Women and Gender Studies


Faculty List

Professors Emeritae
M.J. Alexander, BSW, MA, PhD
K. Armatage, BA, MA, PhD
K.P. Morgan, BA, MA, MEd, PhD

Associate Professor Emerita, Teaching Stream
J. Larkin, BA, MEd, PhD

Professors
B. McElhinny, BA, PhD
M. Murphy, BA, PhD
K. Rittich, Mus Bac, LLM, SJD
A. Trotz, BA, MPhil, PhD (Director)
R. Walcott, BA, MA, PhD
L. Yoneyama, BA, MA, PhD

Associate Professors
R. Diaz, BA, MPhil, PhD
J.  Ellapen, BA, MA, MA, PhD (UTM)
D. Georgis, BA, MA, PhD (Graduate Coordinator)
W.C. Johnson, AB, MA, MFA, PhD
M. Lo, BA, MA, MSc, PhD
C. Lord, BA, MA, PhD (UTM)
K. Recollet, BA, MA, PhD
S. Sweeney, BA, MA, PhD
V. Tahmasebi-Birgani, BA, MA, PhD (UTM)
J. Taylor, BA, MA, PhD

Assistant Professors
K. Bos, BA, MSt (UTM)
N. Charles, BA, MA, PhD (UTM)
S. Ye, BA, MA, PhD (UTSC)

Assistant Professors, Teaching Stream
W. Hasan, BA, MA, PhD
S. Trimble, BA, MA, PhD (Undergraduate Coordinator)

Introduction

For five decades, we have trained students to think deeply about how gender and sexuality operate at individual, interpersonal, institutional and global levels. We are an interdisciplinary program with faculty expertise across a range of fields, including history and literature, sociology and law, cultural studies and queer theory, and African, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, East Asian, and Equity studies. We enable students to answer urgent and complex questions, such as how militarization can constrict men’s aspirations for their lives, why pay gaps exist, how sexual expression is scripted and can be re-scripted, and even what Lizzo might have in common with Shakespeare. In addition to training students to analyze a music video, a novel, and a government report with equal care and skill, we also focus attention on matters of scale: when to aggregate and when to parse significant distinctions; how to think comparatively across space and time.

The Women & Gender Studies Institute (WGSI) at the University of Toronto is distinctive for its transnational approach. We critically address how national borders and nationalist discourses frame constructions of gender, race, class, indigeneity, sexuality, ability, and other important differences. We study the effects of migration, diaspora, and displacement on experiences of home and heritage, family, desire, and selfhood. We provide students the conceptual tools to connect processes of imperialism and globalization with emergent economies and forms of labour and consumption. Finally, we encourage students to reflect on the varied histories of feminism when framing their own activisms in the present.

Our graduates go on to do innovative work in the public service, creative, and corporate sectors, and some enter the academy. They become everything from documentary filmmakers to grassroots activists to policy analysts in economic development agencies and professors in leading universities. All of them draw on the critical lenses they develop in this program, becoming part of a rich community of graduates who maintain their connections with one another, and who come back to the diverse classrooms where they once were students to share their experiences.

Undergraduate Coordinator: Professor S. Trimble, Room 2013, Wilson Hall, New College wgsi.ugradcoordinator@utoronto.ca
Undergraduate Administrator: Stefanie Steele, Room 2035, Wilson Hall, New College - Phone: +1 416-978-3668, email: wgsi.programs@utoronto.ca
Website: https://wgsi.utoronto.ca/

Women and Gender Studies Programs

Women and Gender Studies Specialist Program (Arts Program) - ASSPE0571

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.

