WGST 07 First-Year Seminar Why the Devil Wears Prada:
Economics of the Fashion Industry
Women have a dynamic relationship to clothes and fashion. With the onset of
behavioral economics, this topic is now becoming of interest for economists.
The result is a fascinating new research agenda that gradually replaces purely
sociological viewpoints (trickle down, self styling). Such a view has been
neglected in standard economic theory; the course aims in particular at
incorporating cognitive and feminist views into economic theory. We will
discuss movies such as The Devil Wears Prada, The Overspent
American, Coat of Many Countries. We will also read and discuss
journal articles and book chapters such as The Theory of Leisure Class
by Veblen, The Affluent Society by Galbraith, The Language of
Clothes by Lurie, and Orlando by Woolf.
Professor Gick
11-hour
WGST 10 Sex, Gender and Society
This course will investigate the roles of women and men in society from an
interdisciplinary point of view. We will analyze both the theoretical and
practical aspects of gender attribution - how it shapes social roles within
diverse cultures, and defines women and men's personal sense of identity. We
will discuss the following questions: What are the actual differences between
the sexes in the areas of biology, psychology, and moral development? What is
the effect of gender on participation in the work force and politics, on
language, and on artistic expression? We will also explore the changing
patterns of relationships between the sexes and possibilities for the future.
Open to all students. Dist: SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI.
Two sections
WGST 30.1/GEOG 26 Women, Gender and Development
This course will examine various aspects of gender and development. We will
begin by defining development and identifying the places where economic and
social development is orchestrated and experienced. This will lead to
discussions and critical inquires into the spaces and scales of economic
development including issues of mobility, migration, global labor, and markets.
Gender, development, and conflict will also be addressed with regard to
reconstruction and reconciliation in post-conflict spaces. Dist. SOC. Class of
2008 and later: WCult: CI.
Professor Fluri
12-hour
WGST 43.2/REL 31/CLST 11 Sex, Celibacy and the Problem of Purity:
Asceticism and the Human Body in Late Antiquity
This course examines a crucial period in the history of Christianity-Late
Antiquity. Between the years 300 and 500, Christianity became the official
religion of the Roman Empire, established standards of doctrine and
ecclesiastical organization, and developed the attitudes towards the body,
sexuality and gender which informed Christian teaching for centuries to come.
In this class we will ask: why did virginity become such an important aspect of
Christian religiosity? What effect did Roman concepts of gender and sexuality
have on Christian understanding of the relationship between men and women? What
did martyrs, gladiators and monks have in common. Open to all students. Class
of 2007 and earlier: Dist: PHR; WCult: EU. Class of 2008 and later: Dist: TMV;
WCult: W.
Professor MacEvitt
2-hour
WGST 52.1/COLT 67/AAAS 67 Colonial and Post Colonial
Masculinities
In this course, we will develop an understanding of masculinity as a
construct which varies in time and space, and is constantly (re)shaped by such
factors as race, class, and sexuality. The contexts of the colonial encounter
and its postcolonial aftermath will set the stage for our examination of the
ways in which social, political, economic, and cultural factors foster the
production of specific masculinities. Texts include Achebe's Things Fall
Apart, Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Lafferiere's How to Make
Love to a Negro, and additional writings by Irish, Indian, and Australian
authors. Our study will be organized around the questions of the production of
hegemonic and subaltern masculinities, the representation of the colonial and
postcolonial male body, the militarization of masculinity, and the relation
between masculinity and nationalism. Theoretical material on masculinities will
frame our readings.
Professor Coly
2A-hour
WGST 53.2/COLT 49 Writing, Eating and the Construction of Gender
This course will explore the role that food plays in the processes of gender
and identity formation. We will consider the representation of food in
literature and film as a complex intersection of production, consumption, and
signification that can act as a creative extension of the Self as well as an
ingestion of Otherness. Readings will include texts by Petronius, Robert Burns,
Isak Dinesen, Clarice Lispector, Laura Esquivel, Margaret Atwood, and
Marguerite Duras. Dist: SOC or INT. Class of 2007 and earlier: WCult: EU or NA.
Class of 2008 and later: WCult: W.
Professor Reyes
11-hour
WGST 56.5/Film 47 Women and the Film Industry
Women have worked in the film industry since its very beginnings in the
1890s, although there is a popular conception that this is a recent
phenomenon. This course will examine how women participated in the
mainstream American film industry from the 1890s to the present as producers,
directors, writers, photographers, fashion designers, performers, and
audiences. Concepts about female authorship, as well as historical questions
about the cultural, social, and industrial contexts for women’s power in the
industry, will be explored. Films made by prominent women producers,
directors, and writers will be screened.
Professor Desjardins
2A-hour
WGST 59.1/COCO 8 Inside Out: Prison and Performance
Hidden in our midst is an ever-growing incarceration system, which has
become increasingly privatized and retributive, especially with regards to
ethnic minorities. Some critics are calling for the "abolition" of prisons.
Yet, most of us know little about prisons, the prisoners in our communities or
the issues they face inside and outside prison. This course offers students the
unique opportunity to study the prison system from two distinct perspectives:
theoretical and practical. For half the week, students will study the history
of prisons and women's incarceration in the traditional classroom. For the
other half, students will join inmates in a performance program offered in the
Windsor Women's prison whose goal is the creation and performance of an
original production. The final project for the course will combine critical
analysis and self-reflection on the effectiveness of service learning and
performance in rehabilitation.
Professor Hernandez and Schweitzer
2A-hour
WGST 61.2 Plagues and Politics: The Impact of AIDS on U.S. Society
This course will survey the AIDS epidemic in the United States from 1981 to
the present. We will examine the history and social impact of the epidemic by
exploring its immediate and long lasting effects on issues such as health care,
anti-discrimination law, immigration, education strategies, government drug
policies, welfare services, as well as glbt culture. We will also be examining
its effects on popular thinking on sex, gender, and sexual culture through
mainstream and independent film and media. Open to all students. Dist: SOC.
Professor Bronski
2A-hour
WGST 80 Feminist Theory and Methodology
The seminar in Women's and Gender Studies is designed to be both a
culminating experience for Women's and Gender Studies students and an intensive
preparation for future work (such as independent study, honors theses, graduate
work, or any kind of advanced feminist scholarship). Consequently, this course
will address such questions as What is a feminist approach? What kinds of
questions do feminists ask? What is the relation between feminist theory and
feminist activism? The focus will be on feminist methodology, examining through
reading, exercises in class, written assignments, and research projects, how
feminist scholarship is done within a given area. Permission of the instructor
is required. Dist: SOC. Class of 2008 and later: WCult: CI.
Professor Martin
Monday 3-6 p.m.
Associated Courses
ENGL 72.2 The Poetry of Elizabeth Bishop
HIST 96 Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration in
American History
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