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Summer 2024 Courses
[WST Offerings]
WST 102: Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies - CER, DIV, SBS
Session I - ONLINE Asynchronous - Hafza Girdap
Session II - ONLINE Asynchronous - Galia Cozzi-Berrondo
This course is an introductory and interdisciplinary survey that will familiarize
students with gender and sexuality theories, histories of women’s and feminist movements,
and current debates within Women’s and Gender Studies. We draw on sources from across
the social sciences to understand how gender and sex is explained with respect to
specific physical bodies; formulates identities within gendered institutions; and
influences our everyday personal and political interactions. Critically thinking of
these issues can only occur when we include the intersection of racial, class, age,
ableist and national identities within our analysis. The overarching theme of power,
hierarchy, and privilege in structured(ing) institutions will always guide our study.
WST 103: Women, Culture, Difference - CER, HUM, DIV
Session I - ONLINE Asynchronous - Desiree Self
Session II - ONLINE Asynchronous - Frankie Petronio
Session II - ONLINE Asynchronous - Genie Ruzicka
An introductory humanities survey focusing on women's traditional association with
the home and men's association with public life and how writers, artists, philosophers,
and religious thinkers have reflected upon those relationships over the past 150 years.
Through lectures and critical analyses of novels, poetry, art, philosophy, and religious
texts, the course explores how changing intellectual, artistic, and religious precepts
have affected gender identity and different genres in the humanities.
WST 111: Introduction to Queer Studies - DIV, CER, HUM
ONLINE Asynchronous - Jade Kai
This course will provide students with a broad overview of queer studies and major
theorists and thinkers within the field. Beginning with Foucault before turning to
more contemporary theorists, this course will be an interdisciplinary approach to
American queer studies. Through the examination of visual culture, literature, and
theory, students will learn to read critically through the lenses of queer theory,
critical ethnic studies, disability studies, and feminist theory.
WST 291: Introduction to Feminist Theory - DIV, ESI, HFA+
Session II - ONLINE Asynchronous - Callen Zimmerman
An introductory survey of historical and contemporary interdisciplinary theories used
in Women's and Gender Studies. Theoretical debates on sex, gender, sexuality, race,
class, knowledge, discourse, representation are among the topics to be considered.
The course will provide a strong theoretical foundation for further studies in Women's
and Gender Studies.
WST 301 - Histories of Feminism - SBS+, DIV
Session I - ONLINE Asynchronous - Jose Flores-Sanchez
An historical study of the theoretical and practical developments that form contemporary
feminism. Beginning with the 18th century critiques of women's rights, the course
traces the expansion of feminist concerns to include a global perspective, as well
as attention to race and class. Representative texts include Mary Wollstonecraft's
A Vindication of the Rights of Women, poems by Phyllis Wheatley and Sojourner Truth,
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, Virginia Woolf's Three Guineas, and
Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex.
Fall 2024 Courses
[WST Offerings]
WST 102: Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies - CER, DIV, SBS
IN PERSON - Mon/Wed 11:00-12:20pm - Hayden Cuttone
ONLINE Asynchronous - Jenean McGee; TA's: LaQuette Holmes
ONLINE Asynchronous - Galia Cozzi-Berrondo
This course is an introductory and interdisciplinary survey that will familiarize
students with gender and sexuality theories, histories of women’s and feminist movements,
and current debates within Women’s and Gender Studies. We draw on sources from across
the social sciences to understand how gender and sex is explained with respect to
specific physical bodies; formulates identities within gendered institutions; and
influences our everyday personal and political interactions. Critically thinking of
these issues can only occur when we include the intersection of racial, class, age,
ableist and national identities within our analysis. The overarching theme of power,
hierarchy, and privilege in structured(ing) institutions will always guide our study.
