Undergraduate Courses
This course information is given for your reference only and does not substitute for the official MSU catalog or consultation with your academic advisor.
Please note: These courses are not guaranteed to be offered every semester, nor are they always guaranteed to have a gender and development focus. These courses are meant to be a general guideline, as they have incorporated at least 25% gender and development focus in past semesters.
A compiled list of courses scheduled for Fall 2009 that contain a gender focus can be found here.
For degree advising, please contact your home department. Students interested in one of the gender-related specializations can contact the GenCen academic advisor at gencenad@msu.edu.
These courses contain 25% or more gender and development focus.
‡ Signifies gender content varies with instructor - students need to contact department.
* Contact department for information on the frequency of this course.
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Department of Agricultural Economics (355-4563)
EEP 260: World Food, Population, and Poverty
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Description, analysis, and alternative solutions to food, population, and poverty problems, including the role of new technology, institutional change, government policy, trade, and foreign aid. The course explores current concepts and issues related to world food, population, and poverty and their relationship. The concepts presented are intended to provide students with an analytical framework for critically assessing these issues.
EEP 453: Women and Work, Issues and Policy Analysis
Interdepartmental with Economics; Women's Studies
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Current and past quantity and quality of women's participation in the labor force. Gender differentials in earnings and occupations. Employment discrimination. Laws, especially affirmative action laws. Social policy effects. International issues.
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Department of Fisheries and Wildlife (355-4478)
FW 211: Introduction to Gender and Environmental Issues
Interdepartmental with Agricultural Economics (EEP); Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies (ESA); Forestry; and Women's Studies
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: This course explores the concept of gender, with an overview of environment and habitat, historical gender roles in environmental management, gender-based theoretical perspectives, case studies on developing and developed countries, and environmental management with emphasis on fisheries, wildlife, wetlands, and women environmental professionals.
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Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies (CARRS; 353-5190)
‡ RD 491: Special Topics in Resource Development
Credits: Variable from 1 to 4
Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters
Description: Selected issues in resource development derived from current resource policy changes or other emerging topics of interest.
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Department of Urban Planning (353-9054)
UP 343: Planning Theory: Ethics and Politics
Credits: 4
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Political impact of community decision making on planning. Ethics and values of professional practice. Gender, equity, and diversity issues within this context will be explored.
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College of Arts and Letters
American Studies Program (432-7175)
‡ AMS 310: Topics in American Studies
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Significant theoretical, methodological and bibliographical issues in American Studies. Techniques for analyzing cultural texts such as literature, film, paintings, photographs, music, and architecture. Past topics related to gender include Women and American Pop Culture, Romantic Comedy in American Popular Cinema, and Queer People of Color Studies.
AMS 320: Gender and Popular Culture
Interdepartmental with Women's Studies
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters of even years
Description: Issues in gender and sexuality, power and agency, values and norms. Application of American Studies theories and methods.
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Apparel and Textile Design Program (355-7712)
HED 430: Dress, Culture, and Human Behavior
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Dress as an expression of self and reflection of society and culture. Effect of dress on human behavior at the personal, interpersonal, and social organizational levels in Western and non-Western societies.
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Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities (353-3560)
‡ IAH 204: Asia and the World
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Major issues in the development of Asian societies and cultures and their interaction with other regions of the world since 1600. Topics from East, Southeast, and South Asia. Organized thematically and historically, through study of written texts, the arts, and other forms of expression.
‡ IAH 211A: Area Studies and Multicultural Civilizations: Africa
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Arts and humanities of Africa: literature, visual arts, music, religion, and philosophy presented in historical context. Selected regions, cultures, and themes. Variable by term.
‡ IAH 211B: Area Studies and Multicultural Civilizations: Asia
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Arts and humanities of Asia: literature, visual arts, music, religion, and philosophy presented in historical context. Selected regions, cultures, and themes. Variable by term.
‡ IAH 211C: Area Studies and Multicultural Civilizations: The Americas
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Arts and humanities of the Americas: literature, visual arts, music, religion, and philosophy presented in historical context. Selected regions, cultures, and themes. Variable by term.
‡ IAH 211D: Area Studies and Multicultural Civilizations: The Middle East
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Arts and humanities of the Middle East: literature, visual arts, music, religion, and philosophy presented in historical context. Selected regions, cultures, and themes. Variable by term.
‡ IAH 231A: Themes and Issues: Human Values and the Arts and Humanities
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Values of individualism, responsibility, love, community, and rationality. Students are introduced to diverse methods and materials from the arts and humanities.
