Courses

In the past 30 years, Women's Studies has produced a compelling body of interdisciplinary and multicultural scholarship that has challenged traditional interpretations of history, experience, culture and even science. Women's Studies courses (offered in 16 academic departments) encourage students -female as well as male -to reconsider the diversity of women's experiences in the past and the changing roles of women and men today. Women's Studies at DePauw offers outstanding opportunities to develop critical thinking, interpretive and writing skills as well as the cultural knowledge necessary for a liberal education. Many of the nation's finest graduate schools offer advanced degrees in Women's Studies. Women's Studies majors find employment in the same broad range of fields as do graduates of other liberal arts disciplines. The Women's Studies major and minor offer students an opportunity to concentrate on an area of passionate interest while acquiring skills, and interrogating perspectives, from many different disciplines. Women's Studies majors complete an ambitious independent research project of their own design in the senior year. Students may choose to major in Women's Studies, or simply to take one or more courses in the field. Many students begin with Introduction to Women's Studies (WS 140), but one can begin almost anywhere: there is a range of courses cross-listed with traditional departments from which to choose. For minors, Feminist Theory (WS 340) serves as the capstone experience. Studying in an off-campus DePauw-sponsored or GLCA program, such as the Comparative Women's Studies Program in Europe, is encouraged for majors and minors. Appropriate courses from off-campus may be applied toward the minor or major upon approval by the director of Women's Studies.

Course Catalog

Requirements for a major

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Requirements for a minor

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Courses in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Reading Group in WGSS Topics

This course functions as a reading group centered on a specific theme of contemporary or historical relevance to the study of women, gender, and/or sexuality.

Introduction to WGSS

This course introduces some key issues in contemporary women's, gender, and sexuality studies (WGSS) and provides a starting vocabulary and background in the field. Because WGSS is an interdisciplinary field, readings come from a number of different areas, including literature, history, philosophy, psychology and sociology.

Off-Campus Extended Studies Course

Faculty-led domestic and international study and service courses that provide students opportunities to explore and experience other cultures, learn in new environments, develop skills not readily acquired elsewhere, and deepen their understanding of the global community. Curricular offerings earn .5 course credit and count toward satisfying the Extended Studies requirement; co-curricular offerings do not carry academic credit but do count toward the Extended Studies requirement.

On-Campus Extended Studies Course

An on-campus course offered during the Winter or May term. May be offered for .5 course credits or as a co-curricular (0 credit). Counts toward satisfying the Extended Studies requirement.

Topics in Women's Studies

An interdisciplinary exploration of a particular theme, area, or period, with respect to issues of women and gender.

First-Year Seminar

A seminar focused on a theme related to the study of women. Open only to first-year students.

Sexuality, Culture and Power

An exploration of the diverse ways in which human sexualities have been conceptualized, molded, policed and transformed in particular cultures, social contexts, moral climates and political terrains. Investigated are how the seemingly personal and natural world of sexual desire and behavior is shaped by larger societal institutions (e.g., law, medicine, religion) and by cultural ideas. Also examined is how social categories that have primacy in a culture,(e.g., gender, race, class and age) are expressed in sexual ideas, behavior and politics. Prerequisites: SOC 100 or sophomore standing.

Queer Theory, Queer Lives

An interdisciplinary exploration of the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and intersexed people through historical, sexological, scientific and literary texts, media respresentations and autobiographies. We will examine scholarly and activist definitions of sexual identity, especially as these have intersected with race, class, gender, ethnicity and age, and discuss ways sexual desire often escapes, complicates or is mismatched with fixed gender roles and dominant cultural categories. We will also discuss the insight queer perspectives can bring to our understanding of masculinity and femininity, cultural constructions of the body, the social construction of heterosexuality, and the future of difference.

Women of Color in the U.S.

The course draws on the disciplines of history, sociology, anthropology and literary study to offer an in-depth look at the experiences and concerns of women of color, with an emphasis on hearing women's voices. The course is divided approximately in thirds: accounts of the experiences of various ethnic groups (e.g., African-American, Native American, Asian); issues facing women of color in the U.S. today (e.g., culture, the body, family, work); and theory. The class involves frequent writing (formal and informal), including a research paper and in-class presentations.