WST 103: Women, Culture, Difference - CER, HUM, DIV
IN PERSON - Tu/Th 12:30-1:50pm - Kara Pernicano
ONLINE Asynchronous -Liz Montegary; TA's: Peter Bruno, Gabriella Simpson
ONLINE Asynchronous - Genie Ruzicka
ONLINE Asynchronous - Jade Kai
An introductory humanities survey focusing on women's traditional association with
the home and men's association with public life and how writers, artists, philosophers,
and religious thinkers have reflected upon those relationships over the past 150 years.
Through lectures and critical analyses of novels, poetry, art, philosophy, and religious
texts, the course explores how changing intellectual, artistic, and religious precepts
have affected gender identity and different genres in the humanities.
WST 111: Introduction to Queer Studies - DIV, CER, HUM
IN PERSON - Mon/Wed 11:00-12:20pm - Kassel Franco-Garibay
ONLINE Asynchronous - Jose Flores-Sanchez
This course will provide students with a broad overview of queer studies and major
theorists and thinkers within the field. Beginning with Foucault before turning to
more contemporary theorists, this course will be an interdisciplinary approach to
American queer studies. Through the examination of visual culture, literature, and
theory, students will learn to read critically through the lenses of queer theory,
critical ethnic studies, disability studies, and feminist theory.
WST 210 : Contemporary Issues in Women's and Gender Studies: "Race, Gender, and Media"
- CER, DIV, SBS
IN PERSON - Mon/Wed 2:00-3:20pm - Emillion Adekoya
This class will engage, analyze, and assess issues of gender and race and other contemporary
configurations of identities such as sexuality, ethnicity, class, immigration status,
etc. in traditional media and in various mixed media contents. It will provide students
with the tools to scrutinize content, representation, and effects of women, people
of color, and historically underrepresented group coverage in media, and its impacts
on identity formation and perception in the United States. Together, we will explore
a wide range of media formats including films, television shows, games, arts, social
media, and digital technology to examine how media shapes culture, influences society,
and the psychological and political effects of gendered and racialized stereotypes
on groups. We will also examine some resistance technologies employed by groups in
challenging, countering, and disempowering the controlling images and stereotypes
in media and digital spaces. While this class is an introductory exploration, it aims
to help students refine critical thinking skills and to reconsider everyday assumptions
on media representations in relation to issues of gender and race.
WST 291: Introduction to Feminist Theory - DIV, ESI, HFA+
IN PERSON - Mon/Wed 11:00-12:20pm - AJ Castle
ONLINE Asynchronous - Suzanne Staub
ONLINE Asynchronous - Desi Self
An introductory survey of historical and contemporary interdisciplinary theories used
in Women's and Gender Studies. Theoretical debates on sex, gender, sexuality, race,
class, knowledge, discourse, representation are among the topics to be considered.
The course will provide a strong theoretical foundation for further studies in Women's
and Gender Studies.
WST 301 - Histories of Feminism - SBS+, DIV
IN PERSON - Tu/Th 3:30-4:50pm - Victoria Hesford
ONLINE Asynchronous - Tasmia Haque
An historical study of the theoretical and practical developments that form contemporary
feminism. Beginning with the 18th century critiques of women's rights, the course
traces the expansion of feminist concerns to include a global perspective, as well
as attention to race and class. Representative texts include Mary Wollstonecraft's
A Vindication of the Rights of Women, poems by Phyllis Wheatley and Sojourner Truth,
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, Virginia Woolf's Three Guineas, and
Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex.
WST 305: Feminist Theories in Context - HFA+
IN PERSON - Tu/Th 12:30-1:50pm - Victoria Hesford
This course offers students an introduction to major traditions in critical and cultural
theory while focusing specifically on how feminist scholars have pushed these theories
in new directions. The aim of this class is not to provide a comprehensive survey
of modern theoretical traditions; instead, we will examine several key theoretical
terms that have become central to feminist thought during the late twentieth and early
twenty-first centuries. In addition to unpacking the ways in which liberalism and
neoliberalism have shaped contemporary debates about sex, gender, and sexuality, we
will also look at how feminist perspectives have challenged and complicated theories
of nationalism and citizenship, labor and consumption, and representation and circulation.