‡ IAH 231B: Themes and Issues: Moral Issues and the Arts and Humanities
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Human conflict and moral dilemmas, addressed through diverse methods and materials from the arts and humanities.
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Department of English (355-7570)
ENG 130: Film and Society
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: How films reflect social issues of gender, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, and handicapper status. How film affects and shapes social attitudes.
‡ ENG 153: Introduction to Women Authors
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters
Description: Writings by women from various racial, socio-economic, and historical backgrounds. Women's choices of subject matter and style. Women's redefinition of literary genres.
ENG 351: Chicano/a-Latino/a Literature in English
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: American multiethnic literatures, with a focus on the syncretic experience of early and recent immigrants.
ENG 353: Women and Literature
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Relationship of women to cultural and literary texts, as revealed in literature written by women. Critical responses to these texts. Feminist approaches to literature.
ENG 360: Postcolonial Literature and Theory
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Theories and literatures involving colonialism, decolonization, neocolonialism, cultural and political independence. Texts drawn principally from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and various diaspora communities.
ENG 379: American Women Writers
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: The emergence of women's literary voices. Contribution of women's writing to the literary, social, cultural, spiritual, and intellectual development of the nation through fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
‡ ENG 431B: Third World Cinema
Credits: 4
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Films of the Third World, including major directors and trends from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
ENG 431C: Studies in Film and Gender
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Study of films by women and about women, gender, masculinity, or sexuality.
‡ ENG 463: Studies in the Literature of Africa and the African Diaspora
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Writers, genres, regions, or themes in African and diasporic literatures.
ENG 482: Theory and Practice of Feminist Literary Criticism
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Feminist literary critical theory and its implications for reading and studying literature.
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Department of French, Classics, and Italian (432-8305)
*CLA 460: Senior Seminar: Love and Desire in the Ancient World
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters (contact department)
Description: Greek and Roman conceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and responses to love, sex, and desire.
‡ FRN 416: Introduction to French Studies II
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Exploration of French culture in the Francophone world outside metropolitan France.
‡ FRN 445: Theme-Based Seminar
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Organized by themes such as: Francophone women, the uses of myth, the individual and society. Texts may be of diverse literary and artistic forms and from different historical periods.
‡ FRN 446: History-Based Seminar
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Organized by century or artistic period. Examination of the historical, intellectual, and artistic climate surrounding texts.
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Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages (353-0740)
GRM 250: German Literature and Culture in English
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Selected representative texts or themes in the cultures of German-speaking countries. Past topics related to gender include Sex and the City: Screening the Urban Experience in Weimar German Culture.
LIN 225: Women and Language
Interdepartmental with Women's Studies
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Women and language in societies around the world. Issues such as status and verbal politeness, importance of names, gender differences in language use, women's multilingualism, sexist language, gendered language development in children.
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Department of Philosophy (355-4490)
PHL 356: Philosophical Aspects of Feminism
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Conceptual and normative issues in feminist theory. Topics such as sexism, oppression, coercion, control, power, equality, person-hood, respect and self-respect, rape, separatism, community, intimacy, and autonomy.
PHL 456: Philosophical Aspects of Feminism
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall semesters of odd years
Description: Philosophical issues in a framework of feminist politics and critique. Standpoint theories, care/justice ethics, ontological status of genders/races, theories of power/domination, determinism/freedom.
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Department of Religious Studies (353-2930)
REL 315: Religion and Gender
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: The relationship between religion and gender viewed through foundational sacred texts and historical interpreters that define gender, sexuality, the body, the divine. Contemporary responses to the relationship between religion and gender through ritual, liturgy, new religious movements, and feminist theology.
‡ REL 491: Special Topics in Religious Studies
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Special topics supplementing regular course offerings, proposed by faculty on a group study basis. Topics include Women and Religion in the US since the 1960s.
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Department of Spanish and Portuguese (355-8350)
‡ SPN 462: Topics in Spanish Literature
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Thematic topics in Spanish literature. Topics include Men and Women in Early Spanish Literature.
‡ SPN 472: Topics in the Literatures of the Americas
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Study and textual analysis of the literary production, within its historical context. Topics include "mothers of the word," women in Spanish America from the age of Discovery through the 19th-Century.
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Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures (355-2400)
WRA 140: Writing: Women in America
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Drafting, revising, and editing compositions derived from readings on women in America to develop skills in narration, persuasion, analysis, and documentation.
