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USC Catalogue 2017-2018 [ARCHIVED CATALOGUE]

Gender Studies

Return to: USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences  

The Gender Studies major is designed for students drawn to the interdisciplinary study of gender and sexuality. In exploring how gender and sexuality have operated across time and cultures, students will engage with the approaches and methodologies of established disciplines: sociology, literature, history, political theory, religion; as well as interdisciplinary fields like queer studies and ethnic studies. Our curriculum analyzes how gender and sexuality operate in politics, popular culture, the workplace, health, science, sports, intimate life, and the very production of knowledge itself. Our classes emphasize that gender and sexuality are not stand-alone categories but rather take shape through their intersection with outer relations of power, including race and ethnicity, religion, class, and nationality. Majoring in Gender Studies prepares students for graduate school in the social sciences and the humanities as well as in law, business, and education. In addition, the major and each of our several minors prepare students for work in governmental and non-governmental organizations, communications and the media, arts, and public service.  


(213) 740-8286
FAX: (213) 740-6168
Email: gender@dornsife.usc.edu
Director: Alice Echols, PhD*

Faculty

Barbra Streisand Professor of Contemporary Gender Studies and Professor of History and Gender Studies: Alice Echols, PhD* (History)

Professors: Joseph Boone, PhD (English); Jack Halberstam, PhD* (American Studies & Ethnicity); Sharon Hays, PhD (Sociology); Michael Messner, PhD (Sociology); Rhacel Parrenas, PhD (Sociology); Sherry Marie Velasco, PhD (Spanish and Portuguese)

Professor (Teaching): Diana Blaine, PhD (Writing Program)

Associate Professors: Tim Biblarz, PhD (Sociology); Sheila Briggs, PhD (Religion); Ange-Marie Hancock, PhD (Political Science); Sunyoung Park, PhD (East Asian Languages and Cultures); Karen L. Tongson, PhD (English)

Assistant Professor: Katie Hasson, PhD

Lecturers: Heather Berg, PhD; Karina Eileraas, PhD

Gender Studies Advisory Board

Professors: Elinor Accampo, PhD (History); Lisa Bitel, PhD (History); David Cruz, PhD (Law); Diane Ghirardo, PhD (Architecture); Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, PhD (Sociology); Janet Hoskins, PhD (Anthropology); Eunice Howe, PhD (Art History); Peggy Kamuf, PhD (French and Italian); Susan McCabe, PhD (English); Azade-Ayse Rorlich, PhD (History); Eliz Sanasarian, PhD (Political Science); Hilary Schor, PhD (English); Ellen Seiter, PhD (Cinematic Arts); David Sloane, PhD (Public Policy); Melora Sundt, PhD (Education); Ruth Wallach, MLS (USC Libraries); Holly Willis, PhD (Cinematic Arts); Diane Winston, PhD (Journalism and Religion)

Associate Professors: Marjorie Becker, PhD (History); Bettine Birge, PhD (East Asian Languages and Cultures); Kim Buchanan, LLM, JSD (Law); Tracy Fullerton, PhD (Cinematic Arts); Alice Gambrell, PhD (English); Sharon Gillerman, PhD (Hebrew Union College); Kara Keeling, PhD (Cinematic Arts); Paul Lerner, PhD (History); Tara McPherson, PhD (Cinematic Arts); Lori Meeks, PhD (Religion); Sunyoung Park, PhD (East Asian Languages and Cultures)

Assistant Professors: Katie Hasson, PhD (Sociology); Diana Williams, PhD (History)

Lecturer: M.G. Lord, PhD (Professional Writing)

Administrative Associates: Susan Harris, PhD (Joint Educational Project); Brie Loskota (Center for Religion and Civic Culture)

*Recipient of a university-wide or college teaching award.

Undergraduate Degrees

Internship

A special feature of the undergraduate program is the internship, a required class for majors in which students gain valuable job skills and professional connections. Students have chosen internships related to gender and sexuality at health clinic, Hollywood studios, law offices, and the ONE Archives, the world’s largest LGBTQ archive. The major also includes a capstone class, which offers students the opportunity to study intensively with a professor in her or his current area of research. 

Minor in Gender and Social Justice

The minor in Gender and Social Justice is tailored for students interested in careers in the area of social policy. The minor is unique in its focus on the ways in which large-scale social and economic processes such as neoliberalism, globalization, and economic precarity are connected and gendered. Topics include gender and violence; human trafficking; migration; reproductive rights; global human rights in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity; the prison state; prostitution and sex work. Students will examine the difficulties of translating feminist theorizing into social policy.

