Women, Race and Culture
The thematic focus in Women, Race and Culture seeks to understand gender as a category of analysis in the context of race, class, ethnicity and nationality. To that end, we seek to problematize issues of identity, genre, policy and practice specifically as they pertain to women. Implicit in our position is the belief that there is no one universal feminist standpoint and that gender oppression has much to do with the politics of location and dislocation.
Our focus is on gauging how relations of power have shaped women's knowledge, social practices and forms of resistance. We emphasize the distinct modes of analysis that women of color have brought to understanding their condition and how these are reflected in their political struggles: indigenous epistemologies, third- and fourth-world feminisms, black feminisms, womanisms and socialism.
The subjects that we cover include women and work, women as culture makers, writers, artists, performers, family as a site of resistance and domination, women and nationalism, images and representations of women of color, self representations, colonial and postcolonial identities, militarization, migrations, global capitalism, human rights, activism and community practice.
Courses
The following is a list of courses that may count toward the concentration. The Smith College Course Catalog is always the definitive source for determining if course is offered this academic year.
Study of Women & Gender
- SWG 110 Feminist Public Cultures
- SWG 223 Sexual Harassment and Social Change
- SWG 230 Feminisms and the Fate of the Planet
- SWG 252 Debates in Feminist Theory: The subject
- SWG 271 Reproductive Justice
- SWG 316 Seminar: Feminist Theories of Cross-Border Organizing
- SWG 323 Sex, Trade and Trafficking
Afro-American Studies
- AAS 202 Topics in Black Studies: Introduction to Black Feminist Theory
- AAS 209 Feminism, Race and Resistance: History of Black Women in America
- AAS 211 Black Cultural Theory
- AAS 212 Culture and Class in the Afro-American Family
- AAS 220 Women of the African Diaspora
- AAS 248 Gender in the Afro-American Literary Tradition
- AAS 300 Writing Race, Writing Gender
- AAS 326 The Socio-Cultural Development of the Afro-American Woman
- AAS 348 Black Women Writers
- AAS 350 Race and Representation: Afro-Americans in Film
- AAS 366 African American Women's History
- AAS 366 Black Women, Work and Family
- AAS 366 Black Feminist Theories
- AAS 366 Ida B. Wells and the Struggle against Racial Violence
- AAS 366 Readings in Black and Queer
- AAS 366 Sisters of the Spirit: Black Women's Autobiography and the Psychology of Women
- AAS 366 Toni Morrison
- AAS 366 Womanist/Feminist Thought
American Studies
- AMS 230 Colloquium: The Asian American Experience: Asian Women Living in the Americas Anthroplogy
- ANT 251 Women and Modernity in East Asia
- ANT 271 Globalization and Transnationalism in Africa
Art History
- ARH 240 Art Historical Studies Topic: The Role of Women in Islamic Visual Cultures
- ARH 289/LAS 202 Talking Back to Icons: Latino/a Artistic Expression
Brazilian & Portuguese
- POR 221 The Brazilian Body: Representing Women in Brazil's Literature and Culture
- POR 381 Seminar in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies: Multiple Lenses of Marginality: New Brazilian Filmmaking by Women
Comparative Literature
- CLT 267 Contemporary African Women's Drama
- CLT 268 Latina and Latin American Women Writers
- CLT 278 Gender and Madness in African and Caribbean Prose
East Asian Language & Literature
- EAL 238 Literature from Taiwan
- EAL 244 Construction of Gender in Modern Japanese Women's Writing
- EAL 245 Writing Japan and Otherness
- EAL 360 Seminar: Contemporary Chinese Women's Fiction; The Tale of the Genji and its Legacy
- EAS 230 Women of Korea from the 3 Kingdoms to the Present
- EAS 350 Modern Girls and Marxist Boys: Consumerism, Colonialism, and Gender in East Asia
English Language & Literature
- ENG 277 Postcolonial Women Writers
- ENG 278 Writing Women: Topic: Asian American Women Writers
- ENG 279 American Women Poets
- ENG 354 Gender and Sexuality in Asian American Literature
- ENG 391 Modern South Asian Writers
- ENG 392 South Asian Autobiographical Fictions
French Language & Literature
- FRN 230 Colloquia in French Studies: Women Writers of Africa and the Caribbean Government
- GOV 232 Women and Politics in Africa History
- HST 209 Colloquium: Aspects of Middle Eastern History: Women and Gender in the Middle East
- HST 253 Women and Gender in Contemporary Europe
- HST 263 Continuity and Change in Spanish America and Brazil: Gender in the Study of Latin American History
- HST 265 Race, Gender and United States Citizenship, 1789–1861
- HST 278 Women in the United States, 1865–present
- HST 280 Colloquium: Inquiries into United States Social History: Globalization, Im/migration, and the Transnational Imaginary
- HST 280 Problems of Inquiry: Women Writing Resistance
- HST 371 Problems in 19th-Century United States History: African-American Women in Slavery and Freedom
- HST 372 Seminar: Race, Class and Social Protest in U.S. History
Italian Language & Literature
- ITL 344 Women in Italian Society
Latin American Studies
- LAS 301 Topics in Latin American Studies Topic: Temporary Latina Playwrights and Performers
Music
- MUS 100 Music and Gender in the World
- MUS 220 Women in Sub-Saharan African Music
Presidential Seminars
- PRS 305 Cultural Literacy
Religion
- REL 277 South Asian Masculinities
Sociology
- SOC 213 Ethnic Minorities in America
- SOC 222 Blackness in the Americas
- SOC244/LAS 244 Feminisms and Women's Movements: Latin American Women's and Latinas
- SOC 314 Latina/o Racial Identities in the United States
Spanish
- SPN 230 Topics in Latin American and Peninsular Literature: Central American Poetry of War and Peace
- SPN 230 Topics in Latin American and Peninsular Literature: Latin American Women's Poetry
- SPN 230 Topics in Latin American and Peninsular Literature: Female Visions of Mexico
- SPN 230 Topics in Latin American and Peninsular Literature: A Transatlantic Search for Identity
- SPN 246 Topics in Latin American Literature: Negotiating the Borderlands: Text, Film, Music
- SPN 250 Survey of Iberian Literature and Society – Topic:Sex and the Medieval City
- SPN 332 The Middle Ages Today: Queer Iberia
- SPN 372 Topics in Latin American and Iberian Studies: Women, Environmental Justice and Social Action
Theatre
- THE 214 Black Theatre
- THE 215 Minstrel Shows from Daddy Rice to Big Mama's House
- THE 319 Shamans, Shapeshifters, and the Magic
