To view GWS courses offered during a specific semester, visit the online University Course Catalogue. Select the semester desired from the drop-down menu, then type "GWS" in the Course Prefix box or select GWS from the drop-down menu. Note that actual course offerings are subject to change, but this guide will provide the most current information available.
SPRING 2023 UNDERGRADUATE COURSES:
GWS 200-201: SEX & POWER
INSTRUCTOR: FRANCES HENDERSON
MEETING TIMES: ONLINE SYNCHRONOUS, MWF 10:00-10:50
This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary fields of both Gender Studies and Women's Studies which explore the ways that sex and gender manifest themselves in social, cultural, and political arenas. It draws upon scholarship in women’s studies, feminist studies, masculinities studies, and queer studies which themselves draw upon a variety of intellectual perspectives, including historical, psychological, rhetorical, sociological, literary, and biological. Students will use gender-based theory to look at the ways in which gender identification and representation influences individuals and societies. The primary goal of this course is to familiarize students with key issues, questions and debates in Gender and Women’s Studies (GWS) scholarship, both historical and contemporary. This course meets USP and/or UK Core requirement (Intellectual Inquiry, Social Science) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
GWS 200-202: SEX & POWER
INSTRUCTOR: JINGXUE ZHANG
MEETING TIMES: ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS
This course introduces Gender and Women’s Studies from a social science perspective using cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approaches. Analyzes relations of power marked by gender and how these relate to other social distinctions and processes. Interactive learning format. This course meets USP and/or UK Core requirement (Intellectual Inquiry, Social Science) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
GWS 201: GENDER & POPULAR CULTURE
SECTIONS:
201: ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS, FRANCES HENDERSON
202: ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS, LUKAS BULLOCK
203: ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS, GREGORY SERRANO
204: ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS, PART OF TERM: MARCH 6-MAY 5, LEE MANDELO
This course examines the role of popular culture in the construction of gendered identities in contemporary society. We examine a wide range of popular cultural forms – including music, computer games, movies, and television – to illustrate how femininity and masculinity are produced, represented, and consumed. This course serves as an introduction to Gender and Women’s Studies (GWS) from a humanities perspective. We will explore the ways identities are constructed through various types of media and popular culture. Representations of gender are central to our study but are always already influenced by other social categories, such as race, sexuality, and class. As a class, in addition to scholarly work, we will investigate how different kinds of texts, such as music videos, movies, television, advertisements, social media, and fictional work, shape our understanding and experience regarding what it means to be a “man” or a “woman.” Throughout this exploration, we will also consider how representation affects us as individuals and as communities in ways to reproduce and perpetuate the social hierarchy of gender, race, sexuality, and class. In GWS 201, we will explore a variety of texts through different lenses that recognize the social systems that privilege some and disadvantage others based on claimed and perceived identities. This course will give you an opportunity to develop your communication and research skills, but most of all, it will challenge you as a critical thinker. This course meets USP and/or UK Core requirement (Intellectual Inquiry, Humanities) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
GWS 201-001: GENDER & POPULAR CULTURE: SEX SCANDALS!
