University of Michigan - Flint

WGS 167	Race, Gender, and Sexuality (3)h
Prerequisites:	None.
Critical analysis of theories of race, gender, sexual identity. Gender and sex roles; racism, sexism and hetero-sexism; concepts of beauty; racial and sexual stereotypes; social issues such as affirmative action, violence, racial and sexual harassment, pornography. Also listed as PHL 167.

WGS 200	Intro to Women’s Studies (3)
Prerequisites:	None.
Introduction to the field of women's studies and to scholarly and other writing about women's lives and gender as a social structure and process. Examination of the feminist reconstruction of knowledge; differences among women based upon race/ethnicity, class, sexual orientation; cultural representation of women; divisions of labor based upon gender and race; politics of women's personal lives; women’s activism. Focus upon women in the U.S.

WGS 216	Afro/Latino/Caribbean Women Writers (3)h
Prerequisites:	Prior or concurrent election of ENG 112.
Overview of the major genres, publishing activities, goals and concerns of female writers from the Anglophone, Francophone and Dutch Caribbean. The Caribbean Women Writers' Project; the ways in which anticolonial discourse, issues of exile and sanctuary, and revisions of the literary tradition of the Caribbean are manifested in their literature. Also listed as AFA 216.

WGS 220	Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies (1-3)
Prerequisites:	A WGS course or consent of instructor.
Topics to be announced.

WGS 228	Women and Literature (3)h
Prerequisites:	Prior or concurrent election of ENG 112.
Study of writing by women in order to explore the concerns of women writers, recurrent themes in their work, and feminist approaches to literature. Readings include historically important works by women as well as contemporary literature. Also listed as ENG 228.

WGS 264	Introduction to Feminist Theory (3)h
Prerequisites:	At least sophomore standing.
Introduction to some of the main perspectives in feminist thought, including liberal feminism, Marxist feminism, radical feminism, socialist feminism. Application of these theories to one or more social issues of particular interest to feminists, such as affirmative action, procreative freedom, motherhood. Also listed as PHL 264.

WGS 275	Clothing in Western Culture (3)h
Prerequisites:	Prior or concurrent election of ENG 112.
Historical examination of fashion and clothing of Western culture as a reflection of social mores, gender roles, and political and economic events from Egyptian times to the present. Also listed as THE 275.

WGS 284	Gender and Communication (3)s
Prerequisites:	At least sophomore standing.
Analysis of gender/communication issues, including how women and men use language differently, how women and men are portrayed in language, and how language reflects and recreates social reality. Also listed as COM 284 and LIN 284.

WGS 300	Gender, Crime, and Justice (3)s
Prerequisites:	Prior or concurrent election of ENG 112.
Exploration of the gendered structure of the legal and criminal justice systems. Examination of the differential impact of flaws and policies on women offenders, the experiences of women in prison, law enforcement and the legal profession, domestic/intimate partner violence, sexual assault, reproductive rights, child abuse, pornography and gender-related hate crimes. Also listed as CRJ 300.

WGS 318 (218)	Women Writers of the African World (3)h
Prerequisites:	At least sophomore standing.
Survey of literature by women from Africa, the Caribbean, North America, and Europe. Focus on the works and experiences of writers and the genres that shaped their experiences. Selected works from genres such as the Buildungsroman, the mature novel, drama, and/or non-fictional prose. Also listed as AFA 318 and CPL 318.

WGS 321	Women and Music (3)s
Prerequisites:	ENG 112
Examination of how values in society have influenced the roles of women in music. Study of women of various periods; how society encouraged, limited or enabled them to fulfill their careers; views of their contributions during their lifetime, in historical documentation, and from a twenty-first century viewpoint. Course designed for, but not limited to, the nonmusic major. Also listed as MUS 321.

