Associate Professors: Lori Gruen, Co-Chair (Fall), Philosophy; Susan Hirsch, Anthropology; Natasha Korda, English; Ellen Nerenberg, Romance Languages and Literatures; Jennifer Tucker, History

Assistant Professors:  Aradhana Sharma, Anthropology and Women's Studies

Department Advising Expert 2005-2006: Ellen Widmer

Department/Program Home Page

The Women's Studies Program is administered by the Chair and other members of the Program's Core Faculty.  Core faculty are those who are committed to making themselves available to teach the Program's core courses, advise senior theses, serve as Program Chair and as faculty advisors to Women's Studies majors. The program sponsors an annual symposium, faculty seminars, and the Diane Weiss Memorial Lecture.

Major program. The prerequisite for becoming a major is taking one of the gateway courses.  These courses are designated annually. They currently include: WMST101 (Introduction to Women's Studies), WMST207/ANTH207 (Gender in a Transnational Perspective), WMST269/HIST179 (Sophomore Seminar Gender & History), WMST271/HIST273/AFAM272 (Engendering the African Diaspora), WMST277/PHIL277 (Feminist Philosophy and Moral Theory), and WMST278/PHIL280 (Feminist Practical Ethics). Students ordinarily take a gateway course during either semester of the sophomore year and declare the major in the spring semester. At this point the student is assigned to a faculty advisor. At this point, too, students are wise to familiarize themselves with requirements for writing a senior honors thesis since these may affect curricular choices for the junior year. In the fall semester of the junior year, the student ordinarily takes Feminist Theory (WMST209 ). During this semester the student, in consultation with the advisor, develops a major proposal that lists the courses that will compose the student's major course of study, including a description of the student's chosen concentration within the major. The Major Proposal Form, approved by the advisor and with the concentration rationale attached, is submitted to the Women's Studies program office by the end of the fall semester. The concentration rationale is a brief explanation (one or two pages) of the student's chosen concentration within the major and a rationale for the courses the student chooses to constitute it. The major as a whole consists of 10 courses as follows: two core courses (a gateway course and WMST209), two distribution courses (one each from an area outside the concentration), the four courses comprising the concentration, the senior seminar  (WMST405 ), and the senior essay or senior honors thesis. The senior year is devoted to completion of the course work for the concentration, work on a senior essay or thesis, and participation in the senior seminar. Only two credits transferred from another institution may be applied to the major.

Core Courses

Every major must take the following courses:

1. One gateway course.  These are designated annually and serve as introductions to the interdisciplinary field of  Women's Studies.  Gateway courses examine gender as a factor in the politics and practices of the production of knowledge and of social and cultural life, with a transnational emphasis and with attention to sexualities and to the relations between gender questions and those of class and race.

2. Feminist Theory ( WMST209 ). What is the relation of feminism and theory, or theory and politics? How have feminist theorists understood the significance of sexual difference? This course considers the articulation of feminism with Marxist, psychoanalytic, and deconstructive theories and examines current efforts to theorize the complex intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality, ethnicity, and nationality.

3. Senior Seminar ( WMST405 ). Engages students at an advanced level with the problems, theories, and methods that constitute the field of women's studies and define its interdisciplinary aspect.

Areas of Study

1. Gender and history. Contemporary women's history involves both a process of recovery--the documentation and restoration of the female past--and redefinition--through the introduction of gender as a category of analysis fundamental to the historical understanding of both women and men. Courses offered explore both aspects of women's history in the specific context of the instructor's area of specialization.

2. Gender and society. Introduces students to major social-scientific perspectives on gender. Topics might include socialization, intellectual and personal development of women and men, theories of gender inequality, and analysis of the major social institutions organizing gender relations, such as the family, the labor market, and the polity.

3. Gender and representation. Gender as a social category in relation to theories of representation. These theories have been used fruitfully as tools of analysis in the study of fine arts, literature, film, music, dance, and popular culture.

4. Gender and science. The scientific study of sexual difference and gender, including work in genetics, physiology, sociobiology, psychology, and primatology. Also included here are studies of scientific explanation--the historical, philosophical, and sociological analysis of science as knowledge about sex and gender.

Requirements

Gateway course.  In 2003-04, 2004-05, and 2005/2006 these include:  WMST101 (Introduction to Women's Studies), WMST207/ANTH207 (Gender in a Transnational Perspective), WMST269/HIST179 (Sophomore Seminar Gender & History), WMST271/HIST273/AFAM272 (Engendering the African Diaspora), WMST277/PHIL277 (Feminist Philosophy and Moral Theory), and  WMST278/PHIL280 (Feminist Practical Ethics).

 WMST209 (Feminist Theory), and WMST405 (the Senior Seminar.)

Areas of study. A distribution requirement of two courses from two different women's studies areas of study categories; the courses must be from two different disciplines and should not overlap in their content with courses that make up the student's concentration in the major.

Concentration. Four courses forming the area of concentration should represent a coherent inquiry into some issue, period, area, discipline, or intellectual approach. Normally the courses will be drawn from various departmental offerings and will be selected in consultation with an advisor. Courses that are relevant to the theme of the concentration need not necessarily have women or gender as a primary concern.

Senior research. Completion of a senior essay (one credit) or an honors thesis (two credits) on a theme or topic related to the student's area of concentration within the major is required. Rising seniors wishing to write a senior honors thesis must have an average of B+ in five of the eight courses that count for the major. These five include the following: the gateway course, WMST209 (Feminist Theory), and three of the four courses from the student's area of concentration. Prospective thesis writers must submit to the Women's Studies Program Chair in the second semester of the junior year a transcript on which they have identified the five courses that meet this requirement (or will meet it by the end of the semester).

Last updated: April 04, 2006.

Contact wesmaps@wesleyan.edu to submit comments or suggestions. 

Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459