Women's Studies (WMS) College of Letters & Science

WMS 020 — Cultural Representations of Gender (4 units)

Course Description: Interdisciplinary investigation of how specific cultures represent gender difference. Examine a variety of cultural forms and phenomena including film, television, literature, music, popular movements, and institutions.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 025 — Gender & Global Cinema (4 units)

Course Description: Role gender plays in film history/culture in various geographical contexts and in aspects of contemporary globalization. Films from nations such as China, Colombia, Cuba, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Korea, New Zealand, and the U.S.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 060 — Feminist Critiques of Western Thought (4 units)

Course Description: Critical introduction to major traditions of social thinking in the West from a feminist perspective.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 104 — Feminist Research (4 units)

Course Description: Introduction to feminist applications and transformations of traditional disciplinary research practices; initial training in methodologies for feminist interdisciplinary work.

Prerequisite(s): Required for Women's Studies major.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); Domestic Diversity (DD); Oral Skills (OL); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 130 — Globalization & Politics of Family Change (4 units)

Course Description: Political/cultural changes, conflicts, and economic disparities that have led to greater mobility and dispersal of families. Transnationalism on gender relations, sexualities, and the meaning of family.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); Oral Skills (OL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 136 — Critical Food Studies (4 units)

Course Description: Production and consumption of food at the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, nation, and body. Individual and familial experiences as part of larger economic and political structures in the U.S. and globally.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); Oral Skills (OL); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 137 — Contemporary Debates in Western Feminist Theory (4 units)

Course Description: Interpretations of poststructuralist, postmodern, and postcolonial thought from a critical feminist perspective; includes methods of applying theory to concrete social/cultural problems of gender, race, sexuality, class.

Prerequisite(s): WMS 060; or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 138 — Critical Fashion Studies (4 units)

Course Description: Feminist cultural studies of style-fashion-dress through transnational circuits, personal subjectivities. Fashion as means of gender oppression and liberation. Histories and discourses of masculinities and femininities. Clothing works on global assembly line. Use of dress in construction/regulation of identities.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); Domestic Diversity (DD); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 140 — Gender & Law (4 units)

Course Description: Exploration of womens legal rights in historical and contemporary context, discussing a variety of legal issues and applicable feminist theories. Topics include constitutional equal protection, discrimination in employment and education, sexual orientation discrimination, and the regulation of abortion.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Social Sciences (SS); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD).

WMS 145 — Women's Movements in Transnational Perspective (4 units)

Course Description: Transnational perspectives on 20th- and 21st-century women’s movements in Western, colonial and post-colonial contexts, examining movement’s forms and political orientations and relationships between women’s movements and other forces for change.

Prerequisite(s): WMS 050 recommended.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Term Paper.
  • Enrollment Restriction(s): Limited to 90 students.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); Oral Skills (OL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 146 — Gender, War & Peace (4 units)

Course Description: Applies a critical gender perspective to militarism as manifest in contexts of military rule, war, conflict, peacebuilding and security post-conflict. Addresses the changing configurations of gender and sexuality in military institutions and militarized economies and cultures from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 158 — Masculinities (4 units)

Course Description: Cultural, economic, and political forces which shape historical and contemporary masculinities. Impact of race, class, ability, nation and sexuality on experiences and cultural representations of masculinity.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Term Paper.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 160 — Women, "Race" & Sexuality in Postcolonial Cinema (4 units)

Course Description: Feminist analysis of race, sexuality and class in the representation of women in commercial and/or independent films.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Enrollment Restriction(s): Limited to 90 students.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 162 — Feminist Film Theory & Criticism (4 units)

Course Description: Historical overview of and contemporary issues in feminist film theory, including representation, spectatorship, and cultural production. Film stars, women filmmakers, and the intersections of gender, race, sexuality, and class in films and their audiences.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 164 — Topics in Gender & Cinematic Representation (4 units)

Course Description: Examination of a specific topic within the broad rubric of gender and cinema. Possible topics include Latinas in Hollywood; gender, nation, cinema; and gender and film genre. Topics vary.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Film Viewing 3 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated 2 time(s) when topic differs.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); Visual Literacy (VL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 165 — Feminist Media Production (6 units)

Course Description: Media production as a mode of cultural criticism, furthering feminist/ social justice activist goals. Fundamentals of camera, editing and distribution via a social engagement model. Study and hands-on response to key historic and contemporary feminist and social justice media discourses.

Prerequisite(s): (CTS 020 or CDM 020); or two WMS courses.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Laboratory 3 hour(s), Fieldwork 6 hour(s).
  • Cross Listing: CDM 105.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); Visual Literacy (VL).

WMS 170 — Queer Studies (4 units)

Course Description: Study of queer sexualities, identities, theories, practices. Alternative sexualities as historical, social, and cultural constructions in intersections with race, gender, class, nationality. Interdisciplinary exploration of sexual liberation and the regulation of sexuality through history, theory and expressive cultural forms.