In doing so, we will gain insight into how feminist theories inform and are informed by other interdisciplinary fields, such as queer
studies, disability studies, transgender studies, postcolonial studies, and critical
race and ethnic studies.
WST 390: Special Topics in Women's and Gender Studies in the Humanities: "Graphic
Cultures" - DIV, GLO, SBS+
IN PERSON - Tu/Th 2:00-3:30pm - Lisa Diedrich
In recent years, comics and graphic narratives have become a popular and innovative
form for telling auto/biographical stories in a medium that artfully combines—co-mixes—words
and images. The touchstone text of the form is Maus, Art Spiegelman’s graphic narrative of his parents’ experience of the Holocaust and
his own transgenerational trauma. Other key texts in the hybrid genre include Marjane
Satrapi’s Persepolis and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, which, like Maus, have reached a wide readership, garnered popular and critical acclaim, as well as
scholarly attention. These texts all share a preoccupation with exploring how selves
come into being in relation to experiences and events that are both ordinary and extraordinary—e.g.,
childhood, sexuality, war, illness, trauma, shame, stigma, love, hope. Our class will
take a multi-faceted and interdisciplinary approach to graphic cultures. We will begin
with questions about form, exploring how lines, panels, pages, etc. are drawn, read,
and interpreted. We will then turn to many examples of the genre, focusing on graphic
stories of war and migration, gender and sexuality, and sickness, disability, and
caregiving. Through many multi-modal activities, including annotation, drawing, comics
making, and creative writing, we will explore the aesthetic multiplicity of comics,
as well as the many contexts in which comics are created, shared, read, and studied.
WST 395: Topics in Global Feminism: "Gender, Race, and Muslim Identity" - DIV, GLO,
SBS+
IN PERSON - Tu/Th 9:30-10:50am - Hafza Girdap
This course delves into the cultural, political, and social constructions of gender
and identity, with a specific focus on Muslim women. Recognizing the fluid nature
of identity, we explore how experiences of inclusion, exclusion, oppression, and privilege
shape individuals' sense of belonging, identity and agency. Through an intersectional
lens and transnational feminist frame, we understand that all women are multifaceted
subjects, and intersectionality serves as a tool to combat exclusion and develop nuanced
understandings of identity. Rather than treating Muslim women as a homogenous group,
we examine their multidimensionality within various contexts, challenging monolithic
portrayals. Readings will offer insights into the diverse racialization and immigration
experiences of women across different global contexts, questioning binaries such as
the Global North and Global South, and the First World and Third World.
WST 398: Topics, in Gender, Race, and Ethnicity: "Immigration, Nation, and The Media"
- DIV, SBS+
IN PERSON - Mon/Wed 3:30-4:50pm - Nancy Hiemstra
This course explores how debates about immigration tie to ideas of national identity,
with a focus on the role played by media coverage of immigration issues and events.
We identify causes and consequences of immigration through an interdisciplinary lens,
with special attention to race, gender, class, sexuality, ability, and family. We
analyze restrictive laws and enforcement measures employed to maintain national borders—territorial
and conceptual—historically and today. We deconstruct common narratives, metaphors,
and images evident in media coverage of immigration, and examine how they shape popular
ideas about immigration, immigrant/citizen interactions, and experiences of citizenship
and belonging. Throughout the semester, we pay attention to current news and events,
with special attention to 2024 U.S. political campaigns. While our primary focus is
on the United States, we also give attention to the relationship between immigration,
nation, and media around the world. Course materials include a variety of academic
readings, news sources, social media, and film/video.
WST 399: Topics in Gender and Sexuality: "Queering Science Fiction" - HFA+, DIV -
IN PERSON Tu/Th 11:00-12:20pm - Ritch Calvin
This course provides an in-depth study of a specific interdisciplinary topic in gender
and sexuality studies. Past topics include Feminist Media Studies, Queer Activism
and Visual Culture, Sports Studies, Transgender Studies. Students are expected to
demonstrate knowledge of the interdisciplinary methods used for the topic focus of
the class. In this semester, we will look at Science Fiction Comics and, in particular,
how science fiction comics operate as a space for queer expression and representation.
