The diversity of feminist thought and practice in its importance in forming Women's Studies, in its impact on other disciplines, and in its articulation with lives and social practices.

BUILDING: LATT | ROOM: 540

Foundations and Principles of Dance/Movement Therapy examines the ways dance/movement therapy in the west has integrated Asian concepts, natural movement, formal elements of dance, creative processes, music, verbal expression, and constructs drawn from psychology and counseling to treat a wide range of populations. Students will compare and contrast the treatment of individuals seeking help for a range of concerns (e.g., psychosis, autism, anxiety, eating disorders, histories of abuse). Experientials, creative dance, and videotapes of actual sessions with a variety of populations highlight these concepts. Dress comfortably and be prepared to move.

BUILDING: SPURR | ROOM: DANCE

Though we often assume that religion deals with the spirit or the soul, the earliest Christians were deeply and primarily concerned with the body. In this course, we examine the multiple and various early Christian debates and practices relating to the body focusing in particular on issues related to physical suffering, death, sexuality, identity, and asceticism. Topics include: early Christian debates over the nature of the body and its relationship to personal identity and the nature of the self; conflicting ideas about the nature of Jesus’ incarnated, crucified, and resurrected body; gender, sexuality, and the bodies of men and women; Christian valorization of physical suffering and the bodies of the ill; the cult of the martyrs and the cult of the relics; the rise of asceticism and the bodies of saints. Theoretical readings (Foucault, Turner, Brown, Douglas) complement our reading of primary sources.

BUILDING: RRLIB | ROOM: 442

The nineteenth-century novel is usually associated with Victorian values: happy marriage; wholesome homes; moral propriety; properly channeled emotions and ambitions. Many of the most popular novels, however, paint a very different picture: with madwomen locked in attics and asylums; monsters, real and imagined, lurking behind the facade of propriety; genteel homes harboring opium addicts; fallen women walking the streets; and sexual transgression and degeneracy popping up everywhere. Indeed, for novels centrally structured around marriage and society, madness and monstrosity appear with alarming regularity. The intertwining of these tropes suggests some of the cultural anxieties unleashed by the new body of women writers and women readers. We will begin with Frankenstein and end with Dracula, two novels from opposite ends of the century. We will also consider such classic marriage plot novels as Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre and some popular sensation fiction of the 1860s.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 104

The nineteenth-century novel is usually associated with Victorian values: happy marriage; wholesome homes; moral propriety; properly channeled emotions and ambitions. Many of the most popular novels, however, paint a very different picture: with madwomen locked in attics and asylums; monsters, real and imagined, lurking behind the facade of propriety; genteel homes harboring opium addicts; fallen women walking the streets; and sexual transgression and degeneracy popping up everywhere. Indeed, for novels centrally structured around marriage and society, madness and monstrosity appear with alarming regularity. The intertwining of these tropes suggests some of the cultural anxieties unleashed by the new body of women writers and women readers. We will begin with Frankenstein and end with Dracula, two novels from opposite ends of the century. We will also consider such classic marriage plot novels as Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre and some popular sensation fiction of the 1860s.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 104

This course will investigate various aspects of language as used by members of sexual minority groups, focusing on language of and about gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people, including "reclaimed epithets" (e.g., 'dyke' and 'queer'), gender vs. sexuality vs. sex, and the role of language in creating /maintaining sexual categories and identities.

BUILDING: DEWEY | ROOM: 2162

Class will explore the cultural and social dimensions of health and illness including the political and economic dimensions. Particular attention will be placed on how social change affects peoples' health and the delivery of health care. We will also pay critical attention to the practice of Western biomedicine and it's developing role in various societies. Students will use the concepts and methods of anthropology to examine these processes. Coursework will include exams, quizzes, papers based on independent research, and class participation.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 525

Origins, development, and current status of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer movements, cultures, and communities in the United States. Subjects from diverse racial, ethnic, and class backgrounds.

