THE BODY IN THEORY

GEN&WS 423

Explores the social, cultural, and political construction of the female/feminine body. Considers specifically the bodies of women and girls, transgender women, non-binary people that embody the feminine, female masculinities, and bodies that identify and are identified as female, as bodies that have historically and traditionally been sites of political contention, of societal meaning making, of cultural symbolism, and active resistance. Seeks to challenge what we think we know about bodies, challenging tacit knowledge and investigating how normative discourses of the female/feminine body are formed across cultures, around the world. Considers the impacts of phenomena such as globalization, neoliberalism, "global" feminism, imperialism, capitalism, and human rights movements on cultural conceptions of health, ability, beauty, representation, and the "value" of female/feminine bodies.

GEN&WS 441

Contemporary theoretical positions and debates about feminisms in the humanities and social sciences.

GEN&WS 103

Examines both physiological and social processes relating to gender and health across the lifespan among cisgender, transgender, and non-binary individuals. Examples of topics include hormonal processes, reproductive anatomy physiology, sexuality, sexual pleasure, chronic illness, depression, and sexual violence. A primary course objective is for students to connect information about their bodies and personal health to larger social and political contexts. In particular, considers how health and health disparities are shaped by multiple kind of social inequalities, particularly inequalities based on gender.

GEN&WS 343

Centralizes the intersection of LGBTQ identities and dis/ability through various queer bodies which are also inflected by race, class, geographical and national locations. Approaches may include critical theory about queer bodies and personal narratives. Students will learn a variety of ways to think critically and creatively about the politics of bodily experience, including how those politics have shaped their own embodied lives.

GEN&WS 830

Examines assumptions and debates in contemporary theorizing about gender and women including what constitutes "good" gender and women studies' theorizing, how to recognize gender-based oppression when we see it, how gender, race, sexuality, and other hierarchies of power intersect, as well as the merits of transnational theorizing about gender and women. Explores whether gender and women's studies' theorizing is a form of activism, how to teach theory in gender and women's studies' classrooms, the value of cultivating distinct gender and women studies' methods, and other dimensions of putting gender and women's studies' theorizing into practice.