WRA 145: Writing: Men in America
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Drafting, revising, and editing compositions derived from readings on men in America to develop skills in narration, persuasion, analysis, and documentation.
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Women and Gender Studies Courses
Center for Gender in Global Context at 355-5040 (for specializations)
College of Arts and Letters at 355-4597 (for majors)
WS 201: Introduction to Women's Studies
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Diversity of women's situations in social, cultural, historical, and international contexts. Focus on women as victims of oppression and as agents. Concepts basic to feminist thought: gender systems, patriarchy.
WS 202: Introduction to Contemporary Feminist Theories
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Contemporary feminist theories of patriarchy, oppression, liberation, sexuality, and the meaning of "woman." Influences of liberalism, Marxism, Freud. Intersections of sex, race, class, and ethnicity. Theories by women of color.
WS 301: Sexual Violence Against Women and Children: Theory and Response
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Sexual violence against women and children from theoretical and applied perspectives. Rape, battering, incest, and sexual harassment. Intersection of race, class, gender, and violence. Individual and collective strategies to prevent or deter assault.
WS 302: Jewish Women's Experiences and Writings
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Diverse experiences of Jewish women from a multidisciplinary perspective. Gender construction of Jewish and majority women and men. Generations of immigrant Jewish women. Anti-Semitism. Jewish feminism. Political and economic issues.
* WS 321: Lesbian Cultures and Identities
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Lesbian history, lesbian cultures/communities, and the construction of lesbian identity.
WS 401: Feminist Theory
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Integrative and multidisciplinary approaches to theory in women's studies. Conceptualization of sex and gender and the subordination of women. Feminist critique of theories of knowledge. Comparison of evolving feminist theories.
WS 403: Women and Change in Developing Countries
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Drawing on insights from women's studies and development studies, this course examines the problems and prospects facing women in an increasingly complex and interrelated world. Through readings and discussions, students will explore the meaning and practice of "feminism" as it is defined in the North and South, examine the material and ideological realities of women's lives both at home and abroad, and analyze the relations among identity, agency, and diversity. The goal throughout the course will be to identify the various systems of oppression that crosscut gender, to highlight differences among women, and to interrogate the possibility of building feminist struggles across difference.
WS 404: Women and the Law in the United States
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters of odd years
Description: Law in the United States as a vehicle for structuring and maintaining women's social roles and for social change.
WS 491: Special Topics
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters of even years
Description: In-depth study of special topic emphasizing women and gender. Topics include Dying to be Thin and Globalization and Transnational Women's Labor.
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College of Music
(353-5340)
‡ MUS 491: Special Topics in Music
Credits: 1-4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Special topics supplementing regular course offerings proposed by faculty for group study. Topics related to gender include Women in Music.
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College of Communication Arts and Sciences
Department of Communication (355-3470)
COM 391: Topics in Verbal, Intercultural, or Gender Communication
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Verbal interaction, cultural diversity, or gender communication. Gender sections are generally taught in spring semesters. Contact the department to verify.
COM 399: Special Topics in Communication
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Contemporary issues in communication. Past topics related to gender include The Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication: discussions of gender issues such as physical, sexual, and communicative abuse perpetrators and victims (more often victims are women); stalking (women are more likely to be victims); obsessive relational intrusion; cyber relationships and depicting the self as another gender, etc.
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School of Journalism (353-6430)
‡ JRN 408: Topics in Specialized Reporting
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Reporting and writing on selected topics such as investigative reporting, opinion writing, or science reporting.
JRN 460: Women and the News Media
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Seminar covering the roles, contributions, and problems faced by women in journalism. Historical overview. Coverage of women by news media.
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College of Education
Department of Teacher Education (355-9628)
TE 250: Human Diversity, Power, and Opportunity in Social Institutions
Credits: 3
Offered: Summer semesters
Description: Comparative study of schools and other social institutions. Social construction and maintenance of diversity and inequality. Political, social, and economic consequences for individuals and groups.
TE 311: Growing Up and Coming of Age in Three Societies
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of odd years
Description: Diverse disciplinary and cultural perspectives of childhood and youth. Continuity and change in families and schools. Factors such as ethnicity, race, gender, and political philosophies. Focus on at least three contrasting societies (one of which is located in the developing world--usually China).
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James Madison College
(353-6757)
‡ MC 280: Social Theory and Social Relations
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Classical and contemporary theories of social structure, intergroup process, inequality, and social change. Class, ethnicity, race, gender, social stratification, social mobility, and conflict.
