FALL 2008
UNDERGRADUATE
WOMEN’S & GENDER STUDIES COURSES
ANTH/WMNS 408 (001)
Cross-Cultural Mentoring
Credits: 3
DiBernard and Willis
Call No. 9134
M 3:30 – 5:00 p.m., plus at least one hour per week at North Star High School (to be arranged)
This course is a structured internship. You will be paired with a North Star High School student from
an immigrant or refugee family as a mentor and will meet with your mentee at North Star at least once
a week during school hours. We ask that you make a 2-semester commitment to this mentorship
because of the needs of the students. During the fall semester, we will meet as a class once a
week for an hour and a half. We will read and discuss several ethnographies of recent U.S. immigrant
communities. As you begin your mentoring, you will also use our group meetings to report on how it’s
going, and for us to brainstorm and share resources with each other. Mentees will need different
things, so you might be called on to help with homework, help your student get a job, fill out financial
aid forms or college applications, figure out how to keep a student motivated for schoolwork, as well
as be a friend. During the second semester, you can obtain from 2-3 credits by continuing your
mentoring, meeting once a month as a group, and possibly doing additional reading and research on
your mentee’s culture or on mentoring.
REQUIREMENTS: In the fall: read several ethnographies, meet weekly, write a weekly journal on
your mentoring experience, research your mentee’s culture, and present a PowerPoint to the class.
In the spring: meet once a month, write a weekly journal, write a final reflection on your mentoring
experience.
For those of you who want to put some of your WGS study into practice, this is an excellent
opportunity! UNL students are paired with mentees of the same sex, and a gender lens is definitely
useful in this work. In addition, you will be learning about another country and possibly a culture and
religion within that country through research as well as interaction with your mentee (and through our
readings first semester and the reports of your student colleagues). WGS students have participated
in this internship for 2 years now and have found it a powerful learning experience. One mentor
wrote:
“Looking back at my journals I have come to the conclusion that this has been my most challenging
class but it has been the most rewarding I have had thus far in my academic career. There has been
no other setting in my learning experience that has made me look this deep into the world around me
and there has never been a class that has made me look inside myself and see my own flaws,
strengths and privileges as this one has.”
If you have questions or want more information, please call or email Barbara DiBernard at 472-1828
or bdibernard2@unl.edu.
Fall Undergraduate Courses
Women and Men: An Anthropological Perspective
ANTH/WMNS 410 (001)
Draper
Credits: 3
MW 5:30 – 6:45 p.m.
Call No. 8725
This class counts toward the LGBTQ/Sexuality Studies minor.
This course covers cross-cultural variation in gender roles in societies of different levels of sociocultural complexity and considers the influence of societal scale, economy, and political organization
on gender asymmetry. Biological factors in human gender roles and the theories of evolutionary
ecology are also treated.
ARCH 481 (001)
Women in Design
Credits: 3
Kuska
TR 3:00 – 4:15 p.m.
Call No. 1717
Aim: This course will study historical and contemporary contributions by women to the design
professions related to the built environment. It will seek to examine the roles and values of women in
design and their impact on the assumptions and issues currently held by the profession. We will
evaluate design work by and about women seen in their aesthetic and intellectual context, and identify
a feminist perspective and how it affects the workplace.
Requirements: In-class participation, informal response journal, discussion, brochure, research
project and presentation.
Tentative Reading List: Berkeley and McQuaid, Architecture: A Place for Women; Hughes, ed.,
The Architect: Reconstructing Her Practice; selected readings from journals and books.
*COMM380 (001)
Gender and Communication
Credits:3
Lucas
TR 9:30 – 10:45 am.
Call No. 2813
*NOTE: For Women’s and Gender Studies credit, the student must complete a
substitution form with the Women’s and Gender Studies Director.
Introduction to theory and research in gender and communication. Emphasis will be on gender
socialization, sex differences, sex role stereotypes, gender in applied organizational and interpersonal
contexts, and gender representations in media. Men/male and women/female issues will be
addressed.
CRIM 339 (001)
Women, Crime and Justice
Credits: 3
Anderson
MW 9:30 a.m. -10:45 a.m.
Call No. 2866
NOTE: Women’s and Gender Studies majors and minors may take this course without
the specified prerequisite.
This course focuses on women’s experiences as offenders, defendants, criminal justice professionals,
and victims of crime.
Fall Undergraduate Courses
Sex Roles in Literature: Gay and Lesbian Literature
ENGL/WMNS 212 (001)
Schaffert
Credits: 3
T 6:00 – 8:40 p.m.