Completion Requirements:

(10.0 credits, including 5.0 credits at the 300+ level, including at least 2.0 WGS credits at the 400 level, one of which must be WGS460Y1)

1. WGS160Y1 (normally taken in first year)
2. WGS260H1
3. WGS360H1
4. WGS460Y1 and 1.0 credit at the 400-level
5. 4.0 credits from the core group below
6. 2.0 credits from Group A or B

Core Group

WGS160Y1, WGS260H1, WGS271Y1, WGS273H1, WGS275H1, WGS280H1, WGS331H1, WGS332H1, WGS333H1, WGS334H1, WGS335H1, WGS336H1, WGS340H1, WGS350H1 (no longer offered) , WGS355H1, WGS360H1, WGS362H1, WGS363H1, WGS365H1, WGS367H1, WGS369H1, WGS370H1, WGS372H1, WGS373H1, WGS374H1, WGS376H1, WGS380H1, WGS385H1, WGS386H1, WGS390H1, WGS395H1, WGS396H1, WGS397H1, WGS420H1, WGS426H1, WGS434H1, WGS435H1, WGS440H1, WGS442H1, WGS450H1, WGS451H1, WGS451Y1, WGS460Y1, WGS461Y1, WGS462H1, WGS463H1, WGS465H1, WGS470Y1, WGS480H1, WGS481H1, WGS482H1

Group A

AFR454H1, ANT343H1, ANT456H1, ANT460H1, CAR325H1, CDN335H1, CLA219H1, CLA319H1, ENG273Y1, ENG355Y1, FRE304H1, GGR320H1, GGR327H1, HIS198H1, HIS202H1, HIS205H1, HIS297Y1, HIS306H1, HIS348H1, HIS354H1, HIS363H1, HIS383Y1, HIS406H1, HIS446H1, HIS448H1, HIS481H1, ITA455H1, JAL355H1, JPS315H1, NMC284H1, NMC484H1, PHL243H1, PHL367H1, POL344H1, POL432H1, POL450H1, PSY323H1, REN342H1, REN343H1, RLG235H1, RLG311H1, RLG312H1, RLG313H1, RLG315H1, RLG416H1, SLA248H1, SOC214H1, SOC265H1, SOC314H1, SOC365H1, SOC366H1, SOC367H1, SOC383H1, SOC465H1, SPA382H1

Group B

AFR351Y1, ANT329H1, ANT477H1, BPM214H1, CIN332Y1, CIN372Y1, CIN432H1, CSE240H1, CSE241Y1, CSE341H1, CSE344Y1, CSE345H1, CSE449H1, EAS314H1, ENG270H1, ENG323H1, ENG370Y1, FCS390H1, GER250H1, GGR328H1, GGR363H1, GGR457H1, HIS459H1, HIS474H1, HST211H1, HST310H1, HST330H1, JHA394H1, JPR364Y1, NEW302Y1, NMC365H1, NMC379H1, NMC384H1, PHL268H1, PHL281H1, PHL373H1, PHL380H1, PHL384H1, POL338H1, POL480H1, REN341H1, SDS255H1, SDS256H1, SDS345H1, SDS346H1, SDS354H1, SDS355H1, SDS365H1, SDS377H1, SDS379H1, SDS382H1, SDS475H1, SDS477H1, SDS478H1, SOC207H1, SOC220H1, SOC309H1

Note: Effective Fall 2021, courses associated with New College programs will have the new "AFR," "BPM," "CAR," and "CSE" designators based on the respective areas of study. In addition, courses associated with Victoria College's Renaissance Studies program will have the new "REN" designator.

Women and Gender Studies Major Program (Arts Program) - ASMAJ0571

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.

Completion Requirements:

(7.0 credits, including 3.0 credits at the 300+ level including at least 0.5 WGS credits at the 400 level)

1. WGS160Y1 (normally taken in first year)
2. WGS260H1
3. WGS360H1
4. 3.0 credits from the core group below
5. 2.0 credits from group A or B

