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Dec: J
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Core Courses
Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies in the Social Sciences (WST 102)/ Teri Tiso
Tu/Th 10:00AM-11:20AM Chemistry 128 OR
Tu/Th 11:30AM-12:50PM Physics P130
This course is an introductory and interdisciplinary survey that will familiarize
students with gender and sexuality theories, histories of women’s and feminist movements, and current debates within Women’s and Gender Studies. We draw on sources from across the social sciences to understand how gender and sex is explained with respect to specific physical bodies; formulates identities within gendered institutions; and influences our everyday personal and political interactions. Critically thinking of
these issues can only occur when we include the intersection of racial, class, age, ableist
and national identities within our analysis. The overarching theme of power, hierarchy,
and privilege in structured(ing) institutions will always guide our study.
Dec: F
SBC: CER, SBS
3 credits
Women, Culture, Difference (WST 103)/Kadji Amin and graduate TAs
Lecture, M/W 12:00PM-12:53PM Engineering 145 AND
Recitation, FRI 12:00PM-12:53PM (led by graduate TAs)
An introductory humanities survey focusing on women's traditional association with
the home and men's association with public life and how writers, artists, philosophers,
and religious thinkers have reflected upon those relationships over the past 150 years.
Through lectures and critical analyses of novels, poetry, art, philosophy, and religious
texts, the course explores how changing intellectual, artistic, and religious precepts
have affected gender identity and different genres in the humanities.
Dec: G
SBC: HUM
3 credits
Introduction to Queer Studies in the Humanties (WST 111)/Liz Montegary
Tu/Th 11:30AM-12:50PM SBS N310
This course provides students with a basic overview of queer studies and introduces
them to major texts, theories, and thinkers within this interdisciplinary field. Framed as
an American studies class, this course will focus specifically on the development of queer studies
within the US academy and on how queer theory has transformed the study of sexuality within the
United States. We will begin by examining Michel Foucault’s theorization of sex, power, and subjectivity, and we will ask how his conceptual framework informs queer studies scholarship
on the history of race, sexuality, and US nationality. Next, we will consider the ways
in which contemporary queer analyses of erotic desires and attachments draw upon feminist traditions
and women of color feminism in particular, and we will pay careful attention to the key
interventions that feminist thinkers have made into scholarly debates about the politics of identity
and sexuality. Finally, we will explore the limits and possibilities of the queer modes
of critique that emerged in conjunction with militant AIDS activism during the 1990s, and we will conclude
byasking what a queer politics can or should look like in the early twenty-first century.
Throughout the semester, we will remain attentive to the innovative methodologies that scholars
have developed by bringing critically queer perspectives to bear on Marxism, Native studies,
disabilitystudies, transgender studies, postcolonial studies, and critical race and ethnic studies.
Dec: G
SBC: HUM
3 credits
Introduction to Feminist Theory (WST 291)/ Victoria Hesford
Tu/Th 1:00-2:20 p.m. Frey 316
This course provides an introductory survey of historical and contemporary interdisciplinary
feminist theory. The class is designed to introduce you to a wide variety of feminist
theories from different perspectives and areas of knowledge production. One of our
goals for the semester will be to create a “theory toolbox” through our engagement
with a range of theoretical perspectives on questions of sex, gender, sexuality, race,
class, knowledge, discourse, and representation as they effect and shape social and
economic forms of power including, nationalism,
capitalism, imperialism, and war. The emphasis of the course will remain focused on the theories produced by feminists to help explain and resist dominant or exploitative forms of power. We will also pay attention to the variety of theories produced and the contradictions and conflicts that may arise between feminists as a result. There has never been just one way of being a feminist, nor has there been only one feminist theory. A primary aim of the course is to map the diversity of feminist theoretical interests and solutions from different times and places. This course will provide a strong theoretical foundation for further studies in Women’s and Gender Studies.
capitalism, imperialism, and war. The emphasis of the course will remain focused on the theories produced by feminists to help explain and resist dominant or exploitative forms of power. We will also pay attention to the variety of theories produced and the contradictions and conflicts that may arise between feminists as a result. There has never been just one way of being a feminist, nor has there been only one feminist theory. A primary aim of the course is to map the diversity of feminist theoretical interests and solutions from different times and places. This course will provide a strong theoretical foundation for further studies in Women’s and Gender Studies.
Prerequisite: WST 102 or WST 103
Dec: G
SBC: ESI, HFA+
3 credits
Histories of Feminism (WST 301)/ Nancy Hiemstra
Tu/Th 10:00AM-11:20AM Javits 103
This course offers a historical study of the theoretical and practical developments
that form contemporary feminism. Although the course will concentrate primarily on
feminist histories in the United States, it will also place those histories within
a global context, paying close attention to class and race as well as gender. To that
end, we will examine a variety of materials including historical studies, theoretical
essays, literature, and film. The course will follow a roughly chronological order
beginning with the emergence of the idea of “Women’s Rights” during the late
18th century, and ending with the emergence of the concepts of global and third wave feminisms in the 1990s and beyond. We will consider the questions: How do we know a feminist when we see/read one? What makes something feminist?
