Course List

 Summer 2012 Women & Gender Studies Courses 

WST 101: Introduction to Women & Gender Studies           

Portland 5/14/2012 - 6/27/2012 MTW 12:30-3:45PM

Prof. Sarah Lockridge

 This course explores from a variety of perspectives the following inter-related themes and topics: the economic, political, and social status of women as a group and in discrete cultural contexts; the politics of representation, or how ideas about femininity and feminism are promoted throughout the media and other vehicles of culture; the construction of “consciousness,” both through the media and through feminist tactics; women and collective action in the past, present, and future. Students are expected to practice their writing skills through formal essays. 3 credits

WST 345: Earlier American Women Writers      

Online 07/02/2012 - 08/17/2012                   

Prof. Eve Raimon                     

How should we assess some of the most popular writing by American women of the late 18th century through the nineteenth-century, both aesthetically and politically? How was it assessed in its own day? How did this work intervene in struggles over slavery, women's rights, temperance, and other social and political issues of the day?  Why has this tradition of earlier women’s writing largely been rediscovered since the 1970s?  How does race inflect all of these issues? These are the primary questions this course will tackle by surveying fiction and poetry of some of the most popular literature written during this period by women of Anglo and African American descent.  We will start with Susanna Rowson’s Charlotte Temple (1791) and end with Frances E. W. Harper’s Iola Leroy (1892). 3 credits *Fulfills Pre-1800 Requirement                            

WST 355: History of Construction of Sexuality

Portland 5/17/2011 - 6/30/2011 T/Th 9:00AM - 11:45AM

Prof. Howard Solomon

An historical survey of lesbians and gay men in European and American society, and the changing relationships of heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality, from Classical Greece and Rome to contemporary North America.  Selected topics include: same-sex behavior and identity in Classical, Medieval, and Early Modern Europe; the impact of medicine, science and politics upon theories of gender and sexuality; early homophile movements; normative masculinity and femininity pre-World War I; the relationship of race, class, and colonialism to lesbian and gay identity; homosexuals, democracy, and fascism during World War II; “Gay Liberation” from World War II to the AIDS epidemic; queer theory and contemporary American culture.                                           

WST 320: Maine NEW Leadership

Prof. Wendy Chapkis

5/16/2011 - 6/10/2011    

This course must be taken in conjunction with the Maine NEW Leadership Institute offered by the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, which is happening at the University of Maine from June 2-7, 2011.  Applications for the Maine NEW Leadership Institute must be submitted by March 17, 2011. For Information on Maine NEW Leadership Institute visit: http://mcspolicycenter.umaine.edu/?q=newleadership.

WST 420/520: Women Hist & Politics Mid East                                 

*Fulfills Non-Western Requirement                                                        

Prof. James Sater                                                                                    

4632 Blended 07/02/2012 - 07/27/2012

Week of July 1 online by Blackboard

Weeks of July 8 & 15th: T-W-TH 10:00 am-1:00 pm, Portland Campus

Week of July 22 online by Blackboard

This course focuses on the role of women in the shaping of the modern Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It discusses the role of religion in shaping social and political practices, as well as links between tribal society and gender norms. It emphasizes how through a history that is marked by colonization and the struggle for independence, different Middle Eastern states adopted laws that often inhibited the participation of women in politics. It thereby historicizes the current struggle for gender equality, and discusses case studies of reforms that affected women’s political participation. 3 credits

Fall 2012 Women & Gender Studies Courses

EYE 109: Gender Representation & Resistance

Portland T/TH 11:45-1:00PM Prof. Susan Feiner

Portland T/TH 1:15-2:30PM Prof. Kate Wininger

Portland T/TH 2:45-4:00PM Prof. Susan Feiner 

Femininity and masculinity mean different things to different people. Why? Examining the fundamental impact of gender on all human activity—artistic, scientific, religious, economic, political, legal, linguistic—this course wonders out loud about sexuality, deviance, normalcy and the liberating power of pleasure. Drawing on many disciplines, we will explore ideas of gender roles in many cultures and throughout history, focusing on the following questions: What is gender? How is it represented historically and cross-culturally? How have people redefined its meanings and representations? Students will learn: definitions of gender in diverse cultures and times; the ways gender shapes daily interactions and human relationships; and the ways social institutions distribute power, resources, and status based on such meanings and on their relations with race, ethnicity, age, class, ability, sexuality, and nation. Students will consider the impact of mass media, education, and political discourse on gender construction. Students will discover how people have reconsidered, resisted, and transformed traditional gender roles and representations. 3 credits

