WOMEN'S AND GENDER STUDIES (WGS)
WGS 110 - GENDER JUSTICE
Keywords and key concepts in feminist thought and gender studies. Examination of feminism(s), sexual politics of women’s rights, and cultural dynamics of gender at intersections of race, class, sexuality, ethnicity, nationality, and ability.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Social Justice Studies, Social Science, Women Gender Studies
WGS 112 - GENDER DEBATES
WGS 112 highlights historical and contemporary debates in which gender is contested and redefined in ways that shift social, cultural, and political practices and institutions. Working with texts across multiple disciplines, genres, periods, and locations, we explore the ethical questions, cultural conversations, and analytical frameworks that characterize these debates. We consider concepts in feminist, gender, and sexuality studies and address intersectional issues of race, class, sexuality, ethnicity, nationality, and ability.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Social Science, Women Gender Studies
Course Notes: Students may take either WGS 110 or WGS 112 to fulfill the major and minor WGS requirements.
WGS 201 - SPECIAL TOPICS IN WOMEN'S AND GENDER STUDIES
Critical exploration of a specific topic in the field of Women's and Gender Studies.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Social Science, Women Gender Studies
WGS 214 - GLOBAL VOICES
Comparative study (focus varies depending on instructor) of gender and sexuality in a global context; multiple locations and communities; strategies of social change and transformation; transnational dialogues and coalitions.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Non-western Culture, Social Science, Women Gender Studies
WGS 216 - POPULAR CULTURE AND POWER
Paradoxes of popular culture in shaping relations of power and modes of resistance. Mass and social media roles in action and inaction, production and reception, doing and undoing of individual and collective realities with respect to gender and sexuality in particular.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Social Science, Women Gender Studies
WGS 218 - ACTION: INTERSECTION & COALITION
Strategies, histories, and theories of coalition building, activist intersections, and collaborative advocacy for political action and social transformation. From the local to the transnational, analysis of a variety of models and practices at intersections of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, culture, nationality, and/or ability.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Social Justice Studies, Social Science, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 112
Course Notes: Or Instructor Consent
WGS 220 - POLITICS OF SEX
Critical, multi-disciplinary examination of sexual identities, histories, and controversies, with focus on their political and cultural meaning.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Social Science, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 112
Course Notes: or Instructor Consent.
WGS 222 - SEX AND GENDER IN THE CITY
Multi-disciplinary study of sex and gender in urban contexts, including urban geographies, histories, communities, cultures and subcultures, labor, housing, and politics.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Social Science, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 112
Course Notes: or Instructor consent.
WGS 303 - TOPICS IN GLOBAL FRAMEWORKS
Comparative and transnational feminisms. Gender and sexuality within and across specific national, cultural, and historical locations.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Social Science, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 210
Course Notes: or consent of instructor.
WGS 304 - TOPICS IN IDENTITY, KNOWLEDGE, AND POWER
Inquiry into the production of knowledge, the political impacts of its deployment, and the role of knowledge and power networks in the construction of social identities. Topics include agency and selfhood; truth and authority; theories of ethics; and identity formation at intersections of gender, race, class, and sexuality.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, International Studies, Non-western Culture, Social Science, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 112
Course Notes: or instructor consent.
WGS 305 - TOPICS IN CULTURE AND REPRESENTATION
Various forms of representation (art, artifacts, discourse, media, performance, style, texts) with emphasis on historical and intersectional feminist approaches to gender and sexuality. Focus on practices of production and consumption, formation of identities, circulation of ideologies, and networks of power.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 112
Course Notes: or consent of instructor.
WGS 306 - TOPICS IN ACTION, ADVOCACY, AND RESISTANCE
Historical and/or contemporary models of feminist critique and action with attention to intersections of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, culture, nationality, and ability. Focus on debates and differences in theorizing social and political transformation, challenging institutions and practices, and supporting individual and collective agency.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Social Science, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 210 or WGS 112
Course Notes: or consent of instructor.
WGS 307 - TOPICS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
Historicized analysis of feminist movements, gender practices, and sexual identities. Emphasis on historical readings and research. Examination and application of feminist historiographical methods and theoretical models.
Credits: 1-4
Attributes: Humanities, Social Science, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 210 or WGS 112
Course Notes: or instructor consent.
