2023-2024 Course Catalog
Welcome to Virginia Tech! We are excited that you are here planning your time as a Hokie.
Welcome to Virginia Tech! We are excited that you are here planning your time as a Hokie.
Describes feminism and the field of Womens and Gender Studies. Explains basic theories of social inequality, privilege, oppression and intersectionality. Discusses feminist perspectives on science and culture. Outlines womens and mens relative positions in and contributions to such institutions as family, work and the state.
Examination of diverse theoretical perspectives on women and gender, including their historical origins and political implications. Special emphasis on integrative perspectives that also address race, class, and other dimensions of inequality.
Influence of race and gender on religion and culture. Overview of approaches to categories of diversity, particularly race and gender, in religious and cultural traditions. Utilization of humanistic and social scientific approaches to investigate geographically variable historical and/or contemporary case studies.
A study of the philosophical, artistic, and biographical dimensions of womens creativity in a wide variety of fields.
Explores the history of individual and collective action geared toward gaining womens rights and improving womens positions in society. Course covers tensions and shifts in feminist movements, as well as the perspectives, agendas, and actions of specific subgroups of women whose perspectives sometimes conflict. Service-learning is a required component of the course.
Focuses on how race, class, gender, and sexualities form interlocking systems of privilege and oppression at individual and institutional levels. Emphasizes race, class, gender, and sexualities as changing social constructions and interactive systems that shape social institutions and organizations, meanings, and identities.
Introduces students to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Studies. Focuses on sexuality and gender as historical and cultural constructs. Examines the experiences of individuals who do not conform to binary sex-gender systems and the development of diverse identities and LGBTQ communities. Introduces feminist and queer theories that address LGBTQ issues within social, political, legal, and cultural institutions. Examines the institutional oppression of sexual minorities and implications of the intersectionalities of such systems of inequality as gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, and (dis)ability.
A variable topics course that addresses how the social construction of gender shapes social, cultural, political, economic, and institutional structures as well as individual experiences and perceptions. The course stresses interdisciplinary approaches to topics of emerging interest in feminist scholarship. Can be taken up to three times for credit with varying topic. In addition to WS 1824, must have taken a 2000-level Womens Studies course, or have instructors consent.
An examination of women and gender in Islam from a variety of perspectives including Muslim women in Islamic history, normative constructions of the roles of women in Islam, and womens role in contemporary Muslim societies. Understanding of women in classical Islam; feminist and reformist approaches; and Western constructions of the rights of women in Islam.
Exploration of differences--real and imagined--in the speech of men and women, and the relationship between these differences to culture. Exploration of how language can reflect and reinforce gender inequality. Linguistic phenomena covered: pitch, vocabulary, sound change, language ideologies, and discourse strategies and types.
An introduction to the gendered analysis of global womens issues with a special focus on women of color. Examines the multiple and diverse sites of feminist struggle within the third world, and between first and third worlds both in the U.S. and internationally. Studies the impact on women of political movements such as nationalism, colonialism, revolution, authoritarianism and democracy. Compares theories originating with women of color in the U.S. with those from international third worlds.
Key concepts and critiques related to the intersection of gender, environment, and international development. Development institutions and organizations with relationship to gender and environment. Theoretical and applied perspectives on eco-feminism; bio-diversity; climate change; feminist political ecology; agriculture and natural resources; participatory methods and empowerment. Case studies from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Pre: Junior Standing.
This multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural course examines a significant topic in Womens Studies, utilizing the perspectives of history, biology, psychology, political science, sociology, and the arts. Variable topics.
Discusses sex and medicine in contemporary U.S. society. Explores how notions of sexual behavior and normality are defined and structured by medical discourse. Examines cultural institutions that play significant roles in formulating ideas about and definitions of deviance, perversity, and tolerated marginality. Critiques medical responses to sexual variations. Examines experiences of people who have sought out, or been the unwilling victims of, sexual medicine. Junior standing required.
Investigates the gender dimensions of science in both historical and contemporary perspectives. Discusses feminist studies of science, exploring strengths and limitations. Assesses implications of cultural assumptions about gender for practicing scientists. A 3000 level course in science or engineering may satisfy prerequisite.
Qualified students will be placed with a community agency or on-campus office which addresses contemporary issues of gender, class, and/or race, and will meet periodically with an appropriate faculty member to discuss assigned readings that will provide a context for the work experience. Students will also be expected to keep a journal and to write up a final evaluation of the experience. Variable credit: may be taken for up to 6 elective credits in the Womens Studies concentration. Junior standing, screening interviews with Tech faculty and with the service agency and consent required.
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