‡ MC 320: Politics, Society, and Economy in the Third World
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Politics of social and economic change. Policies and strategies of development and of state and nation building in Third World countries. Impact of international political, security, and economic structures on the process of state and nation building in the Third World.
MC 342: Social Economics of the Workplace: Class, Race, and Gender
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Labor market analysis of wages and employment. Class, gender, and race in the workplace. Productivity, income distribution, and living standards. Systems of work organization. Impact of globalization and new technology. The changing role of unions.
MC 386: Women and Power in Comparative Perspective
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: This multidisciplinary and cross-cultural course explores the interplay between sex/gender systems and the distribution and exercise of power in contemporary societies. The course will examine traditional social science perspectives on power and the ways in which feminist theory and research have challenged these perspectives and developed new understandings of the nature, dimensions, and exercise of power. It will look specifically at theories of the relation between power in 'private' domains (households, sexuality, marriage, and family) and 'public' domains (political, economic, and religious institutions). It will also examine the relationship between constructions of gender and power in 'cultural' texts and arenas. It will then assess these theories and relationships through a comparative examination of women and power in specific societal contexts, especially in the US, Ireland, and/or South Africa.
MC 388: Sexual Politics, Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Sexuality and gender in nineteenth and twentieth century history and politics. Social change, social movements, and sex roles
MC 482: Gender and Violent Conflict
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Gender consequences of a range of violent conflicts and their resolution. Theoretical contours and policy implications of gendered conflict within and between states. Contemporary case studies.
‡ MC 492: Senior Seminar in International Relations
Credits: 5
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Major issues and theories of international relations. Current topics include: "Transnational Corporations and World Politics" and "The Global Environment."
‡ MC 498: Senior Seminar in Social Relations
Credits: 5
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: American social relations and policy. Theoretical issues. Analysis of key thinkers. Case studies. Topics include Sex and Law.
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College of Natural Science
Lyman Briggs School of Science (353-6480)
LBS 336: Gender, Science, Technology
Credits: 4
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Impacts of gender on the development of sciences and technologies; feminist critiques of science and technology; barriers to women's participation in science and technology; scientific constructions of sex, gender, and sexuality.
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College of Nursing (355-6523)
‡ NUR 413: Issues in Professional Nursing
Credits: 2
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Past, current, and future impact of selected legal, economic, educational, social, political, ethical, and professional forces on health care and nursing practice at local, national, and international levels.
‡ NUR 491: Special Topics
Credits: Variable from 2 to 4
Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters
Description: Explorations of selected issues in nursing.
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College of Social Science
Department of Anthropology (353-2950)
ANP 220: Gender Relations in Comparative Perspective
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Anthropology is unique among the social sciences in drawing attention to the ways in which gender roles and relations vary among cultures. Its cross-cultural perspectives offer new insights into our as well as other societies. In this course, case studies from Latin America, Africa, and the US are used to illustrate the cultural construction of masculinity and femininity. In these different contexts, we will examine how gender roles and relations are shaped by broad political, economic, and ideological forces, as well as how gender interacts with other systems of stratification and differentiation such as class, race, and ethnicity.
ANP 270: Women and Health: Anthropological and International Perspectives
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: This course examines cross-cultural perspectives on the health implications of differing life circumstances for women, women as health-care consumers and providers, and health in regard to women's lifestyles.
‡ ANP 280: The Anthropological Film
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Ethnographic film as a record of vanishing cultures, as a tool for ethnological analysis, and as a source of perspectives on different cultures and variability within cultures.
ANP 322: Peasants and Social Change in the Developing World
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Cross-cultural perspective on patterns and variations in peasant systems worldwide. Social mechanisms with which they respond to change.
‡ ANP 416: Anthropology of Southern Africa
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of odd years
Description: This course explores the structure and organization of major cultures, as well as transformations caused by global, national, and local forces.
ANP 431: Gender, Environment, and Development
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of odd years
Description: This course examines the relationship among processes of environmental change, development, and gender differentiation in contemporary anthropological and other social science literature. Readings and lectures explore both the environmental ramifications of existing gender, class, and ethnic hierarchies and the social, cultural, and gender-related implications of environmental change. Course content includes readings on Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the US. Both rural and urban environments are considered.
ANP 432: American Indian Women
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of even years
Description: Role of women in a variety of North American Indian cultures, both traditional and contemporary, using autobiography, life history, historical biography, ethnography, and fiction. Interaction of Indian women and their cultures with Western European and American cultures.
