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Understanding Research in Women's and Gender Studies

Course Description

Exploration of the assumptions and procedures of interdisciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences with specific attention to the purposes and processes of generating knowledge about women, gender, and feminism. Investigation and comparison of various qualitative and quantitative approaches, including narratives, ethnographies, and surveys.

Athena Title

Understanding Research in WGST

Equivalent Courses

Not open to students with credit in WMST 4011W

Prerequisite

WMST 1110 or WMST 1110E or WMST 1110H or WMST 2010 or WMST 2010H or permission of department

Semester Course Offered

Offered fall

Grading System

A - F (Traditional)

Student Learning Outcomes

  • Students will learn the philosophical bases for the generation of knowledge about women, gender, and feminism.
  • Students will understand the assumptions and procedures of humanistic and social scientific research in Women's Studies.
  • Students will learn to compare methodological approaches and their utility in different research situations.
  • In this writing intensive course, students will be working on improving critical writing skills. The written assignments over the semester will include a variety of assignments, such as essays, research paper proposals, field notes and interview reflections, and a final paper. Students will be expected to alternate between a variety of written forms (cogent discussion questions, analytic essays, field notes, scholarly paper). Because part of the point of writing intensive courses is to learn how to improve your writing, students will be expected to revise exam essays and/or field notes/interview reflections. Students will be required to do at least one revision by the end of the semester.

Topical Outline

  • Assumptions of Feminist Scholarship
  • The "Problem" of Gender in Research
  • Women's Standpoints and Feminist Standpoints
  • Research Politics and Identity: Race
  • Research Politics and Identity: Class
  • Research Politics and Identity: Sexuality
  • Feminism and Method: Empirical Social Science
  • Feminism and Method: Ethnography and Interpretive Social Science
  • Feminism and Method: History
  • Feminism and Method: Philosophy
  • Feminism and Method: Criticism
  • Conclusions and Comparisons
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