GWS 595-001 Issues in GWS: The Rural Queer: This advanced course explores how lesbian and gay historians and queer theorists have recently been theorizing the so-called rural queer. In addition to reading histories and ethnographies of actually existing GLBTQ people in rural communities, we will examine key concepts, cultural assumptions, and analytical categories that have come under scrutiny in the midst of recent scholarly inquiry. Among these are visibility, coming out, metronormativity, queer mobility, homonormativity, tolerance, and a variety of antigay concepts such as the ex-gay, the gay agenda, and the homosexual-as-terrorist. Our goal in examining these concepts is to map the scholarly inquiry into the rural queer – why such an inquiry arose and how it intersects with academic studies of globalization, critical regionalism, racial formation, social movements, and political rhetoric. This course is not recommended as a first course in sexuality studies. Instructor: Carol Mason, TR 11:00-12:15. This course will count toward requirements for undergraduate GWS majors, minors, and topical majors as well as the GWS graduate certificate, and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 595-003/AAS 400 Issues in GWS: Damned Sex in Folktales: Sexuality, Gender, and Violence in Oral Traditions of the Americas: This course examines the carnal violence and brutality associated with sex and gender in folktales and fairytales from the Americas. In so doing, this course will also put European and African folklore in conversation with the New World’s oral traditions. Though students will examine many stories from the African Diaspora, students will also ponder the extent to which trauma born out of colonial rule has impacted inhabitants of the Caribbean and the Americas, irrespective of gender or ethnicity. As we shall see, in Caribbean oral tradition, the nocturnal violation of female bodies by male evil spirits resembles the supernatural assault tradition called cauchemar or witch-riding in southwest Louisiana. Also in Caribbean folklore, the diablesse (She-devil) often eats men’s heart. This course will introduce students to approaches from disciplines such as psychoanalytic and fairytales studies, postcolonial studies, and trauma theory. Instructor: Jacqueline Couti, TR 3:00-4:15. This course will count toward requirements for undergraduate GWS majors, minors, and topical majors as well as the GWS graduate certificate, and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 595-004/ENG 480G-002 Issues in GWS: Marlon Riggs and Gender/Race in Documentary Film: What is the black queer documentary? How do you read performativity in documentary film? What are the aesthetics of gender, race, and class in American documentary film? What is the relationship between performance studies and American documentary film? This course examines the works of documentary film maker Marlon Riggs, best known for Ethnic Notions (1986) and Tongues Untied (1989). Alongside Riggs’ works we will read a range of narratives, such as the performance novel, black queer and race theory, performance theory, and documentaries on gender and racial performance. Instructor: Vershawn Young, M 4:00-6:30. This course will count toward requirements for undergraduate GWS majors, minors, and topical majors as well as the GWS graduate certificate, and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 595-401 Issues in GWS: Feminist Film Theory: This course introduces the relatively new field of feminist film theory. Like other feminist theories, feminist film theory assumes that “gender constitutes a meaningful category” for studies of all kinds. The instructor does not expect students to have prior knowledge of this field. We will explore both films and articles in order to understand the ways that ideas of gender (as well as those of sexuality, race, class, and other markers) overlay narratives of culture. This course is writing intensive and discussion centered. Major assignments will include a short and a long paper, a presentation, and lots of stimulating conversation. Instructor: Jan Oaks W 5:30-8:00. This course will count toward requirements for undergraduate GWS majors, minors, and topical majors as well as the GWS graduate certificate, and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 600-001 Topics in GWS: Body in History and Culture: Throughout history, the human body has held tremendous significance in determining the social destinies of individuals and groups, yet the meanings ascribed to it vary over time and in different social contexts. A wide range of disciplines across the humanities and social sciences, including history, anthropology, philosophy, and literature, have considered medico-scientific and cultural perceptions of the body, as well as how living bodies are treated, mistreated, and experienced. Accordingly, the body provides an excellent opportunity for interdisciplinary and theoretical analysis. This discussion-based course, then, will bring together several thematic cross-disciplinary fields in which the gendered body figures prominently, such as critical whiteness studies, disability studies, feminist science studies, medical humanities, and queer theory, as well as the more established disciplines highlighted above. Furthermore, the course will be transnational and trans-historical in scope, prioritizing comparison and selective case studies over comprehensive inquiry into a specific time or place. Instructor: Melissa Stein, W 2:00-4:30. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 600-401 Topics in GWS: The Creation of Anne Boleyn: Anne Boleyn is probably Henry VIII’s most famous Queen. Yet what we know about her is almost entirely refracted through the prism of myth, stereotype, the twists and turns of cultural imagination, and the various political, religious, and gender biases that have defined and depicted her from the moment she set foot in Henry’s court to the present day. This course will follow the “creation” (and continual re-creation) of Anne Boleyn, from the 16th century to today, drawing on a wide variety of materials from original historical documents, biography, portraits, plays, novels, film, and television. Instructor: Susan Bordo, R 5:30-8:00. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 616-001: Colonialism/Post-Colonialism and Gender: This course is designed to expose students to a range of theories and debates centering on or pertinent to women, gender, and sexuality in the field of postcolonial studies. Here, the field is understood in its widest and most interdisciplinary sense, inclusive of studies of Empire, the independent so-called "Third World", and diasporas. Topics for study will include classical texts in the field, current postcolonial readings on gender and sexuality in empire, representation, trans/nationalism, and diasporas. Course credit may be used to help satisfy the international component of the Women's Studies Graduate Certificate requirements. Instructor: Srimati Basu, T 2:00-4:30. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 650-001 Feminist Theory: This seminar is designed to introduce students to some of the major themes and debates falling under the broad rubric of feminist theorizing. The objectives of this seminar are to increase our understanding of some of the major historical developments in feminist theory and to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various feminist positions; the diversity of feminist thought, the connections between feminist theory, research, and activism, and the application of feminist theory to our own research. We will examine some of the ways that feminist theorists have considered questions of representation, subjectivity, collectivity and alliance, the body, media, performativity, and intersectionality, as well as the impacts of gender, class, race, ethnicity, sexualities, and citizenship/nationality. Instructor: Karen Tice, T 5:30-8:00. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 690-001 Graduate Research in Gender and Women’s Studies: Independent Study: This course requires students to work out a project with GWS faculty/affiliated faculty and fill out the necessary independent study contract. Prior to enrollment in the course, the student and faculty need to sign the contract and submit it to betty.pasley@uky.edu. Contracts can be obtained on the GWS webpage (http://gws.as.uky.edu/gws-documents-and-forms) or at the GWS office, 112 Breckinridge Hall. Once the contract has been approved, you will be notified how to register. Instructor: Patricia Cooper. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 690-002 Graduate Research in Gender and Women’s Studies: Independent Study: same description and enrollment policy as GWS 690-001 above. Instructor: Patricia Cooper. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 690-003 Graduate Research in Gender and Women’s Studies: Independent Study: same description and enrollment policy as GWS 690-001 above. Instructor: Patricia Cooper. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 700-001 Topical Seminar in GWS: Gender, Courts, and Law: This course examines gender and law in cross-cultural and theoretical context. In this course, we look at law not merely as being about legislation and judgment, but as a cultural object, an important signifier in politics, a technology for people's strategic use. We read some classic texts of Feminist Jurisprudence that problematize concepts such as equality, difference, justice, and agency, applying them to contemporary debates and evaluating their usefulness. We will also read (and watch) several ethnographies of legal spaces such as law offices, courtrooms, and informal dispute resolution venues, to concretely study the ways in which gender operates in legal realms. Critical Legal Studies, which studies the ways in which race and class are embedded in law, is another significant strand. Other questions include: Is it possible to eradicate sexual violence through law? Can marriage/ domestic partnerships be inscribed outside the domain of exchange? Is human rights discourse the best solution for mainstreaming gender justice issues? Instructor: Srimati Basu, M 4:00-6:30. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate. Note: Only graduate students should enroll for this section of the course. This course is also offered to undergraduates under GWS 595-002.
