Gender Studies Classes

Spring 2019

• Post-Colonial Literature and Aesthetics (ENGL 4366/ARTS 3392, MW  4:30-5:45) Instructor: Bonnie Roos -  This course  will cover the basics of 20th and 21st century postcolonial aesthetics through an investigation of theory written by Walter Mignolo, Homi Bhabha, Gayatri Spivak, and Franz Fanon. We will study how postcolonial writers and artists, especially from Asia, India, Africa, South America, and the Caribbean, address racial, social, gender, and identity issues in their work.
   

• Studies in Drama: Queer Eye (ENGL 3341, MW 1:30-2:45) Instructor: Theresa Trela - This class will discuss issues relating to gender and sexual identities in light of specific representations/presentations, such as the graphic-memoir-turned-Broadway-musical, Fun Home. We will explore how these forms of culture have portrayed various identities to and for audiences. Drawing on the lure of the recognizable “queer eye” motif, we will embrace “ways of seeing” these issues in both modern classics and contemporary works.
   
• Gender Communication (COMM 3370, M 6:00-8:40pm), Instructor: Paula Schlegel—The purpose of this course is to explore communication about women and men as well as communication between women and men. Topics include gender differences, images of gender in mass media, gender images shaped by language, and communication between women and men in a variety of contexts.
   
• Diversity Management (MGT 4331/5331, MW 1:30pm-2:45pm, CC217), Instructor: Andrew Li - This course covers diversity in the workplace, with half of the semester focusing specifically on the topic of gender and its implications at work, including women's participation in the workforce and the challenges they face; gender tokenism; gender and socialization processes; gender and careers; gender and leadership; and sexual harassment. Open to non-business majors.
   
• Cross-Cultural Issues in Business Communication (BUSI 4333-01, on campus, TTh 9:30am-10:45am, CC206; and BUSI 4333-70, online). Instructor: Alison Berry. We will study business communication variables as they function in varied cultures and subcultures. We will consider the problems, barriers, and patterns of communication that occur across cultural and gender boundaries as applied to managerial situations. The specific communicative contexts and settings include conflicts, business, identity management, interpersonal communication, language perspectives, and nonverbal communication.
   
• US Women's History (HIST 3320.70, Online) Instructor: Jean Stuntz - Presentation of US women's history from Native Americans to the present using narratives, primary documents, and individual projects.
  

Fall 2018

• Intro to Gender Studies (GNDR 3301-01, TTh 1:30-2:45) Instructor: Jean Stuntz--This is a required course for students pursuing the Gender Studies Certificate, but is also open to any student with an interest in the topic.
   
• Racial and Cultural Minorities (SOCI 4321-70, web-based, Instructor: Jenifer Kunz; SOCI 4321-01, TTh 1:30-2:45, Instructor: Lisa Garza) - This course explores the characteristics and distribution of ethnic and other culture minorities in modern societies; nature and causes of conflicts arising from group contacts and interaction; problems of minority adjustment and assimilation.
   
• Shakespeare and Adaptations (ENGL 2321 TTh 9:30-10:45am, instructor Matthew Harrison) - This course investigates why we keep reading, watching, and even playing Shakespeare. What makes writers and artists continue to revisit his work, four centuries after his death? And how might we make these plays meaningful to us? We read three of Shakespeare’s most famous plays: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and the Tempest. Alongside each play, we’ll explore a number of illustrations, adaptations, and responses, hoping to think about how Shakespeare makes meaning and how readers have made meaning out his work, including themes of gender and identity.
   
• African American Literature: Toni Morrison (ENGL 4367-01, MW 11-12:15, Instructor: Eric Meljac)--This edition of African American Literature will cover the famous “trilogy” by Toni Morrison: Beloved, Jazz, and Paradise. We will study racial, social, gender, identity, and narrative issues as they arise in the various novels. This course will give students an expert knowledge of Toni Morrison, and how the Nobel Laureate contributes to the African American literary canon.
   
• British Literature to 1700 (ENGL 3351, TTh 11-12:15, Instructor: Matthew Harrison) - In this course, students read classics of English literature from around 800CE to the end of the 17th century, encountering deadly monsters, beautiful ideals, and the occasional fart joke. One central theme explored in the course will be gender and identity.
   
• Gender Communication (COMM 3370: MW 1:30-2:45), Instructor: Paula Schlegel—The purpose of this course is to explore communication about women and men as well as communication between women and men. Topics include gender differences, images of gender in mass media, gender images shaped by language, and communication between women and men in a variety of contexts.
   
