Global Arc

An exploration of two aspects of the gender and science literature: the historical participation of women (and men) in scientific work and the feminist critique of scientific knowledge. The seminar will explore ways in which women have been systematically excluded from science and assess the problems with that thesis. One three-hour seminar.

Feminist media studies are a rich field of inquiry, while feminism is a recurring object of media fascination. Media stories of feminism circulate as authoritative. Feminist arguments often become public spectacles where the media leers at and dismisses feminist speech. These spectacularly public representations reduce the multiplicity of feminist positions and voices.

We will take as our primary text the new translation of Simone deBeauvoir"s landmark volume The Second Sex, one of the most significant origin points of current understandings of gender. In our sustained consideration of The Second Sex, we will explore Beauvoir's ideas about the influence of sex and gender on childhood, the family, sexuality, relationships, aging, work, the social order, and the philosophical imaginary. We will also consider contemporary writing alongside that text, taking Beauvoir as our tour guide as we encounter and interpret contemporary representations of gender.

Reproduction is a basic biological process, as well as a fundamental one for all societies. While the biology of human reproduction is universal across time and place, cultural norms and social institutions powerfully inflect and shape the experience of pregnancy and childbirth in every society. This course investigates the history and sociology of reproduction, focusing on the contemporary United States, but with an eye toward other societies for comparison. How, why, and for whom does birth matter? How do reproductive practices reflect gender, race, and class? The course examines the culture, politics, and economics of reproduction.

Does the body have a history? Considering the body from a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, this course challenges assumptions about what we take to be deeply natural and stable over time and space - our bodily selves. We will pay particular attention to the constitution of the body in relation to historical configurations of sex, gender, and sexuality; race and racialization; (dis)ability, normalcy, and fitness; and discipline and surveillance. Attending to the enduring force of those histories, we will also consider the operations of power on and in the body in the present moment.