ANP 433: Contemporary Indian Communities
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters of even years
Description: American Indian communities today, both reservation and urban, including issues of tribalization, Pan-Indianism, culture change and revitalization, economic development, federal policy, religious freedom, and gender roles.
ANP 434: Contemporary Issues in Asian America
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters of even years
Description: Construction of ethnic and racial categories such as "Asian" and "Asian-American." Study of race, class, gender, transnational identities, and identity politics.
ANP 442: Genes and Diversity
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of odd years
Description: Controversies over the contributions of nature and nurture to biological diversity. Issues of gender differences and the race concept.
ANP 470: Food, Hunger, and Society
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of even years
Description: This course deals with food systems cross-culturally and their relationship to economy and culture. Includes issues of gender, child malnutrition, nutritional assessment, and food policy.
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School of Criminal Justice (355-2197)
CJ 425: Women and Criminal Justice
Interdepartmental with Women's Studies
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters of even years
Description: Theories on women's victimization and criminality. Women's experiences as victims, offenders, and criminal justice employees. Laws and their effects on the rights of women in the criminal justice system.
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Department of Family and Child Ecology (355-7680)
FCE 145: The Individual, Marriage, and the Family
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Development of the young adult in the human ecological context. Issues of sexuality, gender, parenting, work and family interface, communication, and resource use. Diversity in relationships and families.
FCE 445: Human Sexuality
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Family and psychosocial factors affecting the development of a person's sexuality across the life cycle. Reciprocal impact on society and the legal system.
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Department of History (355-7500)
‡ HST 201/201H: Historical Methods and Skills
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: The nature and discipline of history. Introduction to analytical and interpretive reading and writing, historical research, and historical methodologies.
‡ HST 210: Modern East Asia
Credits: 4
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Major trends in the history, government, religion, philosophy, society, and cultures of China, Japan, and Korea. Evolving East-West contacts.
HST 312: African American Women
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Black women in American history. Slavery, the work place, politics, and the Civil Rights movement.
HST 313: Women in the United States to 1869
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: US history through the experiences of women. Gender, family, work, and political activism.
HST 314: Women in the United States since 1869
Credits: 4
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: US history through the experiences of women. Gender, family, work, and political activism.
HST 324: History of Sport in America
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters of odd years
Description: Social and cultural ramifications of colonial sport. Rise of modern sport in the nineteenth century. Social significance of sport in modern America with special attention to economics, gender, race, and politics.
‡ HST 369: Japan to 1800
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Political, social, and cultural developments. Growth and transformation of courtier, samurai, and commoner society.
HST 412: Women in Modern European History
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Women in European society, economy, and politics since 1750, emphasizing the lives of ordinary women and the impact of industrial capitalism and the nation-state.
HST 413: Families in Historical Perspective
Interdepartmental with Women's Studies
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Family forms and socio-economic change in Europe and the US. Gender, childhood, courtship, sexual relations, marriage, divorce, childbearing, and old age in peasant, industrial, and postindustrial society. War, welfare state, and the family. The marginalized: vagrants, foundlings, immigrants, and single mothers.
HST 420: History of Sexuality since the 18th Century
Interdepartmental with Women's Studies
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Changing gender roles, sex in the Victorian era, prostitution, pornography, birth control, emergence of homo- and heterosexuality, sex under fascism, the sexual revolution, contemporary conflicts.
‡ HST 481: Seminar in Ancient History
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: A specific problem or theme in the history of Greece and Rome
‡ HST 484: Seminar in African History
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Issues in African social, political, cultural, and environmental history.
‡ HST 485: Seminar in Asian History
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Intensive study of a specific problem or theme in the social, political, economic, or cultural history of Asia.
‡ HST 486: Seminar in Latin American History
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: A specific problem or theme in the social, cultural, economic, and political history of Latin America.
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Department of Political Science (355-6590)
PLS 364: International Organization and Cooperation
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: History and evolution, League of Nations, United Nations. Growth and role of regional specialized and non-governmental organizations. Impact of new states. Politics, functions, and problems.
‡ PLS 392: Special Topics in Political Science
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Issues and problems in contemporary political science. Offerings include: Gender and Global Politics; Women and Politics - An International Perspective.
PLS 461: Refugees, Displaced Persons, Exiles
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Political refugees caused by nationalism, social change, persecution, war, and tyranny. Definition, analysis, history, causes, and consequences. Political, legal, sociological, psychological, economic, and historical problems. International aid.