Call No. 8745
This class counts toward the LGBTQ/Sexuality Studies minor.
In this multi-genre class, we’ll examine the role of the gay and lesbian writer, filmmaker, and artist in
shaping literary and popular culture; we’ll look at poetry, fiction, memoir, commentary, comic book,
cyberfiction, film, and theater. We’ll study how these artists have influenced mainstream culture, how
mainstream culture has appropriated gay and lesbian texts, aesthetics, and sensibilities, and how gay
and lesbian writers have revised classic texts to reflect their own sensibilities and histories. The
tentative reading list includes: classics such as Kiss of the Spider Woman and Breakfast at Tiffany’s;
examples of pulp fiction of the 1950s and camp theater of the 1960s; the comic book memoir Fun
Home by Alison Bechdel; and Shelley Jackson’s cyberfiction Patchwork Girl.
ENGL/WMNS 215E
Introduction to Women’s Literature
Credits: 3
Contact the English Department for a description.
Staff (025)
TR 9:30 – 10:45 a.m.
Call No. 8727
Staff (065)
MW 2:00 – 3:15 p.m.
Call No. 8728
Staff (101)
M 6:00 – 8:45 p.m.
Call No. 8729
ENGL/WMNS 215J
Staff (025)
20th Century Women Writers
TR 9:30 – 10:45 a.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 8746
Contact the English Department for a course description.
DiBernard (035)
TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Call No. 8747
Aim: In this course we will be reading a wide range of works written by women authors in the 20th and
21st centuries. As we read material written by women of different races, cultures, and nationalities,
women who have disabilities or are temporarily able-bodied, women who are lesbians, bisexual,
transgender, and heterosexual, women who are poor and women who are economically privileged,
we will challenge ourselves to look at things from the perspectives of these women, to try to feel and
understand what they have experienced. In the course we will also ask some fundamental questions
about women’s literature, such as its absence from much of the curriculum, its challenge to traditional
genres, and the importance of context in reading and responding to a work of literature. Expect the
reading to be varied and challenging.
Teaching Method: We will do small group and full class discussions, group work, free writing, round
robins, reading aloud, and other experiential activities. This is a class where you must be active!
Requirements: Regular attendance and participation, a reading journal or Blackboard posting every
week, a research project, an oral report, reports on women’s events.
Fall Undergraduate Courses
Tentative Reading List: Likely but not necessarily to include The Color Purple by Alice Walker; The
Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde; What Happened to You?: Writings by Disabled Women, ed. Lois
Keith; Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi; My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki; Two or Three Things I Know
for Sure by Dorothy Allison (Allison will be visiting UNL during the semester!)
ENGL/WMNS 244B (085)
Staff
Black Women Authors
TR 3:30 – 4:45 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 8748
Contact the English Department for a description.
ENGL/WMNS 245N (001) Native American Women Writers
Gannon
TR 9:30 – 10:45 a.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 8797
AIM: This course is a survey of Native American literary women, a study and appreciation of their
works from the turn of the twentieth century to the present day. Not only will the class consider a
diversity of genres (including folklore, poetry, creative nonfiction, short stories, and the novel), but a
variety of political stances will be examined-as Native women have written back against the "Master's
house"-including Native traditionalism, feminism, and ecofeminism. Even more than male Native
writers, these women have struggled with the question, how can one "imagine a new language when
the language of the enemy" seems to have inevitably rendered the indigenous female Other culturally
inarticulate? At last, I hope these works will demonstrate that such a "new language" is being
powerfully articulated in contemporary Native American women’s literature(s).
TEACHING METHOD: Discussion, with some lecture and group work.
REQUIREMENTS: Attendance & oral participation; weekly reading journal; two formal research
papers; and a final essay exam.
TENTATIVE READING LIST:
Harjo, Joy, and Gloria Bird, eds.: Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's
Writing of North America (Norton, 1998 [pb])
Zitkala-Sa: American Indian Stories [1921] (Bison Press, 2003 [2nd ed.] [pb])
Hogan, Linda: Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World (Touchstone, 1996 [pb])
Harjo, Joy: How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems (Norton, 2004 [pb])
Silko, Leslie Marmon: Gardens in the Dunes (Simon & Schuster, 1999 [pb])
ENGL/WMNS 253A (035) Writing of Poetry: Women’s Poetry
Staff
TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 8796
Contact the English Department for a course description.
ENGL/WMNS 315A (001) Survey of Women’s Literature
Vigil
TR 12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 8798
Contact the English Department for a course description.
