| WST
3015 Introduction to Women's Studies |
This
course is designed to introduce students to women's studies
as an interdisciplinary field of knowledge. The purpose
of the course is to involve students in the on-going dialogue
of women's experiences and women's socialization by sex,
class, color and culture, as well as the economics of
discrimination. The course will assist students in clarifying
the many misconceptions surrounding the discipline and
the myths and realities regarding women's status in society.
Topics of discussion include: Connections between women's
studies and feminism; questions of identity and socialization
process in determining gender roles; diversity: class,
race, ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation; religion
and the status of women in societies; our bodies, ourselves;
women and work; women and education. Some of the questions
addressed in women's studies include: Why study women?
Are women powerless or powerful? Why are racism, heterosexism,
ageism, and class exploitation considered to be women's
studies issues? How can feminist thought be used in transformative
ways? |
| WST
3641 Gay and Lesbian in the U.S. |
This
course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to gay
and lesbian studies by examining the complex issues and
debates in American society regarding sexual orientation.
An examination of both historical antecedents and the
contemporary gay rights movement will include such topics
as religion, lifestyles, legal and political issues, and
influences on arts and literature. Cross-listed as a Liberal
Studies Colloquium. |
| WST
4504 Feminist Theory |
This
course will be an in-depth exploration of theories of
gender-explanations of how males and females differ or
are similar-from the feminist perspective. Studying theories
will lead us to an interdisciplinary understanding of
how gender affects our understanding of the world. We
will consider psychological, biological, sociological,
and humanities' theories, including those of current post-modernists
who argue that the study of difference makes developing
a "grand theory" of women's oppression impossible.
(Also meets requirements for foundations of Liberal Studies). |
AMH
3560 History of Women in the United States
|
This
course explores the ways that gender as a category of
analysis intersects with class, race, and ethnicity to
shape the histories of American women. Particular emphases
include the history of women's work, slavery, social and
political activism. |
| AMH
4930/AMH 5935 Early American Women's History |
This
course provides an overview of women in America between
the founding of the British colonies and the American
Civil War. We will explore a variety of topics on women's
history, including work, family, life cycle, sexuality,
physical space, and public life. Readings will cover subjects
like withcraft, Anglo-Indian contact, industrialization,
slavery, and the creation of race and war. |
| AMH
5905 Readings:
Women & Gender in the U.S. |
This
course will explore women's and gender history through
the early 20th century, with a particular focus on slavery,
wage work, politics, leisure culture, and the 'public
sphere.' Readings will include primary sources, historiography,
and feminist theory. |
| AML
4014 Black Women Writers |
This
class is a deliberate exploration of "new ground"
- narratives or texts relatively unknown or previously
unavailable to wide audiences which help us rediscover
and reconfigure the diverse worlds, the multi-layered
readings, and the myriad experiences of 18th, 19th, and
20th century living. We will read works by authors such
as Anna Julia Cooper, Maria W. Stewart, Charlotte Forten
Grimke, and Pauline Hopkins to exlpore and debunk previous
myths held about black womanhood prior to and shortly
after the Civil War. |
AML
4024 / 4503
20th Century African-American Literature: Harlem Renaissance
Women Writers |
This
course will examine the literary works of prominent female
writers of the Harlem Renaissance. There will be an analysis
of the values and lives of black middle-class women, of
the American color caste at that time, of the dilemmas
faced by female characters light enough to "pass"
as white, and of the folk tradition of the blues and spirituals,
among others. Writers studied: Nella Larsen, Jessie Redmont
Fauset, Zora Neale Hurston, Gwendolyn Bennett, Georgia
Douglas Johnson. |
| AML
4024 African-American Literature: Women Writers in Paris:
1920 - present |
Following
World War One, Paris began to attract people from all
over the world including significant numbers of male and
female African-American writers. They formed a growing
dynamic community in the French capital and they created
over the years a vibrant expatriate literary scene. This
course will focus on the analysis of three African-American
female novelists who spent time in France and who derived
inspiration from their French experience. It will be the
study of the complex and varied experience of black American
women from the Harlem Renaissance period to modern times.
Selected female novelists: Barbara Chase Riboud, Paule
Marshall and Jessie Redmon Fauset. |
|
AML
4024
20th Century African American Literature
|
Given
the wealth of literature produced by African Americans
in the 20th Century, this course will deal specifically
with texts of liberation and resistance. We will consider
various perspectives on liberation produced by and about
African Americans in the 20th Century, dealing with
intersecting issues such as Clack feminist articulations,
political liberation, and Black Power. Primarily focusing
on written texts, this course also includes powerful
oral texts (speeches, performance, poetry, music) which
make the call for liberation and articulate a politics
of Black resistance. It should be noted that as this
course presents a general overview into the field of
20th Century African American literature, we will include
the work of both women and men.
|
| AML
4263 Southern Women Writers |
This
course surveys modern southern women writers, including
Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, and
Katherine Ann Porter. Students will have an opportunity
to write a creative paper as well as a critical study. |
| AML
4300/5305 Major American Writers: Cather, Chopin, Wharton |
Kate
Chopin (1850-1904), Edith Wharton (1862-1937), and Willa
Cather (1873-1947), three major American writers of the
"New Woman" era, were intriguingly unalike in
their personalities and personal history. In the same
vein, their memorable fiction, while sharing alike judgments
of significance and originality, is equally diverse in
narrative style, setting, and story. The common theme
that links and unites the writers and their fiction is
their shared longing for the opportunity of autonomy and
fulfillment in women's lives. We will explore this theme
through a study of selected fiction, including The Awakening,
The Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth and The Song
of the Lark. |
AML
4503
Periods In American Literature: Harlem Renaissance
|
This
course will examine the literary works of prominent female
writers of the Harlem Renaissance. There will be an analysis
of the values and lives of black middle-class women, of
the American color caste at that time, of the dilemmas
faced by female characters light enough to "pass"
as white, and of the folk tradition of the blues and spirituals,
among others. Writers studied: Nella Larsen, Jessie Redmont
Fauset, Zora Neale Hurston, Gwendolyn Bennett, Georgia
Douglas Johnson. |
| AML
4503 Women
Writing the Civil War |
We
will study women's American Civil War writings of various
genres, including diaries, letters, novels, short stories,
and poetry. We will explore how women used writing to
negotiate a troubling world that called into question
traditional ideas of gender, class, race, and nationality. |
| AML
4503 Women Transforming Realism |
The
female protagonists of the novels we will study all share
a complex destiny in that they, in common with their creators,
search for freedom and fulfillment in a setting limited
by tradition. We will be particularly interested in the
way art and social consciousness provided a transitional
motif between the restrictions of the Victorian era and
the emergence of the 20th century "new woman".