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This course will examine gender as a key component of social, economic, and political life. How are economic processes, political discussions, and intimate practices constrained by cultural ideas about gender and sex? How does gender intersect with race, class, and ethnicity? How is gender related to sexuality, bodies, and selves? While many of our discussions will be focused on the U.S., we will also examine several ethnographic examples from outside the contemporary western world that challenge the universality of our conceptions of gender and sexuality.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 160

Toni Morrison has emerged as one of the most influential writers and critics in contemporary American culture. This course will approach her work from a broad range of critical perspectives including black feminist thought, trauma theory, Biblical exegesis, and critical race theory. Although this class will emphasize rigorous study of her literary works, we will also pay close attention to her contributions to literary criticism, her role in public life as well as her forays into political and national debates. In our study of her novels, we will explore such issues as the importance of history and myth in the creation of personal identity, constructions of race and gender, the dynamic nature of love, the role of the community in social life, and the pressures related to the development of adolescent girls. We will also examine the changing nature of Morrison’s reception by critics and academics, and consider how and why she has achieved such widespread acclaim and influence.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 525

Toni Morrison has emerged as one of the most influential writers and critics in contemporary American culture. This course will approach her work from a broad range of critical perspectives including black feminist thought, trauma theory, Biblical exegesis, and critical race theory. Although this class will emphasize rigorous study of her literary works, we will also pay close attention to her contributions to literary criticism, her role in public life as well as her forays into political and national debates. In our study of her novels, we will explore such issues as the importance of history and myth in the creation of personal identity, constructions of race and gender, the dynamic nature of love, the role of the community in social life, and the pressures related to the development of adolescent girls. We will also examine the changing nature of Morrison’s reception by critics and academics, and consider how and why she has achieved such widespread acclaim and influence.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 525

Feminist art historians have changed the way we think about images of women, works by women artists, and the very notion of artistic genius. This course will investigate the way in which visual images of women participate with other cultural and social factors in the construction of the idea of woman. It will look at types and conventions in works by male and female artists, as well as in anonymous prints and advertising from different periods, with a concentration on the 19th and 20th centuries. Readings will introduce a variety of approaches.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 103

Why has memoir become one of the most popular literary genres of the past few decades? This class will examine the development of our “confessional culture” while also charting a historical trajectory of American memoirs from the mid twentieth century to our current moment. Discussions will also highlight the relationship between the narrating “I” and the development of national mythologies that present American identity as defined by specific distinctions of race, class, gender and sexuality. Students will explore various modernist and postmodernist innovations apparent in contemporary memoirs as well as changing conceptions of the self. Authors to be studied include: Barack Obama, Malcolm X, Joan Didion, Richard Rodriguez, Alison Bechdel and others.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 122

Recently the large-scale dissemination of erotic and pornographic literature and film has begun to affect the majority of the population in the West. There are two main issues in the course:1) the history of the changing genres of erotica and the social changes taking place because of its wide dissemination; and 2) the proposition that if societies were different little harm and much good would come from the inclusion of erotica in peoples reading and viewing habits: erotic materials, by removing sex from the realm of the forbidden and viewing it as a species of everyday life, can contribute to the education of both sexes and people of all sexual tastes and preferences.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 161

In this course we will explore representations of women in post-World War II German cinema. Moving chronologically from the building of two German states to the post-unification period, we will consider the constantly shifting meaning of 'woman' in popular and avant-garde films, narrative and documentary films, films by both male and female directors. We will consider equally films from East and West Germany. How does 'woman' function as a narrative device in these films? Do women behind the camera change 'woman's' meaning within the film? Can 'woman' consistently be reduced to one narrative trope (mother, comrade or whore), or does she resist? All readings and discussions are in English; all films are subtitled.

BUILDING: MEL | ROOM: 206

Exploration of the ways males and females differ in interaction, theories of development of sex differences, consequences for social change.

