May 10, 2024  
2020-2021 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
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2020-2021 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Courses

 

Women’s and Gender Studies
  

  • WGS 2800 Introduction to Transgender Studies

    This course provides a general introduction to the emerging, multidisciplinary field of transgender studies. Adopting a holistic framework that views the development of gender identity and expression as a complex dialogue between biology and culture, it challenges the hegemonic artifice of a “natural” binary opposition between female/male & woman/man. Citing current, historical and cross-cultural examples of individuals and communities who destabilize prevailing sex/gender norms the course critiques how societies react to the presence of “other” gender identities, embodiments and expressions. The course also reviews the recent increase in trans-visibility and advocacy, and the ensuing challenges to legal, medical and social norms and attitudes predicated on the existence of only two kinds of gendered persons.

      3.0

  

  • WGS 2980 Caribbean Women: Culture and Society

    An anthropological exploration of women in Caribbean society, using mainly ethnographic source materials. The source focuses on the similarities and differences in the social, economic and political experiences of various Caribbean women, from slavery through the 20th century. Particular attention is given to the experiences of Haitian, Cuban, Jamaican, Dominican, and Puerto Rican women.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3000 Women’s Changing Roles

    This course will investigate the current conditions of education of women in America and the assumptions that lie behind them, in an effort to gain perspective on the educational experience of the participants, and possibly to formulate some new directions for the society’s agencies of education: federal and state policy, politics, and law; the behavioral sciences; language (semantics and literature): media; medicine; schools and child care organizations; the professions; and the church.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3010 Feminist Methodologies

    Explores the implications of the feminist theorizing across disciplinary and cultural contexts for both methodology (theories about the research process) and epistemology (theories of knowledge). Examines how knowledge and power intersect, how genre or form impacts knowledge, how the knower is implicated in the knowledge produced, and how social location shapes inquiry. Considers implications of intersectional approaches to representing knowledge and identity. Prerequisite(s): WGS 1500  OR WGS 1100  
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3070 Sex Equity in Education

    Develops awareness of sex/gender biases in our culture with particular emphasis on the role of the school. Sex-role socialization patterns and sexual harassment are closely examined as they impact the lives of students. The course also addresses race, class, and sexuality inequities as education issues. Explores methods of eliminiation such biases in classroom instruction.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3080 Human Trafficking

    This course will examine the disparate socio-cultural, economic and political factors that affect international migration and human trafficking throughout the world. It will use a feminist/gendered perspective to analyze changes in the global economy that impact transnational migration, domestic labor, global sex work, sexual violence and militarism, and sex tourism. particular attention will be paid to the debates and policies that have shaped the above topics.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3100 Contemporary Feminist Issues

    Using recent scholarship and pedagogy in gender studies, this course discusses new issues in feminism with an emphasis on diversity, including race, class, culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, degree of physical ability. It reexamines ways of knowing, and discusses the impact of gender studies on traditional disciplines. Prerequisite(s): WGS 1500  OR WGS 1100   OR ENG 1100  
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3140 Reproductive Rights

    This course explores the multifaceted and complex issues related to reproductive rights from an interdisciplinary perspective. The controversies surrounding reproductive technologies, pregnancy and childbirth, birth control, foster care, abortion, and adoption will be explored with particular focus on public policy and its impact on the private lives of individual women.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3160 American Womens History

    The experience of American women from colonial times to the present. Explores conditions that shaped women’s destiny, analyzes the differences between the historical experience of women from different social classes and ethnic groups, and considers the ways American women have perceived their condition and worked to alter it.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3200 Women of Color

    This introductory women’s studies course places the experiences and conerns of U.S. women of color at the center. It is designed for students interested in exploring similarities and differences among women in major U.S. racial/ethnic groups. The focus is on women born in the United States who, because of their nonwhite or mixed racial heritage, identify as both American and as Native Indian, African, Chicana, Puerto Rican, Chinese, or Japanese. To develop students’ skills to critically examine issues of race/ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality, readings, lectures, and class discussions explore experiences and concerns of women of color in the workforce, in the family , and in their respective communities.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3240 Philosophy and Feminism

    This course is an overview of some of the issues and work done in feminist philosophy. It introduces students to philosophical perspectives on sex and gender and the historical and contemporary debates regarding their significance for ideas of selfhood, ethics, and political theory. Readings from liberal, socialist, radical, psychoanalystic, and postmodern feminist theory are discussed as well as issues such as race, class, power, sex, and sexual identity.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3250 Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Latin American Women Writers

    This course explores the history of migrations / annexation / colonization and consequential social status informing the experience of Latinas in the United States. While the course title assumes a panethnic label, the course explores the complex diversity of women who trace their ancestry to geographical areas including Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. Special attention is paid to subjectivity and representation by social signifiers such as gender, race, class, and sexuality.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3260 Women in Modern Japanese Literature