The authors include Mary Wilkins Freeman, Frances Watkins
Harper, Sarah Orne Jewett, Louisa May Alcott, Kate Chopin
and Edith Wharton. |
| AML
4503 From the New Woman to Rosie the Riveter: American
Women in Transition, 1920 - 1940 |
In
the precarious economic boom of the Twenties, with suffrage
just granted, how were women's lives affected? What were
the goals (and achievements) of early twentieth-century
feminists? How did the Great Depression affect women specifically?
How did the entrance of American World War II help-and
hinder-earlier feminist advances? In this course, we will
examinee these questions through the lenses of history,
culture, sociology, and literature. |
| AML
4503 Era of the New Woman, 1900 - 1930 |
Dramatic
social changes swept across the U.S. during the first
three decades of the 20th Century, including the emergence
of the "New Woman," when women questioned and
departed from traditional roles. Both the fiction and
social history of the era record the struggles and joys
of women of diverse classes and races. We will study a
representative selection of fiction, including by Edith
Wharton, Nella Larsen, Agnes Smedley, Willa Cather, and
Charlotte Perkins Gilman. |
| AML
4503 Periods in American Literature: Complex Destiny:
American Women Writers, 1860-1900 |
The
female protagonists of the novels we will study all share
a complex destiny in that they, in common with their creators,
search for freedom and fulfillment in a setting limited
by tradition. We will be particularly interested in the
way art and social consciousness provided a transitional
motif between the restrictions of the Victorian era and
the emergence of the 20th century "new woman."
The authors include Mary Wilkins Freeman, Frances Watkins
Harper, Saraj Orne Jewett, and Louisa May Alcott. |
| AML
4624 African-American Women Writers |
The
course will begin with Zora Neale Hurston, and move into
the modern writers, including Edwidge Danticat, as well
as the major writers, like Alice Walker, Toni Morrison,
and Gloria Naylor. We will examine issues of class, color,
"race" as a construct, and sexuality, as well
as various other issues featured as dominant themes in
the literature. |
| AML
4624 / 5305 African-American Women Writers II |
An
exploration of writing by representative African-American
women writers with particular attention to the larger
meaning of the location in the Americas. We will examine
specific texts as well as necessary critical and theoretical
ideas which have been generated through, or with which
this literature is in conversation. Students will develop
critical thinking and other analytical skills as they
study the politics of black women's lives in cross-cultural
contexts. We will therefore consistently broaden the definition
of African-American women's writing so that the trans-national
contexts of this writing become visible. Among other ideas,
the course will explore the social construction of black
womanhood; social and literary hierarchies which locate
black women and their writing in specific ways; aspects
of black women's creativity. Moving beyond the questions
of the representation of black women by others, our focus
will be on the way that black women represent themselves. |
| AML
4930 / 5505 American Literature: War & the 19th Century
American Heroine |
We
will read novels, short stories, and diaries written by
women during or about the American Civil War. We will
explore howthe writers created heroic female roles for
themselves and/or for their characters that challenged
19th century gender stereotypes. We will also analyze
film representations of the Civil War heroine. There will
be an oral presentation. |
| AML
5305/LIT 5426 Kate Chopin |
The
recent centennial of Louisiana writer Kate Chopin's infamous
and famous novel, "The Awakening," has afforded
an opportunity to re-examine this noted writer's oeuvre.
Students will study her best-known novel, "The Awakening,"
as well as her still little known novel, "At Fault,"
and read through her many celebrated short stories. Her
locale's Spanish, African and French influences comprise
the diverse races, ethnicities and classes of Chopin's
mise en scene. Chopin created unforgettable portraits
of both the aristocrats of New Orleans' fabled mansions
and of the back country rustics of the bayou settlements.
Chopin's fiction is wise, humorous, passionate and tragic,
in other words, rich in human drama. |
| AML
5305 Women Poets and the Problem of Biography |
This
course grows out of the ongoing Ted Hughes/Sylvia Plath
controversy, but it deals with larger issues. We will
focus on two 20th century American women poets who have
been the subject of controversial biographies, Sylvia
Plath and Anne Sexton. We will read some of the biographies,
some of the commentary on the biographies, and a great
deal of the poetry. We will raise and consider such issues
as the uses the poets made of their own biographical issues,
the effects of the biographies on readers of the poetry,
the responsibilities of the biographer, and the role of
biography in the study of a poet's work. This is a graduate
level course. Advanced undergraduates with some background
in poetry are welcome. |
| ANG
6303 Comparative Feminisms |
"Comparative
Feminisms" focuses upon the development of feminist
theories, transforming women's consciousness and women's
movements in the cultures of Africa, Asia, Latin America,
and Oceania. Course material is also drawn from feminists
and women's activists among ethnic minorities in North
America and Europe. A major emphasis of the course is
the creation of feminist theories in the non-Western developing
world. Undergraduates who have taken an introductory course
in women's studies or anthropology are welcome to register,
they will have to pay the graduate-level course fee. This
course fulfills both the computer and oral presentation
requirements for the major. |
| ANT
3302 Anthropology of Sex & Gender |
This
course will discuss the cultural, political and socioeconomic
variables that seek to define what is "female"
and what is "male." The course will take a transcultural
approach to understanding gendered behavior, gender roles
and human sexuality. Included in the course discussion
will be considerations of multi-gendered identities. This
course fulfills the oral presentation requirements for
the major. The course requires class presentations and
computer use. |
| ANT
3304 Voices of Third World Women |
Focuses on understanding the
perspective of third world women, relying on documents
and texts recorded by these women, as well as on scholarly
studies. The issues emphasized include definitions of
gender, women's self-concepts, and women's roles and participation
in their cultures. Current issues such as the nexus of
culture, class and gender and the development of economic
systems and the creation of gender identity will also
be discussed. |
| ANT
4334 Contemporary Latin American Women |
This
course is designed to give students a basic understanding
of women as significant actors in Latin American cultures.