Transnational Feminisms

An interdisciplinary exploration gender and sexuality in a transnational context. We examine a variety of global processes, including colonialism and present-day capitalism and development studies; topics may also include military conflict, transnational ecofeminisms, and the use of art in developing solidarity across transnational feminist movements.

(New) Media & Marginalized Bodies

This course examines representations of marginalized bodies in media. We begin with an analysis of mediated presentations of marginalized groups over time, including theories associated with their coverage and its relative impact and representations over time. Within this syllabus and throughout the course, we will use the term (re)presentation to indicate both the presentation of bodies and the representation of culture and bodies. It is important to note the difference between these two interrelated and interconnected terms. Through a critical socio-historical lens, we will interrogate patterns, differences, and new forms of (re)presentation in media and new media.

Reimagining Sex Education

This course examines sex education, in its varying forms, from historical, philosophical, policy, and cultural perspectives. This includes an exploration of the ethical, epistemological, and political implications of sex education policy for the project of social justice education. It also aims to cultivate a deep understanding of gender, sexuality, and race in order to begin to reimagine what it means to be 'sexually educated'. We will begin with a careful consideration of formal, federal sex education policies in the US, including the historical and ideological contexts out of which these policies emerged, before considering the way the US's use of sex education aligns with its foreign interests. We will then explore alternative forms of sex education that already exist beyond schooling in order to ultimately engage in the imaginative work of rethinking what is possible for sex education in formal educational spaces.

Gender and Climate Justice

From the notion of 'carbon-heavy masculinities' (Alaimo 2016) to sexist and racist population control policies, gender is woven throughout the policies and ideologies that cause climate change. In this course, we will develop tools for analyzing climate crises through political, social, and economic lenses that take gender (and its intersections with race, class, nation, ability, species, and sexuality) seriously. We will center ecofeminist, environmental justice, decolonial and Indigenous scholars/activists as we think about how best to weather the changes. We will aim to be bold in thinking through not just reformist and technocratic solutions to mitigate the worst impacts of a rapidly changing climate, but will consider the revolutionary potential of doing things otherwise: what if justice means imagining new economic systems? Embracing more flexible and fluid gender and sexual identities? Making reparations for racial justice and bringing an end to the widening gap between the hyper-wealthy and the rest? Or decolonizing the nation by redressing land theft and confronting notions of private property and state authority altogether? As we work through the losses and immense potential of this moment, we will do so by building our learning community on the foundation of open, respectful communication, which helps us hone our writing and collaboration skills.

Gender and Climate Justice

From the notion of 'carbon-heavy masculinities' (Alaimo 2016) to sexist and racist population control policies, gender is woven throughout the policies and ideologies that cause climate change. In this course, we will develop tools for analyzing climate crises through political, social, and economic lenses that take gender (and its intersections with race, class, nation, ability, species, and sexuality) seriously. We will center ecofeminist, environmental justice, decolonial and Indigenous scholars/activists as we think about how best to weather the changes. We will aim to be bold in thinking through not just reformist and technocratic solutions to mitigate the worst impacts of a rapidly changing climate, but will consider the revolutionary potential of doing things otherwise: what if justice means imagining new economic systems? Embracing more flexible and fluid gender and sexual identities? Making reparations for racial justice and bringing an end to the widening gap between the hyper-wealthy and the rest? Or decolonizing the nation by redressing land theft and confronting notions of private property and state authority altogether? As we work through the losses and immense potential of this moment, we will do so by building our learning community on the foundation of open, respectful communication, which helps us hone our writing and collaboration skills.

Topics in Women's Studies

An interdisciplinary exploration of a particular theme, area or period, with respect to issues of women and gender.

Women, Culture and Identity

Drawing on work in sociology, psychology, and cultural and feminist studies, the course investigates how women from various ethnicities, socio-economic strata, and age groups make sense of gendered expectations, opportunities, and constraints. Particular emphasis is placed on the ways women encounter and resist circumstances they find limiting of their human potential. Prerequisites: WGSS 140 or permission of instructor. Cross-listed with SOC 332, Women, Culture and Identity.

Feminist Theory

This course focuses on contemporary feminist thought. Throughout the semester, students emphasize the relationship between feminist theory and feminist practice and ways in which feminism changes our fundamental understanding of the world.

