and its relationship to other comedic forms, the course of study will include conventions of the form, the family, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, work, and social class from a variety of perspectives.

ENG 381A: Studies in African-American Literature (3hr)
Judith Irwin-Mulcahy
Tuesday/Thursday  12:00-1:15 pm
TBA
This course will examine modern works of African American literature. We will direct our attention to 20th century novelists whose writings explore the practices of modern aesthetics, innovation, and memory. We will be further attentive to themes of power, race, and sexuality in relation to texts by Paul Dunbar, Nella Larsen, James Baldwin, Edwidge Danticat, Toni Morrison, and John Edgar Wideman. Innovation and scholarly creativity will be encouraged in our approaches to the literature. P-ENG 111. (CD)

ENG 387A: Slavery in the 20th and 21st Centuries - Black Imagination (3hr)
Rian Bowie
Tuesday/Thursday 1:30-2:45 pm
TBA
This course will be framed around contemporary novels and films that directly or indirectly signify upon 18th and 19th century bodies of knowledge about slavery and freedom. Discussions will focus on some of the ways modern artists have reaffirmed or re-imagined "written by herself or himself" narratives in both form and content. P- ENG 111. Same as AES 387. (CD)

PSY 265: Human Sexuality (3hr)
Phillip Batten
Tuesday/Thursday 3:00-4:15 pm
Greene 145
An exploration of the psychological and physiological aspects of human sexuality, with attention to sexual mores, sexual deviances, sexual dysfunction, and sex-related roles.  P-PSY 151.

SOC 153: Contemporary Families (3 hr)           
Angela Hattery
Monday/Wednesday/Friday 11:00-11:50 am
Carswell 208
This course examines the social basis of the family, emphasizing the problems growing out of modern conditions and social change.

SOC 305: Gender in Society (3 hr)
Angela Hattery
Monday/Wednesday/Friday  1:00-1:50 pm
Carswell 018
An examination of differential gender experiences based on race, class, and sexual orientation.  Consideration of feminism as a social movement and the possibility for social change.  (CD)