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Oct 15, 2024
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2021-2022 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Gender and Sexuality Studies
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Return to: Academic Fields
Chair: González
Core Faculty
Professors: Dietz (History), Kaufman (Sociology), Roberts (Political Science), Serebrennikov (Art), Tilburg (History)
Associate Professors: Bory (Dance), Boyer (Hispanic Studies), Fackler (English), Good (Psychology), González (Hispanic Studies), Stremlau (History)
Assistant Professors: Horowitz (Gender and Sexuality Studies)
Visiting Assistant Professors:
Affiliated Faculty
Professors: Campbell (English), Churchill (English), Fox (English), S. Green (Theatre), Hillard (Writing), Kruger (French and Francophone Studies), Maiz-Pena (Hispanic Studies), Stanback (Biology), Shaw (Political Science), Wills (Religious Studies)
Associate Professors: Bowles (Anthropology), Fache (French and Francophone Studies), Joubin (Arab Studies), Kietrys (Hispanic Studies), Mangan (History), Martinez (Communication Studies and Sociology), McCarthy (German Studies), Sample (Digital Studies)
Assistant Professors: Crowder-Meyer (Political Science), Garcia Peacock (Environmental Studies), Sockol (Psychology), Wiemers (History)
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Major Requirements (A.B. Degree)
(I) The Gender and Sexuality Studies major requires 10 courses, no more than five from one department, comprised of the following:
(a) GSS 101 - Introduction to Gender and Sexuality Studies
(b) GSS 201 - Feminist and Queer Theories
Students will become familiarized with the different theoretical traditions that inform contemporary gender analysis, and examine scholarly definitions of gender and sexuality. We discuss the means by which gender and sexuality are produced and reproduced at the individual and institutional levels, their intersection with other dimensions of social difference, as well as various related approaches to and interpretations of equality, justice, and freedom.
(c) Methods Course: Majors must complete at least ONE course which involves training in methodology. This course should be completed by the end of the junior year, and must be selected from those courses related to the major track chosen. Courses that serve both as methods classes and fall within one of the tracks listed below can only count for one of the requirements within the major, either methods or one of the tracks.
(d) Upper Level Courses: SIX additional elective courses, with at least four at the 300 or 400 level. Within these six courses, at least three should be within one of the following three tracks: Society & Politics; Literary & Cultural Representations; Histories & Genealogies. Students are required to take at least one course in each of the two remaining tracks. At least one course must be an Upper-Level seminar.
(e) Senior Capstone: This senior research project involves a self-designed gender and sexuality studies topic from an interdisciplinary perspective. The capstone is taught as GSS 498.
(f) GSS Honors: Students who qualify during their junior year with a minimum GPA and an approved research proposal will be eligible to complete a year-long thesis (GSS 498/499) by way of which honors in the major can be earned, and which serves as the capstone for those students. GSS 499 will be taught as an Independent Study with the close guidance of a GSS-affiliated faculty member. To qualify for honors at graduation, candidates must earn an average of 3.5 or above in the major, an overall average of 3.2 or above, and earn an A- or higher on their final thesis paper. In the case of an exceptional academic record, together with a thesis of exceptional quality, the department may confer high honors.
(II) Sexuality Studies Requirement: At least ONE of the ten courses taken by each GSS major should deal primarily with the study of sexuality. Examples of courses that count for this requirement are: AFR 270;Racial Capitalism and Reproduction; BIO 263/ENG 285 Representations of HIV/AIDS; BIO 363 Biology of HIV/AIDS; DAN 282 Dance, Gender & Sexuality; ENG 360 Desire; GSS 220 Topics in Queer Studies; GSS 320 Sex Outside the City; GSS 340 Transnational Sexualities; GSS 350 Sex Radicals; GSS 431: Sciences of Sex; GSS 435 Brown, Black, and Blue; GSS440 Matters of Life and Death; HIS 228 The Modern Body: Gender, Sex, and Politics in France; HIS 389: Women, Gender & Sexuality in Japan; COM 390 U.S. Rhetorics of Sexuality; ENG 488 Modern Poetry: Queer America; SPA 403 Latino American Sexualities; MUS 221 Queer Perspectives on Popular Music. Other courses may count with the chair’s approval.
