Spring 2025 Course Descriptions (WGS)

ANTH 175/HONR 137: Medical Anthropology,
Professor Daria Trentini | M/W 12:30 - 1:45 PM

This course is an introduction to the key concepts, theories, and methods of medical anthropology. Medical anthropology examines affliction and healing in a cross-cultural perspective. It emphasizes the understanding of how health and healing are shaped by both cultural and biological processes. It also analyzes the relations among health, illness, social institutions, power, and cultural representations. Medical anthropologists examine the ways in which global processes--health policies, epidemics, war and violence, inequalities--affect the life of individuals and communities. They take us into refugee camps, hospitals, zones of social abandonment, factories across the world and in our community. This course will focus on three broad topics. We will start by discussing how health-related issues, including disease and treatment, are far more than narrow biological phenomenon. By examining specific ethnographic cases, we will see how these processes are all heavily influenced by cultural and social factors as well. We will then grapple with the Foucauldian concept of ""biopower"" by means of specific ethnographic applications. By reading about colonial and postcolonial governance in the global South, the ""construction"" of mental illness, current national and global policies toward asylum seekers, and the use of pharmaceuticals, we will reflect upon the ways in which medicine can be an instrument of domination, discipline, and surveillance. The final section of the course discusses the contributions that medical anthropology can make to increase access to health services and to improve--i.e., humanize--health care in the U.S. and across the world.

EDU 164: Perspectives in Race, Ethnicity, and Gender,
Professor Kevin Lam | M/W 12:30 - 1:45 PM

A historical, social, and cultural analysis of the interrelationships among racial, ethnic, class, and gender experiences in conjunction with an examination of the individual, institutional, and social constructs of prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping. The course will, through its comparative approach, aim to increase understanding of race, ethnic, and gender identity, and sensitize students to the subjective experience of marginalized groups. Case studies will augment the course content for the direct application of course content to the development of instruction programs. There will be an emphasis on African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, gender, sexual orientation, class structure, and people with disabilities. A 10-hour service- learning component at a social service organization is required. The course meets the human relations standards for teachers as outlined by the Iowa Department of Education.

ENG 075/SOC 075/ WGS 075: Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies,
Professor Jeanette Tran | M/W 12:30 - 1:45 PM

This introductory course aims to provide students with the basic tools needed to investigate the ways in which gender shapes social roles, identities, and access to power. Through engaging with the work of contemporary and classic writers, and reflecting on our own lived experiences, we will question the meanings of “male” and “female.” We will also explore intersections of gender with other dimensions of difference and inequality such as race, class, and sexuality.

ENG 075/SOC 075/ WGS 075: Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies,
Professor Beth Younger | M/W 9:30 - 10:45 AM

As bell hooks defines it, "feminism is a movement that aims to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.” This course takes that definition as a starting point, and explores how questions of gender, ethnicity, race, class, culture, and sexuality impact access to opportunity, power, and resources in a patriarchal system. We will approach these analyses through an interdisciplinary and intersectional lens, utilizing various feminist theoretical frameworks. We will ask questions, explore our own relationship to feminism, as well as how the dominant culture sees feminism. We will use theoretical writing, popular culture, and fiction to help us understand women's and gender studies as a discipline.

ENG 077: Reading Gender,
Professor Yasmina Madden | M/W 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM

Reading Gender will focus on classic and contemporary fiction by women. We will read and discuss works by writers like Zora Neale Hurston and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, writers who created female protagonists who struggle for independence, and we will ask to what degree, and how, these characters achieve what they desire. Paired with these “classic” texts will be contemporary texts that examine similar issues in a more modern context by such writers as Jia Qing Wilson-Yang, Carmen Machado, Dana Johnson, Kristen Roupenian, Margaret Atwood and more. Students will write critically about the texts we discuss, including short analytical responses, an in-class midterm essay exam, and an in-class final essay exam. Participation and attendance are critical in this course as it is a small discussion-based class.

ENG 129: Advanced Topics in Film-Film Noir,
Professor Dina Smith | T/TR 3:30-4:45 PM

This class will interrogate the film noir, a term invented by the French to understand a unique series of American films that emerged in the 1940s and 1950s. Does the noir critique the very notion of “genre” as a literary structuring device? Defined as a film "style" by some, a unique period in cultural history (1941-1958) to others, one in which classic Hollywood conventions were challenged from within, the film noir is a unique and contested film form. As we shall see, these films were informed by early- 20th century modernisms and embedded in radical shifts in postwar America and France. We will look at now-canonical examples of film noir, from Double Indemnity to Out of the Past, as well as lesser known, though oftentimes more transgressive, films. Along the way, we will test the limits of the various arguments surrounding noir: With its unstable and sexually ambiguous characters, such as the spidery, femme fatale, does the noir problematize fixed gender roles? How do these films evoke a shifting cultural logic, laying bare the relationship between aesthetics and politics after World War II? We will end the class by looking at contemporary “neo-noirs” and the persistent aesthetic and cultural fascination with this film form.