INSTRUCTOR: ELIZABETH WILLIAMS
MEETING TIMES: TR 11:00-12:15
Sex scandals have proven to be an enduring part of political discourse from the ancient times to the present. The first Roman Emperor, Augustus, exiled his daughter Julia after her philandering discredited his moral reforms; during the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette was accused of sleeping with men, women, and even her own son; and more recently, an unverified report from Buzzfeed involving Donald Trump and certain Moscow mattresses raised eyebrows and ire. Although sex scandals are often dismissed as lurid distractions from “real” political issues, in this course we will take them seriously as elements of political discourse. Through a close study of a number of political sex scandals, both past and present, students will consider the following questions: How and why are issues of sexuality morality tied to political legitimacy? Why is sex a useful discourse for expressing political discontent? How do issues of race, class, religion, and region influence the shape of sex scandals? Students in this course will: Consider how and why sexual (mis)behavior functions as a metaphor for political legitimacy; Gain an understanding of how sexuality intersects with other forms of identity, including race, class, gender, religion, ability, nation, etc.; Learn how to read academic texts strategically, looking for argument, evidence, and approach; Develop skills in academic research. This course meets USP and/or UK Core requirement (Intellectual Inquiry, Humanities) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
GWS 250-001: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
INSTRUCTOR: SHAWNA FELKINS
MEETING TIMES: MWF 11:00-11:50
This course takes you through some ways in which people have organized themselves around local, national, and international issues pertaining to gender. We engage key theories that explain the origins, strategies, and success of different forms of social movements across the world. We also critically analyze case studies from different parts of the world to understand how social movements work on the ground and in specific cultural environments with unique historical trajectories, attending to ways in which social movements are shaped by, and do or do not result in changes to social structures of gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality. This course meets USP and/or UK Core requirement (Global Dynamics) and is required for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
GWS 300-001: TOPICS IN GWS: GENDERED DESIRE IN ROM-COMS
INSTRUCTOR: JEORG SAUER
MEETING TIMES: MWF 12:00-12:50PM
Romcoms as a genre use both romance and comedy as film elements to portray relationship tropes. Over the course of the semester, we will examine and analyze the history of the popular genre, how films portray relationships in different decades, and more specifically what romcoms have to say about gender and desire. This course will situate the critical reception of romcoms as associated with "chick flicks" or a "date movie" and why they are considered unrealistic constructs of love. Some of the questions we will consider during the class are: What can the viewer understand about women's/men's desire?; How do these films construct relationship boundaries?; What conditions are acceptable as the foundation of a relationship?; Are the desires of the women/men met?; How do the answers change when the race and/or sexuality of the main characters are changed? During the semester, students will be expected to view films outside of class (provided through Canvas), review them, analyze sequences while using an appropriate film vocabulary, and write some compositions/scenarios. This course meets in-person but accommodations for Zoom will be provided to all students who need them.
GWS 301-001: CROSSROADS IN GWS: GENDER, SEXUALITY, AND POPULAR MUSIC
INSTRUCTOR: JENN HUNT
MEETING TIMES: TR 12:30-1:45
Popular music contains many messages about gender and sexuality, usually in conjunction with other important identities like race and class. In this class, we will analyze popular music across several genres in the past century, from early blues performers like Bessie Smith and Big Mama Thornton to current stars like Beyonce, Lizzo, and Taylor Swift. We will discuss issues such as: How have song lyrics portrayed masculinity, femininity, and gender roles over time? How do artists like David Bowie, Prince, and Harry Styles influence social views about gender expression? What messages about sexuality are expressed in music, and how is that informed by racial politics? How do queer and trans* artists such as Big Freedia, Ani Difranco, and Ezra Furman use music to create awareness and community? How do gender politics influence music-making, including who gets to sing, play instruments, write songs, and produce music? As a course focused on culture and citizenship, we will pay particular attention to the use of popular music as a form of protest, from Nina Simone to Riot Grrrl to songs about Black Lives Matter. We will read feminist analyses of popular music (e.g., hip-hop feminism), analyze music videos, and of course, listen to lots of music, including songs selected by students. This course meets USP and/or UK Core requirement (Community, Culture, and U.S. Citizenship) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
GWS 301-002: CROSSROADS IN GWS: GENDER AND FILM IN APPALACHIA
INSTRUCTOR: CAROL MASON
MEETING TIMES: TR 11:00-12:15