Fall Undergraduate Courses
ENGL/WMNS 315B
Women in Popular Culture
Credits: 3
TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Honey (035)
Call No. 8800
This course focuses on popular materials that have special appeal for a female audience. We cover a
variety of media: magazines, best-selling novels, film, television, music, and advertising. We will
examine prominent images of and themes about women from varying economic groups, ethnicities,
sexual orientations, and time periods in order to see what messages have been and are being sent
out about women’s roles.
Teaching Method: Discussion and group work.
Requirements: Weekly response papers; midterm and final papers of 4-6 pages each; oral report on
a topic of the student’s choice.
Tentative Reading List: A Harlequin romance; a women’s magazine; handouts of contemporary
articles on women in popular culture; How Stella Got Her Groove Back by Terry McMillan; Where the
Heart Is by Billie Letts; Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding; Kindred by Octavia Butler; The Joy
Luck Club by Amy Tan; Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher.
TR 2:00 – 3:15 p.m.
Staff (065)
Call No. 8801
Contact the English Department for a course description.
ENGL 413
Foster, G
GLBT Film History & Queer Theory
TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 9188
NOTE: Must attend at least one of the following screenings weekly in the small theater at the
Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center (RVB 123), 313 N. 13 St. (across from Nebraska
Bookstore): Tues. 3 p.m. or 7 p.m. or Wed. 1 p.m. or 5 p.m. Special fee $30.
Aim: In this class, we will study films such as The Celluloid Closet, Queen Christina, The Children's
Hours and many other films made by, for, or about gays and lesbians in Hollywood and independent
film. We will talk about the representation of GLBT figures in mainstream film history and in more
avant-garde films as well. In addition, we will be reading texts in queer theory that relate to our study
of GLBT images, representations, stereotypes and portrayals. We will talk about queer audiences and
"queering" mainstream cinema.
Teaching Method: Brief lectures, much discussion in large and small groups. In-class screenings of
clips and films and videos.
Requirements: Weekly analytical papers of 3-5 pages covering readings and films. Participation,
taking part in discussions.
Tentative Reading List: The Celluloid Closet, Making Things Perfectly Queer, The Invention of
Heterosexuality, various handouts on film history and related film theory.
History of Women and Gender in the American West
HIST/WMNS 448 (001)
Jacobs
Prerequisite: Junior standing.
MWF 2:30 – 3:20 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 8113
Fall Undergraduate Courses
The American West provides a prime arena in which to study how interactions between people of
different backgrounds have transformed one another’s gender systems and thereby drastically altered
women’s lives and status. Through examining three main currents that brought together people of
different backgrounds in the West -- conquest and colonialism, migration and immigration, and reform
and activism -- we will explore the ways in which women’s experiences and gender systems in the
American West have changed from 1500 to the present.
Black and/or African-American Women’s History
HIST/WMNS 456 (001)
Jones
Prerequisite: Junior standing.
TR 2:00 – 3:15 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 8148
This course is aimed at exploring the history of women of African descent in the Americas, with a
particular focus on the United States. We will begin studying black women’s experiences from their
African origins before the rise of the transatlantic slave trade. Then the course will focus on black
women’s history from enslavement to the present day. Since the course will cover a vast
chronological period, this course is designed as an overview of black women’s history. It will address
such topics as black women’s resistance, labor, cultural expression, religion, racial identity (in
comparative perspective), and sexuality, through an exploration of a range of primary sources,
secondary sources, films, and documentaries. Pedagogically, this course will be taught from a
feminist/womanist perspective, which recognizes the experiences of black women as singular and
particular, when viewed through the lenses of gender and race. This is not to say that the
experiences of all women in America did not and do not intersect at some point; rather that the
experience of black women is distinct because of the legacy of slavery and the realities of racism and
sexism in American culture and society.
PSYC/WMNS 421 (001)
Crockett
Psychology of Gender
Credits: 3
TR 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.
Call No. 9114
This class counts toward the LGBTQ/Sexuality Studies minor.
Prerequisite: 12 credit hours in Psychology or permission from the instructor, Dr. Lisa
Crockett, ecrockett1@unlserve.unl.edu
This course examines psychological research and theory related to gender, with a particular focus on
the ways in which gender impacts people’s day-to-day lives. First, we will consider the origins of
gender in factors such as biology, stereotypes, human development, and the media. Next, we will
consider how gender influences ability and achievement, work, sexuality, and relationships. Finally,
we will discuss the ways that gender relates to interpersonal violence and mental and physical health.
Throughout the course, we will emphasize the importance of race and culture in understanding
gender.
SOCI 200
Staff (001)
Staff (101)
Women in Contemporary Society
MWF 11:30 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.
