WGS.101 Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies
M/W 3:30-5:00PM HASS-H; CI-H
Clara Montague
Drawing on multiple disciplines - such as literature, history, economics, psychology, philosophy, political science, anthropology, media studies and the arts - to examine cultural assumptions about sex, gender, and sexuality. Integrates analysis of current events through student presentations, aiming to increase awareness of contemporary and historical experiences of women, and of the ways sex and gender interact with race, class, nationality, and other social identities. Students are introduced to recent scholarship on gender and its implications for traditional disciplines.
WGS.111 Gender and Media Studies
T/R 7-8:30PM; HASS-H
Same as CMS.619
Hafsa Arain
Examines representations of race, gender, and sexual identity in the media. Considers issues of authorship, spectatorship, and the ways in which various media (film, television, print journalism, advertising) enable, facilitate, and challenge these social constructions in society. Studies the impact of new media and digital media through analysis of gendered and racialized language and embodiment online in blogs and vlogs, avatars, and in the construction of cyberidentities. Provides introduction to feminist approaches to media studies by drawing from work in feminist film theory, cultural studies, gender and politics, and cyberfeminism.
WGS.117 Queering Digital Humanities
Tuesdays 7-10PM; HASS-H
Clara Montague
Explore emerging tools and techniques for knowledge production, artistic expression, and building community through the lens of Women’s and Gender Studies. Consider how marginalized populations have created, resisted, and utilized technologies to challenge systems of oppression and construct more just worlds both on and offline. Engaging interdisciplinary approaches to the study of human sexuality, this course introduces students to foundational debates at the intersection of feminism, queer theory, and digital humanities. Through hands-on activities, collaborative annotation, and independent research, we will experiment with innovative approaches to techniques such as virtual reality, gaming, cartography, archives, web design, robotics, social media, mind-mapping, etc. Reconceptualize gender, sexuality, and other categories of difference in light of new technologies reshaping our individual and collective lives.
WGS.118 Gender in the Visual Arts
M/W 1-2:30PM; HASS-A
Same as CMS.418
Clara Montague
Explores gender and race through interdisciplinary perspectives from film and visual studies, art history, and performance studies. Provides an overview of methodologies and practices, with an emphasis on contemporary artists working across mediums. Contextualizes artistic output within broader systems of power and cultural institutions. Reflects on the politics of visibility, hypervisibility, and invisibility through an intersectional feminist approach that draws on perspectives from trans*, queer, feminist, dis/ability, and critical race theory. Lectures are supplemented by screenings, discussions, workshops, guest lectures, and optional field trips. Culminates in a final creative project that includes a presentation.
WGS.130 Afrofuturism, Magical Realism, and Other Otherwise Worlds
T/R 3:30-5:00PM; HASS-H; CI-H
Same as 21L.032
Joaquin Terrones
Examines Afrofuturism, magical realism, and other forms of the fantastic in literary texts, film, and other media. Through close reading and attention to historical, cultural, and sociopolitical context, students consider how these works reinterpret the past, diagnose modernity, and posit alternative futures. Particular attention given to the roles race, gender, class, and sexuality play within these radically imaginative worlds. Topics vary from term to term but might include work by Octavia Butler, Gabriel García Márquez, Samuel Delany, Toni Morrison, N.K. Jemisin, José María Arguedas, and Janelle Monáe. Limited to 18.
WGS.145 Globalization: The Good, the Bad, and the In-Between
T/R 3:00-4:30PM; HASS-H; CI-H
Same as 21L.020
Margery Resnick
Examines the cultural paradoxes of contemporary globalization. Studies the cultural, artistic, social and political impact of globalization across international borders. Students analyze contending definitions of globalization and principal agents of change, and why some of them engender backlash; identify the agents, costs and benefits of global networks; and explore how world citizens preserve cultural specificity. Case studies on global health, human trafficking and labor migration illuminate the shaping influence of contemporary globalization on gender, race, ethnicity, and class. Develops cultural literacy through analysis of fiction and film. Enrollment limited.