It will pay particular attention to the representation
of Latin American women as depicted by women themselves.
Class materials will be drawn from a wide variety of sources
such as fiction and poetry; personal documents such as
autobiographies, life histories and personal testimonies
as well as sources based on social science studies. The
course requires some computer use and oral presentations
by students. |
| ANT
6303 Comparative Feminisms |
Comparative Feminisms focuses upon the development of
feminist theories, transforming women's consciousness
and women's movements in the cultures of Africa, Asia,
Latin America, and Ooceania. Course material is also drawn
from feminists and women activists among ethnic minorities
in North America and Europe. A major emphasis of the course
is the creation of feminist theories in the non-Western
developing world. Undergraduates who have taken an introductort
course in women's studies or anthropology are welcome
to register; they will have to pay graduate-level course
fee. This course fulfills both the computer and oral presentation
requirements for the major. |
| ARC
4227 Gender and Architecture |
This
course will follow the recent historiography of gender
and space from its early formulations in feminist theories
of the body through its very recent manifestations in
the study of public space, male space, and fashion. Through
a reevaluation of the roles and places of women and men
in public space, the course will offer a forum for the
discussion and investigation of gender politics, histories
and identities in the built environment.A theoretical,
visual and professional exploration of women's and men's
roles, identities, and histories in public and private
built environments. |
| ARH
4871 Women and Art |
Surveys
the role and achievements of women artists from the Renaissance
through the present day, with emphasis on contemporary
art. It will also discuss women in the art of primitive
and ancient societies, before the historical documentation
of women as artists in the Medieval and Renaissance periods.
The course will consist of slide lectures with film and
video accompaniments. There will also be visits to museums
and/or art galleries to see the work of women artists
in the area. Computer - use requirement. |
| ASH
4990 History of Women in Asia |
This
course will examine and compare the "modern"
(19th- and 20th-century) history of women in China and
Japan, in relation to: 1) Confucian ideology; 2) family
life; 3) work life; 4) imperialism and nationalism, i.e.
women and war and revolution; 5) international feminism;
6) women's bodies. We will also discuss significant debates
within the field of women's history and global feminist
theory, as they apply to what we study and how we study
the history of Asian women. To facilitate our understanding
of the varied historical experiences of Chinese and Japanese
women, this course will draw on academic writings, fiction,
and film. |
| CCJ
4663 Women, Crime, and the Criminal Justice System |
In
this course, students will examine issues related to male
and female differences in defining, measuring and examining
crime. The focus will be women as victims and offenders
and their treatment by the criminal justice system. Also,
the topic of women as employees in the criminal justice
system will be explored. |
| CPO
4930 Gender, Drugs and Democracy in the Caribbean |
This
course will examine the role of women in the Caribbean
societies, the status of democracy and human rights there,
and some of the challenges presented by drugs to the governments
and people of the region. |
| CYP
6766 Cross-Cultural Sensitization in a Multicultural Context |
In
the class, which is focused on both awareness-building
and transformative activities, we work explicitly on bias,
equity, and discrimination around all of the "difference"
issues (gender, race, ethnicity, ability, lifestyles,
SES, etc.). |
| ECS
3021 Women, Culture and Economic Development |
This
course will use the "capabilities" approach
in analyzing the problems of women's quality of life in
developing countries. It is important to recognize that
the measurement of output per capita is not the only indicator
of the quality of life. The purpose is to identify a number
of distinct components of women's quality of life, including
life expentancy, maternal mortality, access to education,
access to employment opportunities, and exercise of political
rights, and how these indicators are affected by cultural
considerations. This course includes research utilizing
internet resources and oral presentations. |
| ENC
4930 Women who Disrupt, Resist, Question the Status Quo |
This
class will examine various cultural constructions of femininity
through a powerful combination of critical reading, discussion,
reflection and writing of thoughtful essays. By responding
to fiction, poetry, essays, film, and comics, students
will critically explore "bad girls" who challenge
"women's place" in American culture. |
| ENC
4930 Men & The Pen |
This
is a creative writing course that encourages students
to broaden their approaches to their writing through the
imagination and the effective employment of enhanced technique
and creative thought. This special topics course uses
a wide range of literary genres - fiction, creative non-fiction,
drama, poetry, essay, and memoir - written by and about
men as launching pad for students to discuss and analyze
the reading and then, integrate their insights into their
own writing. This course proposes that a new style of
writing and a new "vision" - more generative,
inclusive, embracing and compassionate - of masculinity
and manhood has emerged and is accessible. In our collective
classroom dialogue we seek to identify this "generative"
vision and discuss its evolving nature and the ramifications
it holds for our contemporary world. This course welcomes
participation of all interested men and women who are
eager to challenge the existing stereotypes regarding
gender roles and perspectives as well as - in their writings
and class discussions - to examine the relationships they
share with men in their lives. |
| ENG
4043 Contemporary Literary Theory and Criticism: Feminist
Approaches |
This
course is an introduction to the field of feminist criticism
(especially literary criticism) as it has developed in
the pasttwenty-five years. We will examine diverse definitions
given to feminism through a variety of perspectives. Readings
will be grouped around thematic (rather than chronological,
geographic, or philosophical) clusters. Special emphasis
will be placed on how the intersection of gender and race
concerns have contributed to multiple redefinitions of
the field. |
| ENG
4132 Women and Film of the African Diaspora |
The
course is a survey class of films by African and Asian
Women. |
| ENG
4134 Women and Film: Difference and Identity in Women's
Film |
Modern
visual cultures that portray images of women employ widely
diverse perspectives that affect cultural perceptions
of women and the status of women. Students will study
how gender identity and difference are illustrated by
and formulated by film, particularly in the new cinema
of women filmmakers. We will view a series of noteworthy
films, including "A Question of Silence", "Thelma
and Louise", "Daughters of the Dust", "Antonia's
Line" and "Carmen Miranda: Bananas are my Business".
