Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality

Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality
https://cswgs.rice.edu/
318 Rayzor Hall
713-348-5784

Lora Wildenthal
Program Director
wildenth@rice.edu

The undergraduate major, minor, and the graduate certificate program take an interdisciplinary approach in their exploration of women’s lives and histories and the role that ideas about sexual differences and sexual identities have played in human societies.

Areas of inquiry include women’s participation in social and cultural production; the construction of heteronormative gender and sexuality as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender identities; the relationship between ideas about gender and concepts inherent in other social, political, and legal structures; and the implications of feminist and sexuality studies for philosophical and epistemological traditions. Students acquire an understanding of how adopting gender as a significant category of analysis challenges existing disciplines. They gain proficiency in the methods used to study and compare cultural constructions of gender and sexuality, and they become familiar with the ongoing fundamental debates in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies.

Center Director and Director of Graduate Studies

Lora Wildenthal

Associate Center Director and Director of Undergraduate Studies

Emily Houlik-Ritchey (spring 2024)
Lora Wildenthal (fall 2023)

Associate Center Director

Brian Riedel

Professors

José F. Aranda, Jr.
Tani E. Barlow
Kathleen M. Beckingham
Elias K. Bongmba
Elizabeth Brake
Jenifer L. Bratter
Marcia Brennan
Joseph A. Campana, Jr.
Kathleen Canning
Krista Comer
Jacqueline Couti
April D. DeConick
Elaine Howard Ecklund
Eugenia Georges
Bridget K. Gorman
Michelle "Mikki" R. Hebl
Rosemary Hennessy
Vivian Ho
Cymene Howe
Betty Joseph
Rachel Tolbert Kimbro
Eden B. King
Anne C. Klein
Jeffrey J. Kripal
Brett Ashley Leeds
Caroline F. Levander
Helena Michie
Deborah Nelson-Campbell
Kirsten Ostherr
Sonia Ryang
Leslie A. Schwindt-Bayer
Kamala Visweswaran
Lora Wildenthal
Fay Yarbrough

Associate Professors

Scott S. Derrick
Sophie Esch
Julie Fette
Deborah A. Harter
Emily Houlik-Ritchey
Lacy Johnson
Moramay López-Alonso
Susan Lurie
Nancy A. Niedzielski
Julia Saltz
Miranda Waggoner
Nicole Waligora-Davis
Kerry Ward

Assistant Professors

Rossella Calvi
Margarita Castromán
Sophie Crawford-Brown
Amarilys Estrella
Jaclyn Kaslovsky
Alden Marte-Wood
Victoria Massie
Ragini Srinivasan
Olivia Young

Professor in the Practice

Diana Strassmann

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Brian Riedel

Postdoctoral Fellow

Tesla Cariani

For Rice University degree-granting programs:
To view the list of official course offerings, please see Rice’s Course Catalog
To view the most recent semester’s course schedule, please see Rice's Course Schedule

Women, Gender & Sexuality (SWGS)

SWGS 100 - INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF WOMEN, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY

Short Title: WOMEN, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: An introduction to the interdisciplinary study of these themes: 1) genders and sexualities as these intersect with race, class, migration status and other differences that shape our lives; 2) the social, political, and legal situations of women and LGBTQ+ people globally and in the United States; and 3) the production of gender and sexual identities and desires (e.g. queer, two-spirit, trans, nonbinary, asexual as well as normative). We will also touch on efforts to theorize gender, sexuality, race, class, and other differences and become acquainted with the concept of engaged research. This course is required for the SGWS major and the SWGM minor.

SWGS 101 - INTRODUCTION TO WOMEN & GENDER

Short Title: INTRO WOMEN & GENDER

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: Introduction to the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality- An introductory survey of issues in the study of gender, such as women's social, political, and legal status in the US and globally; feminist perspectives on sexuality, race, the body, globalization, labor, culture; and the implications of these perspectives for social and critical theory. The course also introduces the concept of engaged research and the public service components of feminist activity.