18th century, and ending with the emergence of the concepts of global and third wave feminisms in the 1990s and beyond. We will consider the questions: How do we know a feminist when we see/read one? What makes something feminist?
Advisory prerequisite: WST major or minor or WST 102 or WST 103
Dec: K
SBC: SBS+
3 credits
Feminist Theories in Context (WST 305)/ Melissa Forbis
M/W 2:30-3:50 p.m. Humanities 3020
This course will examine the key debates and concepts that have informed contemporary
articulations of feminist theory. We will focus on how feminist theory is produced,
along with gender, through configurations of nation, race, citizenship, sexuality,
and class in different historical and cultural contexts. We will begin with a brief
look at the shifts in feminist theory from the 1970s to the early 21st century by
examining a selection of classic texts. Reading across disciplines, we will employ
a transnational and decolonial feminist perspective to examine the continuities and
ruptures of feminist theorizing in diverse locations, challenging the presumed location
of theory in the West/Global North and the middle-class. Finally, we will work collectively
to trace the conditions and contours of emerging feminist thought.
Prerequisite: WST major or minor, or WST 102 (formerly SSI/ WST 102), or WST 103,
or WST 301, or WST/PHI 284, or 6 credits of departmentally approved courses.
Dec: G
SBC: HFA+
3 credits
Senoir Research Seminar for Majors or Minors (WST 407)/ Liz Montegary
Th 4:00-6:50 p.m. SBS N115
An exploration of significant feminist scholarship in various disciplines, designed
for senior women's and gender studies majors or minors. Seminar participants present
and discuss reports on their reading and research.
Prerequisites: WST 291 and WST 301 and WST 305; 15 additional credits in the minor;
U4 standing; Women's Studies major or minor
SBC: EXP+, SPK, WRTD.
3 credits
Senoir Research Seminar for Majors or Minors (WST 408)/ Melissa Forbis
Monday 4:00-6:50 p.m. SBS N115
An exploration of significant feminist scholarship in various disciplines, designed
for senior women's and gender studies majors or minors. Seminar participants present
and discuss reports on their reading and research.
Prerequisites: WST 291 and WST 301 and WST 305; 15 additional credits in the major;
U4 standing; Women's Studies major or minor
SBC: EXP+, SPK, WRTD.
3 credits
focus studies
In this course we will explore two broad themes: Global Science and Women’s Health.
We will investigate how these two themes relate to each other through particular case
studies. Our first series of case studies will look at various relationships within
the institution of medicine: between doctors and patients, patients and nurses, doctors
and nurses, etc. As we analyze these various relationships, we will consider the way
knowledge, power, and choice gets expressed in and through these relationships. Our
second series of case studies will expand out from those particular relationships
within medicine to larger global structures that affect the health of peoples throughout
the world, historically and in the present. In this section we will explore bioethical
issues and the relationship between health and human rights. Some of our organizing
questions for the semester include: what factors impact health?; what constitutes
good care?; and how can we better deliver care throughout the world? The course is
structured to move from the experience of the ill body in the world to the way global
structures affect that particular experience and back again. View flyer!
Dec: J
SBC: GLO, SBS+
3 credits
Histories of SUNY and CUNY (WST 398)/Rachel Corbman
Tu/Th 10:00- 11:20 a.m. Frey 112
This course invites Stony Brook students to think critically about the history and
future of New York’s public colleges and universities. Using Stony Brook as our focal
point, we will trace this history from the mid-twentieth century to the current moment.
In particular, this course is interested in the interrelated histories of student
activism; the emergence of interdisciplinary fields like black studies, women’s studies,
ethnic studies, and Chicano studies; and the shift towards the privatization of public
colleges and universities, which is often referred to as the corporatization or neoliberalization
of the university. Course readings will include a wide range of archival documents,
foundational texts, and exciting new scholarship at the intersection of feminist,
queer, critical race, and critical university studies. What was life like for students,
faculty, and staff at New York’s public colleges and universities over the past seventy
years? What alternative visions have been put forth during this time? And finally,
what should be different and how do we change it? View flyer!
Dec: K
SBC: SBS+
3 credits
Thinking Sex (WST 399)/Kadji Amin
M/W 2:30-3:50 p.m. Physics P117
Is sex a series of increasingly sinful acts, an exercise of gender domination, the
signal criterion for sorting normal and abnormal types of people, the key to one’s
identity, a repressed potency to be liberated, the most fascinating topic of discussion,
or something no decent person knows very much about? Who has the right to sexual pleasure:
do women have it, do children, what about prisoners, and what about the disabled?
How has sex come to be so overloaded with meaning, and what are some of the key scholarly
frameworks for thinking it?
This interdisciplinary course explores a range of approaches to thinking the political
and social meaning of sex. We will study the potentials and limitations of some of
the key theoretical frameworks for thinking sex within queer and sexuality studies.