WGS 325	Culture and Personality
Prerequisites:	ANT/INT 100 or PSY 100 or SOC 100.
Cross-cultural examination of the construction of personhood and relationships between individuals and culture. Critique of psychological interpretations in anthropological texts and of universalizing tendencies in the field of psychology; the basic Freudian model in contrast with models of self in African, Asian, and Native American cultures. Also listed as ANT/SOC 305.

WGS 331	Women and Work (3)s
Prerequisites:	POL 120 or SOC 100 or WGS 200; or consent of instructor.
Women’s paid employment and job segregation by sex: relation of women’s paid work to women’s family work, nature of women’s jobs and occupations, and a variety of state policies that influence women’s employment (e.g. anti-discrimination law, maternity and parental leave). White women and women of color in the advanced capitalist economy of the United States. Also listed as POL 331 and SOC 362.

WGS 337	Topics in Women’s Literature (3)h
Prerequisites:	Sophomore course in literature or consent of instructor.
Intensive study of the concerns and achievements of selected women writers as they explore a common theme, genre, or question. Topics may vary (e.g. Life Writings, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman, Marriage and the Novel). May be elected twice. Also listed as ENG 337.

WGS 350	Scripted: Sex and Gender in the Theatre (3)h
Prerequisites:	ENG 112
Examination of the manner in which theatrical works reflect, re-enforce, challenge and re-vision sex and gender roles in a variety of periods and cultures. Topics include: the politics of representation, the theatrical tradition of cross-dressing, performance art, and the relationship of theatre art to pornography and voyeurism. Also listed as THE 350.

WGS 354	Sociology of Families (3)s
Prerequisites:	SOC 100
The family as a social institution: its place in the social structure; its internal dynamics. Comparative analysis of evolution of modern family patterns in the United States and other societies. Also listed as SOC 354.

WGS 359	The Black Family (3)h
Prerequisites:	SOC 100
Sociological and social-psychological analysis of the Black family in America. Impact of changes in race relations and of urbanization on the Black family. Assessment of various stereotypes existing in mass media and in sociological and psychological literatures. Also listed as AFA 259 and SOC 359.

WGS 363	Psychology of Gender (3)s
Prerequisites:	One of: PSY 237, 326, 336, 345
Psychological, sociological, and cultural factors influencing the development of gender roles and gender differences in cognition, social behavior, personality and motivation. Family and work conflicts and changing gender roles in contemporary American society; similarities of both sexes in these areas. Also listed as PSY 363.

WGS 365	Feminist Ethics (3)h
Prerequisites:	SOC 100
Study of theoretical issues such as differences between "feminine" and "feminist" ethics, and practical issues such as affirmative action, procreative technologies and the environment. Also listed as PHL 365.

WGS 369	The History of American Women (3)s
Prerequisites:	At least sophomore standing.
Examination of the evolution of women’s experience in the United States from 1600 to the present, paying particular attention to the economic, reproductive and sexual, familial, and communal roles; participation in public life; and the means by which women have expressed their culture. Also listed as HIS 369.

WGS 370	Women in Western Societies (3)h
Prerequisites:	HIS 111, 113; or consent of instructor.
Women in Europe since the seventeenth century; ways in which historical process is illuminated by questions of gender. Women’s role in high and low culture, in elite and laboring society, since early modern times, and how the great events and large-scale changes of history affected women’s lives and gender relations. Women in a variety of societies from Russia to Spain. Also listed as HIS 370.

WGS 376	Sex, Work, and International Capital (3)
Prerequisites:	ANT 100 or SOC 100 or consent of instructor.
Analysis of significance of women’s labor to international capital in a cross-cultural perspective. Examination of social construction of “third world” and “development,” and potential and limits of these categories in understanding ideological and material conditions of lives of women across race, class and national boundaries in the world of work. Also listed as ANT 376, INT 376, and SOC 376.

