Mar 28, 2024  
Course Catalog 2006-2007 
    
Course Catalog 2006-2007 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Gender and Women’s Studies


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Major


Students wishing to declare a Gender and Women’s Studies major should select a faculty advisor who is a member of the GAWS Program Committee or see the Program Director. In consultation with the advisor, students should propose a program of study. The form must be signed by the advisor and the Director of the Gender and Women’s Studies Program, and submitted to the Office of the Registrar by the student.

The Gender and Women’s Studies major consists of a minimum of 30 credits of coursework, with six credits maximum at the introductory level. No more than 10 credits may normally be transferred. Students interested in a double major should be aware that discipline-focused or related courses can count toward majors in both GAWS and the department or program of origin. In addition, the following requirements and recommendations will normally apply.

Seventeen credits of the major will be the following required courses:

  1. GAWS 100: Introduction to Gender and Women’s Studies (three credits), normally taken by the end of the sophomore year.
  2. GAWS 300: Feminist Research Methodologies (four credits), normally taken by the end of the junior year.
  3. GAWS 301: Practicum in Gender and Women’s Studies (three or four credits), normally taken by the end of the junior year, or equivalent work that has received prior approval for Practicum exemption.
  4. 400-level seminar offered by the program (four credits).
  5. One other program course (three or four credits), of which a designated 200-level or 300-level feminist theory course is strongly recommended.

The remaining 13 credits of the major will be comprised of program, discipline-focused or related courses. Six credits of the 13 must be from program or discipline-focused courses. The remainder may be taken from the list of related courses. No more than six of the 13 credits can be at the introductory level.

Other Oberlin courses not designated in the catalog as GAWS disciplined-focused or related courses may be permitted to count toward the major. To request such permission, students must submit a Request Form and a class syllabus to the Director of Gender and Women’s Studies. If such changes are approved, the Director will send written notification to the Office of the Registrar. Students declaring Gender and Women’s Studies as their second major should file a declaration no later than the second semester of their junior year.

A minimum grade of C- is required for a course in the Gender and Women’s Studies program, discipline-focused, or related course to fulfill the major.

Minor


Students wishing to minor in GAWS are advised to consult with the Director of GAWS and to declare their minor before the end of the junior year. Proposals for minors will be reviewed and approved by the director. Students may obtain a minor in GAWS by accumulating 15 credits according to the following guidelines:

  1. GAWS 100 (three credits).
  2. At least three additional credits in program courses.
  3. The remaining credits earned in other Gender and Women’s Studies courses (program, discipline-focused or related).

At least 9 of the 15 credits must be above the introductory level. No more than five credits may be transferred toward the minor.  Minors are encouraged to include a gender-related Winter Term project in their course of study.

Honors


Senior GAWS majors may conduct independent, original research under the supervision of an advisor, normally drawn from the Gender and Women’s Studies Program Committee. Students are expected to prepare a substantive project or research paper and make a public presentation on their research and its relationship to relevant feminist scholarship. Students who qualify for Honors and wish to undertake an Honors project should consult with the Gender and Women’s Studies Program Director no later than the beginning of the second semester of their junior year.  Majors are encouraged to use the Feminist Research Methodologies course, if taken in fall of the junior year, to develop an Honors proposal.

Winter Term


When faculty members who teach GAWS courses are on duty for Winter Term, they sponsor GAWS-related Winter Term projects in their or a student’s areas of interest. Project focus and requirements (beyond college guidelines) are determined between the student and faculty member in advance.  Faculty who teach GAWS discipline-focused or related courses can be asked to sponsor gender-related Winter Term projects that count toward the major.

Other Resources


A range of off-campus, study away, and study abroad options and internships offer excellent opportunities to GAWS students. These possibilities allow intensive study and/or experience in foreign languages; social change and social justice organizing; reproductive politics and rights; community service; health care provision for women and underserved communities; medicine and medical research; environmental studies; public policy; foreign policy; international studies; politics; and non-profit work.  These opportunities are possible during Winter Term, summer, or semester.  Campus resources that supplement the academic offerings in GAWS include student organizations such as the Edmonia Lewis Center for Women and Transgender People and Students United for Reproductive Freedom. Students also have access to a wide range of primary sources and scholarly periodicals related to gender and women’s studies through the Oberlin College Library. Ms. Jessica Grim is the resource librarian for Gender and Women’s Studies.

Discipline-Focused Courses


The following courses may be taken to fulfill the Gender and Women’s Studies major and minor requirements. Students should register for these courses using the number in the department or program of origin.

African American Studies (AAST)


  •     FYSP 110 - Black Women and Liberation

Anthropology (ANTH)


Art (ARTS)


  • Arts 325 - Women and the Visual Arts in 19th Century Europe
  • Arts 417 - Crossing Boundaries: Gender Performance in Modern Art
  • Arts 461 - Modern Seminar: The Femme Fatale and Other Forms of Female Identity in 20th-Century Art

 

Chinese


Classics (CLAS)


Cultural Criticism


  • ENGL 391 - George Eliot and Virginia Woolf

East Asian Studies (EAST)


English (ENGL)


  • ENGL 204 - Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare: Gender, Race, and Empire
  • ENGL 302 - Medieval Women Writers
  • ENGL 307 - Staging Domestic Violence
  • ENGL 355 - The Word and the World: American Writers, 1830 - 1930, and Contemporary Feminist Cultural Criticism
  • ENGL 361 - Post Colonial Women’s Narratives
  • ENGL 379 - Asian American Literature: Gender and Sexuality

German Language and Literatures (GERM)


Hispanic Studies (HISP)


  • HISP 322 - Visions of Mexican Women
  • HISP 426 - Latin American Literature and the Narratives of the Perverse

 

History (HIST)


  • HIST 229 - Gender and Modern Europe, 1789-1989
  • HIST 262 - Antebellum American Women: Private, Public, Political

Politics (POLT)


  • POLT 213 - The Poltical Economy of Gender in Advanced Capitalism

Psychology (PSYC)


Rhetoric and Composition (RHET)


Russian (RUSS)


  • RUSS 328 - Literature and the Women Question in 19th-Century Russia

Sociology (SOCI)


  • SOCI 326 - The American Family: Comfort, Conflict and Criticism

Theater and Dance (THEA) (DANC)


  • DANC 230 - Autobiography and Performance
  • DANC 271 - Special Topics in Gender Performance: Queer Acts

Related Courses


The following courses may be taken to fulfill some of the Gender and Women’s Studies major and minor requirements. Students should register for these courses using the number in the department or program of origin. No more than eight credits in Related Courses may count toward the major.

Anthropology (ANTH)


Art (ARTS)


  • ARTS 068 - Problems in Media and Performance
  • ARTS 462 - Visual Culture and the Holocaust

Classics (CLAS)


  • CLAS 210 - Greek and Roman Mythology

Comparative American Studies


Creative Writing (CRWR)


  • CRWR 227 - Asian Pacific American Writing

Economics (ECON)


  • ECON 320 - Labor Economics
  • ECON 321 - Poverty and Affluence

English (ENGL)


  • ENGL 257 - Late 19th Century Literature: The Remaking of “America”
  • ENGL 264 - Coming to America
  • ENGL 386 - Narrating the Nation

History (HIST)


  • FYSP 125 - American Mixed Blood
  • FYSP 132 - The Body in Environmental History

Politics (POLT)


  • POLT 219 - Work, Workers, and Trade Unions
  • POLT 301 - Seminar: Constitutional Law: The First Amendment
  • POLT 315 - Seminar: Future of Organized Labor

Psychology (PSYC)


  • PSYC 205 - Psychology of Close Relationships

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