SWGS 200 - THEORIZING SEXUALITY AND GENDER

Short Title: THEORIZING SEXUALITY & GENDER

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: This class builds on SWGS 100 to take a closer look at how sexualities and genders come to be known. Students will become familiar with queer, trans, and feminist theory and will see that key issues and debates appear in both scholarship and political activism globally and in the United States. The course addresses intersectional frameworks for understanding race, class, and other social relations; normative sexualities and genders; and non-normative and marginalized sexualities and genders (e.g. queer, two-spirit, trans, nonbinary, asexual and more). Theorizing is an activity but also a writing genre. We explore classic and current works in that genre. Finally, we examine the interaction between theory and research practice, via the concept of engaged research, showing that theoretical debates inform more accurate and just research practices. SWGS 100 is recommended but not required. This course counts towards the Requirements (Theory) for the SWGS major and the Requirements (Area of Specialization: Theory) for the SWGM minor. Recommended Prerequisite(s): SWGS 100

SWGS 201 - INTRODUCTION TO LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER STUDIES

Short Title: INTR LESBIAN, GAY, BISEX&TRAN

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Studies - An introduction to the interdisciplinary examination of sexual desires, sexual orientations, and the concept of sexuality, with a focus on the construction of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender identities. The course looks at how identities interact with other social phenomena such as government, family, popular culture, scientific inquiry, and especially gender, and highlights the complexity and variability of sexualities of both across historical periods and in relation to race, class, ethnicity and nation. The course also introduces the concept of engaged research and the public service component of LGBT activity.

SWGS 205 - LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY

Short Title: LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: This course treats language as a social phenomenon to show how language, personal identity and institutions of social control inter-relate. The course focuses on linguistic interaction in daily life and how gender, ethnic, class, activity, and geographic variation affect language use. Cross-list: LING 205.

SWGS 238 - SPECIAL TOPICS

Short Title: SPECIAL TOPICS

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Internship/Practicum, Laboratory, Lecture, Lecture/Laboratory, Seminar, Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1-4

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: Topics and credit hours may vary each semester. Contact department for current semester’s topic(s). Repeatable for Credit.

SWGS 247 - SEX, RACE, AND THE CITY

Short Title: SEX, RACE, AND THE CITY

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: Sex literally shapes the city, both structurally and in our social imaginations. City governments regulate sexually oriented businesses, and not just through zoning. Specific urban sites become known as "that part of town." Urban planners look to "gayborhoods" as economic growth engines. This interdisciplinary seminar explores these and other dynamics at work in the past and the present of urban landscapes.

SWGS 250 - SEX, MONEY, AND POWER AROUND THE WORLD

Short Title: SEX, MONEY, AND POWER

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: An interdisciplinary course exploring lives and well-being in the context of gendered international and domestic politics and economic processes. Emphasis on the implications of power relations at levels from the household to the global for women and men around the world (with particular attention to Asia). Cross-list: ASIA 251, POLI 250.

SWGS 273 - MEDICINE AND MEDIA

Short Title: MEDICINE AND MEDIA

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture/Laboratory

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Lower-Level

Description: An interdisciplinary exploration of the role of imaging technologies in the practice of medicine, and the role of mass media in shaping our understandings of the body, health, and disease. This course examines visual media structure "ways of seeing" for physicians and for the public. Emphasis will be placed on developing media literacy skills. Cross-list: ENGL 273.

SWGS 301 - ARTHURIAN LITERATURE

Short Title: ARTHURIAN LITERATURE

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: A survey of the origins and development of the Arthurian legend from the earliest chronicles in the sixth century and later medieval French, Welsh, Irish, and English Arthurian poems to modern adaptations of Arthurian material, including films. Cross-list: ENGL 317, MDEM 317.

SWGS 303 - GENDER AND SCIENCE

Short Title: GENDER AND SCIENCE

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course introduces students to the historical, philosophical and social dimensions of science and technology through the lens of feminist and gender studies. It will explore the ways in which science has factored in producing cultural norms for gender and race, how gender figures in the authority of science, and the role of gender in scientific institutions.

SWGS 305 - CHAUCER

Short Title: CHAUCER

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: An introduction to Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, Middle English, and the political and cultural climate of the fourteenth century. Cross-list: ENGL 316, MDEM 316.