WGS.230 Representing Girlhood
T/R 1:00-2:30PM; HASS-H
Same as CMS.422; 21L.474
Marah Gubar
Invites students to analyze cultural artifacts that represent girlhood from various eras and genres, including novels, children's literature, poetry, film, television, and popular music. Conceives girlhood in a broadly inclusive way, putting a range of materials — e.g., cultural artifacts that center Black, Jewish, Asian, and queer girls — in conversation with one another, by artists like Toni Morrison, Judy Blume, Andrea Wang, and Chappell Roan. Helps students build their oral presentation skills. Includes field trips to local museums or cultural events. Limited to 20.
WGS.231 Writing About Race
T/R 11:30-1:00PM; HASS-H; CI-H
Same as 21W.742
Brianna Williams
The issue of race and racial identity have preoccupied many writers throughout the history of the US. Students read Jessica Abel, Diana Abu-Jaber, Lynda Barry, Felicia Luna Lemus, James McBride, Sigrid Nunez, Ruth Ozeki, Danzy Senna, Gloria Anzaldua, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Carmit Delman, Stefanie Dunning, Cherrie Moraga, Hiram Perez and others, and consider the story of race in its peculiarly American dimensions. The reading, along with the writing of members of the class, is the focus of class discussions. Oral presentations on subjects of individual interest are also part of the class activities. Students explore race and ethnicity in personal essays, pieces of cultural criticism or analysis, or (with permission of instructor) fiction. All written work is read and responded to in class workshops and subsequently revised. Enrollment limited.
WGS.238 Intersectional Feminist Memoir
T/R 9:30-11:00AM; HASS-H
Same as 21W.738, 21L.438
Brianna Williams
Explores the memoir genre through a feminist intersectional lens, looking at the ways in which feminist writers ground personal experience within a complex understanding of race, gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity, immigration status/nationality, and dis/ablity. Gives particular attention to the relationships between the personal and the political; form and content; fact, truth, and imagination; self and community; trauma and healing; coming to voice and breaking silence. Readings include books by Audre Lorde, Janet Mock, Daisy Hernandez, Jessica Valenti, and Ariel Gore, and shorter pieces by Meena Alexander and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Drawing on lessons taken from these works, students write a short memoir of their own.
WGS.250 HIV/AIDS in American Culture: Black Lives and Queer Bodies
T/R 1:00-2:30PM; HASS-H
Same as 21L.481
Joaquin Terrones
Examines cultural responses to HIV/AIDS in the US during the first fifteen years of the epidemic, prior to the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy. Students consider how sexuality, race, gender, class, and geography shaped the experience of HIV/AIDS and the cultural production surrounding it, as well as the legacy of this cultural production as it pertains to the communities most at risk today. Materials include mainstream press coverage, film, theater, television, popular music, comic books, literature, and visual art.
A round of applause for the following stars!
Helen Elaine Lee Undergraduate Prize : Aimee Wang, WGS Minor, class of 2026
Ruth Perry Leadership Prize: Mariel Garcia-Montes (PhD candidate, HASTS)
Kampf Writing Prize
Abriana Lyda, Physics Major, class of 2026 - "Mother like daughter: investigation of reinforcing gender and class normatives through food practices”
Bridget Li, 21S- WGS & Course 7, class of 2027 - "Euphoria: The Feminine Toxicity in Maddie and Cassie’s Friendship”
We are grateful for the opportunity to memorialize Helen and Ruth's amazing contributions within WGS.
WGS.255 Gender, Myth, and Magic
M/W 10:00-11:30AM; HASS-A
Same 21W.725
Kym Ragusa
Explores ways contemporary writers re-imagine myth and fairy tales through lens of gender and sexuality. Examines how old stories can be retold to resonate with issues of power, violence, courage, resistance, identity, community, silence, and voice. Students complete writing project where they re-imagine a myth or fairy tale.