T 6:30 – 9:20 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 7139
Call No. 7140
Fall Undergraduate Courses
Aim: This course is an introduction to the study of women in American society, emphasizing
socialization, the home, the market place, and social change.
*TXCD 407 (001)
History of Costume
Credits: 3
Trout
MF 11:00 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.
Call No. 7904
*NOTE: For Women’s and Gender Studies credit, the student must complete a
substitution form with the Women’s and Gender Studies Director.
Prerequisite: Junior Standing
Theoretical approach to the history of dress from ancient times through the twentieth century;
examining dress in the context of social, economic, and artistic development of Western culture.
Socio-psychological Aspects of Clothing
TXCD410/WMNS 410A (001)
McLeod
Prerequisite: Senior Standing
Credits: 3
T 6:00 – 8:50 p.m.
Call No. 7905
Aim: To understand how a soc-psych examination of clothing, and more broadly appearance, helps
us understand human behavior, and to understand how research is conducted, analyzed and used.
Class will examine how and why individuals and groups use dress and adornment as a means of
expression. Students will be able to integrate concepts regarding individual and group dynamics in
analyzing observed behavior.
Teaching Method: Research projects, reports, group presentations
Requirements: Research project, journal of field notes, group assignments, attendance, and active
participation
Tentative Reading List: Kaiser, The Social Psychology of Clothing
WMNS 101 (001)
Introduction to Women’s Studies
Credits: 3
TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Leichner
Call No. 8040
This course is an introduction to basic concepts of the study of women and gender in America. We will
examine historical connections and major historical figures, contemporary topics and debates, and
future issues. Our course is primarily discussion based, drawing upon an extensive reading list
(including primary sources, historical accounts, news articles, and feminist texts). Our course will also
include films, novels, outside guest speakers, and activities. Requirements include readings, active
discussion and participation, written responses, quizzes, small group work, a class presentation,
attendance/participation in events outside of class, and a service-learning project requiring 20 hours
of volunteer service with a local agency.
WMNS 201 (101)
DiBernard
Introduction to LGBT Studies
Credits: 3
TR 2:00 – 3:15 p.m.
Call No. 8041
This class counts toward the LGBTQ/Sexuality Studies minor.
Fall Undergraduate Courses
Aim: This interdisciplinary class will introduce students to some of the major concepts and questions
in LGBT Studies, such as whether gender and sexuality are essential or socially constructed; how
concepts of homosexuality, bisexuality, heterosexuality, and transgender identity have changed
throughout history; whether it is possible to compare sexualities across cultures; the multiple nature of
identity; and the intersectionality of different aspects of identity, such as gender, race, class, sexuality,
physical and mental ability, and other factors.
Teaching Method: Class will be activity-oriented. Come prepared to discuss, read aloud, write, work
in groups, and perform.
Requirements: Requirements will likely include a weekly reading journal and/or Blackboard posting,
reports on outside events, a major project, and an oral report.
Tentative Reading List: Some books we will probably read and discuss include Zami by Audre
Lorde, Exile and Pride by Eli Clare, and Fun Home by Allison Bechdel. Expect a hefty packet of
readings as well, which will consist of academic articles about these topics (which will also be
available on E-Reserve).
WMNS 399 (001)
Independent Study
Credits: 1- 6
Jacobs
Arranged
Call No. Suppressed
PREQ: PERMISSI0N OF WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM DIRECTOR, MARGARET
JACOBS, 472-9300, mjacobs3@unl.edu
WMNS399H
Honors Course
Credits: 1- 6
Jacobs
Arranged
Call No. Suppressed
Prerequisite: Open to candidates for degree with distinction, high distinction or
highest distinction in the College of Arts and Sciences; junior standing or above, with
the consent of the instructor.
This course allows WGS majors and minors and LGBTQ Sexuality Studies minors to get credit for
their work on an honor’s thesis. For more information, contact the Women’s and Gender Studies
office at 472-9392, or Margaret Jacobs at mjacobs3@unl.edu
WMNS 485 (001)
Holz
Feminist Theories, Feminists’ Perspectives
W 2:30 – 4:50 p.m.