• Art of Fashion (ARTS/THRE 3302-01, TTh 9:30-10:45, Instructors: Amy Von Lintel and Anne Medlock--This course explores the history of fashion from the ancient world to today. It offers an interdisciplinary investigation and demonstration of how fashion plays a crucial role in the production of cultural forms, including theatre, art, and film. It will have a strong gender component, exploring how fashion and gender identity are deeply interconnected.
   
• History of Contemporary Art (ARTS 4371-01, MW 1:30-2:45), Instructor: Amy Von Lintel--This course will explore art from the post WWII era to today, featuring a strong focus on gender identity as constructed in visual culture as well as feminist art practices beginning in the 1960s and 70s.

May Intersession 2018

• Gender Communication (COMM 3370), Instructor: Paula Schlegel—The purpose of this course is to explore communication about women and men as well as communication between women and men. Topics include gender differences, images of gender in mass media, gender images shaped by language, and communication between women and men in a variety of contexts.

Spring 2018

• Cross-Cultural Issues in Business Communication (BUSI 4333-01, on campus, TTh 9:30am-11am, CC227; and BUSI 4333-70, online). Instructor: Alison Berry

• Women Writers in Latin America (Spanish 4355, TTh 11am-12:15pm, CC 311). Instructor: Andrew Reynolds - This course will explore Latin American women writers from colonialism to the present. We will discuss complications of colonialism, nationalism, indigenous rights, gender equality, and border tensions, all from the diverse and varying perspectives of Latin American women authors. The course will be taught completely in Spanish.

• Diversity Management (MGT 4333/5333, MW 1:30pm-2:45pm, CC217), Instructor: Andrew Li - This course covers diversity in the workplace, with half of the semester focusing specifically on the topic of gender and its implications at work, including women's participation in the workforce and the challenges they face; gender tokenism; gender and socialization processes; gender and careers; gender and leadership; and sexual harassment. Open to non-business majors.

• US Women’s History (HIST 3320-70, online). Instructor: Jean Stuntz - This course examines women in the US from pre-history to the present.

• African American Art and Visual Culture  (ARTS 4370-02, TTh 4pm-5:15pm, N189). Instructor: Amy Von Lintel - This course will focus on black and African American artistic production in the 20th century, and will explore the intersectional issues of gender and race in modern America.

• Aesthetics of Modern Architecture (ARTS 4370-01, MW 11am-12:15pm, N189). Instructor: Amy Von Lintel - This course explores architecture as a means of shaping human space, and will therefore focus in part on issues of  gender, race, class, and ethnicity as they have shaped and been shaped by architectural forms.

Fall 2017

• Introduction to Gender Studies (GNDR 3301, MW 1:30-2:45), Instructor: Bonnie Roos - This is a required course for students pursuing the Gender Studies Certificate, but is also open to any student with an interest in the topic.
   
• Costumes and Styles (THRE 4342-01, TTh 9:30-10:15), Instructor: Anne Medlock - This course uses campus resources as direct primary sources for the study of historical clothing, architectural and interior design, furniture and product design. Because of the use of local resources, there will be an emphasis on styles from the American West, but there will also be a strong gender studies focus to the class; students will learn how clothing and design are gendered given their function for human use and human identity construction. The course is primarily designed for theatre students studying set and costume design, but it can be widely applicable for any student wishing to learn skills in research, writing, and critical thinking in light of material and visual culture, including students of history, art history, studio art, art education, and gender studies.
   
• Diversity Management (MGT 4333/5333, MW 11:00am-12:15pm), Instructor: Andrew Li - This course covers diversity in the workplace, with half of the semester focusing specifically on the topic of gender and its implications at work, including women's participation in the workforce and the challenges they face; gender tokenism; gender and socialization processes; gender and careers; gender and leadership; and sexual harassment. Open to non-business majors.
   
• New Spain from Pre-History to 1810 (HIST 3363.70, web-based)  Instructor Jean Stuntz - Political, social, cultural, and economic history of Mexico from prehistory to independence. The latter part of the course, especially, will include the role of women in colonization and a gender analysis of the Spanish empire and Native Americans.
   
• Gender Communication (COMM 3370-01, MW 1:30-2:45), Instructor: Paula Schlegel—The purpose of this course is to explore communication about men and women. The emphasis is on describing this communication rather than evaluating it. By better understanding communication similarities and differences, students will develop more versatile communication choices and better manage high quality interpersonal relationships in a variety of social and professional contexts.
   
