Gender Studies

Director of the Gender Studies Program: Tammy Owens

Associate Professor: Gwen D’Arcangelis

Assistant Professor: Sharadha Kumarakshi Kalyanam

Administrative Assistant: Barbara McDonough

Affiliated Faculty

American Studies: Rebecca Krefting, Tammy Owens

Anthropology: Michael Ennis-McMillan, Joowoon Park

Art History: Katherine Hauser, Mimi Hellman, Saleema Waraich

Asian Studies: Mao Chen, Masami Tamagawa

Black Studies: Winston Grady-Willis

English: Barbara Black, Joseph Cermatori, Bakary Diaby, Catherine Golden, Susannah Mintz, Jamie Parra, Sandamini Ranwalage, Mason Stokes

Environmental Studies & Sciences: Nurcan Atalan-Helicke

French: Adrienne Zuerner

History: Jordana Dym, Eric Morser, Murat C. Yildiz

Italian: Shirley Smith

Library: Johanna MacKay

Management and Business: Pushkala Prasad, Minita Sanghvi

Philosophy: William Lewis

Political Science: Katherine Graney, Natalie Fuehrer Taylor

Psychology: Corinne Moss-Racusin, Leigh Wilton

Religious Studies: Lucia Hulsether, Eliza Kent, Ryan Overbey, Gregory Spinner

Social Work: June Paul

Sociology: Catherine White Berheide

Spanish: Mary Kate Donovan, Maria Lander, Beatriz Loyola, Oscar Perez Hernandez

Theater: Lisa Jackson-Schebetta

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Gender Studies B.A.
- Writing Requirement in the Major

Gender Studies B.A.

Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that draws on feminist, gender, queer and intersectional theories and scholarship to analyze systems of gender relations in various cultural settings and time periods. The gender studies major involves students in the exploration of topics such as the social construction and role of gender within various societies, women’s historical and contemporary experiences, and the intersection of multiple social identities such as race, class, sexuality and ability with gender.

Completion of the major strengthens students’ preparation for further work in fields including gender studies, women’s studies, law, public and international affairs, social sciences, the humanities, communications, and the arts. Through the major, students also gain a foundation for understanding the social, intellectual, and political forces that shape international political, economic and social systems and their personal and professional lives. The major leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Students majoring in gender studies must successfully complete ten courses, for a total of at least 32 credit hours, including:

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
Introduction to Gender Studies
Select one of the following to fulfill requirement:		4-6
GW 101	Introduction to Gender Studies
Select two entry-level courses in the gender studies curriculum in different areas (social sciences, humanities, or the sciences) ¹
Additional Requriements
GW 202	Lived Feminism: Engagement and Praxis ²	2
Feminist Theory Requirement
Select one of the following:		3-4
GW 275	Feminist Theories ³
GW 311	Queer Theory
Additional Gender Studies Courses ⁴
Select one course of the following:		1-4
Courses that Include Analysis of the Intersection of Gender and Race in the U.S.
AM 342	Black Feminist Thoughts
EN 221	Introduction to Asian American Literature
EN 363	Special Studies in Literary History (when applicable)
GW 251	Special Topics in Gender Studies (when applicable)
GW 351	Special Topics in Gender Studies (when applicable)
GW 321	Feminist Studies of Science & Technology
MB 336H	Diversity and Discrimination in the American Workplace: Is the Melting Pot Boiling Over?
SO 203	Femininities and Masculinities
SO 316	Women in Modern Society
SO 317	Femininity, Beauty, and the Black Female Body
SO 331	Women in Global Economy
SO 317R	Black Female Body
Courses that Deal Centrally with First Nations and Nations in the Global South
EN 363	Special Studies in Literary History (when applicable)
GW 227	Holding up Half the Sky: Gender, Writing, and Nationhood in China
GW 228	Sexuality in Japan
GW 251	Special Topics in Gender Studies (when applicable)
GW 351	Special Topics in Gender Studies (when applicable)
HI 228	Race, Class, and Gender in Latin America
HI 345P	The Body in Middle East
HI 346	Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Middle East
RE 220	Encountering the Goddess in India
SO 331	Women in Global Economy
Select four additional courses, two must be at the 300-level		12
Senior Sequence in Gender Studies
Complete the following two-course sequence during senior year:		8
GW 374	Feminist Methodologies (offered only in fall semester) ⁵
GW 375	Senior Seminar In Gender Studies (offered only in spring semester) ⁶
Total Hours		30-36

