Women's Studies Courses
taught by Diane Griffin Crowder
(For more complete information on Women's Studies at Cornell:)
Link to WST HomePage
 
WST 271-- Feminist Theories.     Required for WST major/minor.  Prerequisite: WST 171.

        This course introduces students to all the major theoretical positions created by Western feminist movements, with a primary focus upon their great variety, highlighting the ways different philosophies lead to different goals and strategies.  Beginning with women's history in the U.S., the course examines theories ranging from classical conservative and liberal ideologies of the 19th century to radical feminisms, psychoanalytical theories, socialist and materialist feminisms, and the most recent post-modernist and post-colonial theories.  Each theory is examined  with attention to its impact upon various different groups, including but not limited to criteria such as class, race, sexuality, and political impact.  Students are required to examine a current topic of interest through the perspectives of at least three theories and assess their strengths and weaknesses.

WST 411 -- Seminar in Women's Studies.  Required for WST major/minor.  Prerequisite: WST 271 and junior/senior standing.  Offered alternate years.

 Click here for 2005 Syllabus, here for Web Resources or here for Syllabus of 2000

       Designed as a capstone experience for WST students, the seminar functions as a study group in which all members explore together the most recent developments in feminist theory and women's studies methodology.  Texts are updated each time the seminar is taught.  Recent topics have included postmodernism and its problematic relationship to feminisms,  post-colonial and minority theories, the emergence in the 1990s of materialist feminist theories, and  the problem of the relationship of gender to sex and sexuality.  An important feature of the course is the application of the theoretical materials to a current topic of controversy within Women's Studies.  Students are expected to do a major research project in their own area of specialization, with special attention to methodological questions.

2006-07 Topics Course--WST 260 Thinking Sexualities: A Survey of Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/ Queer Studies

Click here for WST 206 home page.
 
 

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e-mail dcrowder@cornellcollege.edu
 

last updated 12 April 2007