GRADUATE ELECTIVES
EDC 777 Discourse Analysis in Education: Theories and Methodologies in Studying Race, Class, Gender, and Other Social Markers: The term discourse is a fluid concept and has been linked to oral and written language, policy, multiple modes (e.g., image, sound, movement), tools, behaviors, beliefs, clothing, and more. Analyses of discourse are likewise broad reaching, divergent, and sometimes conflicting. In this course we will examine the work of theorists (e.g., Fairlough, Foucault, Gee) and methodologies (e.g., CDA, mediated, multimodal) useful in discourse studies in education. Social markers such as race, class, gender, sexuality, and language identity will provide a focus as we make sense of discourse analyses. The ultimate goal of this seminar is for students to better understand how discourse matters in the racialized, classed, gendered, etc. experiences of people and institutions involved in education. The first portion of the course will involve close readings of discursive theories so that we can map the complicated landscape of these supple ideas. Students will develop an original representation of how these theories relate. The second portion of this course will include examining education studies that use discourse analysis methodologies so that we can initially analyze data. Instructor: Christine Mallozzi, W 4:30-7:00. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate
EPE 667 Gender and Education: This seminar will explore issues of education and the ways that race, ethnicity, class, globalization, nationality, consumerism, neo-liberalism\girl-power, and sexuality mediate gendered identities and educational experiences. We will explore the historical and contemporary aspects of formal educational institutions and practices and informal educational processes including the ways that popular culture, media pedagogies, and student cultures influence education and the production of masculinities and femininities. We also will explore efforts to transform educational practices. Multidisciplinary readings will be drawn from education, feminist theory, cultural studies, anthropology, history, and sociology. Instructor: Karen Tice, M 4-6:30. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate
GER 420G/520: Constructing Men, Constructing Women: Cultural texts both reflect and help create images of what it means to be a “man” and a “woman.” We will examine key texts (novels, poems, films) from the last two centuries that created as well as questioned dominant images of masculinity and femininity. Included will be the “Geschlechtscharakter” of the nineteenth century, the “decadent” male of 1900, the “new” woman of Weimar, Nazi constructs of the perfect man and woman, as well as contemporary creations. Note: This course will be taught in German. Instructor: Linda Worley, MWF 2:00-2:50. This course will count toward requirements for undergraduate GWS majors, minors, and topical majors as well as the GWS graduate certificate, and other degrees as appropriate.
SOC 772-001: Gender and Crime: Gender and Crime will explore the importance of gender in criminal victimization rates and experiences, criminal offending, and the treatment of offenders and victims in the criminal justice system. Crime and victimization are gendered social phenomena; one’s gender makes a significant difference in terms of one’s chances of becoming a crime victim and the types of crimes one is most likely to be victimized by, one’s likelihood of committing a crime and the types of crimes one is most likely to commit, and one’s experiences with the police, the courts, and corrections. But gender also intersects with other social variables to further affect offending and victimization. This course, therefore, looks not only at the effects of gender, but also at the intersecting effects of multiple inequalities – racism, social class inequality, and heterosexism, as well as gender – in the criminal justice system. Instructor: Claire Renzetti, M 4:00-6:30. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate
GWS 595-004/ENG 480G-002 Issues in GWS: Marlon Riggs and Gender/Race in Documentary Film: What is the black queer documentary? How do you read performativity in documentary film? What are the aesthetics of gender, race, and class in American documentary film? What is the relationship between performance studies and American documentary film? This course examines the works of documentary film maker Marlon Riggs, best known for Ethnic Notions (1986) and Tongues Untied (1989). Alongside Riggs’ works we will read a range of narratives, such as the performance novel, black queer and race theory, performance theory, and documentaries on gender and racial performance. Instructor: Vershawn Young, M 4:00-6:30. This course will count toward requirements for undergraduate GWS majors, minors, and topical majors as well as the GWS graduate certificate, and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 595-401 Issues in GWS: Feminist Film Theory: This course introduces the relatively new field of feminist film theory. Like other feminist theories, feminist film theory assumes that “gender constitutes a meaningful category” for studies of all kinds. The instructor does not expect students to have prior knowledge of this field. We will explore both films and articles in order to understand the ways that ideas of gender (as well as those of sexuality, race, class, and other markers) overlay narratives of culture. This course is writing intensive and discussion centered. Major assignments will include a short and a long paper, a presentation, and lots of stimulating conversation. Instructor: Jan Oaks W 5:30-8:00. This course will count toward requirements for undergraduate GWS majors, minors, and topical majors as well as the GWS graduate certificate, and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 600-001 Topics in GWS: Body in History and Culture: Throughout history, the human body has held tremendous