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Spring 2000 course descriptions (including cross-listings with other departments)

This is a listing of all the courses offered by the UNC-CH Curriculum in Women's Studies.  These are possible courses; for a listing of actual courses being taught in a current or upcoming semester, please follow the links above.

COURSES ADMINISTERED DIRECTLY BY THE CURRICULUM IN WOMEN'S STUDIES

INTRODUCTION TO WOMEN'S STUDIES
Barbara Harris, E. Jane Burns, Sylvia Hoffert, Karen Booth
An interdisciplinary exploration of women and men in American society. Topics include: intersections among race/ethnicity, class, and gender; family and work; sexuality and sexual identity; gender roles and images in language, literature, religion, art and science; and the impact of the contemporary feminist movement. Course readings are drawn from the humanities and the social sciences.
 

WMST 70/HIST70
WOMEN IN THE AGE OF VICTORIA
Sylvia Hoffert
Students will study the impact of culture on the lives of women in both Britain and the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Topics to be discussed include womenÕs legal status, contributions to economic life, health and reproductive issues, sexuality, education, and reform movement.

WMST 93
GENDER AND IMPERIALISM
Karen Booth
Prereqisite, one course in gender or non-western societies or consent of instructor. This course focuses on feminist perspectives on imperialism; the effects of imperialism on colonized and European women; imperialism and masculinity; women's participation in anti-imperalist movements; and the legacies of imperialism for feminism today. Fulfills a BA level Non-Western/ Comparative perspective.

WMST 94A/FREN 94A
COURTSHIP AND COURTLINESS FROM KING ARTHUR TO QUEEN VICTORIA
E. Jane Burns
Explores the cultural foundations of western romantic love in courtly literature of the French Middle Ages. Songs of troubadour poets and chivalric tales of knights and ladies will be read against amorous compositions by medieval women authors and further compared with contemporary manifestations of love in the modern world (modern song lyrics, greeting cards, the singing telegram, popular fiction, film). Literary texts will be studies in relation to pertinent historical and art historical materials. Fulfils aesthetic perspective.

WMST 95
SPECIAL TOPICS IN WOMEN'S STUDIES
Staff
Topics of particular interest to individual faculty members. Each course will study in depth a significant problem or issue in Women's Studies.

WMST 97
WOMEN'S SPIRITUALITY ACROSS CULTURES
E. Jane Burns
How women's spirituality interacts with officially-sanctioned religious institutions in a range of cultural contexts and how it forges alternatives to those traditions. Fulfills BA level Social Science perspective.

WMST 98A/WMST 98B
WOMEN'S STUDIES HONORS THESIS
Staff
Designed to encourage independent thought and research among outstanding undergraduate majors in Women's Studies. Students must take both WMST 98A (in the Fall) and WMST 98B (in the Spring). Arrangements must be made during the Spring semester of the Junior year. Students must plan their project with a faculty advisor and secure permission from the Chair of the Curriculum in Women's Studies. Guidelines and forms for initial contract are available in the Women's Studies Office. Permission of the Chair of the Curriculum in Women's Studies and a faculty member is required.

WMST 099/WMST 099H
THE CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF WOMEN ACROSS THE DISCIPLINES
Barbara Harris, E. Jane Burns, Sylvia Hoffert, Karen Booth
A senior seminar for Women's Studies majors and other interested juniors and seniors. Analyzes the different ways that varied academic disciplines have constructed "women" as a category of knowledge.

WMST 190
PRACTICUM IN WOMEN'S STUDIES
Staff
Supervised internships designed to provide experience working in organizations concerned with women's issues. Prerequisite: WMST 50. Written paper required. 2-4 credit hours. Interested students should contact Donna Redford, Administrative Assistant, Women's Studies, 962-3908, prior to the beginning of the semester. Permission required.

WMST 199
INDEPENDENT READING AND RESEARCH
Staff
Intensive reading and research in a student's chosen area of interest under faculty supervision. Results in a written report. Open to Women's Studies majors and other qualified undergraduate and graduate students. Permission of the Chair and faculty member required.

WMST 225/FREN 225
FRENCH FEMINIST THEORY
E. Jane Burns
This graduate-level course will provide an introduction to feminist literary theory, focusing on feminist writings from France (in translation) and their sources in psychoanalysis and post-structuralism. Anglo-American counterparts and adaptations of French theorists in the U.S. will also be treated.