Minor in LGBTQ Studies

The interdisciplinary minor in LGBTQ Studies establishes sexuality as a critical category of analysis for humanists and social scientists. The minor enables students to explore the shifting social organization and cultural meanings of same-sex sexuality and cross-gender identification.

Graduate Degrees

Gender Studies also offers a graduate certificate, a credential that is increasingly necessary for tenure-track positions in gender and sexuality departments and in disciplines searching in the area of gender and sexuality. We encourage graduate students to participate in conferences and to organize campus lectures. Travel grants are available through the program as well. Students can apply to mentoring workshops run by the program and the Center for Feminist Research.

 

Programs

Bachelor’s Degree

Minor

University Certificate

Courses

Gender Studies

  • SWMS 210gmw Social Analysis of Gender

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    Multidisciplinary survey of gender assumptions in relation to sexuality, mental health, social and political relations, and artistic expression.
    Satisfies New General Education in Category C: Social Analysis
    Satisfies Global Perspective in Category G: Citizenship in a Diverse World
    Satisfies Old General Education in Category VI: Social Issues
    Instruction Mode: Lecture, Discussion
    Grading Option: Letter

    Crosslisted as POSC 210, PSYC 210

  • SWMS 212gp Studies in Gender and Sexuality: An Introduction

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Examination of how gender and sexuality have been constructed, experienced, and legislated.
    Satisfies New General Education in Category B: Humanistic Inquiry
    Satisfies Global Perspective in Category H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
    Instruction Mode: Lecture, Discussion
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 215gp Gender Conflict across Cultural Contexts

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Fa
    Identification and examination of social and cultural conflicts through the lens of gender, and comparison of such conflicts across cultures, regions, and historical periods.
    Satisfies New General Education in Category B: Humanistic Inquiry
    Satisfies Global Perspective in Category H: Traditions and Historical Foundations
    Satisfies Old General Education in Category VI: Social Issues
    Instruction Mode: Lecture, Discussion
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 225 Gender, Sex, and Science: A Gender Studies Approach

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    Study of sex, gender in relation to science and social sciences; survey of scientific methods, approaches, current research; investigation of gender influences on scientific research.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

    Crosslisted as ANTH-225

  • SWMS 245gm Gender and Sexualities in American History

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in HIST 245 )

  • SWMS 265g Racism, Sexism, and the Law

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in HIST 265 )

  • SWMS 300 Women in Antiquity

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in CLAS 300 )
    Satisfies New General Education in B Humanistic Inquiry
    Satisfies Old General Education in Category V: Arts and Letters
    Instruction Mode: Lecture, Discussion
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 301gm Feminist Theory: An Introduction

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSpSm
    Theories of feminism; historical, social and cultural perspectives of the women’s movement in America, Europe, and in developing countries; men’s roles in the feminist movement.

  • SWMS 302 From Sappho to Stonewall: Lesbians in History

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Other
    (Enroll in HIST 302 )

  • SWMS 303 From Goddesses to Witches: Women in Premodern Europe

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in HIST 305 )

  • SWMS 304xm Italian Renaissance Art: Old Masters and Old Mistresses

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in AHIS 304 )

  • SWMS 305 Childhood, Birth and Reproduction

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in ANTH 305 )

  • SWMS 306 Introduction to LGBTQ Studies

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    Interdisciplinary analysis of LGBTQ issues; examination of the intersections of gender and sexuality with social class, race, religion, and nationality.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 307 Women in Medieval Europe, c. 1000–1500

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Other
    (Enroll in HIST 307 )

  • SWMS 310 Gender and Social Justice

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    Exploration of the ways in which developments and policies, including neoliberalism, the carceral state, and economic precarity, are connected and gendered.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 311 Gender Studies and the Community: Internship

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSpSm
    A combination of internships in the community and an intensive seminar on the relationship of the students in the academic community with the larger urban community of which it is a part.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 316 Gender and Global Issues

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in IR 316 )

  • SWMS 320 Male and Female in Pacific Society

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in ANTH 320 )

  • SWMS 321 Gender and Judaism

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in JS 321 )

  • SWMS 324 Women in Medieval and Renaissance Europe

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in COLT 324 )

  • SWMS 330m Culture, Gender and Politics in South Asia

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in ANTH 330 )

  • SWMS 335 Gender, Religion, and Sexuality

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in REL 335 )