WGS 378	Sex and Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective (3)s
Prerequisites:	ANT 100
Comparison of gender divisions in various societies; social roles of men, women and other categories. African, Asian, and Native American conceptualizations of gender, in comparison with data from Western cultures. Cultural construction of femaleness, maleness, and sexual behaviors and their relationships (or lack of relationship) to gender stereotypes. Also listed as ANT 378.

WGS 385	Women and the Law (3)
Prerequisites:	POL 190 or WGS 200 or consent of instructor.
Examination and analysis of the role of law in the social, economic, political and private lives of women in the U.S. Historical overview as well as intensive study of legal problems of current concern to women. Areas of focus: women and work, women and the family, women and their bodies, women and the criminal justice system, role of women in the legal system (including theory as well as case law). Also listed as POL 385.

WGS 390	Special Topics in WGS-SOC (1-3)
Prerequisites:	ANT 100
Topics to be announced. Also listed as SOC 398.

WGS 391	Directed Reading in Women's and Gender Studies (1-4)
Prerequisites:	Consent of instructor.
Designed for students wishing to explore particular interests, including community-based projects in women's and gender studies, not available through other courses. May be reelected to a total of 6 credits.

WGS 399	Seminar in Women’s and Gender Studies (3)
Prerequisites:	WGS 200 or consent of instructor.
Advanced seminar engaging students in reading of key texts and development of individual projects within a broadly defined thematic area central to women’s and gender studies. Capstone course for the Women’s and Gender Studies Program.

WGS 410	Women as Artists (3)h
Prerequisites:	At least junior standing.
History of the art produced by women artists, from 1550 to the present. Topics include the historical slighting of women artists, feminist imagery, politics and contemporary feminist criticism. Figures include Gentileschi, Vigee-Lebrun, Kauffman, O'Keefe, Cassatt, Chicago, and Nevelson. Also listed as ARH 410.

WGS 438	Critical Race Theory (3)s
Prerequisites:	PHL 309 or nine (9) credits in philosophy or consent of instructor.
Examination of the historical centrality and complicity of law in upholding white supremacy (and concomitant hierarchies of gender, class and sexual orientation). Topics include: segregation and integration legislation, affirmative action, hate speech, hate crimes, antiracism and whiteness. Also listed as PHL 438.

WGS 440	Girls, Culture, and Education (3)
Prerequisites:	At least junior standing.
Interdisciplinary introduction to empirical research and critical inquiry on the education of girls in the U.S. Study of contemporary educational thought on the gendered social and cultural context of schooling. Also listed as EDE 433.

WGS 457	The Family in Historical Perspective in Europe and America (3)s
Prerequisites:	At least sophmore standing.
Evolution of the family between 1600 and the present in Europe and America, including the peasant family, pre-industrial urban family, wage-earning nuclear family, and contemporary household. Social, economic and demographic factors that influence the forms families have taken, the quality of family life, and ideas about the family. Also listed as HIS 457 and SOC 457.

WGS 467	Race and Gender (3)h
Prerequisites:	PHL 309 or nine (9) credits in philosophy or consent of instructor.
Examination of central issues in gender and race theory including: gender, sex and race identity theories, social construction and essentialism, self and other identity formation. Also listed as PHL 467.

WGS 474	Gender and Society (3)s
Prerequisites:	SOC 100, at least junior standing; or consent of instructor.
Nature and causes of sex stratification in society. Cross-cultural regularities in sex role development. Freudian and neo-Freudian perspectives, Marxist perspectives, structural functionalism, and radical feminism. Interpersonal and institutional processes which operate to keep women and men in their place in American society. Alternatives to structured sexual inequality in societies. Also listed as SOC 474.

WGS 480	Gender Theory (3)h
Prerequisites:	PHL 309 or nine (9) credits in philosophy or consent of instructor.
Exploration of major theories about gender. Focus on intersections of race/ethnicity, class and gender in the formation of identities and reproduction of inequality. Theories explored include Marxist-Feminism, Psychoanalytic Feminism, Queer Theory, Post Modern Feminism. Also listed as PHL 486