WMST 290
TOPICS IN WOMEN'S STUDIES
Staff
This course allows faculty in WMST (especially new faculty) to offer graduate-level courses on special topics pertinent to their current research.

WMST 299
GRADUATE SEMINAR IN WOMEN'S STUDIES
Barbara Harris, E. Jane Burns, Sylvia Hoffert, Karen Booth
Explores the complex interaction between Women's Studies, Feminist Studies and Gender Studies as these fields have evolved within and across academic disciplines, intersecting with issues of race, class, ethnicity, masculinity, sexual orientation and with practices of queer theory and cultural studies.
 
 

CROSS-LISTED COURSES
 
 

WMST 24/SOCI 24 SEX AND GENDER IN SOCIETY Lawrence Rosenfeld Richard Udry/Staff An examination of the social differentiation between men and women. Attention to the extent, causes and consequences of sexual inequality, and to changes in sex roles and their impact on interpersonal relations.

WMST 42/CLAS 42 SEX AND GENDER IN ANTIQUITY Cecil Wooten Cynthia Dessen Exploration of gender constructs, what it meant to be a woman or a man in antiquity, as revealed in literary, historical and archaeological sources. Readings from Homer, Euripides, Plato, Ovid, Virgil, Juvenal, Petronius, and other ancient authors.

WMST 43/FREN 43 FRENCH WOMEN WRITERS E. Jane Burns Works by French women authors read in translation along with pertinent theoretical texts. Course content will vary, incorporating texts from different periods and genres.
 
 

WMST 44/GERM 44 WOMEN IN GERMAN CINEMA Alice Kuzniar Introduction to feminist aesthetics and film by examining the representation of women in German cinema from Expressionism to the present; subtitled films. English is the language of instruction.

WMST 045/CLAS 045 WOMEN OF BYZANTIUM Carolyn Connor A study of women's roles and influence in the Late Antique and Byzantine world, through analysis of contemporary Byzantine texts by and about women, historical testimonies, and works of art.

WMST 46/PHIL 46 PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES IN FEMINISM Staff Moral issues of equal rights and justice; sex role stereotypes; equal opportunity and reverse discrimination; abortion; philosophers' theories of feminism.

WMST 56/COMM 24 GENDER AND COMMUNICATION Beverly Long Examines multiple relationships between communication and gender. Emphasizes how communication creates gender and power roles and how communicative patterns reflect, sustain and alter social conceptions of gender.

WMST 58/HIST 58 WOMEN IN EUROPE I Judith Bennett/Barbara Harris Examines the images and realities of women's lives in pre-industrial Europe. Our focus will stretch from prehistoric societies up to the beginnings of industrialization in the eighteenth century.

WMST 59/HIST 59 WOMEN IN EUROPE II Judith Bennett/Barbara Harris When the first factories opened in England in the late eighteenth century, they inaugurated a process of economic change that has radically transformed the human experience. In this class, we will study how these changes have affected the lives of European women.

WMST 060/HIST 061 Donald Raleigh/Staff WOMEN IN RUSSIAN AND SOVIET HISTORY, 1860-PRESENT This course traces the development of the woman question in tsarist Russia, how the Soviet regime affected women's lives, and how women's experiences compare to the Party's claim of equality.

WMST 61/AFRI 61 AFRICAN WOMEN Staff Introduction to recent literature, theoretical questions and methodological issues concerning the study of women in Africa. Topics include women in traditional society, impact of colonial experience and modernization on African women.

WMST 62/HIST 62 WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY Jacqueline Hall/Sylvia Hoffert Using a variety of sources including monographs, diaries, autobiographies, fiction, and film, we will explore the public and private lives of American women of different class, racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds from the colonial period to the present. Our goal is to understand women's role in American life and the ways they have shaped our society, culture and politics.

WMST 64/ART 64 WOMEN IN THE VISUAL ARTS I Mary Sheriff This course will analyze the representation of women in Western Art, placing special emphasis on works made by women.

WMST 65/AFAM 66 BLACK WOMEN IN AMERICA Staff An examination of the individual and collective experiences of Black women in America from slavery to the present and the evolution of feminist consciousness.

