2014-2015 Catalog

GNSE 10100. Problems in the Study of Gender. 100 Units.

How does transgender change feminism? This course will serve as an introduction to the study of gender, transgender, and trans*feminism, a branch of feminism that forefronts the significance of transgender and gender non-conforming phenomena to feminist projects and ideas and vice versa. Relations between transgender and gender non-conforming individuals and U.S. feminisms have not been easy. This course will begin by exploring some of those contentious encounters in order to address the differing interpretations of gender and social justice at work in each. We will then fan out both backwards and forward in time. We will look at histories of gender non-conforming phenomena in the U.S. that pre-date the coinage of the word transgender, such as those found in George Chauncey’s Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World 1890-1940, Esther Newton’s Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America, and various documentations of both the Stonewall riots and the riot at Compton Cafeteria—histories that bring transgender phenomena in (anachronistic) contact with the many sexual histories of the U.S. We will consider as well key texts in feminist theory worrying the relation between gender and sexuality by such authors as Judith Butler, Audre Lorde, and Monique Wittig. Finally, we will turn to essays, novels, manifestoes, films, and documentaries from the 1990s onwards—by such author-activists as Sharon Bridgforth, Eli Clare, Leslie Feinberg, Vic Muñoz, Vivian Namaste, Sylvia Rivera, Dean Spade, Susan Stryker, and Riki Wilchins—in order to explore how transgender and feminism transform each other.

Instructor(s): Shanna Carlson     Terms Offered: Autumn 2014 or Winter 2015
Note(s): Subtitle: Gender and Transfeminism

GNSE 10200. Problems in the Study of Sexuality. 100 Units.

This course examines theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding gender difference and inequality—central questions in the development of feminist activism and theory. We begin with historical changes in the attempts to theorize sex and gender. Next, we consider central streams of feminist thought, such as Marxist feminism and gender performativity. Finally, we end with some critical interventions in feminist theory, such as intersectionality, masculinities, and transgender studies. We will also do a series of empirical assignments designed to illuminate the social workings of gender.

Instructor(s): Kristen Schilt     Terms Offered: Not offered 2014-15
Note(s): May be taken in sequence or individually

GNSE 10310. Theories of Gender and Sexuality. 100 Units.

This is a new one-quarter, seminar-style introductory course for undergraduates. Its aim is triple: to engage scenes and concepts central to the interdisciplinary study of gender and sexuality; to provide familiarity with key theoretical anchors for that study; and to provide skills for deriving the theoretical bases of any kind of method. Students will produce descriptive, argumentative, and experimental engagements with theory and its scenes as the quarter progresses. Prior course experience in gender/sexuality studies (by way of the Civilization Core or other course work) is strongly advised.

Instructor(s): L. Berlant, K. Schilt     Terms Offered: Spring

GNSE 15002-15003. Gender and Sexuality in World Civilizations I-II.

This two-quarter sequence aims to expand students’ exposure to an array of texts—theoretical, historical, religious, literary, visual—that address the fundamental place of gender and sexuality in the social, political, and cultural creations of different civilizations. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.

GNSE 20170. The Sociology of Deviant Behavior. 100 Units.

This course examines how distinctions between "normal" and "deviant" are created, and how these labels shift historically, culturally, and politically. We analyze the construction of social problems and moral panics (e.g., smoking, "satanic" daycares, obesity) to explore how various moral entrepreneurs shape what some sociologists call a "culture of fear." Additionally, we investigate the impact on individuals of being labeled "deviant" either voluntarily or involuntarily, as a way of illustrating how both social control and social change operate in society.

Instructor(s): K. Schilt     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20175

GNSE 21001. Cultural Psychology. 100 Units.

There is a substantial portion of the psychological nature of human beings that is neither homogeneous nor fixed across time and space. At the heart of the discipline of cultural psychology is the tenet of psychological pluralism, which states that the study of "normal" psychology is the study of multiple psychologies and not just the study of a single or uniform fundamental psychology for all peoples of the world. Research findings in cultural psychology thus raise provocative questions about the integrity and value of alternative forms of subjectivity across cultural groups. In this course we analyze the concept of "culture" and examine ethnic and cross-cultural variations in mental functioning with special attention to the cultural psychology of emotions, self, moral judgment, categorization, and reasoning.

Instructor(s): R. Shweder     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Third- or fourth-year standing. Instructor consent required.
Equivalent Course(s): CHDV 21000,AMER 33000,ANTH 24320,ANTH 35110,CHDV 31000,GNSE 31000,PSYC 23000,PSYC 33000

GNSE 21400. Advanced Theories of Sex/Gender. 100 Units.

From Winter 2014 Description: This year the class will focus on affect theory in relation to debates in contemporary queer and feminist theory:  rights, normativity, love/desire, sex, history, biopower, labor, affect.  Aesthetic objects will be brought into contact with theoretical work: we will be thinking about argument and evidence and also about how mediation and exemplarity matter. Students can choose to write a standard essay or can contribute to constructing class anthologies that will contextualize three aesthetic works: such as Frank O’Hara’s “Having a Coke with You”; Saidiya Hartman’s Find Your Mother; Kim Peirce’s Boys Don’t Cry. Key authors include:  Sara Ahmed, Lee Edelman, Patricia Williams, Jose Muñoz, Judith Butler, Eve Sedgwick, Michael Warner, Mel Chen, Jasbir Puar, Gayatri Gopinath, Leo Bersani, Michael Foucault, Gayatri Spivak, Fred Moten, Jennifer Doyle.

