IGS734 Theorizing Gender

[3–0, 3 cr.]

The course introduces students to key theories and debates in the study of gender. It considers some of the fundamental questions they raise about the socially-constructed understandings and variations of what it means to be female or male, and the intersections between gender, race, class, sexuality, and nationality. It examines gender historically and cross-culturally, and considers the roles and practices of women and men in economic and political systems as well as in rituals and in everyday life activities. It explores how sex and gender are constructed and how gender is performed by individuals and groups in different societies. Finally, it studies the emergence of sexuality as an identity and an object of study since the late nineteenth century.