Fall Courses

Sarah Miller, Karen Warkentin, Peng Yin
T/R 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM

This course is the introduction to women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, that considers the origins, diversity, and expression of sex and gender. Topics include the evolutionary origin of sexes; evolution, development, and social construction of sex, gender, and sexuality; sexual difference, similarities and diversity in gendered bodies, brains, and behavior. This interdisciplinary introduction is the foundation for the minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Scientific Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.

Tesla Cariani
MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM

Cati Connell
T/R 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM

Introduction to sociological perspectives on sexuality. Historical and comparative analysis of sexuality, with a focus on the social and cultural institutions that shape sexuality in the contemporary U.S. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking, Digital/Multimedia Expression.

Sarah Miller
T/R 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM

An introduction to the social construction of sex and gender with a focus on the economic, political, social, and cultural forces that shape gender relations. Examines gender as a social structure that patterns institutional inequalities and everyday interactions on society. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, The Individual in Community, Teamwork/Collaboration.

Paula Austin
M/W/F 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM

Survey of African American women’s history from the slave trade to the present, investigating its critical role in shaping the meaning of race, gender, and sexuality during slavery, Jim Crow, and the civil rights era. Also offered as CAS HI 297 and CAS AA 297.

Sandra McEvoy
T/R 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM

Delve into the world of Black Widows and Demon Lovers. Using empirical research, case studies, and drama, this course separates fact from fiction to examine gender and its intersections between recruitment, motivations, and conditions under which women behave violently.

Micah Goodrich
T/R 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM

Prereq: at least one prior literature course, or CAS WS 101, or junior or senior standing. Examines representations of gender and sexuality in diverse art forms, including drama, dance, film, and literature, and how art reflects historical constructions of gender. Topic for Fall 2023: Gendered Utopias, Gendered Dystopias. Is it possible to create spaces where women, non-binary and queer people, and other outsiders thrive, or do all paths lead inexorably to a dystopian future? Texts include non-fiction by Delany and Nelson and speculative fiction by Atwood and Butler. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, The Individual in Community.

Saida Grundy
T 12:30 PM – 3:15 PM

Prereq: At least one prior 100- or 200-level sociology course, or CAS WS 101. No one of us is one thing, one identity, nor motivated by one singular interest, nor privileged or subjugated by one singular form of power, but how do those multiple forms of ourselves affect how we are advantaged, disadvantaged, viewed, and understood by the social world? Our social world, is, by default, a vast web of social intersections between and across groups with shared, overlapping, and conflicting identities. Race, class and gender affect nearly all of our lived experiences and greatly complicate and nuance concepts of diversity and difference. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, The Individual in Community, Historical Consciousness.

Sandra McEvoy
T 6:30 PM – 9:15 PM

Prereq: sophomore, junior, or senior standing. A survey of feminist theories and development of strands of feminist inquiry in the academy, movements, and politics. Considers the commonalities and contrast in gender relations across cultures and tensions between major feminist schools of thought. Effective Fall 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Creativity/Innovation.

Roberta Micallef
W 2:30 PM – 5:15 PM

An exploration of representations of gender and identity in contemporary Middle Eastern films by male and female directors reflecting on the impact of modernization, globalization, war and trauma through different visual genres. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression.

Sean Desilets
M/W/F 2:30 PM – 3:20 PM

Prereq: First-Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 120). This course explores what happens to the “human” at the intersection of feminist theory and cinematic representation. How and why do films assign humanity to some figures and withhold it from others on the basis of race, gender, “ability,” etc.? Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Aesthetic Exploration.

Derek Anderson
M/W/F 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM

This course analyzes gender and sexuality from an intersectional perspective. We focus on metaphysics, epistemology, and semantics to understand gender and sexuality as they exist within interlocking systems of oppression including racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, and fatphobia. Also offered as CAS PH 256 and CAS PO 396. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.

Lida Maxwell
T/R 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM

Shannon Peters
W 2:30 PM – 5:15 PM

Prereq: CAS WR 120; or equivalent. This course focuses on strengthening students’ knowledge, skills, and ability to construct a critical appraisal of all the determinants, distribution, causes, mechanisms, systems, and consequences of health inequities related to gender including how gender influences and is influenced by healthcare systems. Also offered as SAR HS 400 A1. Effective Summer 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Research and Information Literacy.