Course readings include a basic text on film analysis,
multiple voices in feminist film criticism and on film
directors. |
| ENG
5907 Doing Literary Research: Women Writers |
This
one-credit course in research methods for literary scholars
will draw its illustrations largely from scholarship on
the work of women writers (primarily George Eliot), which
will supply illustrations of a range of theoretical approaches
and the kinds of research they require. Graduate students
only. |
ENL
3261 19th Century British Women Novelists
|
Examines
fiction written by women in the 19th century, written
by women in the 19th century, including classical realist,
gothic, sensation, working-class, and New Woman novels.
Authors include Austen, Eliot, Bronte, and Gaskell. |
| ENL
4212 / IDS 4920 12th Century Renaissance: Hildegard of
Bingen |
Students
will study the works of this renowned abbess whose visions
are expressed in poetry, art, and music as well as in
writing on medicine, psychology and "feminized"
theology. Her compositions will be featured in chant concert
by the FIU concert choir. Students will participate in
the worldwide celebration of the 900th year anniversary
of Hildegard Bingen. |
| ENL
4212 Medieval Women Writers |
To
understand the context in which medieval women lived and
wrote, we will examine the long tradition of misogynist
writing and cultural representations of women. We will
also read secular and religious and religious works by
women from the 12th and 15th centuries, from the Continent
and from England. |
| ENL
4230 Studies in Restoration and 18th Century Literature:
Masculinity in the Novel |
What
makes a man a man? This course will consider how the construction
of masculinity parallels the emergence of the genre of
novel. We will consider the many incarnations of gender
in men from the effeminate "fop" to aggressive
"rake" to the sentimental "man of feeling.
In addition to the novels by Brockden Brown, Defoe, Fielding,
Hogg, Smollett, Sterne,a nd Dickens, we will consider
several historical discourses about what constitutes the
"good man" as well as how sexuality and gender
come to be rigidly defined and artfully challenged. |
| ENL
4251 Victorian Literature |
This
course surveys the fiction, poetry, and nonfiction of
Victorian Britain (1837-1901), looking at literature in
the context of a time that saw the emergence of the New
Woman, the rise of industrialization, the spread of imperialism,
and the development of modern science. While the stereotype
of the Victorian age suggests a century of stuffiness
and complacency, in fact Victorians experienced social
and technological change nearly as rapid as that of our
own time. Perhaps, then, it is fitting that students will
be encouraged to expand their coursework by exploring
the wealth of Victorian materials now available on the
world wide web. |
| ENL
4251 Mid-Victorian Women Writers |
In
Mid-Victorian England, groups in which women writers met
together included the business world of publishing books
and periodicals; socially acceptable religious and philanthropic
organizations; political movements devoted to reform in
education and law; and often, informal parties assembled
for travel excursions to destinations as nearby as the
English seaside or as distant as the Inglese communities
in Florence or Rome. In this course, students will read,
discuss and write about the work of a selection of mid
-Victorian women poets, novelists, and non-fiction prose
writers (including Christina Rossetti, Marian Evans (George
Eliot), and Elizabeth Gaskell), with particular focus
on how they benefited from opportunities created by groups
of women who shared business, spiritual, political and
recreational goals. |
| ENL
4254 / 5505 Late Victorian Fiction / Late Victorian Literature |
This
course examines the fiction of an exciting and often neglected
period in English literary history, the fin de siècle
era of 1880 through 1901. Reading works such as Dracula,
New Grub Street, The Heavenly Twins, The Picture of Dorian
Gray, and other works of fiction, we will explore such
characteristic literary modes as aestheticism, new realism,
detective fiction, New Woman fiction, the fiction of empire,
and humor. Since the fin de siècle was an era of
changing conceptions of womanhood, manhood, and sexuality
in general, gender issues will be prominent throughout
the course. |
| ENL
4303 Major British Writers: George Eliot |
As
best selling novelist, periodical editor, English and
European traveler, sexual rebel, sibylline Victorian,
conscientious step-mother,mediocre poet, and very mature
bride, Marian Evans participated in various ways in a
culture that ignored, ostracized, rewarded, idolized,and
forgave her for her successes and failures as a woman
and an author. In "Major British Writers: George
Eliot," students willconsider fresh biographical
contexts as they read, interpret, discuss, and write about
the fiction of one of the most permanently popular ofthe
19th century British novelists. |
| ENL
4370 Virginia Woolf and Her Circle |
Focusing
on the works of Virginia Woolf. This course also explores
how the members of the Bloomsburg Circle influenced this
English novelist. |
| ENL
4930 Studies in Shakespeare: Women, Love, and Power |
Shakespeare
in love? Beginning with an examination of the various
roles and positions ascribed to women of all classes in
early modern England, we'll move on to explore the ways
in which Shakespeare's plays respect and transgress such
gender boundaries. If it's true that some of his brightest,
most memorable creations are women, what are we to do
with the knowledge that these roles were played by cross-dressed
boys, and that evn the best of his women are finally hemmed
back in by very traditional, sanctioned constructs. In
questioning Shakespeare's feminisms, we'll move across
genres: expect to read one history play, two comedies,
two tragedies, and one romance. |
| ENL
4930 Gender and Identity in Black British Writing |
This
is a survey course focused on contemporary Black British
women writers. We will discuss issues of nation, nationality,
immigration, translocation, diasporic continuities, portraits
and challenges of home, historical dimensions of Black
British female experience, and gendered racial identity
construction. Core texts will include the anthologies
"IC3: Contemporary Black British Writing", and
"The Fire People"; novels and autobiographical
narratives such as "Lara" by Bernadine Everisto,
"The Unbelonging" by Joan Riley, "Head
Above Water" by Buchi Emecheta, and "Never Far
From Nowhere" by Andrea Levy. As this is a course
on "Lived Expression," students should expect
to engage a range of expressions and expressive forms
such as poetry, prose, biographical narrative, music,
and other creative genres. An intensive reading load,
a commitment to critical thought, and an emphasis on student
involvement are to be expected. |
| ENL
5220 Sensation Writers: W. Collins & M. Braddon |
This
course focuses on Victorian sensation novels, a type of
fiction popular in England in the 1860s to early 1870s.
