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http://ntweb8.ais.msu.edu/ScheduleBook/schedule.asp

WS CODED COURSES FOR SPRING SEMESTER 2003

WS 201:  Introduction to Women’s Studies (4 cr) –
sec 1: T T 10:20-12:10., Ladenson
sec 2:  T T 10:20-12:10, Bruno
This is an introductory, interdisciplinary course in Women’s Studies, which raises critical questions about why and how, (with special emphasis on women) culture and institutions have shaped gender roles and expectations.  Each unit is designed to define issues central to women’s studies, and lay the foundation for more advanced study.  Specific topics include: definitions of women’s studies and concepts central to feminism; organized feminist movements for change; differences of culture, race, class, sexual orientation, age, and physical ableness among women; sexuality and appearance; violence against women; stages in women’s life cycle; women’s paid and unpaid work; and global and cross cultural concerns.

WS 301: Sexual Violence Against Women and Children (3 cr) - Schuiteman
M W 12:40-2:00
This course will examine violence against women and children in our culture. You will be introduced to some of the major theoretical issues and work around violence against women and children. Various approaches which seek to explain violence will be explored with concentration placed on feminist explanations for such violence. We will explore violence as it occurs in its varying forms and contexts such as battering, incest, stranger and acquaintance rape, sexual harassment, and violence against lesbians. We will examine each of these forms of violence as they intersect with race, social class, and age.
You will also have the opportunity to develop skills that would either prevent or deter such violence from occurring to individuals. Additionally, we will go a step further in our understanding of what it may take to prevent and/or deter sexual assault from occurring on a more societal level.  Prerequisite:  WS 201, or approval of Women’s Studies Program.

WS 401: Feminist Theory (4 cr) – Frye
M W 12:40-2:30
A great deal of theory, research and scholarship in Women’s Studies makes direct of indirect references to some major feminist works which most Women’s Studies students, both undergraduate and graduate, have not in fact read or studied and many of which it is profitable to read and study many times. In this course we will critically read and study significant selections from a number of these classic texts.  Prerequisite:  WS 201 and WS 202 or graduate standing.

WS 403: Women and Change in Developing Countries (3 cr) - Gallin
T T 12:40-2:00
Effects on economic, political, and social change on women in developing countries.  Interrelationships of gender, class, race, and nationallity.

WS 490: Independent Study (VA) - Arranged
Individual reading and research on women and gender. Prerequisite:  WS 201; and either WS 202 or WS 203; or graduate standing. Prerequisite: WS 201 or WS 202 or WS 203.  Open only to juniors or seniors, approval of program.

WS 491:  Special Topics:
Sec I: Thursday 1:50-4:40 (Indegenous Women and Globalization): Howard-Bobiwash
Sec II: M W 3:00-4:20 (State, Religion and Gender): Mudaliar
The female body has occupied a central place in Western imagination, its images pervading poetry and story, mythology and religious doctrine, the visual arts and scientific treatises.  This course explores these representations and their consequences for contemporary culture, particularly American popular culture.  The questions asked in the course deal with power and powerlessness, voice and silence, subjecthood and objectification.   Prerequisite:   WS 201 Or WS 202 Or WS 203

WS 492: Women’s Studies Senior Seminar: Special Topic (4 cr) - Larabee
M W 10:20-12:10
This course examines various feminist responses to new technologies, from the introduction of the vibrator in the nineteenth century to cyberidentities in the twenty-first.  We will explore theories of the relations between gender and technology, feminist critiques of technology, and possibilities for intervening in technological development with feminist interests in mind.  We will not only look at women as recipients of technological developments, but as producers and inventors.
Prerequisite: WS 201, WS 203; WS 301, or WS 302.

WS 493: Internship (VA) - Arranged
Integration of feminist knowledge through work experience related to women’s concerns. Legislative, community or educational settings provide hands-on experience to increase student’s awareness and skills. Prerequisite: WS 201 or WS 202 or WS 203.  Not open to freshmen or sophomores. Approval of program.

WS 890:  Individual Reading (VA) - Arranged
Women’s Studies supervised graduate level reading on special topics. Prerequisite:  Graduate standing and approval of WS Program.

DEPARTMENTALLY-BASED COURSES FOR SPRING 2003

ANP 220: Gender Relations in a Comparative Perspective (3 cr)
MW 12:40-2:00 140 Nat Sci
Gender relations in different cultures.  Economic and domestic division of labor between the sexes as a factor underlying power differentials.

ENG 153: Introduction to Women Authors (4cr) – Staff
MW 12:40-2:30
Writings by women from various racial, socio-economic and historical backgrounds. Women's choices of subject matter and style. Women's redefinition of literary genres.