    This course examines the portrayal of women, gender, and sexuality in contemporary Japanese culture and society. Drawing on literary genres from the traditional to manga art and animé creations, the course explores such universal topics as notions of the self, national and gender identity, colonialism, war and its atomic aftermath, sexual liberation, globalism, and aging in Japan’s modern period (1868 - present). What Japanese writers have learned from and transmitted to Japan’s regional neighbors and world literature and how the concerns of the global women’s movement have manifested themselves in Japanese literature are major focii of discussion. All readings will be in English. Cross Listed Course(s): ASN 3250 , JPAN 3250 , ENG 3580  
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3280 Goddess Mythology

    This course is an examination of goddess mythology. The course takes a look at goddess traditions around the globe, Greek and Roman mythology, and African, Asian, and American cultures. The evolution and fragmentation of the goddess is examined with its spiritual traditions, myths, and legends. Contemporary goddess religions are also explored. The course explores the symbolic significance of female divinity and the impact of its loss on all aspects of culture. By critically reflecting on how spiritual symbols have been used historically to empower and disempower women, the course draws connections between the sacred legacy of the goddess and women’s relationship to nature religions. The course also addresses current debates about conflicting ideologies (patriarchy, matriarchy, and egalitarianism) and the actual existence of goddess cultures.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3290 Women and the Law in US

    This course will examine the legal and social status of women historically and in modern American society and the law and policy relating to that status. The course discusses legal tools developed to address sexual inequality, and the possibility that law both challenges and suppots women’s subordination. The course and materials are organized around concrete legal problems of particular and current concern to women. Issues are approached intersectionally, addressing sex, race, sexual orientation and other differences simultaneously. The issue areas will include, but not be limited to: employment, education, family, reproduction, health, sexuality, violence, Equal Rights Amendment, criminal law, and equality theory; and the laws, cases, current statutes and legislative proposals that apply to and affect women. Prerequisite(s): WGS 1500  OR WGS 1100  OR WGS 2100  OR AACS 1500 OR AACS 1550
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3330 Activism and Social Change

    This course critically examines the notion and practices of “activism” that are framed around contemporary issues that call for “social change” such as inequality, violence, loss of livelihoods, educational access, forced migration, lack of health and healthcare, environmental justice, discrimination and law, and globalization. Using a social justice framework to explore dynamics of race, gender and class, the course will examine case studies of community activism and advocacy to understand the interconnected systems of inequality and ways to challenge them. Key questions that inform this course are: What are the social, political, economic, ecological and cultural conditions that give rise to social activism and movements? How have marginalized groups historically organized for political and social justice? How do these movements affect political processes and institutions? The course will explore possibilities to engage with local community-based work and advocacy.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3350 Latina Testimonios: Ethnographies, Memoirs and Poetry

    This course is an introduction to the similarities and differences in migration / annexation / /coloniation and consequential social status informing the experience of Latinas in the United States. Special attention will be paid to sujectivity and representation by social signifers such as gender, race, class, and sexualities. While the course title assumes a pan-ethnic label, the course will explore the complex diversity of women who trace their ancestry to geographical areas including Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Dominican Republic. Prerequisite(s): WGS 1500  OR WGS 1100  OR  ENG 1100  OR LAS 2010  
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3380 Queering Italian American Gender Identities & Experiences

    This interdisciplinary course provides multiple perspectives on what it means and has meant to be an Italian American. “Queering” refers to complicating the intersections of sex, gender, sexuality, and race. How we experience life depends on our identities. The course will include the voices of Italian American women, men, and trans people as expressed in memoir, history, case studies, and interviews. Themes and topics of the course include sex-role socialization, stereotypes, the family, religion, social networks, gender and gender identity, sexuality issues, racial issues, feminism, film and popular culture, Italian Diaspora, and immigrant experiences. This is a writing intensive course.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3400 Media Representation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgender

    Investigates the ideological functions of moving images (film/television/video), still images (photography/magazines), and aural images (music), of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgender created by mass media institutions to legitimatize discrimination and oppression in the United States. Explores images by independent producers/directors/artists to challenge and resist negative images and create transgressive images of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgender. Employs critical and theoretical methods from feminist-gender, psychoanalytic, and semiotic–theorists to interpret meaning in these representations.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3440 Men and Masculinity

    This course examines the construction of masculinity as a product of certain socio-historical movements. Building on feminist theory, this course seeks to understand how gender is not a natural condition of any individual or group of individuals but rather an ideaology imposed on men for social, political, religious, and scientific reasons. The course will look at how different cultures in different historical moments defined masculinity and how this term is related to specific historical events. It will also attempt to link the historical construction of masculinity with contemporary views of what it means to be a man. Prerequisite(s): WGS 1100  
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3445 Gender, Art and Feminism

    This seminar course engages students in an exploration of the methods necessary to analyze visual images of/by women in their historical, racial, and class contexts, and to understand the status of women as producers, patrons, and audiences of art. We explore topics ranging from the analysis of the nude Venus type in Classical and Renaissance periods to the work of accomplished women artists across history such as Artemesia Gentileschi, Frida Kahlo, Ana Mendieta, Yayoi Kusama, and Kara Walker. Outcomes include: familiarity with feminist theory and deploying its frameworks in the analysis of a work of art; experience in academic research; and awareness of the development of feminist thought since the nineteen seventies. 

