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Dedman College

DEDMAN COLLEGE
WOMEN'S STUDIES PROGRAM

Associate Professor Beth Newman, Director
Lecturer: Josephine Caldwell-Ryan.

Women’s Studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that explores historical and contemporary achievements of women, including their intellectual, artistic, political and social contributions. Women’s studies core and departmentally-based courses introduce students to the dynamic and rapidly in creasing scholarship on gender, the status of women, and the interrelations of women and men. Through participation in Women’s Studies courses, SMU students, both male and female, are exposed to new ways of thinking about life choices and occupational opportunities and are better prepared for future challenges.

A minor in Women’s Studies effectively complements a variety of majors and minors. The minor requires a minimum of 15 term hours, including WS 2322 (or an approved substitute) and 12 additional hours of courses approved for the program. At least nine hours must be advanced.

The Courses (WS)

2308. Revisions: Woman as Thinker, Artist and Citizen. Designed to discover how an emphasis on the particular experiences of women can enhance and complicate traditionally conceived areas of scholarship and critical endeavor. Also explores areas of women’s experience traditionally undervalued, such as friendship, sexuality, motherhood and old age.

2309. Lesbian and Gay Literature and Film: Minority Discourse and Social Power. The exploration, through literature and film, of the struggles by gay men and lesbians to create social identities and achieve human rights. Study of key cultures and pivotal historical periods in the West from ancient Greece to contemporary America.

2315. Gender, Culture and Society. An interdisciplinary study of gender ideology stressing anthropological and literary perspectives, this course analyzes gender difference as a structuring principle in all societies and explores some of its representations in literature, film and contemporary discourse.

2322. Women: Images and Perspectives. An examination of the constant and changing understanding of women reflected in myths, research, and theories of biology, history, religion, the social sciences, literature and language.

2380. Human Sexuality. This course explores the biosocial aspects of human sexuality and sex behaviors. A multidisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective will be used to address a wide range of theoretical and pragmatic sexual issues.

3347 (FL 3363). Figuring The Feminine. This course introduces students to a large body of French literary texts (in translation) by and about women, which bear witness to women’s struggle for civil, social and political adulthood. They span the period from the 14th century to the present.

3370 (ENGL 3364). Women in the Southwest. A study and exploration of women writers, artists and thinkers in the American Southwest and their vision of this region as singularly hospitable to women’s culture.

3381 (ARHS 4371). Modern Myth-Making. The quest for enduring cultural heroes and the projection of changing social messages as reflected in art from past epochs to modern times.

3382. Women’s Body Politics. A cross-cultural, interdisciplinary exploration of the cultural and ideological work that women’s bodies perform as reflected in literature, art, medicine, 4209. Independent Studies. A supervised practicum and/or directed readings on specific problems or themes under faculty guidance. Approval of Coordinator is required.

4303. Women Studies Internship. Offers students experience with organizations serving women or addressing women’s and gender issues, as well as with varied potential careers or volunteer opportunities in the community.

4309. Independent Studies. A supervised practicum and/or directed readings on special problems or themes formulated by the student with faculty guidance and the approval of the director of Women’s Studies.

6300 (TC 8375). Advanced Feminist Theory. Explores feminist theories that seek to explain women’s subordination historically and cross-culturally, examines gender as a principle of social organization, and addresses the linkages among gender, ethnicity and class from the vantage of multiple disciplines.

The following courses may also be used to meet minor requirements:

ANTH 3310 Gender and Sex Roles: A Global Perspective
ANTH 3336 Gender and Globalization: Cultural and Ethical Issues
ARHS 3358/6389 Women in the Visual Arts: Both Sides of the Easel
ARHS 3357 Women Artists
ARHS 4371 (WS 3381) Modern Myth-Making
ARHS 6385 Women in Renaissance Art
CCJN 4360 Women and Minorities in Mass Media
CTV 2332 American Popular Film
CTV 2362 Diversity and American Film
CTV 3302 Images of Women in Television (subject to approval)
CTV 3310 Screen Artists (subject to approval)
CTV 3360 Gender and Representation in World Cinema
CTV 4350 Gender Issues in Communication
ECO 4351 Labor Economics
ECO 5357 Economics of Human Resources
ENGL 1360 The American Heroine: Fiction and Fact
ENGL 3344 Victorian Gender
ENGL 3367 Ethical Implications of Children’s Literature
ENGL 3371 (HIST 3357) Joan of Arc: Her Story in History, Literature and Film
ENGL 3377 Literature and the Construction of Homosexuality
ENGL 3373 (FL 3359) Masculinities: Images and Perspectives
ENGL 3364 (WS 3370) Women and the Southwest
ENGL 3379 Literary and Cultural Contexts of Disability: Gender, Care and Justice
ENGL 3361, 4363, 6391, 6392, 6393, 6394, 6395 Seminars (subject to approval)
FL 3312 Women in Modern China
FL 3359 (ENGL 3359) Masculinities: Literary Images and Perspectives
FL 3363 (WS 3347) Figuring the Feminine
HIST 1322-001H Seminar in European History: Renaissance Queens and Mistresses
HIST 3301 Human Rights: America’s Dilemma
HIST 3310 Problems in American History: Women’s Movements/Gender Systems (Subject
to Approval)
HIST 3312 Women in American History
HIST 3317 Women in Latin American Societies
HIST 3329 Women in Early Modern Europe
HIST 3330 Women in Modern European History
HIST 3348 American Families: Changing Experiences and Expectations
HIST 3355 Class and Gender in Ancient Society
HIST 3357 (ENGL 3371) Joan of Arc: Her story, in History, Literature and Film
HIST 3394 The New Woman: The Emergence of Modern Womanhood in the U.S., 1890 to 1930
HIST 3398 Women in Chinese History
HR 8331 Women in World Religions (instructor approval)
HX 7327 Women in the History of Christianity (instructor approval)
HX 8329 Mary and Christian Tradition (instructor approval)
MDVL 3352 Ideals and Ideals of Gender in the Middle Ages
MUHI 3341 Women and Music “Like a Virgin”: From Hildegard to Madonna
MUHI 4341 Women Composers and Performers in the 19th and 20th Centuries (majors only)
PHIL 3305 Philosophy and Gender
PLSC 3370 Women and Politics
PLSC 4339 Women and the Law
PSYC 3350 Psychology of Women
RELI 3375 Wives, Mothers, Lovers, Queens: Expressions of the Feminine Divine in World Religions and Cultures
RELI 3376 Constructions of Gender, Sexuality and the Family in South Asian Religions
SOCI 3351 Marriage and the Family
SOCI 3371 Sociology of Gender
ST 8375 Feminist and Womanist Theologies (instructor approval)
THEA 4383 Gender and Performance
WS 2308 Revisions: Woman as Thinker, Artist and Citizen
WS 2309 Lesbian and Gay Literature and Film: Minority Discourse and Social Power
WS 2322 Women: Images and Perspectives
WS 2380 Human Sexuality
WS 2315 Gender, Culture and Society
WS 3347 (FL 3363) Figuring the Feminine
WS 3370 (ENGL 3370) Women and the Southwest
WS 3381 (ARHS 5381) Modern Myth-Making
WS 3382 Women’s Body Politics
WO 8308 Women and Worship (instructor approval)