Women’s and Gender Studies, BA
Department of Women’s and Gender Studies
340 Sims Hall
315-443-3707
wgs@syr.edu
Faculty
Himika Bhattacharya, PJ DiPietro, Carmel Christy KJ, Eunjung Kim, Vivian M. May, Danika Medak-Saltzman, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Dana M. Olwan, Gwendolyn D. Pough, Jiwoon Yulee
Women’s and Gender Studies integrates theory and practice with the aim of transforming social relations, representations, knowledges, institutions, and policies. Through interdisciplinary and comparative approaches, students engage in the study of gender intersectionally and transnationally as a means of understanding the complex ways that ideas and practices about gender, past and present, shape the world around us. Issues of justice, social and economic transformation, and women’s agency are central and at each level of study the curriculum emphasizes race, ethnicity, nationality, class, age, sexuality, and different abilities as categories of analysis.
Student Learning Outcomes
- Apply interdisciplinary multiracial, intersectional, and transnational feminist theories and methods to investigate how gender relations and practices are embedded in and shaped by diverse social, political, material, and cultural realities
- Recognize, interpret, and analyze issues of power, oppression, and injustice and social, economic, and epistemic violence
- Identify histories and contemporary forms of feminist agency and resistance, social movements, and collective action
- Integrate feminist theory and practice to challenge social relations, representations, knowledge, institutions, and policies
- Engage and employ multiple modes of knowledge including conventional texts as well as creative work, activism, and popular culture
- Model feminist competencies for collaborative learning and teamwork
Major Requirements
The B.A. in women’s and gender studies requires a minimum of 33 credits (at least 18 in courses numbered 300 and above) selected from courses listed below. Although the major is granted and administered under the auspices of the College of Arts and Sciences, students are able, and in some cases encouraged, to take elective courses in the professional schools. Requirements for the major include five core courses, three courses from the course grouping Power, Privilege, and Exclusion in Feminist Thought; and three electives, two core electives and one general elective selected from a list of approved cross-listed courses. In the senior year, majors may create a synthesis of their studies in the field and deepen their skills in women’s and gender studies research, culminating in an independent project that can be a research project, creative work, or activism project. Note: Students seeking Academic Distinction in Women’s and Gender Studies must register for WGS 498 Senior Project in Women's & Gender Studies.
Study Abroad
Women’s and Gender Studies Focus Abroad is coordinated through the Syracuse University Abroad office in more than five countries. All of these international centers offer a number of interdisciplinary courses in women’s and gender studies, cross-listed with the humanities and social sciences. Summer Studies Abroad courses are also available. For specific information on course offerings abroad, contact the SU Abroad office at 315-443-3471.
B.A. Degree Requirements
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core Courses | ||
| WGS 101 | Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies | 3 |
| WGS 201 | Global Feminisms | 3 |
| WGS 301 | Feminist Theories | 3 |
| WGS 310 | Feminist Inquiries | 3 |
| WGS 410 | Advanced Studies in Feminist Thought | 3 |
| Required Core Cluster Power, Privilege, and Exclusion in Feminist Thought | ||
| Select one course must be selected from each of the following three areas: | 9 | |
| Sexuality | ||
| Gender and Literary Texts | ||
| Intergroup Dialogue (depending on topic) | ||
| Sociology of Sex and Gender | ||
| Race, Gender and Sexuality in the African Diaspora | ||
| Decolonial Feminism | ||
| Gender and Politics | ||
| Sociology-of Health and Illness | ||
| Topics in Reading Gender and Sexualities | ||
| Youth, Schooling and Popular Culture | ||
| Negotiating Difference:Coming of Age Narratives | ||
| LGBT History | ||
| Gender and Popular Culture | ||
| Feminist Organizations | ||
| Race, Class, and Gender | ||
| Sexual Politics | ||
| Trans Genders and Sexualities | ||
| Women, Gender and Violence in a Transnational Context | ||
| Topics in Feminist Philosophy | ||
| Intersectional Feminist Disability Studies | ||
| The Caribbean: Sex Workers, Transnational Capital, and Tourism | ||
| Women in Art | ||
| Feminism and Postcolonial Studies | ||
| Feminisms, Sexualities, and Human Rights in Middle Eastern Societies | ||
| LGBT Studies in Sociology | ||
| Beyond the Veil: Gender Politics in Islam | ||
| Women, Rap and Hip-Hop Feminism | ||
| Music and Gender | ||
| Gender, Place, and Space | ||
| Communication & Gender | ||
| Class | ||
