Graduate Course Offerings
Previous Years Courses:
2011-2012
2010-2011
2009-2010
2008-2009
2013-2014 Graduate Course Offerings
WS 9550A Feminist Theory (required course)
Professor Helen Fielding
September - December 2013
Wednesday 9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Location: TBA
This course will analyze feminist theoretical approaches providing students with an understanding of the fundamental questions at stake in each. We will consider epistemological perspectives as well as the intersections of feminist theories with other theoretical approaches such as queer theory and critical race theory. The implications of feminist theory for academic research will be addressed throughout. This course is restricted to WSFR graduate students.
WS 9560B Researching Lived Experience - Feminist Methodologies
Professor Erica Lawson
January - April 2014
Tuesday 9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Location: TBA
This course will provide an overview of a variety of feminist research methodologies with a focus on the Social Sciences, both quantitative and qualitative. In this course, we will examine the following questions: How do factors such as class, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality and dis/ability affect research? Should political change be the goal of feminist research or should it be primarily deconstruction and analysis? What are some of the ethical considerations in research? Are some methodologies more "feminist" than others? In addressing these questions, guest lecturers from different disciplines will discuss their approach(es) to feminist research. Students will be required to complete a major assignment in which they design a research proposal for presentation and discussion.
WS 9565A Feminist Theory and Methods in the Arts and Humanities
Professor Tracy Isaacs
September - December 2013
Tuesday 1:30 - 4:30 pm
Location: TBA
This course will explore how different feminist theoretical and methodological approaches inform research and practice in the disparate disciplines which comprise the Arts and Humanities. Experts in each field will provide insight into the way these theoretical and methodological approaches have been taken in relation to research or practices in the visual arts, philosophy, literature, cultural studies and theatre and performance. Particular attention will focus on the interdisciplinary nature of feminist contributions to these fields through an exploration of the productive intersections and tensions between and among different theoretical and methodological approaches in the Arts and Humanities, including, but not limited to, performance theory, poststructuralist theory, queer theory and post-colonial theory.
WS 9XXXA Biopolitics, Violence and the Body
Professor Julia Emberley
September - December 2013
Tuesday 9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Location: TBA
This course will cover a range of theoretical materials that will allow students to theorize the intersections of biopolitics, violence and the body. Students will read works by Foucault, Agamben, Butler, Stoler, Berlant, Povinelli, Arendt, Zizek, Mmembe, and others. Students will consider questions related to how the body and its physical, emotional, and intellectual attachments are being re-constituted by political and economic forces today. Students will engage in discussions around a range of cultural practices from museum exhibits to literary texts.
WS 9XXXB Sexual Citizenship
Professor Samantha Brennan
January - April 2014
Wednesday 8:30 -11:30 am
Location: TBA
In this course we'll examine a new body of work on sexuality and citizenship. We'll examine the concept of sexual rights and see how rights language been used to articulate demands in relation to sexuality. What do we mean by sexual rights or duties? In addition we'll ask questions about the relationship between feminist theory and the sexual citizen. Readings will include works by Shane Phelan, Diane Richardson and Brenda Cossman.
WS 9540B Women and Employment: Discrimination and Equality Policy in Canada
Professor Carol Agocs
January - April 2014
Thursday 1:30 - 4:30 pm
Location: TBA
Using readings and cases from several disciplines to inform discussions and seminar presentations, course participants will critically examine theories and research on workplace discrimination and harassment on the basis of gender and race. We will then consider policy remedies including human rights processes, employment equity, pay equity, and diversity programs, and assess their outcomes for women. Central themes of the course include the critical analysis of ways in which policies are constructed and implemented, and the dynamics of organizational change and resistance to change in the workplace.
WS 9581A Feminism and Race
Professor Erica Lawson
September - December 2013
Thursday 1:30 - 4:30 pm
Location: TBA
A study of race, ethnicity, and racism, especially, but not exclusively, as they arise in feminisms and feminist scholarship. Questions will include, but are not limited to: How should we understand race? How does intersectional identity (including racial, ethnic and class identity) challenge feminist discourse? Is there a difference between exclusion and racism? How is anti-racist feminism different from feminism? What would an inclusive feminist movement and inclusive feminist scholarship look like? Authors will include Linda Martin Alcoff, Maria Lugones, Audre Lorde, Patricia Hill Collins, Patricia Monture, Chandra Mohanty, Jimani Bannerji, and Gloria Anzaldua.
WS 9591B Screening Sex
Professor Wendy Pearson
January - April 2014
Tuesday 1:30 - 4:30 pm
Location:TBA
This course examines the representation of sexuality in film and video with a specific focus on the history of representation of queer identities in film. The course will begin by considering early cinema's representations of gay men and lesbians, including the production of particular stereotypes, and the effects of the Production Code on Hollywood, particularly in contrast to European cinemas. We will then look at European and Canadian filmmaking, the rise of independent film and video in North America, and the challenge posed by New Queer Cinema in the 1990s to such still stereotypical Hollywood representations, such as The Birdcage and To Wong Foo. Along the way, we will consider specific themes, such as coming out, family relationships, intersections with race and class, and AIDS. The course will finish by looking at the mainstreaming of certain types of queer representation, particularly in Milk, The Kids are All Right and A Single Man, and the effects such films have on the viability of independent queer film making. Films that may be screened for this course include: Queen Christina (1933), Sylvia Scarlett (1935), Dance, Girl, Dance (1940), Some Like It Hot (1959).
WS 9592A Gender and Development: Engaging with Theory, Practice and Advocacy
Professor Bipasha Baruah
January - April 2014
Monday 9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Location: TBA
This course seeks to provide an introduction to gender and development as a domain of theory, practice, advocacy and interaction. The course is informed by the needs and interests of future practitioners, i.e. students who hope to engage in research, project design and implementation, policy analysis, advocacy and/or networking in the gender and development field or a closely related domain. To best serve the needs of such students, a few lectures of the course are devoted to providing students with a historical perspective on the evolution of the theory and practice of gender and development discourse, and rest of the course focuses almost exclusively on key contemporary and emerging gender issues and debates. Students who do not intend to work as gender and development practitioners, but who want to acquire an up-to-date understanding of the field are welcome in the course, which is open to all graduate students with an interest in the contemporary theory and practice of gender and development.
WS 9575 Directed Reading Course (Full or Half Course)
The directed reading course is conducted under the supervision of a faculty member, and is taken only by permission of the Chair of Graduate Studies. Normally, only PhD students are permitted to take a directed reading course, and Master's students will only be allowed to do so under exceptional circumstances.
WS 9599 Independent Research Project (Full Course)
September 2012 - August 2013
The Independent Research Project is only available to MA students See the IRP Guidelines here.
WS 9585 Scholarly Practicum (Full or Half Course)
The Scholarly Practicum course is designed to provide students with an opportunity to receive academic credit for experiential learning. It could involve a community placement, an internship or an applied project. Students must have their practicum approved by submitting a written proposal describing the activity and the benefit of it to the student's current program of study and future goals to the graduate chair at least two months (longer if ethics approval is required) before the its commencement. Within one month after the completion of the practicum, a report must be submitted to the graduate chair. The course will be graded on a pass/fail basis. It is normally open only to doctoral students.
Courses Offered in Other Departments 2013-2014
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Please note: Spaces in these courses are limited and permission of the instructor may be required.