WST 101: Introduction to Women & Gender Studies

Portland M/W 10:15-11:30AM Prof. Lorrayne Carroll

Portland T/TH 1:15-2:30PM Prof. Kim Simmons

Gorham T/TH 9:30-10:45AM Prof. Desi Larson 

This course explores from a variety of perspectives the following inter-related themes and topics: the economic, political, and social status of women as a group and in discrete cultural contexts; the politics of representation, or how ideas about femininity and feminism are promoted throughout the media and other vehicles of culture; the construction of “consciousness,” both through the media and through feminist tactics; women and collective action in the past, present, and future. Students are expected to practice their writing skills through formal essays. 3 credits 

WST 201: Women, Knowledge & Power

Portland T/TH 11:45-1:00PM

Prof. Sarah Lockridge
  

This course examines the ways in which the politics of knowledge production shape culture and gender relations. It explores the ways women have historically resisted, subverted, appropriated and reformed traditional bodies of thought. Prerequisites: WST 101I, EYE 109 or permission of instructor. 3 credits

WST 245/PHI 220: Philosophy of Art                                                       

Portland T 4:10-6:40PM                                                                          

Portland TH 4:10-6:40PM                                                                          

Prof. Kate Wininger 

What makes a person creative? What do artists think about their art? How do critics evaluate a work? If art is created for a cultural ritual or healing, is it to be understood differently? How do the circumstances of a work’s creation and reception effect its evaluation? How does a person’s class, ethnicity, or gender influence art work and its reception? Philosophers in the field of Aesthetics attempt to answer questions which artists, art historians, anthropologists, and critics ask about art. The works of art and philosophy considered will be draw from a wide variety of cultural contexts. 3 credits

WST 320/SBS/HUM 358: Representations of Motherhood                   

LAC T 4:00-6:30PM                                                                                

Prof. Rosemary Cleary


This interdisciplinary course examines the ways in which motherhood is represented in various cultural forms (including film, literature and political rhetoric) and from within different historical and cultural contexts.   Contemporary psychological theories will be considered in terms of how they are used to prescribe normative demands on women and mothers and also how they attribute various powers to mothers that then contribute to the construction of particular social policies and practices. Prerequisite:  LCC 110 or other College Writing course. 3 credits

WST 345/ENG 377: Oscar Wilde and Fin-de-Siecle Culture                     

Portland T/TH 10:15-11:30AM                                                                      

Prof. Shelton Waldrep

This class will focus on the literature and culture at the close of the Victorian era. The core of the course will be an attempt to come to terms with the career of the decade’s most famous and notorious personality, Oscar Wilde. Our primary focus will be to understand Wilde’s significance to the decade that is often most associated with him and which is often seen as key to the transition between the Victorian and modernist periods. We will look not only at the influences on Wilde himself—Pater’s The Renaissance and Huysmans’ Against Nature, for example—but also at Wilde’s attempt at a self-conscious transformation of Victorian ideals into the “decadent” or “mauve” atmosphere with which his century ends. We will cover all of Wilde’s major types of writing—critical dialogues, social comedies, fiction, and poetry. In addition to Wilde, we will also consider works that may have been written in response to Wilde’s infamous series of trials in 1895 for homosexuality such as Stoker’s Dracula and HG Wells’s The Time Machine, as well as works published at the time of the trials and deals with some of the same issues of gender and class. We end with a discussion of Wilde’s legacy in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 3 credits