significance in determining the social destinies of individuals and groups, yet the meanings ascribed to it vary over time and in different social contexts. A wide range of disciplines across the humanities and social sciences, including history, anthropology, philosophy, and literature, have considered medico-scientific and cultural perceptions of the body, as well as how living bodies are treated, mistreated, and experienced. Accordingly, the body provides an excellent opportunity for interdisciplinary and theoretical analysis. This discussion-based course, then, will bring together several thematic cross-disciplinary fields in which the gendered body figures prominently, such as critical whiteness studies, disability studies, feminist science studies, medical humanities, and queer theory, as well as the more established disciplines highlighted above. Furthermore, the course will be transnational and trans-historical in scope, prioritizing comparison and selective case studies over comprehensive inquiry into a specific time or place. Instructor: Melissa Stein, W 2:00-4:30. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 600-401 Topics in GWS: The Creation of Anne Boleyn: Anne Boleyn is probably Henry VIII’s most famous Queen. Yet what we know about her is almost entirely refracted through the prism of myth, stereotype, the twists and turns of cultural imagination, and the various political, religious, and gender biases that have defined and depicted her from the moment she set foot in Henry’s court to the present day. This course will follow the “creation” (and continual re-creation) of Anne Boleyn, from the 16th century to today, drawing on a wide variety of materials from original historical documents, biography, portraits, plays, novels, film, and television. Instructor: Susan Bordo, R 5:30-8:00. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 616-001: Colonialism/Post-Colonialism and Gender: This course is designed to expose students to a range of theories and debates centering on or pertinent to women, gender, and sexuality in the field of postcolonial studies. Here, the field is understood in its widest and most interdisciplinary sense, inclusive of studies of Empire, the independent so-called "Third World", and diasporas. Topics for study will include classical texts in the field, current postcolonial readings on gender and sexuality in empire, representation, trans/nationalism, and diasporas. Course credit may be used to help satisfy the international component of the Women's Studies Graduate Certificate requirements. Instructor: Srimati Basu, T 2:00-4:30. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 650-001 Feminist Theory: This seminar is designed to introduce students to some of the major themes and debates falling under the broad rubric of feminist theorizing. The objectives of this seminar are to increase our understanding of some of the major historical developments in feminist theory and to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various feminist positions; the diversity of feminist thought, the connections between feminist theory, research, and activism, and the application of feminist theory to our own research. We will examine some of the ways that feminist theorists have considered questions of representation, subjectivity, collectivity and alliance, the body, media, performativity, and intersectionality, as well as the impacts of gender, class, race, ethnicity, sexualities, and citizenship/nationality. Instructor: Karen Tice, T 5:30-8:00. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 690-001 Graduate Research in Gender and Women’s Studies: Independent Study: This course requires students to work out a project with GWS faculty/affiliated faculty and fill out the necessary independent study contract. Prior to enrollment in the course, the student and faculty need to sign the contract and submit it to betty.pasley@uky.edu. Contracts can be obtained on the GWS webpage (http://gws.as.uky.edu/gws-documents-and-forms) or at the GWS office, 112 Breckinridge Hall. Once the contract has been approved, you will be notified how to register. Instructor: Patricia Cooper. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 690-002 Graduate Research in Gender and Women’s Studies: Independent Study: same description and enrollment policy as GWS 690-001 above. Instructor: Patricia Cooper. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 690-003 Graduate Research in Gender and Women’s Studies: Independent Study: same description and enrollment policy as GWS 690-001 above. Instructor: Patricia Cooper. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 700-001 Topical Seminar in GWS: Gender, Courts, and Law: This course examines gender and law in cross-cultural and theoretical context. In this course, we look at law not merely as being about legislation and judgment, but as a cultural object, an important signifier in politics, a technology for people's strategic use. We read some classic texts of Feminist Jurisprudence that problematize concepts such as equality, difference, justice, and agency, applying them to contemporary debates and evaluating their usefulness. We will also read (and watch) several ethnographies of legal spaces such as law offices, courtrooms, and informal dispute resolution venues, to concretely study the ways in which gender operates in legal realms. Critical Legal Studies, which studies the ways in which race and class are embedded in law, is another significant strand. Other questions include: Is it possible to eradicate sexual violence through law? Can marriage/ domestic partnerships be inscribed outside the domain of exchange? Is human rights discourse the best solution for mainstreaming gender justice issues? Instructor: Srimati Basu, M 4:00-6:30. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate. Note: Only graduate students should enroll for this section of the course. This course is also offered to undergraduates under GWS 595-002.