WGS 309 - FEMINIST POLITICAL ECONOMY
Beginning with the emergence of socialist feminism in the second wave women’s movement this course traces the development of feminist political economy. Feminists challenged traditional and new left theories of politics and economics and developed new ways of conceptualizing both. We will examine this movement's impact on theories of capitalism, the state, the family, and globalization through lenses that place gender, race, class, and sexual orientation at the center
Credits: 3
Attributes: Social Justice Studies, Social Science, Women Gender Studies
WGS 311 - FEMINISM AND WESTERN PHILOSOPHY
Critical analysis of classic theorists in Western philosophy and their feminist engagements that have shaped foundations of feminist inquiry and contemporary philosophical, feminist, and public discourse on topics including reason, credibility, and belief; autonomy and embodiment; sexuality and identity; and gender, power, and the state.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 210 or WGS 112
Course Notes: Formerly taught as WGS 304: Topics course. Students who took this course as WGS 304 may not take WGS 311.
WGS 312 - GLOBAL FEMINIST ETHICS
Analysis of the philosophical field of ethics, with emphasis on feminist concerns and global contexts, using classical, contemporary, feminist, and transnational ethical theory. Topics include kinship and reproduction; cultural difference; ethics of care; sexual controversies; the ethics of nations; gender and human rights; crime and punishment; and more.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 210 or WGS 112
Course Notes: Formerly taught as WGS 304: Topics course. Students who took this course as WGS 304 may not take WGS 312.
WGS 313 - THE BODY: AGENCY, PAIN, DESIRE
Analysis of the philosophical, political, cultural, and material life of the body, using scholarship from philosophy, feminist and queer theory, critical race theory, cultural studies, disability studies, and fiction. Course examines the body as both an inner subject and outer object, as the self’s material home, spatial boundary, and site of engagement with multiple forms of power.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 210 or WGS 112
Course Notes: Formerly taught as WGS 304: Topics course. Students who took this course as WGS 304 may not take WGS 313.
WGS 314 - FASHION: THE POLITICS OF STYLE
Multi-disciplinary study of fashion as crucial domain for the creation of identity, exertion of power, and circulation of social meaning. Topics include theories of style and selfhood; anti-fashion; consumerism; taste and class; fashion as a means of protest; subcultural and mainstream style; sexuality and modesty; and more.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 210 or WGS 112
Course Notes: Or Instructor Consent
WGS 315 - WHAT IS A FAMILY?
Examination of classic and critical thinking about the family—its meaning, its political relevance, and its social value, with special attention to issues of gender, sexuality, and power. Topics include kinship and loyalty; the family in relation to the state; the family as an economic institution; the family as a site of psychological conflict; and the family as a keeper of memory.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Humanities, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 210 or WGS 112
Course Notes: Or instructor consent
WGS 352 - CASE STUDIES IN ACTIVISM
This course will engage with pressing social/civic concerns and will explore how activists in Chicago work to make social change. The case studies will be drawn from non-profit and grassroots organizing. Students will work collaboratively to examine strategies for organizing and to evaluate how policies, communities, or public discourse may be shifted as a result of activism. Students will contribute to the activism of a local organization.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Social Science, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 112
Course Notes: or instructor consent
WGS 386 - TOPICS IN WOMEN'S AND GENDER STUDIES OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM
Students step outside the classroom to apply their knowledge of WGS keywords, concepts and theories to issues practiced and lived. Through experiential and transformational learning, students engage with the broader community in partnerships to research, support and advocate. Potential projects may include community research, non-profit service learning, and oral history projects.
Credits: 3
Attributes: Women Gender Studies
WGS 395 - READINGS AND RESEARCH IN WGS
Intensive independent study and original research in a topic to be developed in consultation with appropriate faculty member. Student works closely with faculty member throughout all stages of the reading and research process. Final project may be based on traditional research or activist work.
Credits: 1-4
Attributes: Humanities, Social Science, Women Gender Studies
Course Notes: Instructor consent
WGS 399 - INTERNSHIP IN THE COMMUNITY
Students apply and develop WGS knowledge and skills through community work. Students receive supervision at internship site and produce appropriate analytical work in consultation with RU faculty member.
Credits: 1,3
Attributes: Humanities, Social Science, Women Gender Studies
Prerequisites: WGS 110 or WGS 210 or WGS 112
Course Notes: Instructor and Director Consent required.