These novels incorporate elements of mystery and often
deal with murder, bigamy, and/or insanity. Many critics
see these novels as attempts to reconcile contested domestic
issues-especially mid-century challenges to women's traditional
roles. We will focus on two leading sensation writers,
Mary Braddon and Wilkie Collins. |
| ENL
5505 Periods in English Literature: Female Voices in Renaissance
Literature |
We
will read Renaissance poetry, prose, and drama: works
written by women and works in which male writers represent
the female voice, either in the speech of female characters
or through the use of a female persona. In our discussions
we will analyze female voices and characterization in
specific texts, and in doing so we will raise some more
general questions about how writers portray and how readers
perceive gender. |
| EUH
3181 Medieval Culture |
Selected
topics in the cultural history of Europe from 500 to 1500:
epic and knightly romance; Christian theology and spirituality;
scholastic philosophy; Romanesque and Gothic arts; the
rise of literature in the vernacular; and the culture
of the laity. All themes will be addressed with a particular
focus on the history of women and on gender as a category
of historical analysis. |
| EUH
3576/ HUM 4491 Russian Revolution / Soviet Union: Gender,
Politics, And Society |
This
course explores the history of the rise and fall of the
first officially declared socialist state. During the
semester we will not only concentrate on the political
and social upheavals caused by wars and revolutions, but
also look at the continuities and transformations in the
spheres of gender relations, family life and cultural
expression. Using fiction, film, memoirs, philosophical
tracts, and historical writings, we will allow a variety
of women's and men's voices to emerge. |
| EUH
4025 Saints, Relics/Miracles |
Synthetic
view of medieval Europe through the lens of saints' veneration.
Topics include saints as patrons, miracles and magic pilgrimage,
bureaucratic canonization, and gender and mysticism. Particular
course themes for Spring 2003 will include the many aristocratic
female saints of the early middle ages and the extremely
popular cult of Mary Magdalen during the later middle
ages. There will also be a comparative element with Asia. |
| EUH
4286
The Spanish Civil War: Gender Perspectives |
In
this class we will study the causes and development of
the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). We will examine this
dramatic historical event from a gender perspective. Gender
is defined as a category of analysis that helps us identify
relations of power between state and citizenry as much
as between the sexes. Our class will use as main sources
of information the exhibition of posters of the Spanish
Civil War at the Wolfsonian Museum located in Miami Beach.
You will have the opportunity to work with primary sources
such as these art pieces and use the Wolfsonian library
for your final project. In addition you will attend the
lectures of the guest speakers programmed by the museum.
There will be two take-home exams and three reports of
the progress of a final research project of your choice
in consultation with Professor Morcillo. Some of the readings
include: Paul Preston, Comrades (1999) George Essenwein
and Adrian Shubert, Spain at War (1995); Mary Nash, Defying
Male Civilization (1995); Martha Ackelsberg, Free Women
of Spain (1991); Shirley Mangini, Memories of Resistance
(1990). We well use also documentaries and film to discuss
the unraveling of events. Visual materials and readings
will be on reserve in the Green Library. |
| EUH
4313 History of Women in Modern Spain |
In
this class we will discuss the historical experience of
Spanish women in the modern period. Some of the topics
of discussion will center on Spanish women's access to
education, suffrage, and reproductive rights. We will
learn about the Spanish Civil War, Franco's dictatorship,
and Spain's transition to democracy from a gender perspective.
The experience of Spanish women in the last century has
much to say to those interested in the political and social
situation of women in Latin cultures both in North and
South America. |
| EUH
5905 Saints in Europe & The Americas |
A
readings seminar designed to introduce students to a broad
range of recent scholarship concerning saint veneration
practices in Europe and the Americas, with a particular
focus on the ways in which women have actively shaped
or or in other ways been central to those practices. The
introductory section concerns: the origin and early history
of the Christian cult of saints; how the cult of saints
is embedded within the broader cycle of the Christian
liturgical year; how the "miraculous" power
of saints has historically been differentiated from other
forms of power over nature such as magic and witchcraft;
how images and icons of the saints have become an essential
feature of their cults. We will then explore in depth
a number of accessible and popular themes in the (remote
and contemporary) history of Christian sanctity: female
mystics; Joan of Arc; the Virgin Mary (with particular
attention to the apparitions at Lourdes and to the Mexican
national saint, Our Lady of Guadalupe); the cult of St.