SWGS 306 - HUMAN SEXUALITY

Short Title: HUMAN SEXUALITY

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course is designed to explore the physiological, psychological, and sociological parameters of human sexuality, while providing accurate information and helping students develop healthy attitudes toward sexuality. Cross-list: HEAL 306.

SWGS 315 - GENDER AND ISLAM

Short Title: GENDER AND ISLAM

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Explores the lives of Muslim women in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America; analyzes constructions of gender in the Islamic world overtime; the challenges faced from such diverse quarters as colonial administrators, Western feminists, and states; as well as movements and individuals within the Muslim world. Cross-list: ASIA 315, RELI 315.

SWGS 317 - TRANSGENDER STUDIES

Short Title: TRANSGENDER STUDIES

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course surveys the evolving category of transgender in global context with a specific focus on the United States. Drawing on medicine, history, law, anthropology, cultural studies, women’s studies, and sexuality studies, participants will explore the contested meanings of “transgender” and related terms like “non-binary” and “gender non-conforming.” Instructor Permission Required. Recommended Prerequisite(s): SWGS 101 or SWGS 201.

SWGS 318 - ISRAELI WOMEN WRITERS

Short Title: ISRAELI WOMEN WRITERS

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: In the last 25 years there has been an explosion of women's poetry and fiction in Israel. In this course we will explore Israeli women's writing since the inception of the state of Israel and examine what the work of contemporary women writers means for Israeli culture, society, and politics. Cross-list: JWST 318.

SWGS 324 - SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER

Short Title: SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Relationship between gender and social role. Development of the contemporary sexual division of labor and process of socialization with reference to family, education, media, and occupations. Cross-list: SOCI 306.

SWGS 325 - SOCIOLOGY OF THE FAMILY

Short Title: SOCIOLOGY OF THE FAMILY

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course will teach students the important influences and consequences of American family life. We will consider issues such as sex and sexualities, marriage and cohabitation, divorce, family structure, same-sex marriage, domestic violence, and household labor. We will also examine the role of social institutions and social inequality in shaping family norms and constraints on family behaviors. Cross-list: SOCI 334.

SWGS 327 - TOPICS IN WOMEN WRITERS

Short Title: TOPICS IN WOMEN WRITERS

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: A variable topics course that focuses on women from various traditions. Cross-list: ENGL 381. Repeatable for Credit.

Course URL: www.english.rice.edu

SWGS 329 - THE AMERICAN WEST AND ITS OTHERS

Short Title: THE AMERICAN WEST & ITS OTHERS

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Survey of a body of literature, film, and critical theory about the American West and the concept of regionalism. Explores region in relation to the nation and its borders, global media, coloniality, indignity and race, gender, and an ethics of place. Cross-list: ENGL 369.

Course URL: www.english.rice.edu

SWGS 331 - PSYCHOLOGY OF GENDER

Short Title: PSYCHOLOGY OF GENDER

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Overview of research and theory on gender in psychology. Cross-list: PSYC 331.

SWGS 332 - SEX, SELF, AND SOCIETY IN ANCIENT GREECE

Short Title: SOCIETY IN ANCIENT GREECE

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: An introductory venture into conducting fieldwork in the past. The course treats a wide range of artifacts, from philosophical essays to vase paintings. It derives its focus from a rich corpus of recent research into the ancient problemization of desire and self-control. Cross-list: ANTH 325.

SWGS 333 - MASCULINITIES

Short Title: MASCULINITIES

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course deals with masculinities in the West, concentrating on concepts of masculine protagonism and personhood. Readings explore identities constructed in realms such as law, politics, finances, art, the home, and war. Cross-list: ANTH 311.

SWGS 336 - THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE HISTORICAL IMAGINATION

Short Title: THE HISTORICAL IMAGINATION

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group II

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Explores ideas of history and attitudes toward the past as culturally conditioned phenomena. Emphasizes history as a statement of cultural values as well as conceptualizations of cause, change, time, and reality. Cross-list: ANTH 308.