We will focus on comics published since 2010, and analyze the ways in which queer
creators employ—a reinvent—comics as a means to represent queer characters and queer
content. We will also examine some of the ways in which queer creators queer the form of science fiction and the comic. Some possible texts will include Decrypting Rita, Strong Female Protagonist, Inhibit, Merry Men, Open Earth, Cyclopedia Exotica, and Barbalien.
WST 407/WST 408: Senior Research Seminar for Women's & Gender Studies Majors & Minors
- EXP+, SPK, WRTD
IN PERSON - Mondays 2:00-4:50pm - Jenean McGee
The senior research seminar is the capstone course for the interdisciplinary major
& minor in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Utilizing research skills, concepts,
methods, and materials generated from their coursework in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality
Studies, students conduct interdisciplinary research to produce a research paper and
formal presentation on their topic of choice formulated and developed in seminar activities.
[Fall 2024 WST-Related Electives]
(If you see a course not listed here that you think might qualify as a WST elective,
email Professor Hiemstra: nancy.hiemstra@stonybrook.edu)
AFH /WST 205 - Contemporary African Literature
T/Th 11:00-12:20pm - Tracey Walters
Introductory course on fictional and nonfictional works by canonized African writers
from the African continent and the diaspora. Close readings of literature by authors
from the 1950s to the present day, such as Chinua Achebe, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, and Chimamanda
Adichie unveil literary traditions, themes, and motifs specific to African writing.
An examination of the writers' attention to topics such as (colonialism, ethnic war,
gender oppression, migration, and Afropolitanism) allows for a critical analysis of
the historical, social, and political issues on the African continent. The authors'
discussions about globalization and its impact on African nations, particularly in
relationship to the global marketplace, highlight the paradoxical nature of Africa's
rich natural resources (oil, diamonds and coltan) against the continent's economic
dependency on global investors. Postcolonialism, Feminism, and Psychoanalytic theory
will enrich students' interpretation and analysis of the texts.
AFH /WST 382 -Black Women's Literature of the African Diaspora
T/Th 9:30-10:50pm - Tracey Walters
Black women's literature presents students with the opportunity to examine through
literature the political, social, and historical experiences of Black women from the
African Diaspora. The course is structured around five major themes commonly addressed
in Black women's writing: Black female oppression, sexual politics of Black womanhood,
Black female sexuality, Black male/female relationships, and Black women and defining
self.
AFS 308/POL 308 - Women, Islam, and Political Change in Africa
Mon/Wed 6:30-7:50pm - Adryan Wallace
Explores the impact of Islam on political institutions and representation in Africa.
Using the example of how Muslim women in West, North, Southern, and East Africa are
mobilizing to address gender inequality, explores variations in the formation of Islamist
movements and examine the influence of moderate, progressive, and more radical forms
of political Islam on the experiences of women. In order to provide students with
a comprehensive picture, Islam and politics is contextualized by focusing on the experiences
of selected countries from East and West Africa including Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia,
Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal.
AFS 346 - Political and Social History of Africa
Tues/Thurs 12:30-1:50pm - Abena Asare
An exploration of theoretical perspectives in the historical sociology and comparative
politics of Africa. Topics include the crisis of state legitimacy; the patriarchal
society; ethnicity, religion, and politics; the politics of modernization; development
and the environment; population growth and underdevelopment; globalization, neo-liberal
economic policy and the postcolonial state; and the history of state and society relations.
ARH 390 - Topics in European Art: "Women in Early Modern Art"
T/Th 2:00-3:20pm - Karen Lloyd
Past topics have included titles such as Mythology in Art; European Popular Art; and
Italian Renaissance Sculpture. Designed for upper-division students, this course provides
an in-depth study of a specific topic relating to Western civilization. Students will
be expected to demonstrate knowledge of the development of the distinctive features
of the history, institutions, economy, society, and culture of Western civilization,
and relate it to that of other regions in the world.
