Courses

Courses

Spring 2007 Courses

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201. Gay and Lesbian Studies
Peter Coviello M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55 CT-16 Harrison McCann
An introduction to the materials, major themes, and defining methodologies of gay and lesbian studies. Considers in detail both the most visible contemporary dilemmas involving homosexuality (queer presence in pop culture, civil rights legislation, gay-bashing, AIDS, identity politics) as well as the great variety of interpretive approaches these dilemmas have, in recent years, summoned into being. Such approaches borrow from the scholarly practices of literary and artistic exegesis, history, political science, feminist theory, and psychoanalysis—to name only a few. An abiding concern over the semester is to discover how a discipline so variously influenced conceives of and maintains its own intellectual borders. Course materials include scholarly essays, journalism, films, novels, and a number of lectures by visiting faculty.

203. Women in Performance
Gretchen Berg M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55 Memorial-108
An exploration of women on stage — as characters, performers, playwrights, directors, designers, and technicians. Reflecting their studies and personal experiences, students engage in historical research and in-class studio work that culminates in performance projects at the end of the semester.

210. Global Sexualities, Local Desires
Krista Van Vleet T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25 Hubbard-22
Explores the variety of practices, performances, and ideologies of sexuality through a cross-cultural perspective. Focusing on contemporary anthropological scholarship on sexuality and gender, asks whether Western conceptions of “sexuality,” “sex,” and “gender” help us understand the lives and desires of people in other social and cultural contexts. Topics may include Brazilian transgendered prostitutes (travestí), intersexuality, and the naturalization of sex; “third gendered” individuals and religion in Native North America, India, and Chile; language and the performance of sexuality by drag queens in the United States; transnationalism and the global construction of “gay” identity in Indonesia; lesbian and gay kinship; AIDS in Cuba and Brazil; and Japanese Takarazuka theater. In addition to ethnographic examples of alternative genders and sexualities (so called “third genders” and non-heterosexual sexualities) in both Western and non-Western contexts, also presents the major theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches used by anthropologists to understand sexuality, and considers how shifts in feminist and queer politics have also required anthropologists to focus on other social differences such as class, race, ethnicity, and post-colonial relations.

236. Romantic Sexualities
David Collings M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55 Searles-115
Investigates constructions of sexuality in English romantic writing. Examines tales of seduction by supernatural or demonic figures; the sexualized world of the Gothic; the Byronic hero; the yearning for an eroticized muse or goddess; and same-sex desire in travel writing, orientalist fantasy, diary, and realist fiction. Discusses the place of such writing in the history of sexuality, repression, the unconscious, and the sublime. Authors may include Austen, Byron, Coleridge, Keats, Lister, Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, and Wollstonecraft, alongside secondary, theoretical, and historical works. Formerly English 241.

312. Resistance and Accommodation: Comparative Perspectives on Gender
Nancy Riley T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55 Mass-McKeen Study
In societies across the world, many face discrimination and oppression because of gender stratification and because of inequalities that arise from both local norms and expectations and from societal-level and even global-level forces. In response to the inequities they face, people have found ways to live in, accommodate, challenge, and change those inequalities. Examines gender inequalities and the ways that those in different communities and societies have reacted to them. As part of the course, each student conducts a major research project on an issue of gender.

324. Leonardo and Michelangelo
Clifton Olds T 1:00 - 2:25, TH 1:00 - 2:25 VAC-Picture Study
The art and thought of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, studied in the context of Renaissance philosophy, literature, and scientific theory.

346. Philosophy of Gender: Sex and Love
Sarah Conly M 1:00 - 2:25, W 1:00 - 2:25 Edward Pols House-Conf Room
Issues of sex and love preoccupy us but may not be well understood. Considers what "counts" as having sex, why that matters, and what it is to love someone. These and other relevant topics will be explored through readings and discussion.

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