      Prerequisite(s): ARTH 1010  
    Credits: 3.0

  

  • WGS 3470 Sociology of Women

    This course examines the position of women in U.S. society from a sociological perspective. Following the ideas of C. Wright Mills, this class connects the “personal troubles” of individual women with the “social issues” pertaining to women as a minority/subordinate group in the United States. In doing so, it provides a sociological analysis of women in the major institutions in U.S. society. Throughout the semester, the course highlights the intersection of race, class, and gender and the unique manner in which sociologists research these interconnections and women in general. Prerequisite(s): SOC 1010  
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3480 Ecofeminism

    In this course students explore the connections between women and nature from an ecofeminist perspective. The course emcompasses the history, theory and praxis of ecofeminism, considers the variety of positions within ecofeminism, investigates political, social and developmental impacts of ecofeminism, and provides students with the opportunity for activism in their own lives.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3500 Lesbian Issues

    This course assumes that sexuality is embedded in social structures and interconnected with various forms of structural injustice. Keeping in focus that lesbian women are a very diverse people, we review historical trends, consider issues of definition, and study relationships, family, and community, including a unit on lesbianism and religion. Prerequisite(s): WGS 1500  OR WGS 1100  
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3530 NJ’s Immigrant Communities

    This course will use an interdisciplinary approach to examine the history of immigration in the United States. We will do this through the lens of our home state, New Jersey, because it is one of the top immigrant destinations in the United States. Although the United States is often described as a nation of immigrants, this description has been contested throughout its history. Nativist and xenophobic beliefs against immigrant communities have influenced and sometimes determined U.S. immigration policy and law. This course will examine the experience of New Jersey immigrant communities, intersectionality (such as gender, race, sexuality etc.) within these communities, and the impact of US policies of inclusion and exclusion. Community and Civic Engagement. This course fulfills UCC area 5.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3560 Women and Gender in Modern South Asia

    This course examines the history of women and gender in modern South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka) during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We will both analyze the historical processes that transformed women’s lives, and consider how women themselves negotiated or subverted these processes in their own interest. Major themes and topics include: the transformation of gender through colonialism and nationalism, the emergence of women’s movements, women’s labor and globalization, and gender in the South Asian diaspora.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3580 Asian American Women: Gender Transformations

    This course focuses on the contemporary Asian immigration to the United States and examines its impact on immigrant women’s roles in the workplace, family, and the community. It addresses the importance of gender in immigrant adaptation and identity formation not only among the immigrants but also among their U.S. - born children. Discussion includes the ways in which ethnicity, class, age, citizenship, and sexuality intersect to shape various experiences of Asian American women in the context of work and life. The complexity of ethnicity, including multiracial / multiethnic identities and the phenomenon of intermarriages, is explored in connection with gender relations in the contemporary Asian American communities.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3590 Gender and Islam

    This course examines the gendered histories and cultural politics of Islamic societies particularly in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. Beginning with an overview of the historical debates/events that shaped the lives of the people in Islamic societies, the course will interrogate our categories of analysis (gender, race, sexuality, poverty, religion, nation) and discuss the complexity of gender relations in production and reproduction, representations of femininities, masculinities and queerness, ideologies of secular and Islamic feminisms, the development of social and Islamist movements, and the impact of culture and politics on everyday life of people in these societies. This course is writing intensive.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3600 Gender and Globalization

    Over the last half century, the economic, political and the cultural dimensions of globalization has fundamentally transformed the lived experience of work and labor, families, governance and welfare, community and nation. This course will use an interdisciplinary approach to interrogate the contemporary process of globalization as it impacts communities, gender relations, and sexualities across cultural ad geographical regions of the world. Emphasizing a transnational feminist perspective that explores the linkages and connections between the global South and North, the course will focus on key issues of migration, global conflict, environment, helath and violence and the collective responses and social movements resisting globalization.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3606 Women and Political Leadership

    This course focuses on three major questions: Do women have an identifiably different way of leading? How does this leadership manifest itself? Why does women’s political leadership matter? This course analyzes debates about gender differences in political discourse, gendered construction of “politics,” historical struggles for women’s representation, different kinds of women’s political participation, and the barriers to political leadership faced by women. Case studies of women political leaders in different socio-political contexts, impacts of new social movements on policy development to ensure women’s representation across different societies will be the basis for developing a comparative perspective.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3680 Women and War