COM 346 - Race. Class, and Gender in Media
Mon/Wed 9:30-10:50am - Matthew Salzano
A critical examination of race, class, and gender in contemporary media. The class
will explore traditional and social media to understand how identity and social configurations
shape and are shaped by media. Participants will analyze how media industries and
media representations relate to national and global diversity and explore theories
that seek to explain media's role in representing race, class, and gender and how
media influence our experience of diversity. Course participants will produce a collaboratively
designed media project that comments on and challenges misrepresentations.
HIS 325 - Civil Rights and Black Power
Mon/Wed 5:00 - 6:20pm - Robert Chase
The course considers how the “long civil rights movement” and century-long struggles
for Black Power were intertwined movements contained within the African American freedom
struggle, rather than conventional narratives that conceive them as being opposed
to one another. The course will therefore span the whole of the twentieth century,
beginning with the founding of the United Negro Improvement Association and the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and it will conclude with
the turn from civil rights to economic justice, Black political empowerment, and campaigns
against mass incarceration and police brutality. While historical figures like Martin
Luther King and Malcolm X will receive attention, we will also encounter the less
well known organizers on the ground who made a civil rights revolution possible. The
course will introduce students to the latest scholarship on the Civil Right Movement
and Black Power, particularly recent articles and monographs that move past the traditional
celebrative narrative and examine instead how the civil rights revolution remains
an ongoing struggle. Readings and discussion topics include: Garveyism; integration
and legal campaigns; nonviolent philosophies and communitarian politics; militant
civil disobedience and anti-police protest; local and grass-roots campaigns in the
South and the North; women, gender, and sexuality; armed self-defense; urban uprisings;
state violence and reprisal; police and incarceration; education and cultural identity;
and civil rights politics and the presidency.
HIS 383 - The World of Jane Austen; Jane Austen in the World
Tues/Thur 11:00 - 12:20pm - Kathleen Wilson
An examination of the social, political and cultural milieux and legacies of Jane
Austen's famous novels, including the contours of English provincial and gentry society
in the Revolutionary, Napoleonic and Regency periods (1792-1820). Topics will include
class and sociability; the functions of the country house; gender and family relations;
the pleasures and dangers of urban culture; fashion and leisure pursuits, including
tourism; women, theatre and print culture; the impact of empire, war and radical politics
on social and political relations of the day, and the details of Jane Austen's own
life, along the ways in which Austen novels were appropriated and used by subsequent
generations and in different cultural contexts, from the Victorian critics to twentieth-century
Bollywood film adaptations to twenty-first century blogs.
POL 347/WST 347 - Women and Politics
Wednesdays 6:30-9:20pm - Saadet Konak Unal
Analysis of the role of women in current American politics -- their electoral participation,
office seeking, and political beliefs -- and policy issues that have special relevance
to women. The course traces the history of American women's political involvement
and the historical trajectory of gender-related policy from the mid-19th century to
today. This course is offered as both POL 347 and WST 347.
PSY 347/WST 347 - Psychology of Women
Mon/Wed 11:00-12:20pm -Bonita London
The psychological impact of important physiological and sociological events and epochs
in the lives of women; menstruation, female sexuality, marriage, childbirth, and menopause;
women and mental health, mental illness and psychotherapy; the role of women in the
field of psychology. This course is offered as both PSY 347 and WST 347.
SOC 340/WST 340 - Sociology of Human Reproduction
Wednesdays 6:30-9:20pm - Catherine Marrone
A study of the links between biological reproduction and the socioeconomic and cultural
processes that affect and are affected by it. The history of the transition from high
levels of fertility and mortality to low levels of both; different kinship, gender,
and family systems around the world and their links to human reproduction; the value
of children in different social contexts; and the social implications of new reproductive
technologies. This course is offered as both SOC 340 and WST 340.
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