GWS 600-001: TOPICS IN GWS: FEMINIST AFFECT THEORY
INSTRUCTOR: ANASTASIA TODD
MEETING TIMES: T 3:30-6:00
This graduate-level seminar explores the affective turn in the humanities and social sciences. There is no one definition of affect, but this course takes feminist and queer approaches to affect as its point of departure. We will consider how affect—as the intersubjective glue that creates, holds, and transverses relations between bodies—intersects with race, disability, gender, and sexuality. From Lauren Berlant’s theorization of “cruel optimism,” to Sara Ahmed’s concept of “stickiness,” to Jin Haritaworn’s mobilization of “queer regeneration,” we will trace how feminist and queer theorists have taken up affect and affectivity. We will also explore the critical debates around affective labor (both online and off), affective capitalism, and the intersection of biopolitics, necropolitics, and affect. Ephemeral, ordinary, mobile…affect is difficult to capture. We will ultimately ask ourselves: How can an engagement with affect enrich our understanding of contemporary systems of power? How can an engagement with affect help us transform our world? How can we harness the methodological and epistemological richness of affect in our own work? And lastly, what is a “well-dressed love machine”? This course counts toward requirements for the GWS graduate certificate, PhD, and other degrees as appropriate.
GWS 630-001: FEMINIST RESEARCH METHODS
INSTRUCTOR: JENN HUNT
MEETING TIMES: R 3:30-6:00
Because Gender and Women’s Studies is an interdisciplinary field, feminist scholars employ a wide range of methodologies in their research. In this seminar, we will discuss what constitutes feminist research and examine the research process, from generating research questions through writing and dissemination. We will begin by discussing epistemological and ethical questions related to feminist inquiry. After discussing research design and field work practices, we will consider a range of methodologies, including participant observation, ethnography, interviewing and oral history, survey methods, and archival analysis. Throughout the semester, students will evaluate the use of particular methods in existing feminist scholarship and engage in hands-on research projects to gain experience with different methodologies. This course is required for GWS PhD students.
GWS 650-001: FEMINIST THEORY
INSTRUCTOR: SRIMATI BASU
MEETING TIMES: M 5:00-7:30
In this course, we explore the complex and contradictory discourses that fall within the broad category of “feminist theory.” This is an advanced readings course in Gender & Women's Studies, aimed at familiarizing you with feminist analyses: the notion of gender and the construction of the feminine, the salience of political and social structures in understanding inequities, race and representation, and the ways in which frameworks like law, science, sex and popular culture help one think through these debates. We will be reading a selection of core theoretical essays, examining the historical development of theories, their political connotations, and their analytical strengths and weaknesses, while also evaluating the theories by exploring some ethnographic and journalistic and film texts. This course is required for GWS PhD and GWS graduate certificate students.
HIS 563-001: WOMEN AND GENDER IN LATIN AMERICA
INSTRUCTOR: F.R. CHASSEN-LOPEZ
MEETING TIMES: T 4:30-7:00PM
This course surveys gender relations in Latin America through a rich diversity of voices and experiences (in academic texts, documentaries, testimonials, literary works, biographies, and film). Using an interdisciplinary focus and intersectional analysis, we explore, for example, Haitian women’s roles in the struggle for independence, gender and tango in Argentina, the art of Frida Kahlo, Chilean mothers protesting dictatorship, unequal access to healthcare for indigenous Peruvians, the situation of LGTQ in the Cuban Revolution, Latina biographies, and the plight of Dominican immigrant families in New York. At the same time, we discuss how machismo has evolved, or not, over time in a region that has already elected ten women presidents. This course counts toward the cross-cultural requirement for the GWS graduate certificate.