ENG 353: Women and Literature (3cr) - Fishburn
M W F 9:10-10:00, 201 BH
This course will employ various theoretical models to study the relationship between women and literature and the meaning of the literature that women have produced.  At the same time, all texts will be grounded in their particular historical circumstances.  Students will be expected to read all material on time, to be prepared for unannounced quizzes on this material, to work in small groups, to pass two examinations, to apply the theory they are taught to the literature in question and, of course, to think.  All exercises will be based on the short essay.  Although attendance will not be taken, students will be expected to come to class regularly and participate in all class activities, including class discussion and group projects.

ENG 379: American Women Writers (3 cr) - Aldrich
M W 6:00-7:20 221 BH
This course begins with an historical review of both paid and unpaid family work.  The role of gender across the life cycle, both in the workplace and in families, is central.  Issues include the diversity of work/family experience; childcare and children’s well being; employer and public policy response; unemployment, welfare reform and other vulnerable workers; midlife and older workers; and future implications.  (A Tier II writing course).

FCE 445: Human Sexuality (3cr) - Borland-Hunt
T 9:10-12:00 109 S KH
Family and psychosocial factors affecting the development of a person’s sexuality across the life cycle.  Reciprocal impact on society and the legal system.  This course examines human sexuality through developmental and sociocultural lenses; promotes awareness and tolerance of diversity; encourages integration of the information with personal understandings and beliefs; develops critical thinking skills about sexual choices and sexual responsibilities; and provides opportunities for active learning in group and class participatory experiences.

FW 211: Introduction to Gender and Environment (3 cr) - Dobson
T T 10:20-11:40 1 Nat Resources
An exploration of the concept of gender; a brief overview of environmental/habitat; gender roles in environmental management in historical perspective; introduction to gender-based theoretical perspectives; case studies illustrating different gender roles and perspectives in environmental management (in developed and in developing countries); emphasis on fisheries and wildlife, wetlands; perspectives of women environmental professionals.

HST 312: African American Women (4cr) - Ramey
M W 12:40-2:00
This course explores the lives of African American women from slavery to freedom focusing on the work place, politics, and the Civil Rights Movement.  An examination of their voices through narratives, autobiographies, biographies, testimonies, speeches, letters, and other written material serve as the basis for the course reading material.

HST 314: Women in the U.S. Since 1869 (4cr) - Staff
T T 12:40-2:30 315 EBH
This course will examine United States history since 1869 from the perspective of women. Within the context of social, economic, political, cultural, religious, and intellectual changes, topics will focus on women in the changing economy, women’s legal and political status, differences among women based on status, region, age, ethnicity and race, sex roles, and the changing image of womanhood. Traditional subjects of inquiry in the history of U.S. colonial, revolutionary, early national and ante bellum periods will be recast as we include women in the picture.

LIN 225: Women and Language (3cr) -
MW 10:20-11:40 120 BH
Women and language in societies around the world.  Issues such as status and verbal politeness, importance of names, gender differences in language use, women’s multilingualism, sexist language, gendered language development in children.

MC 386: Women and Power in Comparative Perspectives (4 cr)
T T 10:20-11:40 329 Case Hall
Application of feminist theory to questions of gender and power in different economic and political systems and geographic areas.

PHL 356: Philosophical Aspects of Feminism (4 cr) - Schwartzman
MW 3:00-4:50 C104 WH
Philosophical examination of conceptual and normative issues in feminist theory. Among other topics, we will examine theories of sexism and oppression; the social construction of gender and of the self; the impact of race, class, and sexual orientation on women's lives; and strategies of resistance and liberation. We will also explore philosophical questions that arise in contemporary debates around specific feminist issues, including rape, pornography, and body image. Attendance is required, as in-class discussion will be a crucial element of this course.

SOC 216:  Sociology of Sex and Gender (3cr) -
T T 3:00-4:20, 111 Olds Hall
This course focuses on the institutional arrangements and social patterns that underlie gender, race, and class-based inequities In American societies in particular and societies in other parts of the world in general.  We will examine explanations for and case studies about some people’s advantage and other’s disadvantage within arenas such as the family, economy, and educational system as well as consider how people attempt to survive, struggle with, resist, and change oppressive conditions in their lives. Throughout the term we will be concerned with one central question: How is inequality in its various forms produced, reproduced, and experienced by women and men of different classes, races, and nationalities? Prerequisite:  SOC 100 or SOC 131 or SOC 161.

SOC 315: Family and Society (3cr) -
MW 3:00-4:20, C107 MCD
Family development. Diversity of family form and organization in relation to personality, class, race, and gender.

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