| Racial and Ethnic Inequalities | ||
| Poverty and Discrimination in America | ||
| Sociology of Families | ||
| Decolonial Feminism | ||
| Economics and Gender | ||
| Persons in Social Context | ||
| Latina Feminist Theories | ||
| Gender, Militarism, and War | ||
| Sociology-of Health and Illness | ||
| Economics of US Poverty and Discrimination | ||
| Anthropology of Family Life | ||
| Aging and Society | ||
| Work and Family in the 21st Century | ||
| Feminist Organizations | ||
| New York City: Black Women Domestic Workers | ||
| Gender and Disability | ||
| Race, Class, and Gender | ||
| Feminist Rhetoric(s) | ||
| Women, Gender and Violence in a Transnational Context | ||
| Intersectional Feminist Disability Studies | ||
| The Caribbean: Sex Workers, Transnational Capital, and Tourism | ||
| Women, Rap and Hip-Hop Feminism | ||
| Work and Inequality | ||
| Food, Culture and Environment | ||
| Gender, Place, and Space | ||
| Race, Nationality, and/or Ethnicity | ||
| Intergroup Dialogue (depending on topic) | ||
| Racial and Ethnic Inequalities | ||
| Philosophy of Feminism | ||
| Black Women Writers | ||
| African Women Writers | ||
| Race, Gender and Sexuality in the African Diaspora | ||
| Decolonial Feminism | ||
| Modern South Asian Cultures | ||
| Africa Through the Novel | ||
| Human Diversity in Social Contexts | ||
| Women, Abolition, and Religion in 19th Century America | ||
| Latina Feminist Theories | ||
| Gender, Militarism, and War | ||
| Sociology-of Health and Illness | ||
| Negotiating Difference:Coming of Age Narratives | ||
| Gender in a Globalizing World | ||
| Gender, Race, and Colonialism | ||
| Goddesses, Women and Power in Hinduism | ||
| Gender and Popular Culture | ||
| African and Caribbean Women Writers | ||
| Indigenous Feminist Thought and Theory | ||
| Indigenous Feminist Futures | ||
| Feminist Organizations | ||
| New York City: Black Women Domestic Workers | ||
| Race, Class, and Gender | ||
| Feminist Rhetoric(s) | ||
| Women, Gender and Violence in a Transnational Context | ||
| Schooling & Diversity * | ||
| The Caribbean: Sex Workers, Transnational Capital, and Tourism | ||
| Feminism and Postcolonial Studies | ||
| Feminisms, Sexualities, and Human Rights in Middle Eastern Societies | ||
| Culture and AIDS | ||
| Beyond the Veil: Gender Politics in Islam | ||
| Women, Myth and Nation in Latin American Literature | ||
| African American Women's History | ||
| Toni Morrison: Black Book Seminar | ||
| Women and Social Change | ||
| Core Electives | ||
| Select two core elective courses from the following: | 6 | |
| Topics in Contemporary Feminisms | ||
| Selected Topics (if taught by core WGS faculty) | ||
| Decolonial Feminism | ||
| Latina Feminist Theories | ||
| Gender, Militarism, and War | ||
| Negotiating Difference:Coming of Age Narratives | ||
| Gender and Popular Culture | ||
| Selected Topics (if taught by core WGS faculty) | ||
| Indigenous Feminist Thought and Theory | ||
| Advanced Studies in Feminist Thought | ||
| Indigenous Feminist Futures | ||
| Feminist Organizations | ||
| Feminist Rhetoric(s) | ||
| Trans Genders and Sexualities | ||
| Women, Gender and Violence in a Transnational Context | ||
| Intersectional Feminist Disability Studies | ||
| Feminism and Postcolonial Studies | ||
| Feminisms, Sexualities, and Human Rights in Middle Eastern Societies | ||
| Women, Rap and Hip-Hop Feminism | ||
| Senior Project in Women's & Gender Studies | ||
| Selected Topics (if taught by core WGS faculty) | ||
| General Electives | ||
| Select one elective coursen from any WGS course | 3 | |
| Note: *Course content varies each semester or by section. These courses may be counted toward women’s and gender studies only when the content of the courses is within the field of feminist studies. Selected topics (400/500) courses may apply when appropriate. | ||
| Total Credits | 33 | |
College of Arts and Sciences Requirements
For all Arts and Sciences|Maxwell students, successful completion of a bachelor’s degree in this major requires a minimum of 120 credits, 96 of which must be Arts and Sciences|Maxwell credits, completion of the Liberal Arts Core requirements, and the requirements for this major (30 credits) that are listed above.
Dual Enrollments:
Students dually enrolled in Newhouse* and Arts and Sciences|Maxwell will complete a minimum of 122 credits, with at least 90 credits in Arts and Sciences|Maxwell coursework and an Arts and Sciences|Maxwell major.
*Students dually enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences|Maxwell as first year students must complete the Liberal Arts Core. Students who transfer to the dual program after their first year as singly enrolled students in the Newhouse School will satisfy general requirements for the dual degree program by completing the Newhouse Core Requirements.
Undergraduate University Requirements
The following requirements and experiences apply to all Syracuse University Undergraduate matriculated degree programs.