    This course will look at how war and the preparation for war have affected the lives, hopes, and images of women around the world. It will examine roles of women in war, military service, and militarism in societal development in world history primarily since the eighteenth centruy with these questions central: What roles have women played in war? Are women victims of conflict alone or are they active participants as well? And how has war helped shape females roles, gender stereotypes, and national mythologies? A broad comparative framework, exploring “Western” and “non-Western” societal experience and analytical approaches, will be adoped throughout.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3700 Feminist Theory

    This course provides an overview of feminist theory from World War II to the present with particular attention to three questions: What are the fundamental assumptions of contemporary feminist theory? How does a feminist analysis influence our understanding of sociopolitical processes? What are the political issues and strategies that emerge from feminist theory?
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3730 Politics Sexual Violence

    What is it like to be female in a mail-dominated society? This course critically examines the sociopolitical construction of patriarchy and the conscious and non-conscious, intentional and unintentional ways in which male supremacy is reproduced in contemproary society. Particular emphasis is placed on the mechanisms of social control designed to limit women’s participation in society and to ensure the perpetuation of male dominance.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3760 Life/Writing Indigenous Women

    This course studies the richness of the culture and literatures of women from indigenous communities, and the systemic oppression that they have been/are subject to due to race, caste, gender, and class. The communities include Native American, Australian Aborigine, and Dalit women from India. The traditional and historical status of these women in relation to their social, economic, and political status today is studied in individual stores, memoirs, songs, poetry, and fiction. Significant texts in translated literary forms and works are used as primary resources.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3820 Gender and Global Migration

    In the past fifty years global migration has emerged as one of the most significant social processes of our time. This course provides a general overview of contemporary global patterns of migration and examines the various social, cultural, and political contexts that shape the trends and characteristics of migratory flows. The main analytical focus of the course is the gendered patterns of migration, and its intersection with race, and other forms of social inequalities as they shape the experiences, treatment, and practices of inclusion and exclusion of immigrants in various countries around the world. Students will study how immigrant women and men experience work, the family, and communities, and how policies and political mobilization affect immigrants in various receiving contexts. This is a writing intensive course.

      Prerequisite(s): Prerequisites:SOC 1010  or SOC 1020  and WGS 1800  
    Credits: 3.0

  

  • WGS 3980 Women in the City

    This course explores the impact of urban environments in the United States on women from 1890 to the present. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which cities facilitate and constrain opportunities and roles for women
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 3990 Selected Topics

    Courses that are newly developed are often presented as “selected topics” before becoming “permanent courses.” Some selected topics are offered by visiting professors. Prerequisite(s): WGS 1100  Minimum Grade of D OR WS 110 Minimum Grade of D OR WGS 1500  Minimum Grade of D OR WS 150 Minimum Grade of D
    Credits: 1.0 - 6.0
  

  • WGS 4100 Capstone Course in Women’s Studies

    This senior level course focuses on theories of gender and issues relating to women’s diversity. As a writing intensive course, students will use and develop their research and writing process skills to complete a major research paper in order to engage in feminist research. This is a writing intensive course, Prerequisite(s): WGS 2100  AND WGS 2720 /POL 2720  AND WGS 3100  
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 4200 Global Perspectives of Women’s Lives

    This course addresses the social, sexual reproductive, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of women’s lives from a global perspective. The course scrutinizes the status of women and girls, identifying the consequences of globalization for life in socieites, in communities, and of individuals. Particular attention is given to finding ways to connect activism at the local level to activism at the national and global levels. Prerequisite(s): WGS 1100  OR WGS 1500  OR AWS 1500  OR AWS 1550  
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 4650 Internship in Women’s Studies

    Students work in an off-campus field placement for eight - ten hours each week. This course gives students the opportunity to get involved with programs which affect women’s lives directly, applying the theories, principles, and empirical findings in the area of women’s students.
    Credits: 3.0
  

  • WGS 4990 Independent Study

    As approved and to be arranged.
    Credits: 1.0 - 6.0

William Paterson Success
  

  • WPS 1010 Will. Power. 101

    The WPS 1010 is an academic orientation provided to first year college students to help them develop the fundamental skills essential for academic success. This workshop anchors a cluster of common classes offered to incoming freshmen cohorts. In addition to academic orientation topics, there will be discussions and lab components related to themes and task completion of university-wide programs.
  

  • WPS 1060 Foundations of Math

    The objective of this workshop is to review basic algebra with the aim that students reach proficiency in quantitative skills to pursue other college level courses.  Topics to be included will contain: arithmetic of whole numbers, signed numbers, fractions, decimals and percent, polynomial arithmetic, algebraic expressions, factoring, solving equations (linear and quadratic) with applications and graphing.

     
    Credits: 3.0

 

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