¹: In exceptional cases and only with permission of the director of the Gender Studies Program. Students who take this option must successfully complete eleven courses for the major.
²: Prerequisite: GW 101 Introduction to Gender Studies
³: Formerly GW 201
⁴: These five courses must reflect the interdisciplinary nature of gender studies by drawing from at least three disciplines outside Gender Studies but cross-listed with Gender studies. Students select their courses in consultation with their advisor so as to constitute both breadth and depth.
⁵: Prerequisites: GW 101 Introduction to Gender Studies, GW 202 Lived Feminism: Engagement and Praxis, Feminist Theory Requirement.
⁶: Prerequisites: GW 101 Introduction to Gender Studies, GW 202 Lived Feminism: Engagement and Praxis, GW 275 Feminist Theories.

Writing Requirement in the Major

From the foundational course (GW 101 Introduction to Gender Studies) through the capstone (GW 375 Senior Seminar In Gender Studies), gender studies students are expected to write at a high level of proficiency. All Gender Studies majors will be required to complete GW 375 Senior Seminar In Gender Studies, an enhanced writing course, as part of the fulfillment of the major. Upon completion of the gender studies writing requirement, students will be able to:

write papers that demonstrate an understanding of proper grammar, syntax, punctuation, and usage;
consistently apply relevant writing conventions to their written work, including:
- formulating informed questions;
- using gender studies concepts and theories;
- organizing papers clearly; and
- formatting citations and references correctly; and
use evidence, interpretation, and theoretical analysis to support effective arguments.

While the successful completion of GW 375 Senior Seminar In Gender Studies explicitly fulfills the writing requirement in gender studies, the Program expects significant writing competence in all gender studies courses.

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Gender Studies Minor
- Effective for Those Students Who Enter Skidmore in Fall 2021 and Beyond
- Effective for Those Students Entering Skidmore in Fall 2018 Through Fall 2020

Gender Studies Minor

Effective for Those Students Who Enter Skidmore in Fall 2021 and Beyond

A minor consists of six courses, for a total of at least 18 semester hours, including:

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
GW 101	Introduction to Gender Studies	4
GW 202	Lived Feminism: Engagement and Praxis	2
Select one of the following:		3-4
GW 275	Feminist Theories
GW 311	Queer Theory
Select three additional courses, at least one of which is at the 300-level ¹		9
Total Hours		18-19

¹: Chosen from the gender studies curriculum in consultation with the student’s gender studies advisor.

Effective for Those Students Entering Skidmore in Fall 2018 Through Fall 2020

A minor consists of six courses, for a total of at least 20 semester hours, including:

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
GW 101	Introduction to Gender Studies	4
GW 202	Lived Feminism: Engagement and Praxis	2
GW 275	Feminist Theories	4
Select three additional courses, at least one of which is at the 300-level ¹		10
Total Hours		20

¹: Chosen from the gender studies curriculum in consultation with the student’s gender studies advisor.

Honors

Students desiring honors in Gender Studies must meet the requisite grade-point average and complete a thesis supervised by a Gender Studies faculty member or a GW 375 Senior Seminar In Gender Studies paper that receives at least an A-, and is approved for honors by the faculty on the Gender Studies Advisory Board.

Effective for students graduating in 2028 and beyond:

Students desiring honors in Gender Studies must have a minimum GPA of 3.8 or higher in the major and complete a thesis supervised by a Gender Studies faculty member or a GW 375 Senior Seminar in Gender Studies project.

