This course will explore visual and literary images of nineteenth through early 20th-century marriage and motherhood. Discussion of Virginia's Woolf's A Room of One's Own and Barbara Welter's essay The Cult of True Womanhood will serve as the springboard for our focus on representations of women in the home. We will incorporate a visit to the art museum, and will analyze film adaptations of some of the texts we read.

This course will examine narrative nonfiction biographies written by women biographers in order to determine the specific ways in which women tell the stories of other women's lives. We will investigate stylistic and theoretical approaches to writing biographies in which gender is a central focus. We will ask if feminist biography constitutes a literary genre. We will experience the challenges (and thrills) of conducting archival and primary research. The course will culminate in students writing chapter-length biographies.

What happens after a traumatic event? Why do some people develop psychological disorders and others do not? This course will explore the psychological theories and research on trauma and stress. Topics covered will include childhood abuse, domestic violence, combat violence, community violence, and interpersonal violence. The seminar will explore psychological dysfunction, disorders, as well as adaptation and coping following exposure to traumatic stress. In addition, the course will explore the concept of cultural trauma.

This seminar focuses on contemporary anthropological scholarship concerned with the varieties of sexual expression in diverse cultural settings. We will read ethnographic accounts of sexual ideologies and the politics and practices of sexuality in Brazil, Japan, Native North America, India, and elsewhere. We will examine anthropological theories of sexuality with an emphasis on contemporary issues, including performance theory, third gender theories, sexual identity formulation, and techniques used by various societies to discipline the body.

The course provides an historical and topical overview of Latina/o migration to the United States. We will examine the economic, political, and social antecedents to Latin American migration, and the historical impact of the migration process in the U.S. Considering migration from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, we will discuss the social construction of race, the gendered nature of migration, migrant labor struggles, Latin American-U.S. Latino relations, immigration policy, and border life and enforcement.

A seminar on the eighteenth-century Chinese masterpiece The Story of the Stone and selected literary criticism in response to this work. Discussions will focus on love, gender-crossing, and women's supremacy and the paradoxical treatments of these themes in the novel. We will explore multiple aspects of these themes, including the sociopolitical, philosophical, and literary milieus of eighteenth-century China. We will also examine this novel in its relation to Chinese literary tradition in general and the generic conventions of premodern Chinese vernacular fiction in particular.

Mary Daly, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Phyllis Trible, and Judith Plaskow, among others, have argued that traditional Jewish and Christian theological systems have overlooked the needs, concerns, histories, and contributions of women. Their challenges range from the historical modification of a presumably unbiased religious system to the outright rejection of a so-called patriarchal establishment.

This course will examine the writing of Emily Dickinson, both her poetry and her letters. We will consider the cultural, historical, political, religious, and familial environment in which she lived. Special attention will be paid to Dickinson's place as a woman artist in the nineteenth century. The class will meet at the Dickinson Museum (280 Main Street in Amherst and accessible by Five College bus). Enrollment is limited to ten students.

This seminar is designed to explore the nature of our field of inquiry in theory and practice. 1) All students read texts exploring such questions as: What does German Studies mean? What is interdisciplinary work? What role does literature play in culture studies? What is the relationship between language and the construction of culture? Why learn German vis a vis global English? What meanings have been attributed to the terms culture and civilization?

This course emphasizes further development of contextual reading, writing, and speaking skills in German. Focus on strategies that help students learn vocabulary and use grammatical structures in appropriate ways. Discussion of a variety of texts and genres, as well as exploration of topics such as immigration and social justice. Frequent writing assignments and speaking opportunities.