Women, Health and Social Control

In this course, we will focus on the intersection of health, illness, and gender. This course combines classic and contemporary feminist and sociological ideologies to explore how health and illness have been defined and experienced for different women across historical time and space. There is considerable attention to how conceptualization of women (and their bodies) as inferior has led to the medicalization and control of women's bodies. We will especially highlight the role of women¿s health movements in shaping how women's health is understood, embodied and contested. We start the course addressing theoretical frames for understanding gender and health. We then assess contemporary women's health status. The course then loosely follows a life course approach in that we explore women's experiences with menstruation, sexuality, reproductive technologies, childbirth, and menopause. Prerequisites: one course in sociology or permission of instructor.

Feminist Inquiry

This course offers hands-on experience in the interdisciplinary field of Women's Studies. Students will survey research methods by reading excellent examples that show how various research methods have been applied; by reading about, and discussing, the practical details and the ethical issues involved in doing research; and by applying research methods themselves in class exercises and the undertaking of an individual project. Prerequisite: WGSS 140.

Educating Women

Women in Education is an interdisciplinary discussion of how girls and women have affected and been influenced by K-12 schooling and post-secondary education over the last 125 years. Drawing on the fields of education studies, sociology, women's studies, and history, we will examine areas such as the rise of co-education, the feminization of teaching, 'feminine' learning styles, and the impact of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and social class on women's aspirations, interactions, and experiences within learning institutions. Prerequisite: WGSS 140 or permission of instructor. Cross-listed with EDUC 350.

Women and the Internet

Although the Internet is a relatively new phenomenon, it influences our everyday interactions, perceptions of, and engagements with the world around us. We get our news, check our social media accounts, learn about others, and maintain relationships from the `safety' of our tablets, computers, and phones. The effects of the Internet on perceptions of self, of others, and on society extend beyond the 'pleasure' we receive through digital engagement. This course examines the potential perils and promise the Internet, and associated fields of study, have on women's lives. To better understand the a/effects of the Internet, we begin with a direct challenge to the concept of the digital divide, or the belief in a clear, tangible divide between 'offline' and 'online' worlds. We center the experiences of women, beginning with STEM and IT education (k-12, post grad), then move to the professional sphere to ascertain the ways education, access, and discourse interact and structure experiences, which allows one to complicate the construction of the Internet and various digital 'spaces' (e.g. Tinder/Bumble, Uber/DriveHer) This focus situates and explains the potential for hostility and engenders a socio-political-historical examination of digitally and non-digitally mediated fields.

Feminist Approaches to Environmentalism

Are women really closer to nature? Are women more deeply impacted by environmental degradation than men? Why do women make up the majority of the world's environmental activists? We will debate these questions and more as we consider how ecological narratives and practices are constructed at the intersections of gendered, raced, classed, and sexual identities. This course explores the work of artists, activists, and scholars to show how women and men have been at the forefront of struggles to reclaim their homes, communities and lands from patriarchal and (neo)colonial oppression. Topics include: ecofeminism, environmental racism and the environmental justice movement, queer ecologies, food politics, ecological economies, and eco-spiritual traditions. By the end of the term, you will be able to map some of the key debates in these fields and determine your own beliefs about philosophies and best practices for social-environmental justice.

Topics in Women's Studies

An interdisciplinary exploration of a particular theme, area or period, with respect to issues of women and gender.

Chicana Feminisms

This class addresses Mexican-American women's political mobilizations and social theories from the colonial era to the present. While the course centers on the philosophies, art, and literature of Mexican-American women and self-identified Chicanas, students are encouraged to develop comparative perspectives on the intersections of Chicana feminisms with the decolonial work of women across Latin America and the Caribbean, and to make connections between Chicana feminisms and other streams of feminism across the U.S.

Independent Study

Independent Study.

Women's Studies Senior Thesis

Required of all Women's Studies majors. Students design and carry out an original, interdisciplinary project or paper on a women's studies topic. The thesis is directed by the Women's Studies coordinator or other designated faculty member, and the candidate is interviewed by an interdisciplinary committee of three.

Senior Thesis Workshop

Any student, regardless of major, who is writing a senior thesis or project with a focus on women and/or gender is invited to sign up for this writing workshop. Students will exchange drafts and share strategies for research and revision. Pass/Fail.