GSWS 002: Gender and Society (Spring 2015, Spring 2016)
This
course introduces students to the ways in which sex, gender, and
sexuality mark
our bodies, influence our perceptions of self and others, organize
families and
work life, delimit opportunities for individuals and groups of people,
and impact the terms of local and transnational economic exchange. We
explore the ways in which sex, gender, and sexuality work with other
markers of
difference and social status such as race, age, nationality, and ability
to
further demarcate possibilities, freedoms, choices, and opportunities
available
to people. Throughout the semester, the following core questions inform
the class: what does it mean to represent the gendered and sexual self?
To what extent can we alter the production or consumption of such
representations of the gendered and/or sexually desirous body?
Spring 2016 Syllabus
Spring 2016 Syllabus
Popular
culture has been dismissed as mere trivia: “just entertainment.” It has been
condemned as propaganda, a tool of mass deception. Its consumers have been
dubbed cultural dupes, fashion victims, and couch potatoes. Critical Approaches to Popular Culture
introduces students to some of the most important critiques of culture since
the 1930s and to different kinds of research that can help us understand
popular culture and its effects. We will take a step back from simply consuming popular culture to investigate
how different cultural forms communicate ideas about the world. Overarching
questions for the course include: What is popular culture? What are the
boundaries between popular and “high” culture and who polices them? How have
intellectuals, artists and other cultural commentators responded to popular
culture? How do we consume popular culture and why do we consume popular
culture in the ways that we do? How do people create their own popular culture
and how has this production changed in the internet age?
To answer
these questions, we will explore a range of media and genres—including
television, film, advertising, music, books, magazines, and the internet—to
struggle with the significance of popular culture. We will also consider how
popular culture operates in places both public and private and examine the
relationship between American popular culture and ritual culture. Crucially, we
will explore various methods that investigate both what popular culture does to
people and what people do with popular culture and we will learn to assess the
value of different critiques of popular culture. The course will help you
develop critical reading skills that can be applied to both scholarly and
popular texts.
Summer 2013 Syllabus
Summer 2013 Syllabus