Prerequisite(s): WMS 070 recommended or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 175 — Gender & Experience of Race (4 units)

Course Description: Exploration of the co-construction of “race” and gender in comparative national historical contexts and contemporary lived experience. Study of intersections of race and gender in identities and how institutions, labor migration, social movements and consumption shape racialized gendered identities.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 180 — Women of Color Writing in the United States (4 units)

Course Description: Literature, especially novels, written by contemporary women of color in the United States, understood in their socio-economic, cultural and historical contexts.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 182 — Globalization, Gender & Culture (4 units)

Course Description: Critical gender analysis of globalization as a process of interconnected cultural, social and economic transformations inflected by gender, nation, class and race/ethnicity. Critical self-reflection and social observation skills.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); Oral Skills (OL); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 184 — Gender in the Arab World (4 units)

Course Description: Examination of the history, culture, and social/political/economic dynamics of gender relations and gendering in the Arab world.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Social Sciences (SS); World Cultures (WC); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 187 — Gender & Public Policy (4 units)

Course Description: Role of gender in the creation of social policies, especially with respect to issues brought into the policy arena by contemporary feminism.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 3 hour(s), Term Paper.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Social Sciences (SS); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 189 — Special Topics in Critical Gender Studies (4 units)

Course Description: In-depth examination of a women's studies topic related to the research interests of the instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated 1 time(s) when topic differs.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 190 — Senior Seminar (4 units)

Starting Fall Quarter 2023, this course is no longer offered.

Course Description: Capstone course for senior Womens Studies majors, which focuses on current issues on feminism as they impact theory, public policy, and practice.

  • Learning Activities: Seminar 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); American Cultures, Governance, & History (ACGH); Domestic Diversity (DD).

WMS 192 — Internship in Women's Studies (1-12 units)

Starting Fall Quarter 2023, this course is no longer offered.

Course Description: Supervised internship and study in positions/institutional settings dealing with gender-related problems or issues, as for example, a women's center, affirmative action office, advertising agency, or social welfare agency. Final written report on internship experience.

Prerequisite(s): Completion of a minimum of 84 units and consent of instructor; enrollment dependent on availability of intern positions with priority to Women's Studies majors.

  • Learning Activities: Internship 3-36 hour(s), Term Paper.
  • Grade Mode: Pass/No Pass only.

WMS 194HA — Senior Honors Project in Women's Studies (4-6 units)

Starting Fall Quarter 2023, this course is no longer offered.

Course Description: In consultation with an advisor, students complete a substantial research paper or significant creative project on a Womens Studies topic.

Prerequisite(s): Senior standing, Women's Studies major, and advisor's approval.

  • Learning Activities: Independent Study 12 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 194HB — Senior Honors Project in Women's Studies (4-6 units)

Starting Fall Quarter 2023, this course is no longer offered.

Course Description: In consultation with an advisor, students complete a substantial research paper or significant creative project on a Women's Studies topic.

Prerequisite(s): Senior standing, Women's Studies major, and advisor's approval.

  • Learning Activities: Independent Study 12 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.
  • General Education: Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Sciences (SS); Writing Experience (WE).

WMS 197T — Tutoring in Women's Studies (1-4 units)

Starting Fall Quarter 2023, this course is no longer offered.

Course Description: Leading small, voluntary discussion groups affiliated with a Womens Studies course.

Prerequisite(s): Upper division standing and consent of director.

  • Learning Activities: Tutorial 3-12 hour(s).
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated 8 unit(s).
  • Grade Mode: Pass/No Pass only.

WMS 200A — Current Issues in Feminist Theory (4 units)

Starting Fall Quarter 2023, this course is no longer offered.

Course Description: Current issues in feminist theory; techniques employed to build feminist theory in various fields.

  • Learning Activities: Seminar 4 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Letter.

WMS 201 — Special Topics in Feminist Theory & Research (4 units)

Starting Fall Quarter 2023, this course is no longer offered.

Course Description: Explores in depth a topic in feminist theory and research related to the research interests of the instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Lecture/Discussion 4 hour(s).
  • Enrollment Restriction(s): Limited enrollment.
  • Repeat Credit: May be repeated when topic differs.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.

WMS 250 — Cultural Study of Masculinities (4 units)

Course Description: Interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the social and cultural construction of masculinities; attention to the effects of biology, gender, race, class, sexual and national identities; criticism of oral, printed, visual, and mass mediated texts, and of social relations and structures.

Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing or consent of instructor.

  • Learning Activities: Seminar 3 hour(s), Term Paper.
  • Cross Listing: AMS 250.
  • Grade Mode: Letter.

WMS 299 — Special Study for Graduate Students (1-12 units)

Starting Fall Quarter 2023, this course is no longer offered.

Course Description: Special study for graduate students.

  • Learning Activities: Variable.
  • Grade Mode: Pass/No Pass only.

WMS 299D — Dissertation Research & Writing (4 units)

Starting Fall Quarter 2023, this course is no longer offered.

Course Description: Dissertation research & writing.

Prerequisite(s): WMS 200A; WMS 200B; fulfillment of course requirements for the DE in Feminist Theory and Research; advancement to candidacy.

  • Learning Activities: Extensive Writing/Discussion 3 hour(s).
  • Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory only.