SWGS 338 - 19TH CENTURY WOMEN'S NARRATIVES

Short Title: 19TH C. WOMEN'S NARRATIVES

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course examines the experiences of women in the United States during the nineteenth century through first-hand accounts and scholarly readings. Students will ready a variety of materials to explore the social and legal status of women and consider the impact of race on women's lives. Cross-list: HIST 338.

SWGS 343 - JANE AUSTEN'S WORLDS

Short Title: JANE AUSTEN'S WORLDS

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: An exploration of Jane Austen as Regency writer and contemporary icon. The course will focus both on Austen's writing her novels, her juvenilia and her letters and on visual and textual adaptations of her work. Cross-list: ENGL 343.

SWGS 345 - HISTORY OF FEMINISM

Short Title: HISTORY OF FEMINISM

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Explores feminism as political thought and social movement in various times and places. Readings will include classic as well as non-canonical texts. We will consider the historical contexts of feminist action, and examine controversies over and within feminisms. Cross-list: HIST 340.

SWGS 348 - SEX AND GENDER IN MODERN JEWISH CULTURE

Short Title: SEX & GENDER IN JEWISH CULTURE

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: How has Jewish identity historically been constructed as gendered, and how has that affected Jewish self-perception and -representation as well as the representations of others? This course explores the intersection between gender and Jewishness from several different historical and cultural perspectives, using literature, film, and philosophy. Cross-list: JWST 348. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for SWGS 348 if student has credit for RELI 347/SWGS 347.

SWGS 353 - ILLNESS, DISABILITY, AND THE GENDERED BODY

Short Title: DISABILITY AND GENDERED BODIES

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course draws on critical disability studies and medical anthropology to explore how gender and sexuality matter in contexts of illness and disability across a range of institutional, social, and national contexts. We pay particular attention to the ways illness and disability expose, disturb, or retrench normative arrangements of gender. Cross-list: ANTH 354. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: SWGS 554. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for SWGS 353 if student has credit for SWGS 554.

SWGS 354 - CHICANO/A LITERATURE

Short Title: CHICANO/A LITERATURE

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: A mixed-genre course focusing on the Chicano movement, the Chicano renaissance, and alternative literary and mythic traditions associated with them. Cross-list: ENGL 371, SPAN 396. Repeatable for Credit.

SWGS 361 - NEW GERMAN FILM: HITLER'S CINEMATIC CHILDREN

Short Title: NEW GERM FILM: HITLER'S CINEMA

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: From the 1960 to 2000, Germany has developed a very distinct auteur cinema with independent filmmakers such as Fassbinder, Herzog, Wenders, Adlon, Trotta, Sander, Brueckner, Doerrie, Garnier, Tykwer, and others. The first 20 years of German film were oriented on coming to terms with the fascist past; the second 20 years focused on more contemporary issues. Film, critical reading and class discussion in English. All films are subtitled in English and will be assessed with podium technology. Taught in English. Cross-list: GERM 338, HUMA 373.

SWGS 364 - QUEER LITERARY CULTURES

Short Title: QUEER LITERARY CULTURES

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: An introduction to queer literary theory by reading works in several genres, from Sappho to the present day, including Shakespeare, Dickinson, Tennyson, Whitman, Proust, Stein and Woolf. Cross-list: ENGL 354.

Course URL: www.english.rice.edu

SWGS 370 - AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE

Short Title: AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: A course that traces, through various genres and themes, African American literary history from the late eighteenth century to the present. Attention is given to theories and critiques of African American literature and culture. Cross-list: ENGL 370.

Course URL: www.english.rice.edu

SWGS 372 - SURVEY OF VICTORIAN FICTION

Short Title: VICTORIAN FICTION

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: A survey of the many genres of the 19th-century novel, this course will try to come to terms with some of the insistent questions posed by and through the fiction of the period. Cross-list: ENGL 342.

Course URL: www.english.rice.edu

SWGS 380 - FEMINIST THEORY

Short Title: FEMINIST THEORY

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: A course focusing on concepts that drive and divide social movements centered on gender equality, women's issues, and sexual identity in the two-thirds and one-third world, among them feminism; the body; race; labor; rights, needs, and desires. Cross-list: ENGL 382.

