Studies in Women and Gender Program

P.O. Box 400172
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4172
Phone: (434) 982-2961 Fax: (434) 924-6969
www.virginia.edu/~womenst/home.htm

Overview Studies in Women and Gender is an interdisciplinary program that seeks to analyze history and culture from women's perspectives and to deepen the methods of academic pursuit by acknowledging the critical place of gender. By examining issues raised in the program, students develop a fuller sense of their options as human beings, living as we do in a culture divided by gender stereotyping that defines and limits both women and men. Offering a critical perspective, this program encourages a reexamination of traditional methods and concepts, supports new kinds of research, and allows students to better understand the changing roles and behavior of women and men in the contemporary world.

The program seeks to continue integrating the categories 'gender' and 'woman' into the curriculum by offering an ever-widening range of courses in all disciplines with a specific goal of broadening representation in traditionally under-represented fields of science and in new scholarly endeavors of modern media and film studies.

Currently, the program is offering thirty-five primary courses and twenty adjunct courses through a total of seventeen departments and programs, including: African American Studies,  Anthropology, Art History, Asian And Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, rama, English, French, German, Government and Foreign Affairs, History, Music, Nursing, Philosophy, Psychology, Religious Studies, Slavic, and Sociology.

Faculty  The Studies in Women and Gender Program has three joint appointments: the Director, Ann J. Lane, with the Department of History; Farzaneh Milani, with the Division of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures; and Sharon Hays, with the Department of Sociology. Together with the many other faculty whose courses are cross-listed, they represent a range of scholarly and teaching interests that explore gender and women's issues from various disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives. Aside from regular advising activities, faculty members meet with majors and minors at formal programs, as well as at frequent informal luncheons and discussions.

Students  There are currently twenty-nine studies in women and gender majors and nineteen minors. Many students choose a second major, and English, anthropology, and religious studies are among the most preferred. Non-majors and minors are also encouraged to explore the program's courses to enrich their other academic interests.

Requirements for Major  Three interdisciplinary courses: SWAG 210, the introductory course; SWAG 381, a course in feminist theory and methods; and SWAG 405, a senior seminar. A total of eleven courses, which include the three required courses, from at least three departments. Of the total, three must be from the humanities, three in the social sciences. Of the total, 9 courses must be at the 300 or 400 level. One Studies in Women and Gender course must focus on non-Western cultures. A graduating major must have 6 courses in a single department, though they need not all be Studies in Women and Gender. Two independent reading courses and two adjunct courses can be counted toward the major.

Distinguished Majors Program Majors in Studies in Women and Gender with a strong academic record are encouraged to become Distinguished Majors. Distinguished Majors complete a two semester written thesis (approximately 40- 60 in length) in their fourth year under the supervision of a SWAG faculty member. The thesis allows students to pursue their own interests in depth and have the intellectual satisfaction of defining and completing a sustained project.

To be eligible, students must have a 3.45 overall GPA at the start of their fourth year. Students pursuing the Senior Thesis will sign up for a 6-credit course, SWAG 491 and 492, under the supervision of a SWAG faculty member. The thesis must also be approved by a second faculty member who the student will choose in consultation with the thesis advisor.

Requirements for Minor  Three interdisciplinary courses: SWAG 210, the introductory course; SWAG 381, a course in feminist theory and methods, and SWAG 405, the senior seminar. A total of seven courses from a least three departments. Four of the required courses at or above the 300 level. One independent readings course and one adjunct course may be counted toward the minor.

Additional Information  For more information, contact Ann J. Lane, Studies in Women and Gender Program, University of Virginia 227 Minor Hall, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4127; (434) 982-2961; Fax: (434) 924-6969; ajl3u@virginia.edu; www.virginia.edu/ ~womenst/home.htm.

The program produces a list of approved studies in women and gender courses each semester.