WST 355/HTY 339: European Women's History                                 

Portland M/W  10:15-11:30AM                                                                

Prof. David Kuchta

A survey of women's lives in historical context, from ancient times to the twentieth century. Emphasis is placed on various themes over time and across cultures, including those of work, family, political involvement, aspects of gender and class differences, and intellectual and cultural contributions. The field of women's history and its methodology are also considered. 3 credits

WST 365/SOC 358: Sociology of Women's Work                              

Portland M/W 11:45-1:00PM                                                                   

Prof. Cheryl Laz

This course will introduce students to theoretical and empirical literature on women’s work in the aid labor force, on their unpaid labor in the home, and on the relationship between these two kinds of “women’s work.” The course emphasizes the diversity of women’s work and the interconnections among race-ethnicity, class, and gender through a detailed examination of professional women, blue-collar women, and “pink-collar” employees. Additional topics include occupational segregation, earnings differentials, poverty, law and public policy, and labor militancy. Prerequisite: SOC 210E/W with C or better or permission of instructor. 3 credits

WST 365/GEO 302: Gender, Work, and Space                                

Portland M 4:10 - 6:40PM                                                                             

Prof. Lydia Savage 

Students will examine the ways in which the workforce is divided by gender, race, class, and ethnicity and how location and space shape and sustain such divisions. Competing explanations for why women and minorities hold jobs that differ distinctly from jobs held by other workers will be examined. Students will learn how a geographic understanding of gender, race, ethnicity, and class can help explain more fully the current position of women in the economy. 3 credits

WST 365/CRM 317: Gender & Crime                                                

Portland M 4:10-6:40PM                                                                     

Portland W 4:10-6:40PM                                                                             

Prof. Jim Messerschmidt     

This course concentrates on gender and its relation to crime. It explores such issues as histories of gender inequality, the gendered character of criminological theory, and how gender is related to a variety of crimes such as rape, violence in the family, crimes by women, property crimes, and corporate crimes. Prerequisite: CRM 215J. 3 credits

WST 380/SOC 380: Politics of Difference Portland                                   

TH 4:10-6:40PM                                                                                           

Prof. Wendy Chapkis

This course will introduce students to some of the complex relationships among the histories and goals of Western feminism and those of specific non-dominant cultures, inside or outside the United States. Central to the course are the ways that “differences” are embedded and enacted in the context of power relations in the larger society. While the specific content of this course is flexible, it will treat the advantages and disadvantages of using gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality as categories of analysis. Assignments should reinforce those skills learned in WST 280. Prerequisites: WST 280 or permission of instructor. Offered fall semester only. 3 credits

WST 390/ENG 342: Contemporary Feminist Theories                    

Portland M 4:10 - 6:40pm                                                                           

Prof. Lisa Walker     

This course will introduce students to such feminist theoretical approaches as post-structuralism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, critical race theory, and post-colonialism. The focus of the course is the intimate relationships between feminist theories and feminist practices, locally and globally. Prerequisites: WST 101I or EYE 109, WST 201 or permission of the instructor. Offered spring semester. 3 credits 

WST 445/CMS 498: Feminism and Film                                            

Portland W 4:10-6:40PM                                                                           

Prof. Rebecca Lockridge   

This course examines feminist film as an alternative form. What techniques of representation do feminist film directors employ as strategies for resisting social, political/economic, intellectual marginalizing and silencing of marginalized peoples typical of patriarchal cultures? How do feminist films frame topics such as race, ethnicity, nationality, class, disability, age, gender, sex and sexuality? What knowledge is produced? In this course, films from Hollywood to independent documentaries made in countries around the globe provide examples of the multiple perspectives, identities, and assumptions about spectatorship provided in feminist films. Essays by feminist film theorists structure class discussions and written critiques. The particular context of the film’s production, levels of desire effected by the context, and meanings constructed by the cinematic techniques are examined. The course is also designed to increase media literacy as students learn to recognize the interface between technology, culture, media, and politics as they appear in the narrative structure and in cinematic techniques—shot distance, camera angle, lighting, perspective, editing, montage. Prerequisites: CMS 102J and CMS 103, and junior or senior standing or by permission of instructor. 3 credits

 Complete List of WGS Approved Electives