Core Group

WGS160Y1, WGS260H1, WGS271Y1, WGS273H1, WGS275H1, WGS280H1, WGS331H1, WGS332H1, WGS333H1, WGS334H1, WGS335H1, WGS336H1, WGS340H1, WGS350H1 (no longer offered) , WGS355H1, WGS360H1, WGS362H1, WGS363H1, WGS365H1, WGS367H1, WGS369H1, WGS370H1, WGS372H1, WGS373H1, WGS374H1, WGS376H1, WGS380H1, WGS385H1, WGS386H1, WGS390H1, WGS395H1, WGS396H1, WGS397H1, WGS420H1, WGS426H1, WGS434H1, WGS435H1, WGS440H1, WGS442H1, WGS450H1, WGS451H1, WGS451Y1, WGS460Y1, WGS461Y1, WGS462H1, WGS463H1, WGS465H1, WGS470Y1, WGS480H1, WGS481H1, WGS482H1

Group A

AFR454H1, ANT343H1, ANT456H1, ANT460H1, CAR325H1, CDN335H1, CLA219H1, CLA319H1, ENG273Y1, ENG355Y1, FRE304H1, GGR320H1, GGR327H1, HIS198H1, HIS202H1, HIS205H1, HIS297Y1, HIS306H1, HIS348H1, HIS354H1, HIS363H1, HIS383Y1, HIS406H1, HIS446H1, HIS448H1, HIS481H1, ITA455H1, JAL355H1, JPS315H1, NMC284H1, NMC484H1, PHL243H1, PHL367H1, POL344H1, POL432H1, POL450H1, PSY323H1, REN342H1, REN343H1, RLG235H1, RLG311H1, RLG312H1, RLG313H1, RLG315H1, RLG416H1, SLA248H1, SOC214H1, SOC265H1, SOC314H1, SOC365H1, SOC366H1, SOC367H1, SOC383H1, SOC465H1, SPA382H1

Group B

AFR351Y1, ANT329H1, ANT477H1, BPM214H1, CIN332Y1, CIN372Y1, CIN432H1, CSE240H1, CSE241Y1, CSE341H1, CSE344Y1, CSE345H1, CSE449H1, EAS314H1, ENG270H1, ENG323H1, ENG370Y1, FCS390H1, GER250H1, GGR328H1, GGR363H1, GGR457H1, HIS459H1, HIS474H1, HST211H1, HST310H1, HST330H1, JHA394H1, JPR364Y1, NEW302Y1, NMC365H1, NMC379H1, NMC384H1, PHL268H1, PHL281H1, PHL373H1, PHL380H1, PHL384H1, POL338H1, POL480H1, REN341H1, SDS255H1, SDS256H1, SDS345H1, SDS346H1, SDS354H1, SDS355H1, SDS365H1, SDS377H1, SDS379H1, SDS382H1, SDS475H1, SDS477H1, SDS478H1, SOC207H1, SOC220H1, SOC309H1

Note: Effective Fall 2021, courses associated with New College programs will have the new "AFR," "BPM," "CAR," and "CSE" designators based on the respective areas of study. In addition, courses associated with Victoria College's Renaissance Studies program will have the new "REN" designator.

Women and Gender Studies Minor Program (Arts Program) - ASMIN0571

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.

Completion Requirements:

(4.0 credits)

  1. WGS160Y1 or WGS271Y1
  2. An additional 3.0 credits from the Core Group or Group A. Of these, 1.0 credit must be a 300/400-level WGS course

Core Group

WGS160Y1, WGS260H1, WGS271Y1, WGS273H1, WGS275H1, WGS280H1, WGS331H1, WGS332H1, WGS333H1, WGS334H1, WGS335H1, WGS336H1, WGS340H1, WGS350H1 (no longer offered), WGS355H1, WGS360H1, WGS362H1, WGS363H1, WGS365H1, WGS367H1, WGS369H1, WGS370H1, WGS372H1, WGS373H1, WGS374H1, WGS376H1, WGS380H1, WGS385H1, WGS386H1, WGS390H1, WGS395H1, WGS396H1, WGS397H1, WGS420H1, WGS426H1, WGS434H1, WGS435H1, WGS440H1, WGS442H1, WGS450H1, WGS451H1, WGS460Y1, WGS461Y1, WGS462H1, WGS463H1, WGS465H1, WGS470Y1, WGS480H1, WGS481H1, WGS482H1