GRADUATE ELECTIVES
EDC 777 Discourse Analysis in Education: Theories and Methodologies in Studying Race, Class, Gender, and Other Social Markers: The term discourse is a fluid concept and has been linked to oral and written language, policy, multiple modes (e.g., image, sound, movement), tools, behaviors, beliefs, clothing, and more. Analyses of discourse are likewise broad reaching, divergent, and sometimes conflicting. In this course we will examine the work of theorists (e.g., Fairlough, Foucault, Gee) and methodologies (e.g., CDA, mediated, multimodal) useful in discourse studies in education. Social markers such as race, class, gender, sexuality, and language identity will provide a focus as we make sense of discourse analyses. The ultimate goal of this seminar is for students to better understand how discourse matters in the racialized, classed, gendered, etc. experiences of people and institutions involved in education. The first portion of the course will involve close readings of discursive theories so that we can map the complicated landscape of these supple ideas. Students will develop an original representation of how these theories relate. The second portion of this course will include examining education studies that use discourse analysis methodologies so that we can initially analyze data. Instructor: Christine Mallozzi, W 4:30-7:00. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate
EPE 667 Gender and Education: This seminar will explore issues of education and the ways that race, ethnicity, class, globalization, nationality, consumerism, neo-liberalism\girl-power, and sexuality mediate gendered identities and educational experiences. We will explore the historical and contemporary aspects of formal educational institutions and practices and informal educational processes including the ways that popular culture, media pedagogies, and student cultures influence education and the production of masculinities and femininities. We also will explore efforts to transform educational practices. Multidisciplinary readings will be drawn from education, feminist theory, cultural studies, anthropology, history, and sociology. Instructor: Karen Tice, M 4-6:30. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate
GER 420G/520: Constructing Men, Constructing Women: Cultural texts both reflect and help create images of what it means to be a “man” and a “woman.” We will examine key texts (novels, poems, films) from the last two centuries that created as well as questioned dominant images of masculinity and femininity. Included will be the “Geschlechtscharakter” of the nineteenth century, the “decadent” male of 1900, the “new” woman of Weimar, Nazi constructs of the perfect man and woman, as well as contemporary creations. Note: This course will be taught in German. Instructor: Linda Worley, MWF 2:00-2:50. This course will count toward requirements for undergraduate GWS majors, minors, and topical majors as well as the GWS graduate certificate, and other degrees as appropriate.
SOC 772-001: Gender and Crime: Gender and Crime will explore the importance of gender in criminal victimization rates and experiences, criminal offending, and the treatment of offenders and victims in the criminal justice system. Crime and victimization are gendered social phenomena; one’s gender makes a significant difference in terms of one’s chances of becoming a crime victim and the types of crimes one is most likely to be victimized by, one’s likelihood of committing a crime and the types of crimes one is most likely to commit, and one’s experiences with the police, the courts, and corrections. But gender also intersects with other social variables to further affect offending and victimization. This course, therefore, looks not only at the effects of gender, but also at the intersecting effects of multiple inequalities – racism, social class inequality, and heterosexism, as well as gender – in the criminal justice system. Instructor: Claire Renzetti, M 4:00-6:30. This course will count toward requirements for the Graduate Certificate and other degrees as appropriate