Gender, Film, Appalachia. We will examine how the gendered politics of representation render Appalachians in particularly heroic or derogatory ways, and portray Appalachia as a region and a landscape in particularly gendered terms. How do filmic representations of Appalachia – both documentary and narrative cinema -- function as collective memory or fantasy of the place and its people? How are stereotypes repackaged in media that report on and serve political campaigns, labor disputes, and medical training? How do people of Appalachia fight demeaning depictions and celebrate a diverse regional heritage? This course meets USP and/or UK Core requirement (Community, Culture, and U.S. Citizenship) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
GWS 301-003: CROSSROADS IN GWS: BLACK FEMINISMS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
INSTRUCTOR: FRANCES HENDERSON
MEETING TIMES: MWF 1:00-1:50PM
This course critically examines key issues, debates and theories in post-civil rights Black feminist thought. How do we recognize expressions, demonstrations, or acts of Black feminism(s) in the 21st century? How are these expressions and demonstrations constructed and used? We will investigate the historical context, theoretical tenets, and everyday practice of Black women’s social, political, intellectual lives from a social sciences perspective. The course centers on analysis of Black feminists theoretical/philosophical contributions to academic spaces and praxis through an examination of Black women’s agency in political/liberation struggles. This course meets USP and/or UK Core requirement (Community, Culture, and U.S. Citizenship) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
GWS 302-001: GENDER ACROSS THE WORLD: FOOD, CULTURE, AND GENDER
INSTRUCTOR: SRIMATI BASU
MEETING TIMES: TR 2:00-3:15PM
This topics course explores how the raising, preparing, and sharing of food is interwoven with culture, care and conflict. We will read historical, theoretical, literary and ethnographic explorations of foodways with a focus on how gender (intersecting with race, class, caste and age) mediates the identities and bodies of those who eat, and the landscapes from which our food is harvested. Besides readings, we plan on some hands-on food adventures, creative activities, and guest lectures. Assignments include quizzes, reflective essays, group submissions and a final oral history/ memoir project. This course meets USP and/or UK Core requirement (Global Dynamics) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
GWS 302-201: GENDER ACROSS THE WORLD: GENDER ISSUES ACROSS THE GLOBE
INSTRUCTOR: KIRSTEN CORNEILSON
MEETING TIMES: ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS
In the United States today, many assume that identities such as “nonbinary” or “transgender” are relatively recent concepts. However, across the globe and across human history, there have been individuals, as well as alternate gender systems, that do not conform to contemporary Western notions of binary gender. This course, then, serves to engage with texts about global genders beyond the cis binary. Students will learn about the experiences of gender diversity at different times and in different places, but also grapple with a number of larger questions. For example, does generalizing language around (trans)gender erase specificity and historical context, or even enforce imperialist ideals? How can we recognize the shared struggles against power that many genders worldwide experience, without reducing these peoples to sameness? In doing so, this course will pull from multiple disciplines and students will use lenses such as intersectionality and queer theory to consider class readings as well as topics of personal interest in written papers. This course meets USP and/or UK Core requirement (Global Dynamics) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
GWS 302-202: GENDER ACROSS THE WORLD: THE BODY IN GLOBAL SOCIAL MEDIA
INSTRUCTOR: SHAWNA FELKINS
MEETING TIMES: ONLINE ASYNCHRONOUS
The viral internet meme of “being perceived” rose to prominence in 2020, giving new language to a generation of young people trying to articulate feelings of discomfort in and resistance to the growing hypersurveillance of the social media era. At the center of this meme, are conversations around a disconnect between embodied experience and societal meaning attached to our bodies. What makes a body “good” or “bad?” How are some bodies made invisible, while others are hypervisible? What are the histories of surveillance, legislation, and discipline of marginalized bodies? Who defines a racialized body, a fat body, or a disabled body? This course will examine the body as a necessary site for analyses of the social categories and lived experiences of gender, race, and class in the United States. We will explore the concept of “the body” in feminist scholarship and activism, specifically, theorizations of the systems of power that categorize and stratify groups of people based on their bodies. This course meets USP and/or UK Core requirement (Global Dynamics) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
GWS 309-201 (SAME AS CPH 309): HEALTH, HISTORY, AND HUMAN DIVERSITY
INSTRUCTOR: SHAWNA FELKINS
MEETING TIMES: ONLINE, ASYNCHRONOUS
Health care reform is often in the news, and everyone has an opinion on why the system is broken, how to fix it, who should have access to good medical care, under what circumstances, and what constitutes "good care." This online, multi-format course will consider what it has meant to be a good patient or a good doctor at various points in U.S. history, who was included or excluded in each group, how medicine became professionalized, and how people have organized around health issues. Students will engage with primary sources, watch related films, interact with the professor during virtual "office hours," and participate in online moderated discussions. This course meets USP and/or UK Core requirement (Intellectual Inquiry, Humanities and/or Community, Culture, and Citizenship in the U.S.) and counts toward requirements for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
