An interdisciplinary exploration of a particular theme, area or period, with respect to issues of women and gender.
| Distribution Area | Prerequisites | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| 1 course |
Many readers may be familiar with groundbreakers like Lorraine Hansberry, whose Raisin in the Sun has become part of the canon of Civil Rights era reading. But in the 1960s and 1970s, African American women playwrights like Adrienne Kennedy and Ntozake Shange were doing experiments with language and theatricality that had never been seen before. And from the 1980s into the present, we continue to witness important works by writers like Anna Deavere Smith, Suzan-Lori Parks (the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama), Lynn Nottage, and many others.
This course focuses primarily on works by these more recent playwrights, with specific attention to ways that race/racism and gender/sexuality-- as well as social class and professional marginalization--have affected their work and become integral to their plays. This is a course that will require active participation; since it is also a "W" class, students will do a variety of writing exercises and more formal papers.
This course examines the portrayal and representation of women, women's issues, and women's voices in contemporary film through three key perspectives. The first explores how the male gaze shapes our perceptions and depicts women through a prejudiced lens. The second focuses on female characters who are true to their desires and lives, analyzing how they navigate personal and societal challenges. The final chapter broadens the scope to examine women's roles in addressing larger social issues, such as war, environmental concerns, and ethical dilemmas, highlighting how film captures their engagement with these topics. This course aims to deepen students¿ understanding of women's cinema, promote feminist perspectives, and foster an appreciation of film as a powerful artistic and ideological medium.
This course explores utopian and dystopian narratives in literary and visual culture created by women writers and artists. Specifically, we will examine conventions of the each genre in poetry, short stories, novels, graphic novels, as well as painting, sculpture, and film. Course texts include Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland, Kelly Sue DeConnick's and Valentine De Landro's comic B*tch Planet, to name a few.