So I figured there would be some interest amongst my readers what exactly I'm doing in school, so I thought I would tell you!
Last semester I took:
Introduction to Women and Gender Studies
Introduction to origins, purpose, subject matter, and methods of women studies and the feminist perspectives on a range of social issues affecting women. [Transnational department, btw]
I got an A
Women and Media
Analytic modes, including feminist, psychoanalytic, and economic criticism, to assess both how women are represented in mass media and the status of women employed in mass media. [This class was WAY more interesting than I thought it would be, my textbook was Shohat and Stam's Unthinking Eurocentrism, which was dense, but awesome]
I got an A
Gender and the Culture of War
Using historical, theoretical, fictional and cultural texts, students discuss political, cultural and ideological configurations of war in conjunction with case studies of men/women’s involvement in different violent conflicts.
I got an A
Lesbian, Queer and Transgender Identities
Examination of lesbian, queer, and transgender identities in cultural and historical contexts. Using a transnational feminist approach, presents a challenge to Western assumptions about sexual identities and analysis of sexuality through nation, gender, race and class.
I got an A-
Not bad. :D
This semester I'm taking:
Celtic Literature
Literary traditions of culturally diverse Celtic world from earliest legends of gods, heroes, warriors, and saints to modern literature; texts may include traditions such as Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Breton and Manx.
Gender, Race and Nation
Through an interdisciplinary perspective, examines the politics of representing women and gender through differences of race, class, sexuality, nation and state. Focuses on feminist and related social movements including US women of color.
Making Whites: Race-making in America
Evolution and implications of whiteness in America from colonial period to the present post-Civil Rights, multicultural era; includes the definition of whiteness and critical role of the racial construction of whiteness in the history of American racism and race relations.
Variations in Human Sexuality
Variations in sexuality: sexual identity, relationships, behavior, and fantasy; identification of personal and social problems associated with varied sexual lifestyles.
I bought my books in a mixture from the bookstore, Amazon and Half.com. I've gotten two of them so far, The Tain and White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness. I read the introductions to both and in most respects can't wait for school to start, despite how lazy I've been this winter break. Frankenberger's discussion of her coming to terms with discovery of her own white privilege and racism was painfully familiar and I think I am probably looking forward to that class ("Making Whites") the most. I might put up a quote from the intro to that book tomorrow... But honestly I am looking forward to the whole line up. The only thing that irritates me at all is I signed up for "Gender, Race and Nation" last semester but couldn't take it, so I kept the books, and we had a BUNCH of books. This semester she only has one of them! One book! Wtf! That's a bit irritating. :P