Course Listing

GW 101 - Introduction to Gender Studies

Credits: 4

An introduction to the origins, purpose, subject matters, and methods of the interdisciplinary study of gender. Students are expected to expand their knowledge of the relative historical and present social conditions of people of different genders in different contexts and to develop analytical skills for the examination of socially significant variables-race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality. Students will explore different and often opposing understandings of what constitutes feminism and feminist action. The class format will combine interactive lectures, reading assignments, discussion, formal research and writing assignments, and other student projects. Ideally, students will leave the class with an understanding of how gender structures cultural, political, economic, and social relations in various contexts.

Note(s): Fulfills Humanistic Inquiry requirement.

GW 202 - Lived Feminism: Engagement and Praxis

Credits: 2

Students will explore what it means to do "feminist praxis"--to carry the lessons and skills they have learned in Gender Studies to make change in the larger community of Skidmore and beyond. Students will formulate and complete a feminist praxis and/or community engagement project over the course of the semester. Students will decide on project with guidance of instructor. Examples of possible projects include: collaboration with a campus, local or national organization; community-based research and assessment; a public awareness campaign; a public event; a piece of political theater; a video; a website; a zine series.

Prerequisites: GW 101 and SSP 100.

Note(s): Fulfills Bridge Experience requirement.

GW 210 - Ecofeminism, Women, and the Environment

Credits: 3

An interdisciplinary exploration of the complex relationship between feminist theory and praxis, and environmental philosophy and activism. Using the idea of “ecofeminism” as its unifying focus, the course examines such national and global issues as deforestation, overpopulation, species extinction, bioregionalism, environmental pollution, habitat loss, development, and agribusiness. Representative perspectives include those based in deep ecology, social ecology, animal and nature rights, human ecology, earth-based spiritualities, “wise use,” the “land ethic,” conservation, and wildlife management . "

GW 212 - Women in Italian Society: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Credits: 3

Students examine the changing role of women in Italian society. Authors and filmmakers studied include Natalia Ginzburg (Family Lexicon), Dacia Maraini (The Blind Countess), and Lina Wertmuller (Pasqualino Seven Beauties). A portion of the course is dedicated to the new multiethnic Italian reality. Texts by women immigrants in Italy in the last decade include works by Igiaba Scego and Christiana de Caldas Brito.

GW 220 - Too Fat? Too Thin? Women and Eating Disorders

Credits: 3

The course begins with a historical examination of the ways in which the female body has been coded with meanings, and the effects those meanings have had on women's real lives. We will study the ambivalence and contradictions regarding norms of health, thinness, and obesity. We will approach eating disorders from feminist perspectives, which consider these behaviors as women's responses to oppression. Finally, we will consider food from a scholarly as well as real-life perspective.

Prerequisites: GW 101 or one course listed as applicable to Gender Studies.

GW 221 - The Social Skin: Gender, Beauty & Body Modification

Credits: 3

A cross-cultural examination of body modification focusing squarely on the social construction of gender. Examples range from tattoos, cicatrices, and labrets to cosmetic surgery and bodybuilding. All societies mark and modify human bodies in some fashion, and for a wide variety of reasons. Students will study different and changing ideals of beauty for all genders and interrogate the complicated nexus between bodies and identities.

Note(s): Fulfills Global Cultural Perspectives requirement.

GW 227 - Holding up Half the Sky: Gender, Writing, and Nationhood in China

Credits: 3

Interdisciplinary exploration of gender issues in China, especially but not exclusively focusing on the roles of women in the making of modern Chinese history. Students will learn about cultural specificities in the experiences of Chinese women while exploring the diverse meanings of "women's status" and gender relations. Themes to be examined in the course content include gendered subjectivities, the ideology of the new women, the impact of globalization and transnational capital, different gender roles, and women's writing from the Opium War to contemporary China. Emphasis on different stages of women's writing in relation to their cultural conditions and social awakening, and on the ways ideologies helped form gender identities in the twentieth century.

Note(s): Fulfills Humanistic Inquiry and Global Cultural Perspectives requirements.