Credits: 3
*Call No. Suppressed
*PERMISSION OF WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES PROGRAM ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,
ROSE HOLZ, rholz2@unl.edu, 472-9380 IS REQUIRED IN ORDER TO REGISTER FOR THIS
COURSE
Essential to any discipline is the theoretical framework upon which it is based. Essential also are the
people who have helped create these ideas and put them into practice. For these reasons the class
will work in this way. Although I will be leading the course more generally, each week will feature a
Women’s and Gender Studies faculty member who will lead discussion on a feminist/gender theory
texts which profoundly influenced her/his own personal development: as an individual, citizen, and
scholar. What such a framework allows are several important things. In part it introduces students to
some important texts. But it especially drives home the ways in which theory does indeed influence
practice: in terms of what we choose to study; the questions we then ask; and how in turn we carry
our research out. In other words, in this class we will read a broad range of theoretical texts and
Fall Undergraduate Courses
struggle with them together. We will come to know each other on a personal and a professional basis,
forging important bridges upon which such a scholarly community must be based. And we will get to
see first-hand the ways in which knowledge is created and then applied, with the hopes of building a
framework of our own, one which is informed by our many interdisciplinary perspectives.
Please be advised that this course will have a heavy reading and writing load. Call number is also
suppressed, so please contact me (Rose Holz) at 402.472.9380 or rholz2@unl.edu if you wish to
enroll.
Internship in Women’s and Gender Studies
WMNS 497 (001)
Jacobs
Credits: 1-6
Arranged
Call No. Suppressed
Students may gain practical knowledge in applying concepts learned in WGS classes in a servicelearning opportunity with such organizations as Voices of Hope, Friendship Home, the YWCA,
Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU. The internship will engage students with particular issues
including workplace discrimination against women, prejudice faced by lesbian and gay couples,
violence against women, and women’s reproductive health. Together with an on-site internship
supervisor and a WGS faculty member, students will design and sign a contract that defines the
number of hours to be spent at the organization, types of work, assignments, and how the student will
be evaluated and graded. For more information, contact the Women’s and Gender Studies office at
472-9392, or Margaret Jacobs at mjacobs3@unl.edu
OTHER UNDERGRADUATE COURSES OF INTEREST – FALL
These courses may or may not count toward a Women’s and Gender Studies major or
minor. Please consult a Women’s Studies advisor before registering.
ENGL 413 (001)
GLBT Film History and Queer Theory
Credits: 3
TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Call No. Suppressed
Additional film screenings will be assigned
*NOTE: This class counts toward the LGBTQ/Sexuality minor credit, but the student
must complete a substitution form with Rose Holz or Barbara DiBernard.
Foster
To register, contact Jan Jarvis at 472-2866, stop in at the English Advising Center, 123 Andrews, or
email Jan at jjarvis2@unl.edu
For a course description, contact Professor Gwen Foster or the English Department.
NUTR 230 (004)
Peer Sexuality Education Training Course
Credits: 1
Baalhorn
M 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Call No. Suppressed
Note: Students need to apply to be a PSE prior to signing up for the course and need
permission to enroll. Contact Health Education @ 472-7440 for details.
Fall Undergraduate Courses
As part of the course and participation in PERSUNL, students are also required to
attend the PERSUNL meetings, which take place on Mondays from 3:15 - 4:30 pm.
NUTR 230 provides information about sexuality education (what works), contraception, STIs,
HIV/AIDS, healthy relationships, safer sex, and other sexual health issues. Successful completion of
the course and attendance at meetings will enable participants to provide medically-accurate,
comprehensive and inclusive sexuality education and sexual health promotion through the PERSUNL
Program. For more information, visit www.unl.edu/health/persunl or call Health Education @ 4727440.
POLS 338 (001)
Staff
Women and Politics
TR 9:30 – 10:45 a.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 6647
Contact the Political Science Department for description.
PSYC 471 (001)
Esseks
Human Sexuality and Society
TR 12:30 – 1:45 p.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 6942
This class counts toward the LGBTQ/Sexuality Studies minor.
An interdisciplinary approach to the study of human sexuality in terms of the psychological, social,
cultural, anthropological, legal, historical, and physical characteristics of individual sexuality and sex in
society.
OTHER UNDERGRADUATE COURSES OF INTEREST – FALL
cont.
These courses may or may not count toward a Women’s and Gender Studies major or
minor. Please consult a Women’s Studies advisor before registering.
SOCI 225
Marriage and Family
Credits: 3
Staff (001)
TR 8:00 – 9:15 a.m.
Call No. 7153
Staff (002)
TR 2:00 – 3:15 p.m.
Call No. 7154
This course will provide an overview of the family from a sociological perspective. Please contact the
Sociology Department for a course description.
TXCD 123 (Sec. 001)
McLeod
Clothing and Human Behavior
TR 10:00 – 11:15 a.m.
Credits: 3
Call No. 7851
Analysis of social, cultural, aesthetic, and economic influences on clothing and human behavior.
Fall Undergraduate Courses
Fall Undergraduate Courses