BUILDING: MEL | ROOM: 203

Why has memoir become one of the most popular literary genres of the past few decades? This class will examine the development of our “confessional culture” while also charting a historical trajectory of American memoirs from the mid twentieth century to our current moment. Discussions will also highlight the relationship between the narrating “I” and the development of national mythologies that present American identity as defined by specific distinctions of race, class, gender and sexuality. Students will explore various modernist and postmodernist innovations apparent in contemporary memoirs as well as changing conceptions of the self. Authors to be studied include: Barack Obama, Malcolm X, Joan Didion, Richard Rodriguez, Alison Bechdel and others.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 122

Recently the large-scale dissemination of erotic and pornographic literature and film has begun to affect the majority of the population in the West. There are two main issues in the course:1) the history of the changing genres of erotica and the social changes taking place because of its wide dissemination; and 2) the proposition that if societies were different little harm and much good would come from the inclusion of erotica in peoples reading and viewing habits: erotic materials, by removing sex from the realm of the forbidden and viewing it as a species of everyday life, can contribute to the education of both sexes and people of all sexual tastes and preferences.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 161

This course explores the “floating world” of consumer desires and pleasures in Japan’s urban centers during the 17th - 19th centuries. Subjects include entertainment and advertising, theater and eroticism, body and gender, landscape and nature, poetry and culture, satire and allegory, and alien peoples and ideas. Special attention is given to the social contexts in which the visual products of this culture were created and consumed.

BUILDING: MEL | ROOM: 224

Improve strength, flexibility and self-awareness of the body. Includes meditative movement, dance technique, improvisation and rhythm identification through music and drumming.  Dance forms such as Egyptian, Turkish, and American Tribal will be taught.  Traditional costuming will be addressed. History, art, and culture from these countries will be explored and experienced.  Discourse and research topics will explore issues of gender, body image, historical perspectives and Orientalism. 

BUILDING: SPURR | ROOM: DANCE

In 2010, singer Janelle Monáe released The ArchAndroid, an album about time travel, liberation from oppression, & love. But what does Monáe’s cyborg alter ego tell us about the relationship between fantasy, freedom, & black female sexuality? This class traces a cultural history of black female sexuality in science fiction. We will examine how Monáe & others question normative constructions of black womanhood as one-dimensional, abject, and alien. Through lively & informed discussion, we will explore social constructions of identity; notions of belonging & community; and how science fiction and fantasy might function as sites of resistance particular to black womanhood in the United States. We will define key terms – third wave feminism, afrofuturism, the cyborg – and study specific works by black women artists. Genres include literary fiction, contemporary visual art, film, & popular music. Artists include Grace Jones, Wangechi Mutu, & Janelle Monáe. Authors include Donna Haraway, Mark Dery, & Octavia Butler.

BUILDING: LATT | ROOM: 540

Students interested in Independent Studies should contact the Women's Studies Department.

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Interested students should contact the Women's Studies Department.

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Independent research with substantial supervised research and written work in gender and women's studies. This research should be directed toward work in WST 397.

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Independent research with substantial supervised research and written work in gender and women's studies. This research should be directed toward work in WST 397.

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It is the student's responsibility to arrange the internship with the organization and to find a professor as an advisor for the internship. Organization/Companies currently offering internships are Afterimage, Alternatives for Battered Women, Center for Dispute Settlement, City Council of Rochester, Division of Human Rights, Gay Alliance of Genesee Valley, Monroe Districts Attorney's Office, Planned Parenthood, St. Joseph's Villa, Sojourner House, Susan B. Anthony House, TV Dinner/Metro Justice, Urban League of Rochester, Visual Studies Workshop, Wheatley Library Branch and the YWCA. Position descriptions are available in Lattimore 538.

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Independent research with substantial supervised research and written work in gender and women's studies.

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Juniors and seniors only or prerequisite course in African American Literature, American Literature or Women's Studies. Interested students should contact the Women's Studies Department.

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Open only to senior majors or by permission of instructor. Honors in Research recognizes the completion of a distinguished thesis, research paper of approximately 35 pages researched and written under the direction of the faculty advisor, and approved by the faculty advisor and second reader. It is expected that this thesis will be based on research undertaken through WST 393H and WST 394H, and completed in WST 397.

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Students interested in Independent Studies should contact the Women's Studies Department.

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