GWS 340-001: HISTORY OF FEMINIST THOUGHT TO 1975
INSTRUCTOR: ANASTASIA TODD
MEETING TIMES: TR 9:30-10:45AM
This course investigates historical flashpoints in feminist thought up until the late 1970s (ish). Our goal is to weave together multiple histories, epistemologies, and narratives on order to explore the genesis of feminist thought and create an (imperfect) feminist archive that holds the theoretical contributions of feminist thinkers, activists, and intellectuals pre-1980. We will read primary and secondary sources that are not always included in the feminist canon and ask how these texts inform, expose, transform, and challenge our understanding of feminist theory and contemporary social justice issues. Overall, this course is designed to help students think critically about how our ideas of feminism, including who counts as a feminist and what counts as feminist issues have changed (or not changed) over time, place, and space. This course is required for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
GWS 350-001: INTRODUCTION TO FEMINIST THEORY
INSTRUCTOR: ELIZABETH WILLIAMS
MEETING TIMES: TR 2:00-3:15
This course will introduce students to some of the ways that feminist thinkers have conceptualized concepts like sex, gender, race, class, and ability. What are some of the major debates within various feminist movements? What are the differences between theory and praxis– and to what extent do they work well together? How have both scholars and activists approached feminist theory? And what is feminist theory anyway? Students in this course will gain an understanding of major feminist theoretical frameworks, including Black feminist theory, intersectionality, queer and trans theory, disability theory, and de/anti colonial theory. We will also consider how feminist theory might apply to our own lives, experiences, and activisms. Students in this course will: Gain an understanding of different feminist theoretical frameworks; Learn about the histories that have informed these frameworks; Consider how factors like gender, race, sexuality, and ability have shaped the perspectives of feminist theorists; Learn how to read academic texts strategically, looking for argument, evidence, and approach; Apply feminist theory to their own lives and experiences; Understand the connections (and ruptures) between feminist theory and activist projects. This course is required for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
GWS 410-001: INTRO TO QUEER THEORY
INSTRUCTOR: CHARLIE ZHANG
MEETING TIMES: TR 12:30-1:45PM
This course is designed to provide an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of queer studies. Particular attention will be paid to the ways in which queer studies intersect with other fields of critical inquiries, including feminism, critical race theory, poststructuralism, transgender studies, Marxist political economy, decolonization and postcolonial theory, studies of transnationalism and globalization, and environmental studies. Through these theoretical lenses, we will engage the production of queer theory by drawing linkages between queerness, racial formation, performativity and subjectivity, temporalities, ecologies, transgender and intersex, urbanization and gentrification, settler colonialism and neocolonial domination, transnational labor migration and tourism, and global capitalism. Applying queer theory to political debates, films, music and other cultural products, students will improve their critical understanding of human diversities and social justice in a transnational context. This course counts toward requirements for undergraduate GWS majors and minors and the sexuality studies certificate.
GWS 595-201: ISSUES IN GWS: GENDER AND ACTIVISM
INSTRUCTOR: KAREN TICE
MEETING TIMES: ONLINE, SYNCHRONOUS, T 3:30-6:00PM
This course will explore historical and contemporary examples of abolition, indigenous, transnational, and intersectional feminist activism. We will analyze some of the frictions, splinters, obstacles, and cooptation/accommodations that have accompanied feminist initiatives/organizing as well as the affinities and identifications that have enabled and sustained feminist activism and collaborations. We will also consider the ways that feminist activists have related to issues of race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, religion, nationality, and capitalism as well as to other social justice and liberation movements. Finally, we will analyze attempts to undermine feminist solidarities and coalitions by examining internet trolling, the criminalization of protest/liberation movements, right-wing backlash, and cancel culture.
GWS 599-001: SEMINAR IN GWS: CAPSTONE
INSTRUCTOR: SRIMATI BASU
MEETING TIMES: W 3:00-5:30PM
This course provides a space for students to synthesize what they have learned about the methods and theories of GWS in a few different ways. Students will reflect on the ways in which one puts together an argument and writes as an interdisciplinary scholar on gender or women. Students will do this by writing a senior thesis and editing the theses of other students, and reading and discussing some materials which deal with research and writing in GWS. This course can count as a Graduation Composition and Communication Requirement (GCCR) course depending on department and is a requirement for the GWS major. This course is required for the undergraduate GWS major.