Group A

AFR454H1, ANT343H1, ANT456H1, ANT460H1, CAR325H1, CDN335H1, CLA219H1, CLA319H1, ENG273Y1, ENG355Y1, FRE304H1, GGR320H1, GGR327H1, HIS198H1, HIS202H1, HIS205H1, HIS297Y1, HIS306H1, HIS348H1, HIS354H1, HIS363H1, HIS383Y1, HIS406H1, HIS446H1, HIS448H1, HIS481H1, ITA455H1, JAL355H1, JPS315H1, NMC284H1, NMC484H1, PHL243H1, PHL367H1, POL344H1, POL432H1, POL450H1, PSY323H1, REN342H1, REN343H1, RLG235H1, RLG311H1, RLG312H1, RLG313H1, RLG315H1, RLG416H1, SLA248H1, SOC214H1, SOC265H1, SOC314H1, SOC365H1, SOC366H1, SOC367H1, SOC383H1, SOC465H1, SPA382H1

Note: Effective Fall 2021, courses associated with New College's African Studies and Caribbean Studies programs will have the new "AFR" and "CAR" designators respectively. In addition, courses associated with Victoria College's Renaissance Studies program will have the new "REN" designator.


Women and Gender Studies Courses

WGS160Y1 - Introduction to Women and Gender Studies

Hours: 48L/24T

An integrated and historical approach to social relations of gender, race, class, sexuality and disability, particularly as they relate to women's lives and struggles across different locales, including Canada.

Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1), Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

WGS260H1 - Texts, Theories, Histories

Previous Course Number: WGS262H1, WGS262Y1

Hours: 24L/12T

Examines modes of theories that shaped feminist thought and situates them historically and transnationally so as to emphasize the social conditions and conflicts in which ideas and politics arise, change and circulate.

Exclusion: WGS262H1/ WGS262Y1
Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

WGS271Y1 - Gender in Popular Culture

Hours: 48L

A critical examination of institutions, representations and practices associated with contemporary popular culture, mass-produced, local and alternative.

Exclusion: WGS271H1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

WGS273H1 - Gender & Environmental (In)Justice

Previous Course Number: WGS273Y1

Hours: 48L/24T

Using a transnational, feminist framework, this course examines material and conceptual interrelations between gendered human and non-human nature, ecological crises, political economies and environmental movements in a variety of geographical, historical and cultural contexts. Does environmental justice include social justice, or are they in conflict? What might environmental justice and activism involve?

Exclusion: WGS273Y1
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

WGS275H1 - Men and Masculinities

Hours: 24L/12T

Examines how masculinities shape the lives of men, women, transgender people. Effects of construction, reproduction and impact of masculinities on institutions such as education, work, religion, sports, family, medicine, military and the media are explored. Provides critical analysis of how masculinities shape individual lives, groups, organizations and social movements.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

WGS280H1 - Special Topics in Women and Gender Studies

Hours: 24L

Subjects will vary from year to year.

Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

WGS281H1 - Special Topics in Women and Gender Studies

Hours: 24L

Subjects vary from year to year.

Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

WGS331H1 - Special Topic in Women and Gender Studies

Hours: 24L

An upper level seminar.  Subjects of study vary from year to year.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

WGS332H1 - Special Topic in Women and Gender Studies

Hours: 24L

An upper level seminar.  Subjects of study vary from year to year.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

WGS333H1 - Special Topic in Women and Gender Studies

Hours: 24L

An upper level seminar.  Subjects of study vary from year to year.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

WGS334H1 - Special Topic in Women and Gender Studies

An upper level seminar. Subjects of study vary from year to year. Please consult the Women & Gender Studies Institute's website for more information.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

WGS335H1 - Special Topic in Women and Gender Studies

An upper level seminar. Subjects of study vary from year to year.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1

WGS336H1 - Selected Topics in Cultural Studies

Hours: 24L

An upper level course. Topics vary from year to year. Please consult the Women & Gender Studies Institute's website for more information.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

WGS340H1 - Women and Revolution in the Middle East

Hours: 24L

This course examines the complex and conflictual relations between women and revolutionary struggles and focuses on a number of theoretical and empirical issues relevant to the Middle East and North Africa context.