WMST 67/POLI 67 Feminism and Political Theory Stephen Leonard Explores continuities and discontinuities between feminist and "traditional" political theory, including conceptions of "woman", and how feminists have critically interpreted traditional ideas.

WMST 71/LING 72/ANTH 84 LANGUAGE AND POWER Megan Crowhurst This course provides an overview of language and power studies. Issues: sexist and sex-neutral language; languages of subcultures defined by gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity; hate speech; "politically correct" language.

WMST 72/POLI 72 WOMEN AND POLITICS Pamela Conover A comparison of men and women as political actors at the mass and elite levels in America. Topics include the "gender gap", the women's movement, abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment.

WMST 80/HIST 80 WOMEN IN LATIN AMERICA Sarah Chambers Women and gender in Latin American history; examines the experiences of women and gender relations in Latin American Societies from pre-Columbian times to the present.

WMST 84/ASIA 84 WOMEN WRITERS IN JAPANESE SOCIETY Staff Examines Japanese literature and culture through fiction and poetry by women. Explores ideas in contemporary feminist criticism in Japan and the West as means to read Japanese women's writing.

WMST 86/ENGL 86 AMERICAN WOMEN AUTHORS Linda Wagner-Martin This course is a study of major American women authors from the seventeenth century into the twentieth century.

WMST 87/ENGL 87 SOUTHERN WOMEN WRITERS Staff Southern Women Writers examines thematic and stylistic aspects in the fiction, drama, and poetry of major authors, and explores recurrent motifs in works by lesser known writers, particularly those from North Carolina.

WMST 89/MUSC 91 WOMEN IN OPERA Terry Rhodes An examination and exploration of women's changing roles, onstage and behind the scenes, in the 400-year history of opera; the influence of women on the course of opera.

WMST 90B/ENGL 90B FEMINIST THEORY AND LITERARY CRITICISM Staff Examines the importance of feminist theory across the curriculum. Topics include language and linguistics; psychoanalysis; anthropology, and myth; women's labor, production, and reproduction; history, political science, and religious studies; and literature, predominantly French and English.

WMST 91/ECON 91 WOMEN AND ECONOMICS Rachel Willis An economic history of women, an economic analysis of women's time allocation patterns, and an application of economic techniques to contemporary policy issues.

WMST 92/CMPL 92 WOMEN AND WORK Lilian Furst Explores the possibilities, problems, and limitations of work for women during the Victorian period.

WMST 96/CMPL 96 MODERN WOMEN WRITERS Diane Leonard An analysis of literary techniques in the works of such writers as Jane Austen, George Sand, George Elliot, Kate Chopin, Isak Dinesen, Colette, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, Anais Nin, Marguerite Duras and Nathalie Sarraute.

WMST 101/LSRA 101 WOMEN, WORK AND LEISURE M. Deborah Bialeschki Implications of the relationship between women and leisure from a lifestyle perspective. Analysis of the changing role of women and changing leisure concepts from a feminist perspective.

WMST 103/MHCH 103 REPRODUCTIVE PHYSIOLOGY AND CONCEPTION CONTROL Staff The course describes the basic anatomy and physiology of the male and female reproductive organs and discusses methods of contraception to suppress normal fertility. The course also presents the subfertile or infertile causes and treatments. A major portion of the course is in the discussion of pregnancy physiology and complications, including clinical management and newborn care, with a visit to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in North Carolina Memorial Hospital. The course is designed to make nonhealth professionals as thoroughly familiar with the concepts and language of reproduction and its clinical concerns as physicians and nurses.

WMST 115/JOMC 115 WOMEN AND MASS COMMUNICATION A. Johnston/Jane Brown An examination of women as media producers, subjects, and audiences with a focus on current practices and possibilities for change. WMST 120/SPAN 120 WOMEN IN HISPANIC LITERATURE Rosa Perelmuter A study of the inscription of femininity in texts by Spanish and Spanish American authors. Readings will be available in Spanish or in English translation. Lectures will be conducted in English.

