Current Special Topics Courses

Fall 2023

WGS 298: Spirituality and Social Justice

An exploration of how various religious and spiritual systems (both World and Indigenous) serve contemporary socio-political goals around Human Rights, Anti-Colonialism, Anti-Racism, Peacebuilding, Disability Justice, Education, Gender-Based Violence, Poverty, Cruelty to Animals, Healing, Self-Care, Gender Identities, Sexuality, Environmental Protection, Carcerality, and Environmental Justice.

Instructor: Felice Lifshitz


WGS 298: Gender, Health, & Wellness: Indigenous Perspectives

This courage-based course critically examines the systemic and environmental impacts on gender diversity, health, and wellness from Indigenous perspectives in Canada. Students will be led through arts-based practices, literature, and lectures on exploring topics, ranging from language, land, kinship, culture, economy, racism, colonial trauma to activism.

Instructor: Lana Whiskeyjack


 WGS 470/SOC 492: Queering the Social

Sex/gender/sexuality as a complex social constellation. This course will explore intersections between LGBT politics and social theory. We will examine how research on sexuality involves broader critiques of social institutions, norms, and identities. The course approaches “queer” as a method of sociological analysis and applies queer theory to contemporary social questions

Instructor:  Robyn Lee


WGS 498/GSJ 598: Digital Inclusion

Global implementation of digital technologies has been increasing steadily since the turn of this century. While this transformation of many activities has benefitted sectors such as agriculture, medicine, finance and education, equitable access to digital technologies has not been realized. This is true in the developed world as well as in emerging economies.  Once dubbed the Digital Divide, this issue has more recently been framed as a problem of social inclusion. Using gender as a starting point, this course will take an intersectional approach to analyzing the nature of inclusion (and exclusion)  on digital platforms.  Why are the marginalized, multiply-oppressed and disadvantaged around the world not included in the opportunities afforded by technology?  How can we contribute to efforts to enhance access and social inclusion? Working online, we will examine scholarly, public and policy documents and artefacts that both reveal and address this problem, and evaluate examples of digital resources that are inclusive, or exclusive. Ultimately, we will develop a social justice podcast based on autoethnographic writing about our experiences as cultural actors in a digital world.

Instructor: Katy Campbell


WGS 498/GSJ 598: Asians on the Frontier: Settler Colonialism

Explores the intersection of settler colonialism, coolie labor, gender, and Asian diasporas in North America and Asia. Topics will include how Asian indentured laborers and other migrants interacted with other settler groups, indigenous people, and colonial powers. Areas of study will include but are not limited to Canada, the United States, Hawai'i, Manchuria, and Taiwan.

Instructor: Clara Iwasaki


WGS 498/GSJ 598 Woman Life Freedom: Critical and Historical Reflections on the most recent Iranian revolutionary movement

This course probes into the linkages and the breakages between feminisms and mass revolutions, through the case study of the current ongoing revolutionary movement in Iran. The slogan of the movement "Woman, Life, Freedom" was first heard in a Kurdish freedom movement that has historically been feminist and Marxist-Leninist, a rare combination. But does this movement intimate a feminist revolution? We will read theories of revolutions, feminist theory, and historical studies of modern Iran and pan-Kurdish politics to compare the current Iranian uprising to other revolutions in the history of Iran beginning with the role of women in the Constitutional Revolution and the Baqer Khan Revolt.

Instructor: Jairan Gahan

WINTER 2024:

WGS 298: Black Feminism

This course critically examines key ideas, issues, and debates in contemporary Black feminist thought. With a particular focus on Black feminist understandings of intersectionality, the course examines how Black feminist thinkers interrogate specific concepts including Black womanhood, sexuality, capitalism , criminality and punishment, media and popular culture.

Instructor: Domale Dube Keys


WGS 298: Sex and Sexuality in Chinese Cultures

This course will cover the formations of gender and sexuality and their representation in literature and culture in China from 256 BCE to the present day.

Instructor: Clara Iwasaki


WGS 298: Diversity & Pluralism in Islam

Taught in combination with RELIG 270

This is a survey course that will allow students a glimpse into the wide array of communities of interpretation and the plurality of approaches and perspectives that have existed and continue to exist in Islam. The course will approach this subject from the perspective of history, theology, as well as lived experiences, and therefore should allow students to gain a well-rounded understanding of the diversity that has been a hallmark of Islam since its earliest days, and continues to define the faith of millions. Every topic will cover not just mainstream approaches and understandings of Islam, but also alternative, minority, and modern perspectives that serve as a corollary or counterpoint. To that end, this course will use a multiplicity of resources, including primary and secondary sources, audio-visual materials, discussions, guest speakers, and may include optional site visits.

Though it is recommended that students have some familiarity with Islam (particularly by having taking either RELIG 102 and/or 220), it is not a requirement for taking this class. It is also important to note that the academic study of religion requires us to carefully reflect upon and think critically about various human phenomena that we label as ‘religious’. In order to do this, we must approach the topic with a clear understanding of empathy and the academic lens, and try to set aside (at least temporarily) our own beliefs and assumptions about various subjects that we tend to associate with the topic of religion, in this case, Islam.

Instructor: Salima Versi


 WGS 470: German Queer Cinema/GERM 454: Gender and Sexualities

Since the early years of filmmaking, German cinema has played a leading and innovative role in depicting and reflecting on diverse sexualities in society and culture. In this sense, queer German films are present throughout a variety of movements in German cinema such as Weimar cinema, New German Cinema, and the Berlin School, and therefore can also chart a path through crucial events of the 20th and 21st centuries. Thus, Queer German films not only reflect a wide range of aesthetic and formal elements of German cinema, but also confront audiences with larger social, political, and cultural developments. Throughout this class, we will engage with a variety of major directors and works important to Queer German cinema. In addition to examining the content of the films, we will acquire the vocabulary and skills to understand and interpret films and see them in their historical and cultural frameworks. We will discuss individual films and directors along with the conditions of production and reception of moving pictures from the early twentieth century to the present. Taught in English, this course will examine the depictions of gender and sexuality alongside race, socio-economic and citizenship status, disability, and other identity markers in German film.

Instructor: Simone Pfleger


WGS 498/GSJ 598: Feminist Historiography

Socio-political movements require multipronged engagement from advocates, including activism in the streets and in the courts, creative artivism, and scholarship. This class will address a selection of topics, untethered from chronology or geography, to explore how late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century scholars have been using their specific skills in historical research to foster progressive change and/or bring attention to structures of inequity and oppression. This class will examine examples of historical scholarship that bring feminist, queer, and Indigenous methodologies, epistemologies, and narrative strategies to bear on a diverse range of subjects.

Instructor: Felice Lifshitz