Exclusion: WGS335H1 Women and Revolution in the Middle East
Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

WGS355H1 - Gendered Labour Around the World

Hours: 24L

This course will focus on masculinities and femininities in workplace settings, with an emphasis on service work around the world. We will discuss workers' lived experiences of gender regimes which are embedded within the dynamics of class, race and nation.  The relationships between gender processes and workplace hierarchies will be explored. 

Exclusion: WGS363H1 Gendered Labour Around the World
Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

WGS360H1 - Making Knowledge in a World that Matters

Hours: 24L/12T

Teaches skills in feminist approaches to making knowledge.  Introduces feminist practices for doing research and navigating the politics of production and exchange.  Develops skills for conveying knowledge to the wider world, such as through research papers, reports, performance, new media, art.

Prerequisite: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

WGS362H1 - Selected Topics in Gender and History

Hours: 24S

An upper level seminar. Subjects of study vary from year to year.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1

WGS363H1 - Selected Topics in Gender and Theory

Hours: 24S

An upper level seminar. Subjects of study vary from year to year.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1

WGS365H1 - Gender Issues in the Law

Hours: 24L

Examines the operation of the law as it affects women, the construction and representation of women within the legal system, and the scope for feminist and intersectional analyses of law. Includes an analysis of specific legal issues such as sexuality and reproduction, equality, employment, violence and immigration.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

WGS367H1 - The Politics of Gender and Health

Hours: 24L/12T

Examines diverse traditions and normative models of health (e.g. biomedicine, social constructionist, indigenous health) in conjunction with analyses of the origin, politics, and theoretical perspectives of contemporary Women's Health Movements. Topics may include fertility, sexuality, poverty, violence, labour, aging, (dis)ability, and health care provision.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

WGS369H1 - Studies in Post-Colonialism

Previous Course Number: NEW369H1

Hours: 24L

Examines gendered representations of race, ethnicity, class, sexuality and disability in a variety of colonial, neo-colonial, and post-colonial contexts. Topics may include the emergence of racialist, feminist, liberatory and neoconservative discourses as inscribed in literary texts, historical documents, cultural artifacts and mass media.

Exclusion: NEW369H1
Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

WGS370H1 - Utopian Visions, Activist Realities

Hours: 24L

Drawing on diversely situated case-studies, this course focuses on the ideals that inform struggles for social justice, and the mechanisms activists have employed to produce the change. Foci include the gendered implications of movement participation, local and transnational coalition, alternative community formation, and encounters with the state and inter/supra/transnational organizations.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

WGS372H1 - Women and Psychology/ Psychoanalysis

Hours: 24L

An interdisciplinary analysis of the relationship of women to a variety of psychological and psychoanalytical theories and practices. Topics may include women and the psychological establishment; women's mental health issues; feminist approaches to psychoanalysis.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

WGS373H1 - Gender and Violence

Hours: 24L

An interdisciplinary study of gendered violence in both historical and contemporary contexts including topics such as textual and visual representations; legal and theoretical analyses; structural violence; war and militarization; sexual violence; and resistance and community mobilization.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1; WGS350H1
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

WGS374H1 - Feminist Studies in Sexuality

Hours: 24L

Sexual agency as understood and enacted by women in diverse cultural and historical contexts. An exploration of the ways in which women have theorized and experienced sexual expectations, practices and identities.  This course will be offered every three years.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1; WGS271Y1
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

WGS376H1 - Studies in Queer and Trans

Previous Course Number: WGS272H1, WGS272Y1

Hours: 24L

Takes up conversations in queer and trans studies as separate and entangled fields. It explores how queer and trans people have experienced and theorized gender and sexuality.

