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WS 332A Women, Culture and Identity

Women, culture, and identity is an interdisciplinary examination of the experiences of girls and women in society.  Drawing on work in sociology, psychology, and cultural and feminist studies, we will investigate how women from various ethnicities, socio-economic strata, and age groups make sense of gendered norms, expectations, opportunities, and constraints.  Through a combination of theoretical analyses, empirical research, and reflective personal essays, we will explore the social construction of gender, femininity as a mandated performance, sexualities, the embodiment of feminine goodness, sexual violence, eating patterns, emotional distress, intimate relationships, and reproductive as well as productive labor.  In the process, we will place particular emphasis on the diversity of the term “woman” and the ways in which a range of women both encounter and resist circumstances they find limiting of their human potential.
For more information, contact Dr. Beauboeuf,  tbeauboeuf@depauw.edu .