Tesla Cariani
M 2:30 PM – 5:15 PM

Bria Dunham
M/W 10:10 AM – 11:55 AM

Prereq: senior standing. Provides a global perspective on maternal and child health. Major topics include early life influences on later life health, maternity care practices worldwide, and the role of both human evolutionary history and sociopolitical structures in shaping health outcomes for women and children.

Arianne Chernock
M 8:00 AM – 10:45 AM

This seminar treats clothing and other products of material culture as historical documents. Explores what clothing can tell us about key developments in the modern period relating to trade and commerce, empire, gender, class, industry, revolution, nation-building, identity politics, and globalization. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking.

Kyle Gobrogge
T/R 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM

Examines neurobiological and genetic factors that influence sex and violence. Students review primary literature from the past century that highlights major scientific discoveries that have reconceptualized our understanding of the origins of sexual-determination, -attraction and – aggression. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry II.

Celeste Curington
R 12:30 PM – 3:15 PM

Examines neurobiological and genetic factors that influence sex and violence. Students review primary literature from the past century that highlights major scientific discoveries that have reconceptualized our understanding of the origins of sexual-determination, -attraction and – aggression. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry II.

Danielle Rousseau
W 6:00 PM – 8:45 PM

This course engages the topics of sexual deviance and sexual trauma through multiple lens. These lenses include psychological, sociological, criminal justice, public health, and social justice perspectives. The course explores multiple facets of understanding sexual deviance and sexual trauma including legal and philosophical perspectives, historical activism, understanding and treatment of sexual offending, and survivor responses. The roles of multiple systems including the media, mental health organization and the criminal justice system are taken into account. This course includes ongoing group work that engages critical inquiry, addressing relevant topics in sexual trauma in practical ways. Students utilize knowledge of theory and research methodology to pursue real world responses to issues of sexual violence and trauma.

Rachel Mesch
T, 3:30 PM – 5:15 PM

Why were nineteenth-century French writers fascinated by stories about gender variability and gender crossing? Did these stories reflect struggles they experienced in their own lives? How do these narratives anticipate modern explorations of trans and nonbinary lives in film and literature? Was queer and trans joy possible in nineteenth-century France? Exploring theses questions and many more, we will read fictional works by Honoré de Balzac, Théophile Gautier, George Sand and Rachilde alongside contemporary queer, trans, and feminist writings by Judith Butler, Jack Halberstam, Gayle Salomon, and Marquis Bey. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, and Aesthetic Exploration.

Carrie Preston
MWF, 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM

The US southern border is regularly cited as a “crisis” in the popular press, and both main American political parties regularly advance their agendas in relation to the border, which will almost certainly play a tremendous role in the 2024 election season. What makes this border so important to US political imaginaries, cultural constructions, and identity performances? This course will use the US southern border to explore two intersecting critical fields: border studies and critical forced displacement studies. Border studies has emerged since the 1980’s as an interdisciplinary field that examines how cultural practices create borders as spaces that: negotiate between national/cultural belonging and exclusion; question state sovereignty, security, and exceptionalism; and inspire creative literary and activist projects. Critical forced displacement studies is a new field that builds on refugee and migration studies with the insights of gender theory, critical studies of race and ethnicity, and disability studies. We will define forced displacement as a process of coercive violations or unjust omissions that disrupt a person or community’s ability to live a dignified life—one in accordance with their norms and values—in their current or historic place of residence. Critical forced displacement studies (CFDS), shifts attention away from the focus on identities, individual persecution, and present migration patterns leading to border crossings, all of which are central to refugee studies. Instead, CFDS emphasizes communities and cultural productions, histories of human mobility/immobility, and global structures and systems. Alongside theoretical texts, we will read literature by and about displaced communities and track discourses on borders and displacement in contemporary media. 

Kecia Ali
T/R, 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM

The emergence of the Quran as a major religious text, its structure and literary features, and its principal themes and places within the religious and intellectual life of the Muslim community.