Instructor(s): Lauren Berlant     Terms Offered: Winter 2015
Prerequisite(s): Completion of GNSE 10100 and 10200 or permission of instructor
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 21400,ARTH 31400,ENGL 21401,ENGL 30201,GNSE 31400,MAPH 36500,PLSC 21410,PLSC 31410

GNSE 21500. Darwinian Health. 100 Units.

This course will use an evolutionary, rather than clinical, approach to understanding why we get sick. In particular, we will consider how health issues such as menstruation, senescence, pregnancy sickness, menopause, and diseases can be considered adaptations rather than pathologies. We will also discuss how our rapidly changing environments can reduce the benefits of these adaptations.

Instructor(s): J. Mateo     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor only.
Note(s): Not offered 2014-15
Equivalent Course(s): CHDV 21500,HIPS 22401

GNSE 22401. Latina/o Intellectual Thought. 100 Units.

Equivalent Course(s): ENGL 22804,LACS 22804,SPAN 22801,CMLT 21401

GNSE 23100. Foucault and The History of Sexuality. 100 Units.

This course centers on a close reading of the first volume of Michel Foucault’s The History of Sexuality, with some attention to his writings on the history of ancient conceptualizations of sex. How should a history of sexuality take into account scientific theories, social relations of power, and different experiences of the self? We discuss the contrasting descriptions and conceptions of sexual behavior before and after the emergence of a science of sexuality. Other writers influenced by and critical of Foucault are also discussed. (A)

Instructor(s): A. Davidson     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): One prior philosophy course is strongly recommended.
Equivalent Course(s): PHIL 24800,CMLT 25001,FNDL 22001,HIPS 24300

GNSE 27420. Divinity and Femininity: Women's Religious Lives in Pre-modern China. 100 Units.

This course focuses on the religious lives of women in pre-modern China, beginning with the female deities that women may have worshipped and transitioning into the acts of piety that demonstrated their dedication. In translation, we will read popular religious texts, excerpts of novels about women, and scholarship on the goddesses and their worshippers. Throughout this course, we will come back to questions such as: What space did religion provide for women in traditional Chinese society?  What unique experiences did women bring to religious devotion, and how did religion address their concerns?  How do we examine the relationship between religious practices and social structures? All course readings will be in English translation, and no prior background is required.

Instructor(s): K. Alexander     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 27420

GNSE 27702. Gender in the Balkans through Literature and Film. 100 Units.

This introductory course examines the poetics of femininity and masculinity in some of the best works of the Balkan region. We contemplate how the experiences of masculinity and femininity are constituted and the issues of socialization related to these modes of being. Topics include the traditional family model, the challenges of modernization and urbanization, the socialist paradigm, and the post-socialist changes. Finally, we consider the relation between gender and nation, especially in the context of the dissolution of Yugoslavia. All work in English.

Instructor(s): A. Ilieva     Terms Offered: Winter

GNSE 28604. Law and Social Movements in Modern America. 100 Units.

This course traces and examines the relationship of law and social movements in the United States since 1865. We examine how lawyers and ordinary citizens have used the law to support the expansion of social, political, and economic rights in America. We also look at how the state and civic organizations have shaped and deployed law to criminalize the strategies of social reform movements and stifle dissent.

Instructor(s): J. Dailey     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 28604,HMRT 28604,LLSO 28604

GNSE 29600. Feminist Philosophy. 100 Units.

The course is an introduction to the major varieties of philosophical feminism: Liberal Feminism (Mill, Wollstonecraft, Okin, Nussbaum), Radical Feminism (MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin), Difference Feminism (Gilligan, Held, Noddings), and Postmodern "Queer" Feminism (Rubin, Butler). After studying each of these approaches, we will focus on political and ethical problems of contemporary international feminism, asking how well each of the approaches addresses these problems. (A)

Instructor(s): M. Nussbaum     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Undergraduates by permission only.
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 31900,LAWS 47701,PLSC 51900,RETH 41000,PHIL 31900

GNSE 50101. Law-Philosophy Workshop. 100 Units.

Topic: Free Speech and Its Critics.  The Workshop will consider important philosophical defenses of free speech and critics of those rationales. Topics will include the idea of the "marketplace of ideas," autonomy interests in free speech, the harms of speech, and the problem of propaganda and other manipulative speech.  This is a seminar/workshop many of whose participants are faculty from various related disciplines. It admits approximately ten students. Its aim is to study, each year, a topic that arises in both philosophy and the law and to ask how bringing the two fields together may yield mutual illumination. Most sessions are led by visiting speakers, from either outside institutions or our own faculty, who circulate their papers in advance. The session consists of a brief introduction by the speaker, followed by initial questioning by the two faculty coordinators, followed by general discussion, in which students are given priority. Several sessions involve students only, and are led by the instructors. Students write a 20-25 page seminar paper at the end of the year. The course satisfies the Law School Substantial Writing Requirement. There are approximately four meetings in each of the three quarters. Students must therefore enroll for all three quarters.�

Instructor(s): M. Nussbaum, B. Leiter (Law School). A. Green (Law School)     Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Prerequisite(s): Students are admitted by permission of the two instructors. They should submit a c.v. and a statement (reasons for interest in the course, relevant background in law and/or philosophy) to the instructors by e-mail. Usual participants include graduate students in philosophy, political science, and divinity, and law students.
Note(s): Students must enroll for all three quarters.
Equivalent Course(s): LAWS 61512,RETH 51301,HMRT 51301,PHIL 51200