Why is it that throughout history and across different cultures, women are often associated with "soft goods" (cloth) rather than "hard goods" (sculpture)? We will focus on case studies that analyze women's varied roles in the production and use of cloth, from indigenous societies of Africa and the Americas, to colonial encounters in those regions, to modern artistry and the structures of globalized industry. Topics may include: raffia cloth made by royal women in Central Africa, textiles of Maya weavers of Guatemala, 19th century American quilters, Massachusetts "mill girls" of the 1830s, feminist artists of the past fifty years, and women and textile factory work in Asia today

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 205

Why is it that throughout history and across different cultures, women are often associated with "soft goods" (cloth) rather than "hard goods" (sculpture)? We will focus on case studies that analyze women's varied roles in the production and use of cloth, from indigenous societies of Africa and the Americas, to colonial encounters in those regions, to modern artistry and the structures of globalized industry. Topics may include: raffia cloth made by royal women in Central Africa, textiles of Maya weavers of Guatemala, 19th century American quilters, Massachusetts "mill girls" of the 1830s, feminist artists of the past fifty years, and women and textile factory work in Asia today

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 205

How theories of gender, social organization, and biological sex shape the areas of health care. Examine gender, social class, and race in mediating health effects, with emphasis on women's health. Examine the life cycle, transitions, trauma, access to services, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and longevity.

BUILDING: MEL | ROOM: 205

The dialogue among Africans, African-Americans, and other peoples of African descent rest on their common experiences of oppression, liberation, and cultural exchanges, experiences that have turned the Atlantic from a line of division into a dynamic bridge. This course seeks to critically investigate the shared destinies of African peoples and peoples of the African descent throughout the world. Thus, while acknowledging the centrality of the African-American experience within the Black Diaspora, this course argues that this centrality requires a critical investigation of the representation of Black America in the cultural productions of Africans, Haitians, Caribbeans and Black Europe. The Reading list include Maryse Condé, Lorraine Hansberry, Alice Walker, Paule Marshall, and Ngugi was Thiongo.

BUILDING: HYLAN | ROOM: 105

The aim of this course is two-fold: First, to develop an understanding of the extraordinary variety of ways meaning is produced in visual culture; secondly, to enable students to analyze and describe the social, political and cultural effects of these meanings. By studying examples drawn from contemporary art, film, television, digital culture, and advertising we will learn techniques of analysis developed in response to specific media and also how to cross-pollinate techniques of analysis in order to gain greater understanding of the complexity of our visual world. Grades are based on response papers, class attendance and participation, and a midterm and a final paper. Occasional film screenings will be scheduled as necessary in the course of the semester.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 401

After a discussion of the Moynihan Report controversy and an assessment of the literature on the black family, the readings will investigate why and how stable black families were encouraged, and how they developed under slavery. The impact of factors such as economics, politics, religion, gender, medicine, and the proximity of free families, on the structure of the black family will be given special attention. In this way, the structure of the slave family on the eve of Emancipation, and its preparedness for freedom, will be tested and assessed. Students will be encouraged to identify persistent links between the "history" of slavery and the black family, and the development of social policy.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 501

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.

BUILDING: LATT | ROOM: 540

What is the impact of a new global economy on families, love and marriage in the United States and in other countries? Are there new forms of transnational marriage, love, families? Are families still seen as enduring/reassuring 'building blocks' of their respective societies? How does global labor migration of women and men affect families they leave behind? Does women's migration change local understandings of gender roles, families and communities? In this new global context how do people view attachment to 'place'?

BUILDING: LATT | ROOM: 441

Women have often been overlooked in the story of Western Art. Many of their works are lost or unknown, making them difficult to study. In recent years, scholars have worked to restore this lost chapter of western art history. In this class we will explore the representation of women in the history of visual art and the work of women artists from the Renaissance to the present. We will seek to understand how the achievements of women artists fit into the time and place in which they worked, and we will examine some of the ethical, social, and political issues that both contributed to and arise from the suppression of women within art history. We will consider such questions as what led to this omission, does it persist today, and, if so, why?

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 205

This seminar stipulates the following issues as underlying problems of Western civilization: pederasty, slavery, censorship, heresy, witch-hunting, androcentrism and misogyny, violence against children, and war. It studies literary treatments of these issues alongside nonliterary treatments. Emphasis is on how literature (and our responses to it) dealing with these problems reaches forms of understanding that are distinct from what is given by critical and historical accounts. The seminar addresses how the different problems overlap and continue in contemporary societies. We will ask how they are rationalized and treated either as normal, as strange aberrations, though rarely as practices that constitute civilization.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 501

Programs carried out by governments, multilateral organizations, and non governmental organizations to deal with "public problems" connected to population: communicable diseases such as TB, malaria and HIV/AIDS; famine prevention and relief; child survival, especially malnutrition and infant diarrheal disease; safe motherhood; teen pregnancy; contraception, and abortion.

BUILDING: LATT | ROOM: 441

This seminar stipulates the following issues as underlying problems of Western civilization: pederasty, slavery, censorship, heresy, witch-hunting, androcentrism and misogyny, violence against children, and war. It studies literary treatments of these issues alongside nonliterary treatments. Emphasis is on how literature (and our responses to it) dealing with these problems reaches forms of understanding that are distinct from what is given by critical and historical accounts. The seminar addresses how the different problems overlap and continue in contemporary societies. We will ask how they are rationalized and treated either as normal, as strange aberrations, though rarely as practices that constitute civilization.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 501

Addressing the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS in the United States, United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Haiti, and elsewhere, this uniquely interdisciplinary course will incorporate insights from the fields of public health, medical anthropology, and ethnomusicology. Studying the epidemic through the lens of musical expression, we will ask how individuals and communities affected by HIV/AIDS have mobilized musical sound in response to the disease. Topics will include musical representations of HIV/AIDS within queer communities; music in public health prevention and awareness campaigns; and the mobilization of musical performance by grassroots support groups for individuals affected by HIV/AIDS.

BUILDING: GRGEN | ROOM: 110

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: MOREY | ROOM: 505

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: MOREY | ROOM: 505

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: 205

This course will explore Traditional Folkloric roots of Middle Eastern Dance, focusing on specific Bedouin dance styles of North Africa (Raks Shaabi). These dance forms will consist of Moroccan, Tunisian, Algerian, and Egyptian Folkloric styles. Rhythms from within these regions will be identified through music and drumming. Traditional costuming will be addressed and shown in class and history, art, and culture from these countries will be explored and experienced. Discourse and research topics will address issues of gender and body image. Improving strength, flexibility and self-awareness of the body, the class work will include meditative movement, dance technique, choreography and improvisation. No prior dance experience necessary.

BUILDING: SPURR | ROOM: DANCE

This course introduces students to the key concepts in the field of Gender and Women’s Studies by considering the roles of race, class, and gender identity on American women’s status and experiences in the Nineteenth Century. The class will explore America’s dominant social and cultural norms and the ways women have operated both within and outside of these norms to participate in public life, often creating new ways of exercising control over their own lives and the lives of those around them.

BUILDING: LATT | ROOM: 540

The American Jewish experience, from the Eastern European immigrant experience to the recent religious revival, through the lens of Jewish women's literature.

BUILDING: DEWEY | ROOM: 2110D

The study of contemporary feminist theory. The course considers the conception of women expressed through our practices, laws, theories and literature. Is this conception that of an inessential Other as one philosopher has argued? Other topics to be discussed include: equality and equal rights, sex roles and gender specific language, power relations and self-determination, marriage and maternity.

BUILDING: LATT | ROOM: 531

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

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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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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