Techniques of literary study, with emphasis on intersectionality and the ways in which gender is represented in literature and contributions of feminism and gender studies to literary studies.
Term 1
GRSJ 224A (101)
Instructor: Dr. Caroline Locher-Lo
Description: This course is an introduction to the ways in which gender, class, age, disability, sexual orientation, and ethnicity are represented, disseminated, and intersected in various media. Students will be immersed in a repertoire of discourse and literature, having a chance to disrupt, reflect upon, and unpack general perceptions and their own beliefs on these subjects. Students will have opportunities to rethink the notions surrounding those categories, which may subsequently affect their own praxis and studies.
Through a diverse pool of literature and other discourse (e.g., history, philosophy, theory, and film), students are exposed to content through others’ lenses which may align or conflict with their own existing beliefs, both conscious and unconscious. Students will also have opportunities in class and through assignments to share their own lens, narratives, experiences, and struggles; and to question, dispute, or advocate for certain perspectives in the realm of gender, race, sexuality, and ethnicity.
The course will equip students with the capability to question how “knowledge” is objectified, upheld, and ingrained in ways that are socially constructed, sustained, and endorsed. Power relations will frame this interdisciplinary course and students will gain an awareness of how power permeates all aspects of the public sphere and institutions.
GRSJ 224A (102)
Instructor: Dr. Elle Walks
Description: Comics and graphic novels tell important visual stories, and can speak to issues of representation in ways that text-only based books cannot. In this course, we will be focusing on Autobiographical Comics and Graphic Novels from an intersectional, transnational feminist lens. We will study the importance of autobiographical texts, particularly those made for and by typically marginalized populations. Overall, the course is designed to challenge misconceptions about graphic stories, learn about populations that are often symbolically annihilated, and have students engage critically with current issues via graphic texts, all the while encouraging life-long love of reading.
NOTE: Topics raised include bullying; internalized, systemic, and inter-personal racism; Islamophobia; homophobia; and colonialism. Content may be triggering.