Jude (special helper of women and patron saint of Lost
Causes). The goal will always be to understand the social,
cultural and political significance of devotional practices. |
| EUH
4610 Women and Gender in Europe, 1750 to Present |
The
class will explore the cultural, political, economic and
social lives of European women from 1750-present. We will
focus in particular on primary documents, including fiction,
memoir, poetry, political tracts and so forth. |
EVR
4993/5410
Women and the Population/Environment Equation |
This
course examines the recent focus on the role of women
in family and society as an important component of the
population and environement equation. Important factors
(e.g. women's education, employment, health) and the data
behind them will be explored. |
FIL
4528 Hispanic Women in Film
|
Explores
women's experiences in Hispanic cultures through analysis
and discussion of selected films from Spain, Latin America,
and the U.S.. Course aims to enhance student's understanding
of women's roles and challenges in Hispanic cultures,
via feminist readings and film viewings. Computer/web
use as well as writing assignments and oral presentations
are part of the required activities in the course. |
FRW
4583 Women Writers in French
|
The
course examines the works of francophone women writers
from the Caribbean, the Hexagone, the Maghreb, and West
Africa. Topics to be explored include: the poetics of
silence and rebellion; the effect of narrative techniques
on subject formation; gendered roles and cultural codes
in (post) colonial texts; the intersection of sexual,
cultural, racial, and class/caste difference in the experiences
of men and women. This course fulfills both the computer
and oral presentation requirements for the major. |
| HIS
4930 Women
and Gender in Pre-Modern World |
The
course is organized on a roughly chronological basis,
moving from the ancient Empires of Rome, Persia and China
through to the courtly societies of sixteenth-century
Japan and Europe. Within the rough chronological schema,
individual sessions each have a thematic focus, with the
themes being selected depending on their relative appropriateness
to the different chronological periods. Course themes,
listed in the order in which they will be addressed, include:
women, gender and (1) religion, (2) labor and social structure
(3) law (4) aristocracy (5) rulership (6) literature (7)
visual arts. |
| HIS
4930 / 5930 Totalitarian Regimes & Gender |
In
this course we will explore the relationship between the
totalitarian European states and the female population.
More specifically we will examine the significance of
gender in nation building. Totalitarian regimes clearly
articulated women's roles and obligations as part of the
national mission. In Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and
Francoist Spain gender ideology became central in defining
the state, its territory, and authority. |
| HIS
4935 Senior Seminar: Women and Gender in Pre-Modern Europe
and Asia |
The
course is organized on a roughly chronological basis,
moving from the ancient Empires of Rome, Persia and China
through to the courtly societies of sixteenth-century
Japan and Europe. Within the rough chronological schema,
individual sessions each have a thematic focus, with the
themes being selected depending on their relative appropriateness
to the different chronological periods. Course themes,
listed in the order in which they will be addressed, include:
women, gender and (1) religion, (2) labor and social structure
(3) law (4) aristocracy (5) rulership (6) literature (7)
visual arts. There will be an oral presentation requirement
and a computer use requirement. |
| HIS
4935/EUH 5905 Senior Seminar: Women in Late Roman Empire |
This
course will focus on the social and legal status of women
in the late Roman period. The relationships of women with
their parents, husbands, children, and other persons in
both public and private domains will be analyzed. Readings
will be assigned both from the primary sources (inscriptions,
papyri, literay works of various genres, and the laws)
and secondary readings utilizing current theological approaches
to the study of the role of women (class, religion, sexuality,
artistic presentation, economic status, and legal standing). |
| HSC
3579 Wellness of Women |
For
women interested in taking control of their health and
well-being. A team-taught, interactive class for presentation
and discussion of health issues affecting women. Topics
that will be covered include cancer, osteoporosis, abortion,
contraception, violence, abuse, nutrition, pregnancy,
PMS, childbirth, exercise and AIDS. |
| HUM
3930 Female/Male: Women's Studies Seminar |
This
course introduces students to basic questions of gender
analysis: What is gender difference and what difference
does it make? We will look at questions of gender identity,
gender equality/inequality, gender justice/injustice as
they occur in the world of work, politics, education,
and the family. Classes will involve a combination of
lecture, class discussion, and film. |
| HUN
3294 Women's Nutrition Issues |
This
course will cover how the body uses food, nutritional
needs throughout the lifecycle, weight control and exercise,
healthy food for a healthy diet, nutrition and chronic
diseases, the role of women in the food industry as role
models for good nutrition. |
IDS
4920 / LIT 4930
Aging and Mortality |
This
course will be an interdisciplinary exploration of two
fuundamental elements of the human condition. Aging and
mortality will be approached through philosophical, theological,
psychological, and literatry points of view. We will pay
particular attention to the similarities and differences
in the way men and women approach the conditions of mortality
and aging. |
| INR
4085 Women & Men in International Relations |
Surveys
the differential roles of women and men in international
relations, gender based politics on a global scale, and
constructions of proper womanhood and manhood in transnational
politics. |
| LAH
4721 History of Women in Latin America |
This
explores the roles of women in Latin America from the
colonial period to the present. Focusing on the diversity
of women's life experiences, this interdisciplinary course
will explore the intersection of gender, race and class
in Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, and Peru. Course
readings are equally divided between scholarly monographs
and the study of women's diaries and personal testimony. |
| LBS
4154 / 5155 Workers & Diversity / Workplace Diversity |
The
theoretical debates surrounding the workforce participation
of women and minorities as well as the historical position
of these groups in the labor force are studied. Students
explore social phenomena that contribute to the continuation
of discriminatory practices and study and analyze the
policies that attempt to address these issues. |
| LBS
4210 Women and Work in the United States |
The
role of women in the work force and in unions with historical,
social and economic emphasis. |
| LIN
4651 Gender and Language |
Examines
the evidence on a variety of questions regarding women
and language, including women's speech in English and
other languages, sexist language, and the relationship
between language and societal attitudes towards women.
|
| LIT
3170 Jewish Literature: Fiction of the Jewish Immigrant
Experience |
This
course will examine novels and short stories of the great
wave of Jewish immigration to the United States and Great
Britain between 1880 and 1920. Gender issues will receive
prominent consideration, as the authors studied include
two women (Mary Antin and Anzia Yezierska) and two men
(Israel Zangwill and Abraham Cahan). Additionally, the
literature we will read and discuss raises issues of intergenerational
conflict, assimilation, and ethnic identity that are still
relevant among immigrants from many cultures today. This
course will make use of the computer for communication
outside of class and the posting of relevant websites. |
| LIT
3383 Women in Literature: 19 Century Women Writers |
19th-Century
women writers produced an extraordinary variety of texts
in poetry, prose, novels, and journalism during a period
in which writing became an accessible profession for women.
From Mary Wollstonecraft at one end of the century to
Edith Simcox at the other, they engaged the great topics
of literature: love, creativity, death, war, and religious
faith and doubt. At the same time, they also undertook
less serious literary themes concerning their daily lives
of work, recreation, food, fashion, travel, and friendship.
