Gender & Women's Studies Concentration

 

Dr. Ken McGraw

mcgraw@roanoke.edu

 

About the Program

Gender & Women's Studies is born of the historical effort to retrieve from obscurity the realities of women's lives and to advocate for equality for all genders in the modern world. This interdisciplinary field investigates the cultural categories of masculinity and femininity (and the various mixtures of the two) which have developed in and through complex socio-historical processes, and which face the possibility of future transformation. Gender & Women's studies courses approach the relationship of gender to sex, class, race, sexuality, ethnicity, religion and language in a critical and self-critical spirit.

 

Requirements

Students from any major-male or female-may earn a concentration in Gender & Women's Studies by successfully completing (with a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0) at least six units. Of these six units one must be GNDR 150. The other five units must come from at least two different disciplines from the course list below.  In accordance with the general rules for concentrations, the six courses taken for the concentration must include at least three units which are not used to satisfy the student's major requirements. While GNDR 150 is not a prerequisite to the other courses, taking GNDR 150 as early as possible is recommended.  Students should see the concentration coordinator(s) for additional special topics courses, INQ courses, and independent studies that can be counted toward the concentration.  No more than two INQ courses may be applied toward the concentration.

Required Course:

GNDR  150           Introduction to Gender & Women's Studies

View the syllabus

Elective Courses: (5 from at least two disciplines)

(Items with a bullet are specific topics courses that have been approved through Fall 2012. Check with coordinators or website for updates.)

ENGL 220         Special Topics (as appropriate)
                      Gender in Literature (FA 09)
                      Sex, the City, and the Self (SP 10)
                      Science Fiction and Gender (SP 11)
ENGL 301         Special Studies in Language and Literature (as appropriate)
ENGL 305         Women Writers
ENGL 308         Author Studies (as appropriate)
                      The Cult of Jane Austen (SP 10)
                      Eliza  Haywood and the Culture of Print (SP 11)
ENGL 336         Studies in Restoration of 18^th C. Lit. (as appropriate)
                      The Rise of the Female Novelist (SP 10, SP 12)
ENGL 356         Studies in Film (as appropriate)
                      Gender in Asian Cinema (SP 11)
HIST 215         History of Women
HIST 235         History of Witchcraft
HIST 262         U.S. Women's History
HIST 290         Special Studies (as appropriate)
                      Women and the West (SP 09)
                      Roman Women (SP 10)
HIST 310-380  Issues Courses (as appropriate)         
HIST 370         Guys and Dolls (FA09, FA12)
HIST 375         Gender and Biography
HIST 420-475  Research Seminars (as appropriate)
PHIL 260         Selected Topics (as appropriate)
                      Existentialism and Feminism (SP 10)
POLI 261         Special Topics (as appropriate) 
                      Political Theory:  Power/Resistance (FA 09, SP12)
                      Feminist Political Theory (SP 11)
RELG 290         Feminist Readings of the Bible
RELG 312         Topics in Biblical Studies and Early Christianity (as appropriate)
SOCI 226        Intimate, Marital, and Family Relationships
SOCI 229        Sociology of Sex and Gender
SOCI 360, 361 Selected Topics in Sociology (as appropriate)
SOCI 424        Gender and Development (discontinued 2011)
SOCI 429        Gender Violence (discontinued 2011)
INQ 177          Intensive Learning (May term) (as appropriate)
                     Women, Work and Life (May 10)
INQ 260          Social Scientific Reasoning (as appropriate)
                     Women in Politics (SP 11)
INQ 270          Human Heritage I (as appropriate) 
                     Gender in Early World Literature (FA 10, SP 12, FA12)
                     Men, Women, and Monsters (FA 10, SP 12, FA12)
                     Goddess Traditions (SP 11, FA 11)
INQ 271          Human Heritage II (as appropriate)
                     Women Playwrights (FA 10, FA 11, SP 12)
                     Radical Movements in America from 1950-1970 (SP 11)