Topics we will explore include the history of sex and sexuality; the relationship
of sex to liberation and power; and how race, disability, and emergent transgender
identities change what sex means. We will close by surveying new scholarship on the
social meanings of queer erotic practices. Throughout, we will consider the ethics
of research on sex and sexuality, methodological problems inherent in the slipperiness
of sex as an object of knowledge, and what the proper “object” of research on sex
and sexuality might be.
Dec: G
SBC: HFA+
3 credits
electives
Sociology of Gender (WST/SOC 247)/Linda Wicks
M/W/F 11:00-11:53 a.m. Javits 102
The historical and contemporary roles of women and men in American society; changing
relations between the sexes; women's liberation and related movements. Themes are
situated within the context of historical developments in the U.S. This course is
offered as both SOC 247 and WST 247.
Dec: K
SBC: SBS
3 credits
Japanese Literature in the Feminine Domain (WST/AAS 331)/Mary Diaz
Tu/Th 4:00-5:20 p.m. SBS S328
This course examines both writings of Japanese women and writings about Japanese women.
It will challenge the application of current Western feminist standards to Japanese
culture through the analysis of Japanese literary works. We will begin with Japanese
mythology focusing on the stories of the creator goddess and Amaterasu, the sun goddess,
from whom the imperial line was descended. We will consider the great Heian Era women
writers and their culture, examining the difference between men's and women's writing.
From the Heian era we will move to the Meiji Era, when Japan's isolationist period
had ended and centuries' worth of Western literature was introduced to Japan. We
will concentrate on the writings of Higuchi Ichiyo, noting how the position of women
had changed by her day and how it affected her literary style. The course will close
with a focus how literature treats Japanese women in our own time. Dec: J
SBC: HFA+
3 credits
Women and Gender in Early Modern History (WST 334/HIS 336)/Susan Hinely
Tu/Th 1:00-2:20 p.m. Chemistry 128
This course will examine modern European history from a gender perspective. In other
words, we will examine the ways in which the constantly challenged and changing social
division of humans into the categories of women and men structured the political,
economic, and cultural history of Europe during its period of global dominance. The
period covered is roughly from the 18th century through the Second World War, with
background provided at one end and a brief review of post-national Europe at the other.
Dec: I
SBC: SBS+
3 credits
Sociology of Human Reproduction (WST/SOC 340)/Catherine Marrone
W 7:00-9:50 p.m. Frey 104
A study of the links between biological reproduction and the socioeconomic and cultural
processes that affect and are affected by it. The history of the transition from high
levels of fertility and mortality to low levels of both; different kinship, gender,
and family systems around the world and their links to human reproduction; the value
of children in different social contexts; and the social implications of new reproductive
technologies.
Dec: H
SBC: STAS Explore Interconnectedness
3 credits
Feminist Literature of War, Conflict, and Hope (WST/EGL 372)/Yalda Hamidi
M/W 4:00-5:20 p.m. Melville Library N4072
This course examines the experiences of war, terrorism and social conflict among different
women of the world. We will read novels, memoirs, poetry and testimonial life narratives,
written by women from a variety of backgrounds to see how they speak about their experiences. Such
works may include I am Malala, The War at Home, and Persepolis, etc. This literature
will challenge the dominant homogeneous interpretation of the media covering these
issues and will provide students with more knowledge about them. This course also
criticizes the point of view that considers women powerless victims of social disasters and
tries to highlight the idea of feminist hope through the voice of female authors of
these texts.
Dec: G
SBC: HFA+
3 credits
Cultures of Disability (WST 392)/Lisa Diedrich
Tu/Th 4:00-5:20 p.m. Frey 326
In this course we will consider disability historically and cross-culturally, and
investigate the shifting ways disability has been understood and misunderstood, celebrated
and stigmatized, made invisible and made spectacular. We will look at various models
for understanding disability, including the biomedical model and the social model,
and we will analyze the emergence of the disability rights movement and disability
studies in the university. We will approach disability and dis/ableism as categories
of analysis, operating intersectionally with other categories, including race, gender,
sexuality, and class. Because the “experiences” of disability are so varied (the concept
covers physical and mental disabilities; visible and invisible disabilities; congenital,
sudden, or progressive disabilities; permanent or temporary disabilities), and because
most of us will, at some point in our lives, become disabled, investigating the
“experiences” of disability gives us insight into the complicated and changing relationship between selves, bodies, and worlds. Investigating disability allows us to ask many questions, including: What makes humans human? What is the relationship between thought and language? How do we articulate experiences of the body? How are certain situations, including poverty, war, and incarceration, disabling? View Flyer!
“experiences” of disability gives us insight into the complicated and changing relationship between selves, bodies, and worlds. Investigating disability allows us to ask many questions, including: What makes humans human? What is the relationship between thought and language? How do we articulate experiences of the body? How are certain situations, including poverty, war, and incarceration, disabling? View Flyer!
Dec: H
SBC: STAS
3 credits