GW 228 - Sexuality in Japan

Credits: 3

An exploration of sexualities in Japan emphasizing familial, historical, political, and sociological perspectives. Students will study the intersection of sexuality with popular culture and international relations, and address the following topics: marriage, prostitution, homosexuality, and pornography in contemporary Japanese society.

Note(s): Fulfills Global Cultural Perspectives requirement.

GW 251 - Special Topics in Gender Studies

Credits: 1-4

Topically-organized course focused on selected problems, areas, and issues of special interest in Gender Studies at the intermediate level. Topics vary depending on specialization and research interests of the instructor.

Prerequisites: GW 101.

Note(s): Repeatable, with the approval of the department, if the topic is different each time.

GW 275 - Feminist Theories

Credits: 4

A critical exploration of the history, development, influence, and implications of feminist theories. Instructors will introduce students to in-depth study of at least 3 feminist theoretical traditions. Course content covers early (e.g., seventeenth century) as well as contemporary time periods, in particular current trends in antiracist feminist, gender, and queer theories.

Prerequisites: GW 101.

Note(s): Students are also encouraged, but not required, to take GW 202 before GW 275, or to take the two concurrently.

GW 311 - Queer Theory

Credits: 4

An overview of key themes and critical frameworks in queer theory. Topics include histories of sexuality, systems and structures of oppression including heterosexism, homophobia, and transphobia; resistance to oppression, systemic and structural violence against LGBTQIA2S+ people; queer/trans activisms, and diverse experiences of sexuality. This course considers the relationships between queer/trans identities and experiences and racism, (settler) colonialism, sexism, ableism, classism, and other forms of oppression. It focuses on representations in art, literature, social media, and other cultural production, and queer temporalities, affects, and aesthetics.

Prerequisites: GW 101 or completion of the college expository writing requirement.

Note(s): Fulfills Humanistic Inquiry requirement.

GW 321 - Feminist Studies of Science & Technology

Credits: 4

An exploration of how science and technology intersect with gender and race in a global context. How have scientific disciplines such as biology or engineering defined and shaped gender and race? In what ways can science reinforce, or alternatively, challenge sexism and racism? Drawing primarily on feminist science studies scholarship and feminist science fiction, this course will critically examine practices of science and technology and the way they shape and are shaped by larger political, cultural, and social contexts across the globe with particular attention to BIPOC perspectives within and beyond the United States. We will begin with the assumption that science and technology are not neutral or natural phenomenon, but rather cultural and social constructs. That is, science and technology are shaped by human interests, and embedded in metaphors and narratives which represent deep cultural values and assumptions that need to be examined. In this course we explore key socio-political questions about the role of science and technology in society such as: Why do scientists continue to look for sex differences in the brain? What does DNA ancestry testing really tell us about our racial identity? Why don’t we have a male birth control pill? How can feminist science fiction help us to imagine and create new approaches to science and technology that will better serve the lives of marginalized peoples?

Prerequisites: GW 101 or BST 101 or permission of instructor.

Note(s): Fulfills Global Cultural Perspectives requirement.

GW 351 - Special Topics in Gender Studies

Credits: 1-4

Topically-organized course focused on selected problems, areas, and issues of special interest in Gender Studies at the advanced level. Topics vary depending on specialization and research interests of the instructor.

Prerequisites: GW 101.

Note(s): Repeatable, with the approval of the department, if the topic is different each time.

GW 371 - Independent Study in Gender Studies

Credits: 1-4

A program of individual reading and research under the direction of the gender studies faculty.

Prerequisites: approval of the Director of Gender Studies.

GW 374 - Feminist Methodologies

Credits: 4

An exploration of how feminist scholars challenge dominant theories of knowledge and approaches to research. This course provides a framework for thinking about methods and forms of knowledge production that engage questions of social justice, value reflexivity, and center liberatory praxis. Emphasis is placed on the inter-disciplinary nature of inquiry in gender studies and the ways in which particular methodologies arise from and relate to specific theoretical positions. Instructors introduce students to a range of research methods and course culminates in student proposals for an advanced research project that they will complete the following semester (GW 375).