WMST 125/GEOG 125 SPACE, PLACE & DIFFERENCE Altha Cravey Gender, race and class are examined in terms of the spatial patterns f everyday life, regional patterns and global patterns. Feminist ideas about social diversity have had an enormous impact on the social sciences in the last two decades. The discipline of geography is no exception to this trend. This course will provide an introduction to active debates on the ways in which “space” and “place” contribute to deeper understanding of social diversity and social change. Proposed to fulfill a BA level Social Science perspective and the Cultural Diversity requirement.

WMST 129/SOCI 129 RACE, CLASS AND GENDER Sherryl Kleinman Conceptualizations of gender, race, and class and how, separately and in combination, they are interpreted by the wider society. Emphasis on how black and working class women make sense of their experiences at work and within the family.

WMST 130/AFRI 130/AFAM 130 CULTURE, GENDER AND PARTICIPATORY DEVELOPMENT R. A. Dunbar, C. Newbury, J. Nyangoro Participatory development theory and practice in Africa and the U.S. are examined in the context of other intervention strategies and with special attention to culture and gender. Seminar plus practicum. For African Studies majors and other qualified students.

WMST 140/ANTH 140 GENDER AND CULTURE Staff Cross-cultural perspectives on the social uses of gender distinctions. Focus on women's lives outside the U.S. and Europe. Comparison with students' social context. WMST 141/ANTH 141 GENDER, HEALTH AND ILLNESS Staff Explores the social and cultural patterns and practices that differentially influence health and illness among women and men.

WMST 142/PLAN 142 GENDER ISSUES IN PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT Helzi Noponen This course examines gender differences in the economic development process in the Third World and explores methods of incorporating a gender analysis in the work of development planners and policy makers. WMST 145/RELI 145 THE FIGURE OF THE FATHER Tomoko Masuzawa The relationship between the figure of the father and the authority of the law (religious, societal, or familial) studied through such writers as Flaubert, Kafka, and Freud.

WMST 146/COMM 160 PERFORMANCE OF LITERATURE BY WOMEN OF COLOR Soyini Madison The course explores contemporary poetry, feminist discourse, and performance traditions by Latina, Native American and African American women. Study of culture and performance will culminate in the enactment of poetry.

WMST 150/ENGL 50 GENDER AND LITERATURE Staff This course will examine the ways women have portrayed their view of the south in fiction and drama. It will consider both the individual concerns of women artists and the cultural contexts which shape their art. (Description changes each semester.)

WMST 151/ART 151 WOMEN IN THE VISUAL ARTS II Mary Sheriff This course will focus on a limited number of topics related to the representation of women and/or the status of women as producers of art.

WMST 160/HIST 160 WOMEN & RELIGION IN US HISTORY Staff An interdisciplinary consideration of women's roles, behavior, and ideas in the religious life of Americans from 1636 to 1982.

WMST 161/HBHE 160 WOMEN'S HEALTH & HEALTH EDUCATION Jo Anne Earp An overview of women's health emphasizing their specific interest as family and community members, as patients, and as health professionals. Implications for health education practice and research. Permission of instructor.

WMST 164/POLI 164 ADVANCED FEMINIST POLITICAL THEORY Susan Bickford Examines in greater depth and complexity current issues in feminist political theory. Topics: theories of subjectivity and solidarity; feminist post-structuralist and post-marxist thinking; gender in the public sphere.

WMST 168/HIST 168 WOMEN IN THE SOUTH Jacquelyn Hall An exploration of the distinctive themes in southern women's lives, using the evidence of history and literature.

WMST 169/HIST 169/AFAM 169 AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN'S HISTORY Staff The course covers the history of black women in U.S. history from the eighteenth century to the present. It deals with such themes as work, family, community, sexuality, politics, religion and culture.

WMST 173/COMM 161/HIST 173 ORAL HISTORY AND PERFORMANCE Jacquelyn Hall/Della Pollock Permission of one of the instructors. Examines performance as means of interpreting and conveying oral history texts. Performance-centered approach to underscore gender distinctions in the telling and making of history; to enhance students' identification with narrators as historical agents; and to promote public presentation and discussion of historical research.

WMST 178/RELI 178 GENDER IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGION Joanne Waghorne Developments in the use of gender as a religious symbol and a religious structure from primal religion to the beginning of philosophical traditions in Asia, Africa and Europe.
 