AMEL 211 - (3) (Y)
Women and Middle Eastern Literature

ANTH 329 - (3) (Y)
Marriage, Morality, and Fertility

ANTH 363 - (3) (Y)
Chinese Family and Religion

ANTH 369 - (3) (Y)
Sex, Gender, and Culture

ANTH 379 - (3) (Y)
Gender, Science and Culture

CHTR 301 - (3) (Y)
Legendary Women of Early Chinese

CHTR 322 - (3) (Y)
Gender, Family, and Sexuality in Chinese Fiction

DRAM 331 - (3) (Y)
History of Dress

ECON 307 - (3) (Y)
Economics and Gender

ENEC 320 - (3) (Y)
Eighteenth-Century Women Writers

ENEC 481 - (3) (Y)
Women and Morality in Restoration Comedy

ENAM 481B - (3) (Y)
Afro-American Women Authors

ENAM 484 - (3) (Y)
Black Women Writers

ENCR 481 - (3) (Y)
Politics of/and Cultural Aesthetics

ENCR 567 - (3) (Y)
Theory and Feminism

ENLT 252 - (3) (Y)
Women in Literature

ENNC 481 - (3) (Y)
Women Novelists of the Nineteenth Century

ENNC 482 - (3) (IR)
Nineteenth Century Women Authors

ENSP 352 - (3) (Y)
Modern Women Authors

ENSP 355 - (3) (Y)
Images of Women in 19th and 20th Century Fiction

ENTC 354 - (3) (Y)
Twentieth-Century Women Writers

ENTC 481 - (3) (Y)
Twentieth Century Women Writers: Seminars

GERM 584 - (3) (IR)
Women and Fiction

HIST 321 - (3) (Y)
History of Sexuality

HIUS 333 - (3) (IR)
History of Women in America to 1865

HIUS 334 - (3) (IR)
History of Women in America After 1865

HIUS 367 - (3) (Y)
History of the Civil Rights Movements

JPTR 322 - (3) (Y)
Women, Nature and Society in Modern Japanese Fiction

JPTR 382 - (3) (Y)
Modern Japanese Women Writers

PHIL 164 - (3) (Y)
Ethics and Gender

PLAP 355 - (3) (Y)
Gender Politics

PSYC 360 - (3) (Y)
Psychology of Gender

PSYC 362 - (3) (Y)
Psychology of Sex Roles

PSYC 446 - (3) (Y)
Women's Issues in Clinical Psychology

PSYC 449 - (3) (Y)
Sexual Orientation & Human Development

PSYC 487 - (3) (Y)
The Minority Family

RELG 265 - (3) (Y)
Theology, Ethics, and Medicine

RELG 340 - (3) (Y)
Women and Religion

RELG 372 - (3) (Y)
Witchcraft

SOC 252 - (3) (S)
Sociology of the Family

SOC 343 - (3) (Y)
Sociology of Sex Roles

SOC 411 - (3) (IR)
Black Women: Current Issues

SOC 442 - (3) (Y)
Sociology of Inequality

SOC 443 - (3) (Y)
Women and Society

SWAG 207 - (3) (S)
Dance/Movement Composition as Art
Prerequisite: Instructor permission.
This course will involve analysis of aesthetic valuing and choreographic approaches as they relate and intersect with art, gender and feminism. We will closely examine how dances convey race, class, gender and sexuality. The course will investigate staged performances that illuminate women's political issues and male issues through a lens of cultural and historical contexts. This course will function as an introduction to the fundamentals of movement and dance. It is designed to engage students to inquire about what is art and define how choreography is a statement in a cultural, political, and feminist sense. We will explore potential sources for movement through improvisation, a dance form developed during the 60's. Assignments will be structured in a solo, duet, group format and it may incorporate elements of martial arts, modern and post-modern dance, social dance, sports and play. Improvisation serves an exploration of the physics of motion. It involves a continuous process of exploring balance, weight, body/mind centering, orienting oneself to space and to others in a group; experiencing peripheral vision and events. It also considers social and cultural roles of passivity/ action, leading/following, etc., as well as the cultural definitions of play in the creative process, work and art. Ideal for beginning dancers, those interested in exploring their own movement vocabulary, athletes, actors, musicians or those interested in acquiring a better understanding of movement as source. This course is cross-listed with ARTS 207.

SWAG 210 - (3) (Y)
Women's Lives in Myth and Reality Required introductory course.

SWAG 309 - (2-4) (Y)
Independent Study

SWAG 312 - (3) (Y)
Women and Islam

SWAG 381 - (3) (Y)
Feminist Theories and Methods

SWAG 405 - (3) (Y)
Senior Seminar in Women's Studies

SWAG 491 - (3) (Y)
Women's Studies Senior Thesis

SWAG 492 - (3) (Y)
Women's Studies Senior Thesis

SWAG 498 - (3) (Y)
Independent Reading