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Department of Psychology (355-2183)
PSY 204: Lesbian, Bisexual, and Gay Studies: Psychological and Cultural Issues
Interdepartmental with Women's Studies
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Nature, origins, and development of sexual orientation and sexual identity in the context of personality, culture, and society. Multicultural and feminist perspectives on the relationship between sexual orientation and gender, race, class, ethnicity, and religion.
PSY 239: Psychology of Women
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Development and implications of sex-typed behavior and sex differences. Women's decisions about and experiences of menstruation, sexuality, motherhood, relationships, achievement, employment, retirement.
PSY 310: Psychology and Biology of Human Sexuality
Interdepartmental with Zoology
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters of odd years
Description: Sexual behavior from biological, psychological, and neuroscience perspectives. Sexual differentiation of the body. Role of hormones in development and reproduction in humans and other animals. Human sexual orientation. Fertility and contraception. Sexual disorders. Sexually transmitted diseases.
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Department of Sociology (355-6640)
SOC 161: International Development and Change
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Global issues of development and change. Population growth, poverty, structural inequalities, environmental degradation, social conflicts, social movements. Alternative development strategies and future perspectives.
SOC 216: Sex and Gender
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters
Description: This course will explore the realities of inequality in the US and elsewhere by focusing on intersecting categories of meaning such as gender, race, class, and sexuality. It will (1) examine explanations for inequality in a variety of settings and social institutions and (2) consider how people attempt to survive, struggle with, resist, and change oppressive conditions in their lives. The course will be concerned with one central question: How is inequality in its various forms produced, reproduced, and experienced by women and men of different classes, races, and sexualities? In addition to seeking answers to this question, the course will make a continuous effort to relate theoretical issues to personal experience. For example, when the economy is discussed, students will be encouraged to think about the way gender, in interaction with race, class, and sexuality, infuses jobs they have or have had. The goal will be to sharpen insight into structures and experiences which are often taken for granted, thereby increasing students' ability to make choices now and in the future.
SOC 315: Family and Society
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Family development. Diversity of family form and organization in relation to personality, class, race, and gender.
SOC 322: Sociology of Work
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Social significance of work. Forces changing contemporary occupational structure. Career patterns. Occupational status and mobility. Social organization of various types of work. Gender and work. Social influence on work attitudes.
SOC 362: Developing Societies
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Dynamics of agricultural and industrial transformations in developing nations. Structural problems, behavioral and institutional changes at local and societal levels. Socioeconomic interdependencies in the world system.
SOC 452/452L: Environment and Society
Credits: 3/1
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: The course explores how different societies relate to the biophysical environment; resources, pollution, energy, and risks. Problems of growth and limits to growth as they differentially affect people of different gender, race, ethnicity, age, and location are discussed. Gendered and racialized differences in environmental attitudes, actions, movements, and regulation are discussed.
‡ SOC 499: Social Issues and Change in Contemporary Society
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Selected major social problems in contemporary societies. Sources and consequences of social change. Application of sociological theory to selected cases. Topics include Social Context and Gender in South Asia.
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General Education Courses with gender components
Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education (353-5380)
UGS 101: Freshman Seminar
Credits: 1
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Introduction to scholarship and inquiry. Special disciplinary-based topics designed to engage the interests of new students in the scholarly life of the university. Past topics related to gender include The 1970s at MSU: A Look at the Civil Rights Movement, Women's Liberation, and the Sexual Revolution; Power, Privilege, and Personal/Intimate Violence; and It's a Guy Thing: What it Means to be a Man in America.
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Center for Integrative Studies in Social Science (355-9733)
‡ ISS 215: Social Differentiation and Inequality
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters
Description: Types, causes, and consequences of stratification in human societies. Age, class, gender, race, and other factors which define social position. Education, occupation, political economy.
ISS 330A: Africa: Social Science Perspectives
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters
Description: Comparative study of geography, cultures, politics, and economies of Africa. Diversity and change.
‡ SSC 290: Selected Topics in Social Science
Credits: 1-3
Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters
Description: Topics may cover contemporary, theoretical, or applied issues or interdisciplinary approaches. Past topics related to gender include African American Men, Educating Society.
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School of Labor and Industrial Relations (355-1801)
LIR 891: Special Topics in Labor Relations and Human Resources
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Special topics in collective bargaining, human resources, employment, and training. Topics related to gender include Women at Work; Women in Work Organizations; and Globalization, Worklife, and Diversity.
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