• History of Photography (ARTS 4371-02, TTh 4:00-5:15), Instructor: Amy Von Lintel--The artistic and technological medium of photography has been closely interconnected with human identity since its invention in 1839. This course will take a particular focus on themes of identity construction--including gender and sexuality, as well as race, class, and nationality--through the "lens" of photography (pun intended). 
   
• History of American Art (ARTS 4371-01, MW 4:30-5:45), Instructor: Michael Grauer--In its narratives on American art, this course will especially explore the construction of masculinities and femininities in high and low visual culture--including cowboys and "cowboy girls," gender roles and stereotypes within Native American cultures, and pioneering mythologies have played out in gendered ways in the construction of the US as a nation.

Other Past Classes Offered

• Advanced Texas History (HIST 4316, MW 3:00-4:15pm, OM 203), Instructor: Jean Stuntz - This course will look at race and gender throughout Texas History.

• Spanish Literature (SPAN 4365, T/Th 1:30-2:45pm), Instructor: Andy Reynolds - In this class, the representation of gender will be a topic of class discussion for the works of literature covered. In particular, the works of women, gay, and lesbian writers will be discussed in ways that complicate traditional gender norms. Taught in Spanish, but open to non-majors.
   
• Hispanic Writers in the U.S. (SPAN 4375, T/Th 11:00am-12:15pm), Instructor: Andy Reynolds - As with SPAN 4365, this course will explore the representation of gender as a topic of class discussion, with a partial emphasis on the works of women, gay, and lesbian writers that complicate traditional gender norms. Taught in Spanish, but open to non-majors.
   
• Women of Color and Political Communication (SOCI 3392-01, MWF 10:00-10:50am), Instructor: Lisa Garza - This course examines the roles, conflict, and success of women of color in major social movements, and, in particular, women who participated in the Civil Rights Movement, the Chicano Movement, the Black Power Movement, the American Indian Movement, the Black Lives Matter Movement, and the Fair Immigration Movement. The social forces that led to the organization and mobilization of these movements will also be analyzed and compared to the current state of activism.
   
• Organizational Communication (COMM 3331), Instructor: Kris Drumheller - This course is a survey of organizational communication strategies with a focus on leadership. As part of this focus, the importance of understanding social identity will be at the forefront of each lesson. Diversity in all its forms will be addressed with particular attention on gender and sexual identity and expressions.
   
• Latino/Latina Communication (COMM 3392-01), Instructor: George Pacheco - This course takes an intercultural focus and uses not only the lens of gender but also the lens of intercultural communication to analyze current practices found in Hispanic communities.
   
• World Masterpieces (ENGL 3383-01), Instructor: Bonnie Roos - This course focuses on the World Epic, an area often dominated by male themes and male writers. We will consider masculinist genres, themes and writers, as well as some female writers. Discussion of gender and sexuality is visible in virtually every text we consider. The course primarily constitutes a critique and analysis of patriarchal and heterosexist western and non-western paradigms.
• Social Justice: Change the World (SOCI 3392) Instructor: Lisa Garza – This course is based on social movements and Dr. Garza will introduce case studies from the 1950s through the 1970s. Topics will range from the Civil Rights Movement to the Anti-War Movement. Students also will explore current events and issues while learning about solutions and mobilization.
   
• Representations of Gender in Latin America (SPAN 3314) – This course will explore the representations and complexities of gender throughout Latin American history, culture and art beginning with the pre-Colombian periods through the present.

• Spanish Film: Images of Women in Iberian Culture(s) (SPAN 4385) Note: class discussion will be in Spanish and films will be in Spanish, Catalan, or English but will always have English or Spanish subtitles.
  A survey of Spanish and Catalan films focusing on representation of women in movies. This course explores the development of Spanish cinema from the end of the 19th through 21st century. A survey of Spanish cinema from the early beginnings of the silent movies to the most international English speaking movies was selected. Important figures such as Luis Buñuel, Luis García Berlanga, Juan Antonio Bardem, Victor Erice, Carlos Saura, Pedro Almodóvar, Alejandro Amenábar, Icíar Bollaín, Isabel Coixet, and others are studied. The film selection aims to portrait and analyze the representations of women’s roles and rights in Spanish cinematography.
   
• Aesthetics of Gender and Identity (ARTS 4370-01), Instructor: Amy Von Lintel - This course explores theories and practices of identity politics through the lens of art and visual culture. It is not be a historical survey of gender in art across time, but instead a topically and thematically oriented course. It requires no prerequisite for enrollment and can be taken as an upper-level elective by any student interested in the visual languages and manifestations of identity.