In this course students will read, discuss, and write
about works by Wollstonecraft, Edgeworth, Rossetti, Anne
Bronte, Barrett Browning, George Eliot, and others. |
| LIT
3383 Women in Literature: Schoolgirls of 19th & 20th
Century |
From
Jane Eyre through Fast Times at Ridgemont High and beyond,
fictional girls at school have followed curricula offering
training in needlework, geometry, field hockey, straw
plaiting, physics, home economics, Latin, dancing, theology,
and etiquette. Whatever their educational value, such
subjects, together with the social life of a rigid community,
have yielded a variety of plot elements which differ from
the events (fights with bullies, cricket matches) common
in the male school novel. Character constructions range
from unaccountably vicious best enemies through firm but
fair favorite teachers, and 20th-century versions have
culminated in the eroticization of the plaid pleated skirt.
In this course, students will read, discuss, and write
about 19th- and 20th-century texts with school settings
and schoolgirl characters, most of them authored by women.
Paper, midterm, final. |
| LIT
3383 Women in the 19th Century Novel |
Nineteenth-century
England produced a wealth of novels about women. These
women were wonderfully vibrant, each in her own way. They
stood apart from the average woman of her social strata,
yet they were also representative of a particular time
and place. This course does not study women writers, but
rather women character in the novels. We will read five
novels, including such great ones as Austen's "Pride
and Prejudice", Bronte's "Jane Eyre", and
Hardy's "Far From the Madding Crowd". We will
also enjoy seeing films based on some of the novels. Assignments
will be read at home and discussed in class. Course requirements
will include two tests: a midterm and a final exam composed
of short answer and essay questions. You will also be
expected to write a research paper having to do with the
novels we have read and the situation of women in 19th
century England. |
| LIT
3384 Caribbean Women Writers |
This
course examines the writings of Caribbean women. Students
will read the recent anthology Winds of Change: Caribbean
Women Writers and Scholars (Newson/Strong-Leek), and several
novels including Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid and I Tituba,
Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde. |
| LIT
3930 Women Writers of the Black Diaspora: U.S. , Caribbean
Islands & Africa |
This
course will examine the works of black contemporary female
writers from the United States, the Caribbean islands
and Africa. Themes will be analyzed in relation to the
overall cultural, political, economic background and will
focus on the displacement of black women around the world.
It will expose students to the complexity and richness
of black women's heritage and thereby it will promote
ethnic tolerance. This course will be a literary journey,
following the forced migration of thousands of black people
during the slave trade, a few centuries ago. Their displacement
began in the West Coast of Africa, then extended to the
Caribbean Islands, to South America and finally to the
United States. Authors scheduled: Maryse Conde (Guadeloupe),
Edwidge Danticat (Haiti), Michelle Cliff (Jamaica), Danzy
Senna (U.S.), Alice Walker (U.S.), Mariama Ba (Senegal),
Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana). |
| LIT
4351 African Fiction & Film: Women's Voices |
This
course will be an analysis through literature and films
of the issues that contemporary West African women have
to face.Through videos produced by African filmmakers
and novels written by female African writers, we will
explore the voices of women asthey endeavor to negotiate
the societal norms of western Africa and as they create
feasible alternatives for their future and thedevelopment
of their continent. The course will focus on issues of
particular relevance such as female circumcision, forced
marriage,polygamy, the role of women in their national
economy, and female political protest, among others. |
| LIT
4351 Major African Writers |
This
course takes a comparative look at the growing field of
African women's literature from a diaspora perspective
concentrating on the work of continental African women
writers. In many ways a survey, this course highlights
a variety of issues, including but not limited to feminism,
womanism, migration, resistance, agency, and identity.
Participants will read, discuss, and analyze text ranging
from the novel to poetry, lyrics to prose, short story
to autobiography produced by African women writers/scholars.
Creative as well as critical writing and reading are to
be expected. |
| LIT
4382 Women in Eastern Europe |
This
course will be team-taught by Petr Bilek, Assoc. Prof.
of Literature, Charles University; Dr. Jirina Smejkalova,
Asst. Prof. of Women's Studies and East European Studies,
University of Durham; and Prof. Weitz of FIU. It will
examine the role of women in the new democratic re-structuring
of society in the Czech Republic and the rest of the former
Soviet Bloc. Please e-mail Prof. Weitz at weitz@fiu.edu
for more information. |
| LIT
4930 Virginia Woolf |
This
course will be devoted to close study of Virginia Woolf's
two major novels of the 1920s, Mrs. Dalloway, and
To The Lighthouse. The texts will be seen in relation
to their time, and from a variety of critical perspectives
(formalist, feminist, Jungian, etc.). In-class presentations,
short essays, and a take-home essay final. |
| LIT
4930 Classical Myth: Heroes and Heroines |
An
exploration of Greek and Roman mythology and legend through
a survey of masterpieces of classical literature, from
Homer to Euripides to Catullus to Ovid. Special attention
will be given to the ways in which gender is constructed
in ancient culture and heroines are represented in drama,
epic, and lyric poetry. |
| LIT
4930 / IDS 4920 Queen Elizabeth & Her Representations |
In
this interdisciplinary course, we'll aim to understand
how this powerful woman dominated her land for so many
years, and as tohow much mythology has become intertwined
with the "facts" in her legend. We'll begin
by reading a standard historical biography of Queen Elizabeth,
and then spend about five or six weeks examining the Queen's
own self-representations by reading her poetry, proclamations
and prayers. The rest of the semester will be spent considering
the role played by those around Elizabeth in fashioning
her image or "cult." We'll study poems and paintings
which attempted to affix her image, consider how the architecture
and gardens of the age paid her special homage, and examine
too such diverse forms of praise as courtly entertainments,
madrigals and other songs, Accession Day tilts, and even
fashion. Students can expect plenty of reading and lively
discussion; several papers and possibly an exam or two
will also punctuate our semester. Hopefully we'll also
find time to view a couple of films concerned with Elizabeth.