Course URL: www.english.rice.edu

SWGS 384 - MODERN GIRL AND ASIA IN THE WORLD

Short Title: MOD GIRL & ASIA IN THE WORLD

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Using the textbook "The Modern Girl Around the World," this course examines the phenomenon of the so-called modern girl in Asia and the world, 1890-1949. Topics include: modernity, consumer culture, sexuality, and liberation. Cross-list: ASIA 328, HIST 384.

SWGS 385 - SEXUAL DEBATES IN THE U.S.: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS OF SUPREME COURTS DECISIONS

Short Title: SEXUAL DEBATES IN U.S.

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: How do sex acts and sexualities enter public conversations over time? This course surveys a variety of sexual debates in the United States with a focus on the social and cultural contacts and the legacies of those debates. Topics vary, but examples include miscegenation, obscenity, abortion and sodomy.

SWGS 389 - YOUTH STUDIES

Short Title: YOUTH STUDIES

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: A variable topics course exploring the cultural productions of youth, their social geographies, and youth as a critical field important to the theorization of activism, technology, law and incarceration, reproductive politics, sexuality, consumerism, citizenship, environment. Previous topics: Generation X, Third Wave Feminism, Obama and the Youth Vote, Harry Potter & Gen Y, Power, Politics, and Reading Issues of Access. Cross-list: ENGL 389.

Course URL: www.english.rice.edu

SWGS 390 - HISPANIC CINEMA

Short Title: HISPANIC CINEMA

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course examines the ways in which films in both Spain and Latin America have represented the cultural contexts of their countries. Focus is on the theme of power, and the consequences on social and individual lives. Previously offered as SPPO 390. Mutually exclusive. Credit cannot be earned for SPAN 390 if student has previously taken SPPO 390. Cross-list: SPAN 390. Recommended Prerequisite(s): Third-year Spanish or permission of instructor.

SWGS 399 - WOMEN IN CHINESE LITERATURE

Short Title: WOMEN IN CHINESE LITERATURE

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course examines women's roles in Chinese literature as writers, readers, and characters, focusing particularly on the tension between women's lived bodily experiences and the cultural experiences inscribed on the female body and how, in the process, women have contrarily gendered patriarchal culture into their own. It will also touch on Chinese women's incorporation of the Western Tradition. All readings in English translation. Cross-list: ASIA 399, MDEM 379.

SWGS 415 - SOCIOLINGUISTICS

Short Title: SOCIOLINGUISTICS

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Prerequisite(s): LING 301

Description: This course covers contemporary sociolinguistic theory and methodologies. We examine the linguistic consequences to speakers of their group memberships such as gender, race, class and sexuality. Cross-list: LING 415.

SWGS 424 - WOMEN IN FRANCE

Short Title: WOMEN IN FRANCE

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course studies women in education, the workplace, politics, and in social and cultural institutions in French society. The class explores the history of the French women's movement and analyzes French concepts of gender and feminism in comparison to American models. Effective May 15, 2019, this course does not carry D1 credit. Taught in French. Cross-list: FREN 424. Recommended Prerequisite(s): Completion of one 300 level course or permission of instructor.

SWGS 434 - SEEING SEX IN EUROPEAN ART, 1400-1700

Short Title: SEEING SEX IN EUROPEAN ART

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course will examine the visual history of sexuality from 1400-1700. It will explore how imagery structured sexual desire; the role of erotic sacred art; the rise of pornography; the intersection of spatial topography and sexuality; the linkage of licit and illicit sexualities; and the sexuality of artist and patrons. Cross-list: HART 434, MDEM 434. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: SWGS 534. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for SWGS 434 if student has credit for SWGS 534.

SWGS 449 - CULTURES OF SEXUALITY

Short Title: CULTURES OF SEXUALITY

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: What is "sexuality" across cultural milieux? This course analyzes understandings and practices of sexuality from a global, comparative perspective, including different social configurations of gender and intimacy, reproduction, sensuality and the erotic. Case studies explore the complex relationships between sexuality and gender, ethnicity, nationalism, globalization, commodification, politics, media, health and medicine. Cross-list: ANTH 449.