Exclusion: WGS272H1/ WGS272Y1
Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

WGS380H1 - Feminist Graphic Novels

Hours: 24L

Comics aren't new, and graphic novels aren't either, but feminists have built a rich array of stories about consciousness, resistance, and coming of age in this genre that warrant scholarly attention. In this case, we will read graphic novels for their subtleties, thinking about what picture and text make possible in the exploration of emotion, interconnection, and identity. Reading about resistance to marriage in Aya of Yop City, a child's view of revolution in Persepolis, parent child reckoning in Fun Home, and loneliness in Skim will advance students' understandings of the of the power of narrative and the pictorial displacement of innocence.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

WGS381H1 - Black Britain: Race, Gender and Entangled Diasporas

Hours: 24L

An exploration of Black British history and culture, with a particular focus on labour, overlapping migrations, and racial formations following World War II. Topics and themes may include Afro-Asian-Arab politics and transnational solidarities against empire; citizenship and (non)belonging; mobilizations against fascism and state violence; the Black Women's Movement and Black British Feminisms; the emergence and interventions of Cultural Studies; the Caribbean Artists Movement and Black British cultural productions more generally.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1 and completion of at least 4.0 credits
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

WGS385H1 - Gender and Neoliberalism

Hours: 24L

Reviews major feminist transnational, Marxist and Foucauldian approaches to the study of neoliberalism. Adopts a comparative, historical and global approach to the ways that gender is implicated in state restructuring, changing roles for corporations and non-governmental organizations, changing norms for personhood, sovereignty and citizenship, and changing ideas about time/space.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

WGS386H1 - Gender and Critical Political Economy

Hours: 24L

Offers a critical analysis of political economy, its historical and contemporary contentions and the ruptures that open the space for alternative theorizing beyond orthodox and heterodox thinking, by inserting gender and intersecting issues of power, authority and economic valorization across multiple and changing spheres: domestic, market and state.

Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1; WGS273Y1
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

WGS390H1 - Land-ing: Indigenous and Black Futurist Spaces

Hours: 24L

Students are invited to think through the relationships between Indigenous and Afro-futurist concepts of land. This class will engage Indigenous feminist and Black queer and feminist theories of land and space, linking them to Afrofuturist and Indigenous futurist thought. We explore various texts in relation to emergent methodologies, decolonial desires, and love and radical relationalities.

Prerequisite: Completion of 4.0 credits
Exclusion: WGS335H1 (Special Topic in Women and Gender Studies: Indigenous Feminist Theory), offered in Fall 2015, WGS335H1 (Special Topic in Women and Gender Studies: Decolonial Aesthetics and Futurities), offered in Winter 2018, Winter 2019 and Winter 2020
Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

WGS396H1 - Writing the Body

Hours: 24L

Examines the ways in which bodies are lived and inscribed and represented through a variety of genres. Students will work through issues of corporeality and materiality in the production and reception of texts and will practice embodied writing on a personal level through in-class workshops and written assignments.

Exclusion: WGS332H1: Writing the Body
Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

WGS397H1 - The Politics of Girlhood

Hours: 24L

The course communicates the growing field of "girl studies" and provides a critical exploration of the historical, social, psychological and political definitions attached to girlhood.  We will move toward a feminist understanding of how definitions of girl-child shape individual experience, historical narratives, cultural representations, political agendas and futures.

Exclusion: WGS335H1: The Politics of Girlhood
Recommended Preparation: WGS160Y1
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

WGS420H1 - Asian/North American Feminist Issues

Hours: 24L

A transpacific examination of issues that have directly and indirectly shaped the feminist and other related critical inquiries in Asia and among the Asian diasporas in Canada and the United States.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

WGS426H1 - Gender and Globalization: Transnational Perspectives

Hours: 24L

Critically examines current interdisciplinary scholarship on globalization, its intersections with gender, power structures, and feminized economies. Related socio-spatial reconfigurations, ‘glocal’ convergences, and tensions are explored, with emphasis on feminist counter-narratives and theorizing of globalization, theoretical debates on the meanings and impacts of globalization, and possibilities of resistance, agency, and change.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level
Exclusion: WGS463H1 (Advanced Topics in Gender Theory: Gender and Globalization: Transnational Perspectives), offered in Fall 2009
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

