This course explores the experience of working mothers in America. What are the political, economic, social and psychological factors that shape the experiences of women who work and raise children? How does the American woman's experience vary across race, class and educational level, and how does it compare to the experiences of women in other cultures? How have the roles of mother and worker or 'career woman' changed over time? How have they remained the same? What type of support do women need to balance these roles?

This course will focus on topics to which feminist thinking has made important philosophical contributions, such as: pornography, objectification, and consent. We will draw on a variety of philosophical resources, ranging from liberal and feminist political theory, to speech act theory. We will consider questions such as: Is pornography morally problematic? Can sexism or other biases lead to bad science? Is it wrong to choose to be a stay-at-home parent? The goal will be to see how careful philosophical thought can help us with pressing issues of sex and gender.

This course examines the contested roles and representations of Buddhist women in different historical and cultural contexts. Using a variety of ethnographic, historical, and textual sources, the course investigates both the challenges and opportunities Buddhist women have found in their religious texts, institutions, and communities.

How is our understanding of U.S. history transformed when we place African American women at the center of the story? This course will examine the exclusion of African American women from dominant historical narratives and the challenge to those narratives presented by African American women's history through an investigation of selected topics in the field.

This course uses archival records, fiction, life histories, and outstanding recent scholarship to investigate African women's actions in a century that encompassed women's loss of agency and authority but the endurance of their responsibility for the production of food. We investigate the erosion of women's economic power and the loss of women's work of governing at conquest, in the early colonial period, and as a consequence of Africa's integration into the world economy as its least powerful player.

Yue Opera, an all-female art that flourished in Shanghai in 1923, resulted from China's social changes and the women's movement. Combining traditional with modern forms and Chinese with Western cultures, Yue Opera today attracts loyal and enthusiastic audiences despite pop arts crazes. We will focus on how audiences, particularly women, are fascinated by gender renegotiations as well as by the all-female cast. The class will read and watch classics of this theater, including Dream of the Red Chamber, Story of the Western Chamber, Peony Pavilion, and Butterfly Lovers.

How do scholars produce knowledge? What can we learn from differences and similarities in the research process of a novelist, a biologist, an historian, a sociologist, and a film critic? Who decides what counts as knowledge? We will examine a range of methods from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, including visual analysis, archival exploration, interviewing, and ethnography, as we consider the specific advantages (and potential limitations) of diverse disciplinary approaches for feminist inquiry.

This course is designed to introduce students to social, cultural, historical, and political perspectives on gender and its construction. Through discussion and writing, we will explore the intersections among gender, race, class, and sexuality in multiple settings and contexts. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to a variety of questions, we will consider the distinctions between sex and gender, women's economic status, the making of masculinity, sexual violence, queer movements, racism, and the challenges of feminist activism across nations, and possibilities for change.

This course is designed to introduce students to social, cultural, historical, and political perspectives on gender and its construction. Through discussion and writing, we will explore the intersections among gender, race, class, and sexuality in multiple settings and contexts. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to a variety of questions, we will consider the distinctions between sex and gender, women's economic status, the making of masculinity, sexual violence, queer movements, racism, and the challenges of feminist activism across nations, and possibilities for change.