The concentration in Women’s and Gender
Studies in the Master of Arts in Liberal
Studies Culture Studies track is a 33 credit program of study. Two
courses (six credits) are required:
MLS 100: Introductory Seminar in Liberal
Studies
Directed reading and study of representative works that
identify and address key issues in the humanities, social sciences,
and culture studies. This seminar is ordinarily taken during
the first year of enrollment in the program.
MLS 200: Integrating Seminar in Liberal
Studies
This seminar is intended for students who are preparing the final
integrating project, a work of research under the direction of a
faculty member from one of the departments offering courses in the
student’s area of concentration. After consulting with the
Program Director, the student chooses a research mentor to develop
the proposal for the research project. The proposal must be
approved by the faculty research mentor whom the student has chosen
and by the Program Director.
In addition to these two required courses, students in the
concentration in Women’s and Gender Studies may choose nine courses
(27 credits) from among the following courses:
ASIAN STUDIES
ASC 349: Women and Family in Modern China:
Changing Patterns of Social Relations
An analysis of the changes in the status of modern Chinese women;
women’s status in traditional China and the changing social and
political roles of Chinese women from the late 19th century to the
present will be examined in the context of modern Chinese
history.
ASC 354: Women in Chinese
Literature
Literary works are a major source for the study of the history of
Chinese society in general and the Chinese women in particular; the
lives and changing conditions of Chinese women are investigated
through readings in poetry, fiction and drama from the earliest
times to the present.
ASC 584: Asian American Women
This course is a survey of three major groups of Asian American
women – Chinese, Japanese and Korean. The focus is on the
interplay between these women’s cultural heritages and the changing
social environment in the United States.
ENGLISH
ENG 625: Gender and 19th Century American
Literature
The identification of men with the public sphere and women with the
private sphere posed an artificial divide on American culture in
the nineteenth century polarizing men and women, male spaces and
female spaces, romantic literature and domestic literature.
ENG 875: Feminist
Theory
This course will look at the shape of feminist literary theory from
its early arrival in the 1970s, its subsequent interfaces with
post-structuralism and psychoanalysis, through its current
interactions with other approaches like post-colonialism and
critical race theory. Credit: 3 semester hours.
HISTORY
HIS 120: Race, Gender and Ethnicity
in the Formation of National Identity in Modern Latin
America
An analysis of the complex historical development of national
identity in the context of race, gender and ethnicity in modern
Latin America..
HIS 130: Introduction to Women’s and
Gender Studies
The course explores the relationship between power, sex, and
gender. Students will be introduced to women’s and gender
scholarship as well as encouraged to think critically about method
and theory in an interdisciplinary context. Through readings,
discussions, writings, and project, the course will provide
students the opportunity to question how concepts of gender and sex
are developed, assigned, constructed, and manipulated.
HIS 225: Women in American
History
Survey of the role and contributions of women in American history
from the colonial period to the present tracing the progress of
American women in the social, economic, cultural, and political
areas of American life. Credit: 3 semester hours.
LANGUAGES AND
LITERATURES
SPA 234: Women Writers from Spanish
America
A study of the most representative women writers from the time of
Santa Teresa to the contemporary period.
PHILOSOPHY
PHI 268: Feminist Philosophy
This course will introduce students to recent and
contemporary philosophical developments in feminism and gender
theory.
PSYCHOLOGY
626: Psychology of Women
Recent research on role, personality, intellectual and
career considerations relevant to women.
SOCIOLOGY
SOC 115: Sociology of Gender
A comparative study of gender relations from biological,
historical, psychoanalytic, social constructionist and feminist
perspectives.
SOC 117: Family Violence
Biological and cultural foundation of interpersonal violence
as it is expressed within the family. Marital violence, wife
battering, child abuse, elderly abuse. Factors associated
with the self-perpetuation of violence over generations.
SOC 224: Women and the City
Examines the informal and formal activism of women in
neighborhoods, community organizations and cities.
Sociological theories on urban life and recent research which
investigate women are explored.
SOC 234: Women and Crime
An introduction to the empirical and theoretical study of
women’s (and girls’) involvement in crime. The course focuses
a criminological gaze on women’s experiences, first as criminals
and then as victims of crime, considering the links between these
two categories. Discussions on theories about why women
commit crime, analyze research on the types of crime women commit,
and consider the experiences of women who are imprisoned.
Discussion leads to a consideration of women’s experiences of
victimization, examination of several forms of victimization that
women experience and the criminal justice system’s response to
women victims.
SOC 420: Special Topics (Gender,
Race, Class and Cinema)
Offers advanced graduate students opportunity for intensive
guided study in a sociological field not covered by graduate
seminars with faculty guidance and feedback.
THEOLOGY & RELIGIOUS
STUDIES
THE 430: Women and the Christian
Tradition
A reexamination of the role of women in the Christian
biblical tradition: theologies of creation and redemption,
priesthood and leadership; the Marian tradition; religious orders
of women.
THE 431: Women, Children, and
Justice
This course will examine the gender dimensions of social
justice. Students will examine U.N. documents to determine
the pressing justice issues affecting women and children, and will
examine Catholic Social Teaching to see how the Church addresses
these issues.
Students in the concentration in
Women’s and Gender Studies may also register for:
MLS 204: Independent Research in Liberal
Arts
Under the supervision of a faculty mentor, the student will
prepare a research proposal for a research project in an area of
mutual interest to the student and the faculty mentor. The
research proposal must be submitted to the Program Director for
approval.
With the permission of the Director, students may register for
other courses offered under the auspices of the Master of Arts in
Liberal Studies.
Rev. Jean-Pierre Ruiz, S.T.D.
Director, Master of Arts in Liberal Studies
(718) 990-1393
ruizj@stjohns.edu