ADDITIONAL COURSES FOR GWS CREDIT
MAS 590: GENDER IN POPULAR FILM AND TV
INSTRUCTOR: ERIKA ENGSTROM
MEETING TIMES: TR 12:30-1:45PM
MAS 590 Gender Portrayals in Popular Film and TV covers hegemony, media literacy, and stereotypical and progressive gender portrayals across television and film. Femininity and masculinity will be explored in popular film and texts, with course topics including the woman's film genre of 20th century Hollywood, gender portrayals in Disney princess films, gendered violence in mass media, the Bechdel Test, and how films and television shows depict the gender roles associated with weddings. Starting-point texts for examining gender portrayals across media include NBC's Parks and Recreation, the CW's Supernatural, and films such as Mad Max: Fury Road. Students will analyze a media text of their choosing that illustrates concepts and theories related to gender representation. This course emphasizes a prosocial perspective of media entertainment, and students will learn of positive portrayals of gender that advance feminist and egalitarian ideals. This course counts as an elective for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
PHI 340: INTRODUCTION TO FEMINISM AND PHILOSOPHY
INSTRUCTOR: NATALIE NENADIC
MEETING TIMES: TR 12:30-1:45
This course introduces students to treating feminist topics in a philosophical way. This means examining how experiences, which mainly (though not only) affect women and girls, have compelled us to rethink our understanding of matters such as human nature, freedom, awareness of oppression, and notions of victims and survivors. In doing so, we examine how those experiences have pushed us to come up with new concepts to help us identify and make discrimination, abuses, and inequalities that have long been covered up newly visible. We also explore how these new concepts have spurred changes in law and in society.
To this end, some topics that we may cover include social and political inequalities, sexual harassment, different forms of sexual abuse, pornography, and the #MeToo Movement. This course is interdisciplinary. It combines relevant insights from major works in the history and canon of philosophy and thought, especially social and political philosophy and philosophy of technology, with contemporary writings and real-world platforms and media that have been on the cutting edge of bringing harms to light and, so, are foundational to philosophy’s work of questioning and reconceptualizing such experiences. We may also include illuminating frameworks from other disciplines such as psychology and its concepts of narcissistic personality and sociopathy, which aid us in this philosophical end. This course counts as an elective for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
PSY 563: DIVERSITY AMONG CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN FAMILIES
INSTRUCTOR: RACHEL FARR
MEETING TIMES: TR 9:30-10:45AM
The notion of the “traditional American family” has transformed as families in the United States have become increasingly more diverse. This course is intended to provide senior psychology majors (others may enroll with instructor’s permission) with an overview and analysis of a variety of contemporary family systems in the U.S., such as single-parent families, adoptive and foster family systems, families who have children via reproductive technologies, and families with sexual and gender minority parents. Taught from a developmental psychological perspective, students will also gain understanding in family systems theory and in research methods for studying family systems. Course material will be considered within the context of social issues, questions, and public controversies, e.g., “Is the traditional family disappearing?”, “Is the institution of marriage dying or changing?”, “Do children need both a mother and a father for optimal development?”. The course will address factors that contribute to positive family functioning and healthy outcomes for children and parents. Implications for future research, clinical practice, public policy, and law surrounding parenting and families (e.g., custody and placement decisions) will be covered. Course goals are accomplished through interactive dialogue of course readings, multiple opportunities for presentation on course topics, and several course projects/papers. As a senior capstone, this course is designed to be discussion-based. This course will provide helpful foundation for any students thinking about continuing into developmental psychology, clinical or counseling psychology, family science, social work, education or medical professions, or other related fields. This course counts as an elective for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
WRD 569-001/HIS 591: Composing Oral History: Bourbon Oral History
INSTRUCTOR: J. FERNHEIMER
MEETING TIMES: TR 11:00-12:15
Have you ever wanted to make history? In this class we will do just that! We will build the historical bourbon record by interviewing women industry experts, leaders, insiders. Students will learn about oral history as a method, bourbon as an industry, and the art of interviewing itself. By semester’s end students will know how to craft a strong set of questions, conduct an original oral history interview, reflect on their process, and create persuasive materials aimed at public audiences. Interviews will be archived in the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History as part of the Women in Bourbon Oral History Project. https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt714ts3s4gjp This course fulfills part of the requirements for the Certificate in Distillation, Wine, and Brewing (DWB). *Students must be 21or older to enroll in this course Note: Students who have enrolled in the past have gone on to launch their own bourbon brands; become distillers at Willet, Bulleit and other distilleries; become Bourbon educators, or work at Heaven Hill learning about bourbon law as paid interns.This course counts as an elective for the undergraduate GWS major and minor.