The course will be cross-listed between English and Liberal
Studies; students in Women's Studies and Pre-Modern Studies
will also be welcomed, as well as anyone with a general
interest in learning more about this fascinating, complicated
woman and the period of English history over which she
towered. |
| LIT
4931 Multicultural Working Class Women |
This
will explore the cross cultural implications of gender
politics, and the influence of class on women's ability
to transcend both social and personal limitations. Questions
pertaining to the ways in which historical, and soci-political
events shape the way women perceive themselves and are
perceived will be raised and interogated fully. Central
issues will include formal and informal education, reproduction,
spirituality, child-rearing, economic viability-- or the
lack thereof--, racism, sexist paternalism, as well as
women's participation in the patriarchal agenda. We will
be reading novels and short stories by Toni Morrison,
Anzia Yezierska, Dorothy Allison, Merle Hodge, Edwidge
Danticat, Sandra Cisneros, Opal Palmer Adisa and Amy Tan. |
| LIT
4931 Post Colonial Women |
This
comparative course focuses on contemporary works by writers
from Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East and the United
States. Works were originally written in English, Arabic
and French, and will be read and discussed in English.
Novels will be analyzed in light of contemporary postcolonial
and feminist theory, with special attention given to their
historical and social contexts of production. We will
specifically explore issues of identity formation and
(de) colonization, anti-racism struggle, female solidarity,
exile and hybridity, history and memory, language (silencing,
bilingualism, coming to writing) in diverse culturally
specific contexts. |
| LIT
4931 Women & Literature: Women's Narratives of War |
Men's
knowledge of war dominates the historical and prose discourses
of war, while that of women was historically silenced
through omission. Rediscovery of women's records of war,
combined with recent scholarly attention, as well as the
liberalization of women's participation in the military
and their contemporary experience of war and terrorism,
has greatly altered traditional perspectives. Heroism,
leadership, courage, patriotism and protest; horror, loss
and cruelty; these human attributes and experiences are
found in equal measure in women and men. Now, at the onset
of a new millennium, when so much of the world is engaged
in or on the brink of armed conflict, and the sorrows
of loss and threat of danger has hit our own land, this
under-represented topic is particularly timely. We will
study literary and historical documents, view films, and
schedule speakers. Students may research any topic of
individual interest on the general theme for course papers. |
| LIT
4931 Women's Literature: Novels of Sensation |
This
course will focus on sensation novels, a branch of fiction
popular in England beginning in the 1860s. These novels
incorporate elements of mystery and often deal with murder,
bigamy, and/or insanity. We will study the fiction in
relation to its historical context. Many critics argue
that these novels reflect an attempt to come to terms
with contested domestic issues-especially with mid-century
challenges to the traditional women's roles. Authors to
be studied include Mary Braddon, Wilkie Collins, and Ellen
Wood. |
| LIT
4931 Women Writers of the African Diaspora |
This
course seeks to expose students to multiple approaches
to the study of Black Women writers of the Diaspora. We
will read various critical works written by Black Women
located in Africa, the Caribbean, the United States, Brazil
and Europe. Modes of resistance, strategies of liberation,
and their interrelated socio-historical contexts will
be emphasized. Students enrolled in this course must prepare
themselves to read numerous texts authored by very diverse
Black Women writers who articulate issues of liberation
and resistance. In addition, students will be responsible
for reading several critical essays and poems, literary
criticisms, and viewing selected films. A unique critical
paper and presentation is required. Adjustments for senior
undergraduate students will be considered. |
| LIT
4931 Black Women Writers: Comparative Working Class Women's
Literature |
This
course will have a multi-cultural focus on how issues
of class, race and gender intersect in women's lives.
I expect my sudents to come away from this class with
the ability to theorize about the complex interplay of
race, class and gender issues in the novels and in contemporary
society. In addition to using critical essays generated
from both student research and my own handouts, I expect
students to bring their own experiences to the interpretation
of textual material. My main objective is to demystify
literature and literary criticism by interrogating the
socio-political and cultural realities that inform both
literature and life. |
| LIT
4931 Girlhood in Prose |
The
girl-child emerged as a focus of attention when the UN
World Conference on Women declared the status of girls
a primary theme of that historic meeting. The international
development coincided with a plethora of new research
on girls; for example, on their self esteem, on sexual
rights, and on adolescent intellectual retreat. One way
to study the experience of girls is through an examination
of prose for adult readers by women authors on female
childhood and adolescence. Themes include relationships,
appearance, abuse, mothers and daughters, and achievement.
Students will read a selection of prose with a cross-cultural
emphasis and will have the opportunity to develop individual
interests. |
| LIT
5426 Authors and Their Times: Octavia Butler |
Students
will examine the biographical, political and historical
context of the work of noted science-fiction author Octavia
Butler, using current critical and historical approaches.
Of Butler's many novels the class will read Parable
of the Sower, Dawn, Kindred and several others. |
| LIT
5487 Texts and Culture: 19th Century British Prose and
Poetry by Women |
This
graduate course takes advantage of (and celebrates) the
1996 publication of two new anthologies of the work of
Victorian women writers. Leighton and Reynolds' Victorian
Women Poets and Broomfield and Mitchell's Prose
by Victorian Women. Students will have the opportunity
to approach this literature from a variety of perspectives,
applying theory dealing with feminism, periodicity, genre,
history of the book, cultural studies, gender studies,
and others. The class will attempt to establish comparisons
both among the various poets and prose writers and between
this poetry and prose and that of authors traditionally
considered Victorian, such as Tennyson, Browning, and
Carlyle. Poets will include Rossetti, Barrett, and Bronte,
as well as a number of less familiar names. The non-fiction
prose will include journalism, travel writing, memoirs,
and literary art criticismby such authors as Marian Evans,
Eliza Lynn Linton, Edith Simcox, and Sarah Grand. |
| LIT
5934 Black Women Writers of Africa & African Diaspora |
In
this course we will be working with selected texts dating
back as far as the early nineteenth century and as recent
as the twenty-first century, as foundational to our understanding
of Black women writers from Africa and throughout the
African diaspora. We will build upon scholarly works which
theorize both the African diaspora and Africana feminisms
|
