Women's Gender&Sexuality

Examines the thought of women of the 20th century born in the West and the East. Special attention to the influences and critiques within and across these two traditions. Sources include works in aesthetics, phenomenology, feminism and literature. 

Why has East Asian media 'perfected' the female gaze to the extent that it is fueling fandoms outside of the original target audiences? What conditions gave rise to BL, otoge, K- and J-drama, K- and J-pop, fanfic, shipping, shojo etc. that do not have equivalent popularity in the West. 

This course offers students the chance to engage with texts that raise some of the largest existential questions of human life, including the nature of health and disease, the doctor-patient relationship, the social aspects of illness, and the dimensions of a well-lived life. Through the works of authors like Mary Shelley, Lev Tolstoy, Michael Ondaatje, Atul Gawande, Eula Biss, and Anne Boyer, we will explore questions of sickness and health beyond the biomedical paradigm to consider these questions through a humanistic lens. Fulfills the humanities elective requirement for the applied minor in Medical Humanities.

An examination of women's and gender history in the 19th and 20th centuries across a range of European countries with particular focus on politics, gender roles, sexuality, and culture. Allows students to question narrow (national, disciplinary, epistemological) boundaries, think critically about the gendered constructions of European society, and reflect upon the distinctive contributions of women's history.

We will consider notions of gender, sexuality, and purity in the Hebrew Bible as well as Talmudic and later rabbinic sources. Reading through a critical-historical lens, we will explore the innovations and controversies that exist in Jewish texts and traditions regarding issues like women's leadership, LGBTQ+ inclusion, and interfaith marriage.

Introduces migration in East Asia within the global context of imperialism and colonialism, forced labor, refuge, and gender, from the 19th century to present. Topics include colonial migration, settler migration, forced migration, repatriation movements, and identity formation, domestically and internationally. Emphasis on Japan, China, and North and South Korea.

A survey of U.S. social history from 1607 to the present, focusing on the historical contours of female/male sex roles and the family. Topics include marriage, the family, child rearing, work, education, sexuality and gynecology, and reproduction. Analyzes the effects of war, racism, slavery, immigration, industrialization and consumerism, along with abolitionism, temperance, feminism, civil rights and other social protest movements.

An internship or practicum organized by the student in consultation with the adviser. Credits for the experience must be negotiated between the adviser and the on-site supervisor. The experience involves one of the following: (a) teaching or tutoring a second language, (b) a special research project or (c) interpreting / translation. Depending on the experience, students enhance their communicative skills, develop a critical understanding of linguistic and cultural differences, connect to other disciplines through languages, come to a deeper understanding of the role of translation in cross-cultural communication, and/or reflect on career and life goals.