  • SWMS 336 Health, Gender and Ethnicity

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Cross-cultural notions of the body, health, and healing; historic and cultural variability of ideas of reproduction, birth, sexuality, mental illness, and disability.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

    Crosslisted as ANTH-336

  • SWMS 341 Women in English Literature before 1800

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in ENGL 341 )

  • SWMS 342g Women in English and American Literature after 1800

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in ENGL 342g )

  • SWMS 343m Images of Women in Contemporary Culture

    Units: 4
    Max Units: FaSp
    (Enroll in ENGL 343m )

  • SWMS 344m Sexual/Textual Diversity

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    (Enroll in ENGL 344m )

  • SWMS 345 Men and Women in United States History from the 1920s to the Present

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Other
    (Enroll in HIST 345 )

  • SWMS 347 Race, Gender and Power in Francophone Literature

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in FREN 347 )

  • SWMS 349 Women and the Law

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Fa
    Discussion of the relationship between women and the law in light of feminist jurisprudence, U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and cross-cultural perspectives.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

    Crosslisted as POSC-349

  • SWMS 355 Transgender Studies

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Analysis of transgender behaviors, from androgyny and transvestism to transexuality. Discussion of changing laws, representations, medical standards, and social attitudes towards transgender and intersex people.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 358 U.S. Gay and Lesbian History

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Exploration of shifting social organization and cultural meanings of same-sex desire and cross-gender behaviors in the U.S., primarily during the 20th century.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

    Crosslisted as HIST-358

  • SWMS 363m Race, Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Art

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in AHIS 363 )

  • SWMS 367 Gender and Creative Labor

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Fa
    Exploration of contemporary labor issues from feminist and gender studies perspectives.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 369 The Family in a Changing Society

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in SOCI 369 )

  • SWMS 370 Sex, Love, and Marriage: An Introduction to Kinship

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    (Enroll in ANTH 370 )

  • SWMS 372 Human Sexuality

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in PSYC 372 )

  • SWMS 374gm Women Writers in Europe and America

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in COLT 374 )

  • SWMS 375 Women and Gender in China: Past and Present

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in EALC 375 )

  • SWMS 377 The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in JOUR 375 )

  • SWMS 378 Literature, Theory, Gender

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in COLT 377 )

  • SWMS 380 Sex and Gender in Anthropological Perspective

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in ANTH 380 )

  • SWMS 381 Sex, Power, and Politics

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in POSC 381 )

  • SWMS 382 Political Theories and Social Reform

    Units: 2 or 4
    (Enroll in POSC 380 )

  • SWMS 383 French Women Writers

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    (Enroll in FREN 383 )

  • SWMS 385m Men and Masculinity

    Units: 4
    Interdisciplinary examination of social, personal meanings of masculinity; variety of male experience by social class, race, sexuality, and age; emerging masculinities of the future.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

    Crosslisted as ANTH-385, SOCI-386

  • SWMS 389 Gender, Sexuality and Food Cultures in the U.S.

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Exploration of food, eating, production, sustainability, access, and culture from a multidisciplinary perspective.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 390 Special Problems

    Units: 1, 2, 3, 4
    Supervised, individual studies. No more than one registration permitted. Enrollment by petition only.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 395m Gender, Media and Communication

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in COMM 395 )

  • SWMS 402 Human Trafficking

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    (Enroll in SOCI 402 )

  • SWMS 410 Senior Seminar in Gender Studies

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Fa
    Study of a selected problem, period, or theme in the study of women and men in society by integrating perspectives from cross-cultural and interdisciplinary studies.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 412 Gender, Sexuality and Media

    Units: 4
    Max Units: max 8
    (Enroll in CTCS 412 )

  • SWMS 425 Queer Los Angeles

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Interdisciplinary study of queer Los Angeles through examination of histories, memoirs, essays, fiction, poetry, documentaries, narrative films, and local archives.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 426 Gender, Family and Society in Europe and the United States, 1500–Present

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Other
    (Enroll in HIST 426 )

  • SWMS 430 Gender and Sexuality in Korean Literature and Culture

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in EALC 430 )

  • SWMS 434m Women and Aging: Psychological, Social and Political Implications

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSpSm
    (Enroll in GERO 435 )

  • SWMS 435m Women in Society

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in SOCI 435 )

  • SWMS 440 Women’s Literature in Germany I

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in GERM 440 )

  • SWMS 442m Women’s Spaces in History: “Hussies,” “Harems,” and “Housewives”

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in ARCH 442 )

