Interdisciplinary exploration of the multiple intersections between gender and (neo)colonialism, racism, poverty, ableism, and heterosexism in a globalized world; historical and cross-cultural aspects, and the social construction of sex and gender, masculinity and femininity.
Term 1
GRSJ 300 (901)
Instructor: Dr. Alifa Bandali
Description: This course opens up, and continues conversations on why and how feminist, anti-racist, (dis)ability and critical theories are mobilized to make visible the who and what are invisible. Namely, how power operates through privilege and marginalization. Students are asked to draw on the critical tool(s) of intersectionality to understand how gender overlaps with interdependent systems of discrimination, persecution, and subjugation. This course offers an overview of historical and contemporary issues of gender as an issue of social justice and its relevance in institutions such as the media, universities and more.
GRSJ 300 (99A – online)
Instructor: Dr. Isabel Machado
Term 2
GRSJ 300 (902)
Instructor: Dr. Caroline Locher-Lo
Description: This course is designed to introduce students to the ever-evolving field of gender studies through a sampling of relevant historical and contemporary conceptual frameworks, both sociological and intersectional. One will learn to consider the meanings and implications of gender in the various social, political, and economic contexts that shape and reshape human perception. You will explore the construction of power and privilege within institutions, the social realm, and everyday practices; and begin to consider and challenge the ways in which power relations, underlying structures, and social categories (gender, sex, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, age, ability, etc.) operate. You will also explore how these social categories intersect and overlap to create hierarchies of interlocking oppression which further sustain social inequality.
This course will examine a broad range of examples of social exclusion and inequality perpetrated through—or in relation to—health care, forced displacement, immigration, and employment; especially for gender variant groups. The course focuses foremostly on social inequality and the socio-cultural, historical, structural, and economic circumstances within which it is created, sustained, and normalized. Aside from this focus, the course also concentrates on employing sociological methods and lenses to analyze, dissect, and deconstruct phenomena. It is designed to illustrate the critical necessity to recognize, consider, and respond to gender inequality in social space, where many still experience discrimination, marginalization, and oppression in the contemporary era.
GRSJ 300 (99C – online)
Instructor: Dr. Isabel Machado