(III) Partial-Content Courses: Only ONE elective course (whether at the introductory or upper level) can be taken from a list of approved partial-content courses (courses that deal in a substantial way with questions related to gender and sexuality, but do not have Gender and Sexuality Studies as their primary focus). Some examples of partial-content courses are: ENG 231 Young Adult Literature; ENG 282 African American Literature; ENG 360 British Literature since 1945; FRE 223 Childhood and Adolescence; GER 341 Performance, Sex and Gender (this course only), GSS 390 Rhetoric and Law (this course only); HIS 475 Drugs and Drink in East Asia.
Course Offerings
Note: Courses other than those listed may count toward the major with the approval of the Gender and Sexuality Studies Chair. Society and Politics Track
- AFR 330 - Gender & Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
- ANT 219 - Reproduction and Childrearing: Biology and Culture
- ANT 319 - Contradictions in Contemporary Motherhood: Culture, Biomedicine, Political Economy
- ANT 343 - Feminist Anthropology
- ARB 250 - Gender and Sexuality in the Middle East
- ARB 340 - Gender and Politics in Contemporary Syrian Literature
- BIO 360 - Biology of HIV/AIDS
- COM 218 - Gendered Communication in Society (= SOC 218)
- ECO 227 - Economics of Gender Family
- EDU 260 - Oppression and Education (=SOC 260)
- GSS 321 - Sex Outside the City
- GSS 340 - Transnational Sexualities Studies
- GSS 345 - Queer Immigration and Diaspora
- GSS 350 - Sex Radicals!
- GSS 355 - Femme Theory and Performance
- GSS 360 - Transgender Studies
- GSS 370 - Global South Feminisms and Social Justice Movements
- GSS 431 - The Science of Sex
- GSS 432 - Prison Abolition, Transformative Justice, and Queer/Feminist Practice
- GSS 435 - Brown, Black, and Blue: Queer of Color Critiques of Policing and Prisons
- GSS 440 - Matters of Life and Death: Biopower, Necropolitics, Sex
- LAS 394 - Latinx Sexual Dissidence and Guerrilla Translation (=GSS 394)
- POL 207 - Family and Justice
- POL 424 - Women in American Politics
- SOC 102 - Race, Class, Gender & Sexuality
- SOC 217 - Sociology of Gender and Sexuality
- SOC 218 - Gendered Communication in Society (= COM 218)
- SOC 237 - Boys and Men in Society
- SOC 260 - Oppression and Education (=EDU 260)
- SOC 310 - Gender, Race, and Sports
- SOC 355 - Queer Families
- SOC 382 - Men and Masculinities
- SOC 388 - Marriage in the Age of Trump
- SOC 488 - Fatherhood
- WRI 210 - Rhetorics of Gender and Sexuality
Approved Methods Courses for Society and Politics Track
Histories and Genealogies Track
Approved Methods Courses for Histories and Genealogies Track
Literary and Cultural Representations Track
- AFR 225 - Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Hip Hop
- ART 222 - Painted Women, Women Painting
- CHI 207 - Engendering Chinese Cinema
- CHI 226 - In the Name of Religion: Love and Gender in Chinese Fiction and Film
- DAN 282 - Dance, Gender, & Sexuality
- DAN 288 - Choreographing Politics: Policy, Practice, and Protest
- DIG 340 - Gender and Technology
- ENG 110 - Course list for Introduction to Literature
- ENG 242 - Women’s Work: 21st Century Female Playwrights (=THE 242)
- ENG 262 - Bodies at Risk in American Drama
- ENG 271 - Disability in Literature and Art
- ENG 288 - Contemporary American Multicultural Drama
- ENG 294 - Harlem Renaissance
- ENG 295 - Women Writers
- ENG 360 - Studies in Brit Lit: 1660-1900:Desire
Only ENG 360A Desire and ENG 360B British Literature Since 1945 count for GSS - ENG 363 - History of the Novel
- ENG 388 - Contemporary Theatre
- ENG 392 - Literature of the American South
- ENG 400 - 494 - Seminars
Only ENG 454 Cleopatra, ENG 465, Contemporary American Feminism & Theatre, ENG 486, Emily Dickinson, ENG 472, Virginia Woolf, ENG 472, Fallen Women, ENG 472 Gossip, ENG 488, Modernism: Space, Place, Gender, ENG 488, Modern Poetry: Queer America, and ENG 494, Disability and Literature will count toward the major in Gender and Sexuality Studies. - ENG 409 - Television: Queer Representations (=GSS 401)
- ENG 415 - Seminar Topic- Poetics of Relation: James Baldwin (=AFR 304)
- ENG 495 - Senior Capstone Seminar
- FRE 220 - Francophone Humanities: Decentering the Francophone world
- FRE 320 - Husbands, Wives, and Lovers
- FRE 332 - The Hidden and the Forbidden
- FRE 362 - Gender and Sexuality in Maghreb
- GER 243 - Special Topics in Film (in trans.)