Prerequisites: GW 101, GW 202, and Feminist Theories requirement.

Note(s): Must be taken fall of senior year.

GW 375 - Senior Seminar In Gender Studies

Credits: 4

An integration of students' previous experiences at Skidmore while enabling the production of new and creative works. Students will engage in advanced research, will complete a major project (proposed in the preceding semester in GW 374), and will present their research to the seminar. They will also execute a community engagement component derived from their research, and explore possibilities for Gender Studies majors after graduation.

Prerequisites: GW 374.

Note(s): Fulfills Senior Experience Coda requirement.

GW 376 - Senior Thesis

Credits: 3

Independent study and research leading to a thesis examining, from an interdisciplinary perspective, a topic relevant to gender studies. Students will work under the direction of a faculty advisor as well as a second reader.

Note(s): Open to gender studies majors only.

GW 399 - Internship in Gender Studies

Credits: 1-4

Internship opportunity for students whose academic and cocurricular experience has prepared them for professional work related to gender studies. With faculty sponsorship and approval of the director of the Gender Studies Program, students may extend their educational experience into such areas as counseling, education, crisis intervention, health care delivery, business and management, and other areas relevant to gender studies. Academic assignments will be determined by the faculty sponsor in consultation with the on-site supervisor.

Prerequisites: Two courses in gender studies, at least one of which is at the 200 or 300 level.

The following list may be revised with the approval of the director as departments offer additional courses in gender studies.

Course List
Code	Title	Hours
AH 243	Body Politics in Early Modern Europe	3
AH 346	Queering the Middle Ages: Gender and Sexuality in Medieval Art	3
AH 361A-F	(when applicable)	3
AH 375	Art History in Action (when applicable)	4
AM 342	Black Feminist Thoughts	3
AM 351	Topics in American Culture (Black Girlhood Studies, Black Boyhood Studies)	1-4
AN 351	Topics in Cultural Anthropology (when applicable)	3
AN 353	Topic Biological Anthropology (Bioarchaeological Approaches to Gender)	1-4
CC 365	Advanced Topics in Classical Civilization (when applicable)	4
EN 223	Women and Literature	3
EN 229	Special Topics in Literature (when applicable)	3
EN 237	Postcolonial Culture	3
EN 238	World Literature	3
EN 248	The Brontës	3
EN 327	Special Studies in African-American Literature (when topic is 327L, Toni Morrison)	3
EN 331	The Wild(e) Nineties	3
EN 338	Queer Fictions	3
EN 339R
EN 354R	(Jane Austen)
EN 360	Women Writers (Black Feminism and Contemporary Poetry)	3
EN 363	Special Studies in Literary History (when applicable)	3
EN 375	Senior Seminar in Literary Studies (when applicable)	4
ES 225	Human Rights and Development	3
HI 251A-D	(when applicable)	1-4
HI 228	Race, Class, and Gender in Latin America	3
HI 345	The Body in Middle East	3
HI 346	Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Middle East	3
HI 351A-D	(when applicable)	1-4
MB 245	Madam President	4
PL 357	Sexing Global Politics: Gender and International Relations	4
PS 313	Psychology of Gender	4
RE 206	Religion and the Scientific Imagination	4
RE 230	Topics in Religion (when applicable)	3
RE 231	(Buddhism and the Body)
RE 316	ORGANIZE: Solidarity in Theory and Practice	4
RE 330	Advanced Topics in Religion (when applicable)	3
SO 203	Femininities and Masculinities	3
SO 204	Introduction to Race, Class, and Gender	3
SO 217	Families in the United States	3
SO 316	Women in Modern Society	3
SO 331	Women in Global Economy	3
SW 224	Special Studies in Social Work (Working with LGBTQ+ Populations)	3
TH 251	Theater Topics (when applicable)	3
TH 334	Special Studies in Theater History and Theory (when applicable)	3