SWGS 465 - GENDER AND HEALTH

Short Title: GENDER AND HEALTH

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This seminar explores the relationship between gender and health (longevity, physical illness and functioning, mental health, and health behavior). Specific topics include masculinity, disease expression, medical research, health care use, stress and social relationships, and intersectionality (race/ethnicity and sexuality) as they relate shaping health outcomes among men and women. Cross-list: SOCI 465.

SWGS 466 - LATIN AMERICAN WOMEN'S CULTURE

Short Title: LATIN AMERICAN WOMEN'S CULTURE

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Studies the cultural production (literary, artistic, cinematic) of intellectual women in Latin America. Examines the struggles for interpretive power in works by women from the colonial period to the present. Previously offered as SPPO 456. Mutually exclusive. Credit cannot be earned for SPAN 456 if student has previously taken SPPO 456. Cross-list: SPAN 456. Recommended Prerequisite(s): Advanced Spanish or permission of instructor.

SWGS 477 - SPECIAL TOPICS

Short Title: SPECIAL TOPICS

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Internship/Practicum, Laboratory, Lecture, Seminar, Lecture/Laboratory

Credit Hours: 1-4

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Topics and credit hours may vary each semester. Contact department for current semester's topic(s). Repeatable for Credit.

SWGS 493 - FEMINIST RESEARCH WORKSHOP

Short Title: FEMINIST RESEARCH WORKSHOP

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Prerequisite(s): SWGS 101 or SWGS 201

Description: This capstone course, required for the SWGS minor, will introduce students to the theory and practice of feminist research methods, culminating in individual research projects.

SWGS 494 - PRE-SEMINAR IN ENGAGED RESEARCH

Short Title: PRE-SEMINAR: ENGAGED RESEARCH

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 2

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: This course prepares students for the Spring semester and practicum sequence (496 and 497) by establishing a baseline of skills in research design and filing paperwork with the Institutional Review Board at Rice and elsewhere as needed.

SWGS 495 - INDEPENDENT STUDY

Short Title: INDEPENDENT STUDY

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1-4

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Open to SWGS majors only. Instructor Permission Required.

SWGS 496 - ENGAGED RESEARCH PRACTICUM

Short Title: ENGAGED RESEARCH PRACTICUM

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Internship/Practicum

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: An applied research complement to the Seminar consisting of six hours/week participating in a research-based project at a local public service agency that addresses the needs of women or is focused on gender and/or sexuality related work. Planning for the practicum takes place during the previous fall semester in consultation with the SWGS Director. Practicum projects are presented to a public audience. Permission of the instructor and some background in the study of women, gender or sexuality required.

SWGS 497 - ENGAGED RESEARCH SEMINAR

Short Title: ENGAGED RESEARCH SEMINAR

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 2

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Prerequisite(s): SWGS 494

Description: Taken in conjunction with SWGS 496, the Seminar develops students' research skills and situates the practicum project within a range of perspectives on feminist theory and practice, grassroots organizing, and policy-making around the issues of women, gender, and sexuality, for example, domestic violence, gender and the prison industry, reproductive freedom, the feminization of AIDS.

SWGS 498 - RESEARCH IN THE STUDY OF WOMEN GENDER SEXUALITY

Short Title: RES STUDY WOMEN GENDER SXLTY

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Research seminar for SWGS seniors to fulfill capstone requirement. Open to SWGS majors only.

SWGS 499 - RESEARCH IN THE STUDY OF WOMEN GENDER SEXUALITY

Short Title: RES STUDY WOMEN GENDER SXLTY

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Research

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate, Undergraduate Professional or Visiting Undergraduate level students.

Course Level: Undergraduate Upper-Level

Description: Research seminar for SWGS seniors to fulfill capstone requirement. Open to SWGS majors only. Instructor Permission Required.