Only GER 243, Gender in Film, will count toward the major in Gender and Sexuality Studies. - GSS 220 - Topics in Queer Studies
- GSS 324 - Sex, Law, Modernity (= HIS 324)
- GSS 325 - Production Dramaturgy (=THE 325)
- GSS 341 - Race, Gender & Sexuality in Asian American Literature and Film
- GSS 345 - Queer Immigration and Diaspora
- GSS 352 - Gender and Sexuality in North Africa
- GSS 390 - Sexuality and Public Discourses in the United States
- GSS 394 - Latinx Sexual Dissidence and Guerilla Translation (=LAS 394)
- GSS 401 - Television: Queer Representations (=ENG 409)
- HIS 324 - Illicit Sexualities: Sex, Law, and Modernity = GSS 324
- LAS 394 - Latinx Sexual Dissidence and Guerrilla Translation (=GSS 394)
- PSY 350 - Advanced Seminar: Lang and Learning Dev
Only PSY 352, Gender Identity: Psychological Theories and Literary Representations, will count toward the major in Gender and Sexuality Studies. - SPA 344 - Latinx Culture: Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
- SPA 345 - Latinx Digital Cultures
- SPA 357 - Latin American Icons, Gender & Representation
- SPA 375 - Latin American Women Writers
- SPA 400 - Seminar on Special Topics, SPA 401-411
Only SPA 403, Latino American Sexualities, will count toward the major in Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Only SPA 406 Life-Writing, Gender, and Representation, will count toward the major in Gender and Sexuality Studies. - SPA 406 - Life-writing, Gender, Performativity
- THE 242 - Women’s Work: 21st Century Female Playwrights (=ENG 242)
- THE 325 - Production Dramaturgy
- WRI 210 - Rhetorics of Gender and Sexuality
- ENG 494 - Seminar: A - Disability in Literature and Art; B - Multicultural Literature
Approved Methods Courses for Literary and Cultural Representations Track
Minor Requirements
- Satisfactory completion of six courses to include:
- A maximum of one elective may be an independent study, tutorial or practicum.
- No more than two courses in the minor may be in the student’s major field of study.
- A grade of C- or higher is required in all courses applied toward the minor.
- Courses taken pass/fail at Davidson College may not be counted toward the minor.
- At most two elective courses may be taken away from Davidson College.
- No more than three courses for the minor may be from the same department with the exception of courses with GSS designation.
Additional Information
The above list is not exhaustive. Please check with the GSS Chair or visit the GSS web site for the most current, complete listing of approved electives when planning course selection. If there is a course for which you would like to request GSS credit that is not listed, please check with the GSS Chair. If there is a question about when a particular elective will next be offered, please consult the department offering that course. If one of the proposed electives is an independent study, tutorial, practicum, or internship, the student shall provide to the GSS Chair for approval a complete description of that course prior to the term of enrollment. Certification of completion of the requirements for the minor is made by the Registrar upon the recommendation of the GSS Chair.
Year-Long Capstone and Honors
We encourage any GSS major interested in pursuing an idea or question through sustained, year-long study to pursue the year-long capstone process, which may culminate in Honors.
All GSS majors must take the GSS 498 capstone seminar, which includes a one-semester research project of each major’s choosing and design. In addition, any GSS major may elect to extend this project into a year-long thesis or creative project, taking both the GSS 498 seminar in the Fall with fellow senior majors, as well as the independent study GSS 499 in the Spring with the project advisor. Honors will be determined once the project is complete.
Receiving Honors in GSS requires the following:
- a public presentation of the project attended by Core GSS faculty;
- approval of both the project advisor and second reader (usually the GSS 498 instructor); and
- meeting the GPA requirements by the end of senior year, factoring in any P/F grades (overall GPA of 3.2 or higher and GSS major GPA of 3.5 or higher).
Because of GSS’ multi-disciplinary nature, year-long projects may take many forms besides a traditional thesis project, though all require research and writing. Examples of projects that are not traditional theses include: a final performance supplemented by an artist’s statement and literature review; a documentary film; a critically informed auto-ethnography; a digital archive.
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Return to: Academic Fields
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