 

WMST 183/PSYC 183 CONTEMPORARY SEX ROLES Staff Covers theories and research in the areas of constitutional and social learning influences on sex differences in such areas as intellectual accomplishment, achievement, dependency and aggression; sex differences in relation to behavior disorder.

WMST 185/ENGL 185/FOLK 185 WOMEN IN FOLKLORE AND LITERATURE Staff Explores images of women pictured in the folk imagination and traces those conceptions through created literature. Broadly based in folklore, literature, history and classics. Interdisciplinary approach reveals how writers are influenced by the folk cultures that surround them.

WMST 186/RUSS 186 RUSSIAN WOMEN'S LITERATURE Staff A study of Russian women's writing after World War II. Includes both fictional and publicistic works analyzed in their socio-political context. An introduction to Russian women's studies.

WMST 195A/HIST 195A WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST Sarah Shields This course explores the lives of women in the Middle East and how they have changed over time. Focus will change each year.

WMST 209/PHIL 209 FEMINIST THEORY Staff Seminar in recent developments in feminist philosophy. Topics include feminist critiques of and constructive approaches toward ethics, epistemology, aesthetics, and philosophy of science.

WMST 215/ANTH 215 FEMINISM AND SOCIETY Staff Seminar in selected topics in feminist analysis of social life, with materials drawn from a global range of societies. WMST 220/HIST 220 EUROPEAN WOMEN'S HISTORY Barbara Harris/Judith Bennett Readings in European women's history for graduate students.

WMST 221/HIST 221 AMERICAN WOMEN'S HISTORY Jacqueline Hall/Sylvia Hoffert Reading in American women's history for graduate students.

WMST 222/HIST 222 TOPICS IN WOMEN'S HISTORY Jacqueline Hall/Sylvia Hoffert Directed readings on selected topics in the history of women in Western Europe and the United States.

WMST 223/HIST 223 MEDIEVAL WOMEN'S HISTORY Judith Bennett This graduate-level reading course will cover selected topics in the history of European women, c. 500-1500. Topics will include: holy virginity and religious life; sexuality; work; courtly love; the different experiences of women of different social strata (i.e., aristocratic vs. urban vs. peasant); and analysis of changes in women's status over time.

WMST 228/HIST 228 FEMINIST THEORY FOR HISTORIANS Judith Bennett Readings in contemporary feminist theory, focused especially on theories that address the construction, writing and general practice of history.

WMST 231/SOCI 231 SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER Lawrence Rosenfeld Richard Udry Reviews theory and research on variation in men's and women's gender roles, with emphasis on industrialized societies and women's roles. WMST 251/ART 251 GENDER AND VISUAL CULTURE Mary Sheriff This course explores a range of feminist theory and investigates visual images (e.g., paintings, films, rock videos, advertisements) through issues of gender, race, class and sexual identity.

WMST 253/ANTH 253 GENDER, SICKNESS AND SOCIETY Kaja Finkler This seminar will deal in depth with the nature of gender cross culturally and the ways social comprehension of gender, gender status, and gender relationships impinge upon the differential experience of health and sickness in men and women from both a contemporary and historical perspective. WMST 265/EDSP 266 GENDER, RACE AND CLASS Staff Insight and remedies on issues in education; curriculum, counseling and interaction patterns in the classroom; structures and leadership as well as fundamental assumptions can perpetuate racism, sexism and class divisions.

WMST 266/POLI 266 FEMINIST POLITICS Pam Conover, Stephen Leonard A survey of feminist approaches to politics and political inquiry.

WMST 267/EDSP 267 GENDER, POLICY AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION Staff Feminist critiques of organizational and political power structures; readings and discussions leading to individual and group research projects.

WMST 276/SOWO276 AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN'S HEALTH ISSUES Audreye Johnson Women are faced with similar, but also differing health problems. An exploration of selected health issues confronting African-American Women identifies race, gender, age, and class variables which impact health.

WMST 358/COMM 358 Joanne Hershfield LawrenceGrossberg SEMINAR IN FEMINIST STUDIES OF FILM AND TELEVISION This graduate seminar will explore theoretical and practical points of contact between feminism, film and television using psychoanalysis, narrative analysis, ideological analysis, and cultural studies.

WMST 387/HIST 387 RESEARCH SEMINAR ON WOMEN'S HISTORY Jacquelyn Hall