SWGS 501 - FEMINIST DEBATES

Short Title: FEMINIST DEBATES

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course identifies and traces three streams of thought by debates about major issues in women's studies. While the content of these streams will vary-the course will always be attentive to the historical and theoretical context of the debates in question and to the intersection of these debates with others. Topics might include: public and private spheres; the relation between the local and the global links between gender and sexuality; the problem of identity; the relation between activist and academic feminism.

SWGS 502 - WRITING WORKSHOP: WOMEN, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY

Short Title: WRITING WORKSHOP

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Prerequisite(s): SWGS 501

Description: Structured as a workshop, this course offers SWGS certificate students critically to engage cross-disciplinary feminist scholarship as they integrate the study of women, gender and/or sexuality into their doctoral writing by transforming existing papers into works that are of publishable quality.

SWGS 503 - DIRECTED READING

Short Title: DIRECTED READING

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1-3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Directed reading under the supervision of a SWGS faculty member with permission of the instructor. May count only once toward major requirements. Instructor Permission Required.

SWGS 534 - SEEING SEX IN EUROPEAN ART, 1400-1700

Short Title: SEEING SEX IN EUROPEAN ART

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: For each lecture, Graduate Students will be assigned additional readings. They will write an annotated bibliography of all these readings to be turned in at the end of the semester. We will meet for an additional every two or three weeks to discuss interpretive and methodological problems and ideas associated with the readings. Graduate Students will be expected to complete all the requirements of the class in addition to writing a substantial research paper due at the end of the semester. Cross-list: HART 534. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: SWGS 434. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for SWGS 534 if student has credit for SWGS 434.

SWGS 542 - VICTORIAN FICTION

Short Title: VICTORIAN FICTION

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: A variable topics course. Please consult the English department website for additional information. Recent topics have included "The Victorian Marriage Plot", "The History of the Novel, Part II"; and "Victorian and Modern Sexualities". Cross-list: ENGL 542. Repeatable for Credit.

SWGS 554 - ILLNESS, DISABILITY, AND THE GENDERED BODY

Short Title: DISABILITY AND GENDERED BODIES

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: This course draws on critical disability studies and medical anthropology to explore how gender and sexuality matter in contexts of illness and disability across a range of institutional, social, and national contexts. We pay particular attention to the ways illness and disability expose, disturb, or retrench normative arrangements of gender. Cross-list: ANTH 554. Graduate/Undergraduate Equivalency: SWGS 353. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for SWGS 554 if student has credit for SWGS 353.

SWGS 585 - POSTCOLONIALISM AND BEYOND

Short Title: POSTCOLONIALISM AND BEYOND

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: A course that serves both as an introduction to postcolonial theory and as a reevaluation of its political and ethical ends vis-a-vis recent debates around globalization and cosmopolitanism. For additional course information please consult the English department website. Cross-list: ENGL 585.

Course URL: www.english.rice.edu

SWGS 677 - SPECIAL TOPICS

Short Title: SPECIAL TOPICS

Department: Stdy of Women, Gender, & Sxlty

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Internship/Practicum, Laboratory, Lecture, Seminar, Lecture/Laboratory, Independent Study

Credit Hours: 1-4

Restrictions: Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Visiting Graduate level students.

Course Level: Graduate

Description: Topics and credit hours vary each semester. Contact department for current semester's topic(s). Repeatable for Credit.

Description and Code Legend

Note: Internally, the university uses the following descriptions, codes, and abbreviations for this academic program. The following is a quick reference:

Course Catalog/Schedule

  • Course offerings/subject code: SWGS 

Department (or Program) Description and Code

  • Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality: SWGS

Undergraduate Degree Description and Code

  • Bachelor of Arts Degree: BA 

Undergraduate Major Description and Code

  • Major in the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality: SWGS 

Undergraduate Minor Description and Code

  • Minor in the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality: SWGM

Graduate Certificate Description and Code

  • Certificate in the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality: WGS 

CIP Code and Description1

  • SWGS Major/Program: CIP Code/Title: 05.0207 - Women's Studies
  • SWGM Minor: CIP Code/Title: 05.0207 - Women's Studies
  • WGS Certificate: CIP Code/Title: 05.0207 - Women's Studies