  • SWMS 445 Studies in Gender and Feminism

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in FREN 445 )

  • SWMS 456 Women in International Development

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in POSC 456 )

  • SWMS 464 Sociology of Gender and Work

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    (Enroll in SOCI 464 )

  • SWMS 465 Gender in Media Industries and Products

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in COMM 465 )

  • SWMS 467 Gender and the News Media

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in JOUR 467 )

  • SWMS 490x Directed Research

    Units: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
    Max Units: 12.0
    Terms Offered: FaSpSm
    Independent research and readings.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 492 Honors Thesis

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Writing of the honors thesis; for students in the Gender Studies Honors Program.
    Recommended Preparation: SWMS 410 .
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 499 Special Topics

    Units: 2, 3, 4
    Max Units: 8.0
    Study of a selected problem, period, or theme through interdisciplinary approaches.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 504 Theories of Race, Class, and Gender

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in ENGL 504 )

  • SWMS 505 Seminar in Feminist Theory and Art History

    Units: 4
    Max Units: max 8
    (Enroll in AHIS 505 )

  • SWMS 507 Gender and International Relations

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Irregular
    (Enroll in IR 507 )

  • SWMS 508 Ethics of Liberation Theology

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in REL 508)

  • SWMS 509 Culture, Gender, and Global Society

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in IR 509 )

  • SWMS 516 Seminar: Feminist Theory and Communication

    Units: 4, 2 years
    Terms Offered: Sp
    (Enroll in COMM 516 )

  • SWMS 544 Feminist Theory for Historians

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Fa
    (Enroll in HIST 544 )

  • SWMS 546 Comparative History of Women and Gender in the West to 1800

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Fa
    (Enroll in HIST 546 )

  • SWMS 550 Gender and Education in the Third World

    Units: 3
    (Enroll in EDPA 550)

  • SWMS 551 Studies in the History of Women, Gender and Sexuality

    Units: 4
    Max Units: max 8
    (Enroll in HIST 550 )

  • SWMS 553 Race, Gender and Sexuality

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in AMST 553 )

  • SWMS 554 Women in Global Perspective

    Units: 4
    Women and immigration, employment, and household and family relations in the context of the global economy; women’s social and political movements in diverse cultural contexts.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

    Crosslisted as ANTH-554, POSC-554, SOCI-554

  • SWMS 556 Seminar on Women and the Family in China

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in EALC 556 )

  • SWMS 560 Feminist Theory

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSpSm
    History of feminist theory and major perspectives of current feminist theory: liberal feminism, socialist/Marxist feminism, radical feminism, psychological feminism, spiritual feminism, and ecological feminism.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

    Crosslisted as EDHP-560, POSC-560, SOCI-560

  • SWMS 577 Therapy, Gender, and Ethnicity

    Units: 3
    (Enroll in SOCI 577)

  • SWMS 588 Seminar in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies

    Units: 4
    Interdisciplinary crosscultural, historical, psychological, sociological, and contemporary political perspectives on female and male homosexual eroticism, and the emergence of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender identities.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 590 Directed Research

    Units: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
    Terms Offered: FaSpSm
    Research leading to the master’s degree in cognate fields. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Credit/No Credit

  • SWMS 593 Practicum in Teaching Gender Studies

    Units: 2
    Terms Offered: Fa
    Basic principles of gender studies pedagogy, emphasizing practical applications and the importance of career-long skill development. Required for first-semester teaching assistants in gender studies.
    Registration Restriction: Open only to doctoral students.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Credit/No Credit

  • SWMS 599 Special Topics

    Units: 2, 3, 4
    Max Units: 8.0
    Seminar in selected topics relating to gender and feminism.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • SWMS 621 Gender Discrimination

    Units: 1, 2, 3, 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    (Enroll in LAW 621 )

  • SWMS 623 Family Law

    Units: 3 or 4
    (Enroll in LAW 623 )

  • SWMS 630 Studies in Gender

    Units: 4
    Max Units: max 12
    (Enroll in ENGL 630 )

  • SWMS 640 Sociology of Gender and Sexuality

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    (Enroll in SOCI 640 )

  • SWMS 642 Sex and Gender in Society

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in SOCI 642 )

  • SWMS 648 Fertility Control Policies

    Units: 4
    (Enroll in SOCI 648 )

  • SWMS 650 Seminar on Women’s and Family History

    Units: 4
    Max Units: max 8
    Terms Offered: Sp
    (Enroll in HIST 650 )