ENG 131: Major Historical Figures Before 1900: Emily Dickinson,
Professor  Lisa West | T/TR 9:30-10:45 AM

Emily Dickinson!! This offering of ENG 131 will focus on Dickinson's poetry, life, interest to scholars, legacy, and popular image. We will begin the semester by reading a lot of poems. We will then move chronologically through significant editorial versions and scholarly approaches, from the 19th century to the present day. Included will be consideration of her approach to religion, the "material" quality of her works, her connection to science, issues with gender, mental health, digital Dickinson, and more. The second half of the semester will focus more on the tensions between scholarly and popular approaches; we will consider how Dickinson is evoked by other artists and how she appears in popular media. There will be a substantial individual research project during the second half of the course as well. This course is for you if you love Dickinson, if you are fascinated by why/how her LIFE is so often the topic of scrutiny, if you want to read more poetry, or if you are fascinated by how one author can have had so many different "lives" in the eyes of critics.

ENG 137: Gender and Horror,
Professor Beth Younger | W 5:00 - 7:50 PM

This course explores depictions of gender in horror film and fiction. We will experience and analyze this genre by reading horror fiction, watching horror movies, and by reading and analyzing critical essays. You will analyze both the fictional and film texts, and critical essays written by theorists, cultural critics, and film scholars. Class will be primarily small and large group discussion. We will analyze fictional and film texts that portray women/men/gender in roles that extend beyond the stereotypical “victim” status; i.e., we will study depictions that complicate, challenge and problematize the idea of gender in horror, as well as issues of race, class, and ability.

HONR 191: Women and Hebrew Scriptures,
Professor Sally Frank | M 4:00 - 7:00  PM

The basics of the course include reading Biblical accounts involving women and various commentaries on those Biblical accounts with a critical eye. These accounts will include "Genesis," "The Red Tent," and "The Five Books of Miriam.” The goal is to come to an understanding of how the Jewish Bible deals with issues involving women and how such an understanding can help us understand issues today.

SOC 174: Feminist Theories,
Professor Amira Allen |M/W 9:30-10:45 AM

This course is a critical, in-depth examination of contemporary feminist theories of subjectivity.  The central concern is for students to gain an understanding of the relationships between sexual difference, subjectivity and social relations of power. Students explore theories that address the psychic and subjective roots of relations of gender, power and domination, as well as the sociohistorical dimensions of gender subjectivity. Materials and the approach used in the course are interdisciplinary, drawing on sociology, literary criticism, film studies, philosophy and
psychoanalysis.
Prereq: Introduction to Women's Studies (WGS 075/SOC 075/ENG 075) or one
entry-level sociology or anthropology course or instructor's consent.

SOC 175: Theories of Inequality,
Professor Sandra Patton-Imani | M/W 2:00-3:15 PM
This course examines class, race, gender, sexuality, and disability inequality in the United States through exploration of sociological theory. Through service learning, reading, writing and classroom discussion, students will critically examine social theory to explain stratification in the United States as well as responses to structural inequality.

POL 154: Human Trafficking,
Professor Mary McCarthy | T/TR 12:30 - 1:45 PM

Human trafficking, which exploits people for sex or forced labor, is a multi-billion-dollar  enterprise that has caught the attention of governments, law enforcement, activists, and the media worldwide. Globally, there are estimates of up to 30 million people who are directly affected by human trafficking. This includes those in the state of Iowa, where governmental and non-governmental entities have been aggressively seeking to combat the proliferation of this illicit business. In this course we will explore the causes, varied forms, and historical foundation of this "modern-day slavery," and learn, firsthand, what solutions government and non-governmental organizations are pursuing in our own communities, as well as abroad.

WGS 145 Special Topics: Women, Power, and Status,
Professor Claire Muselman| M/W 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM

Explore how women navigate power, status, and leadership in personal, professional, and societal realms. This course delves into the unique challenges and strategies for women in leadership, focusing on building confidence, leveraging influence, and challenging societal norms. Through case studies, real-world applications, and interactive discussions, students will gain the skills to lead authentically, negotiate effectively, and create positive change. Ideal for those interested in gender studies, leadership, and empowerment.