WGS434H1 - Advanced Topics in Women and Gender Studies

Hours: 24S

An upper level seminar. Topics vary from year to year depending on instructor. Please consult the Women & Gender Studies Institute's website for more information.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level

WGS435H1 - Advanced Topics in Women and Gender Studies

Hours: 24S

An upper level seminar. Topics vary from year to year depending on instructor.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level

WGS440H1 - Decolonial Cyborgs for Planetary Futures

Hours: 24L

Drawing together film, fiction, and theory this course invites students to explore ways of imagining other worlds. From afro-futurism to planetary humanism, from cyborgs to hauntings, from science fiction fantasies to the politics of aliens, the course examines and produces feminist, postcolonial, anti-racist, and queer visions of other worlds.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

WGS442H1 - Toxic Worlds, Decolonial Futures

Hours: 24S

This course explores the ways environmental violence is an integral practice of settler colonialism that affects human and non-human life, disrupts Indigenous sovereignty, and enacts ongoing racism. A typical way of addressing environmental violence is to document the harm done to bodies and communities. This class asks, how might we also refuse environmental violence and enact better obligations to land/body relations? What kind of decolonial futures can be summoned in the aftermath of environmental violence? Our readings will bring Indigenous feminist approaches together with Black feminist, queer, and feminist environmental justice approaches. Participants will build upon the readings to create their own decolonial environmental justice future projects.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level
Exclusion: WGS463H1 (Advanced Topics in Gender Theory: Toxic Worlds, Decolonial Futures), offered in Winter 2018, Winter 2019 and Winter 2020
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

WGS450H1 - Modernity, Freedom, Citizenship: Gender and the Black Diaspora

Hours: 24L

Explores transnational feminist genealogies of the black diaspora. The course pays attention to the contexts and movements that generated key questions, exploring how these interventions disclose preoccupations with modernity, freedom and citizenship. Topics may include trauma and memory, sexual citizenship, Afrofuturism, indigeneity, and the crafting of political communities.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level
Exclusion: WGS434H1 (Advanced Topics in Women and Gender Studies: Black Diasporic Feminisms: Modernity, Freedom, Citizenship), offered in Fall 2012
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

WGS451H1 - Independent Study in Women and Gender Studies Issues

Under supervision, students pursue topics in Women and Gender Studies not currently part of the curriculum. For students in the Women and Gender Studies Specialist or Major. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: Completion of WGS160Y1, WGS260H1, and WGS360H1, a CGPA of at least 3.0 and permission of the Undergraduate Coordinator.

WGS451Y1 - Independent Study in Women and Gender Studies

Under faculty supervision, students pursue topics in Women and Gender Studies that are not currently part of the curriculum. For students in the Women and Gender Studies Specialist or Major. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: Completion of WGS160Y1, WGS260H1, and WGS360H1, a CGPA of at least 3.0 and permission of the Undergraduate Coordinator.

WGS460Y1 - Honours Seminar

Hours: 24S

Supervised undergraduate thesis project undertaken in the final year of study. Students attend a bi-weekly seminar to discuss research strategies, analytics, methods and findings. A required course for Specialist students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level

WGS461Y1 - Advanced Topics in Women and Gender Studies

Hours: 48S

An upper level seminar. Topics vary from year to year depending on the instructor.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level

WGS462H1 - Advanced Topics in Gender and History

Hours: 24S

An upper-level seminar. Topics vary from year to year depending on instructor.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level

WGS463H1 - Advanced Topics in Gender Theory

Hours: 24S

Senior students may pursue more advanced study in feminist theory. Topics vary from year to year depending on instructor.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level

WGS465H1 - Special Topics in Gender and the Law

Hours: 24S

Senior students may pursue advanced study in gender and law. Topics vary from year to year.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1, WGS365H1 and an additional 0.5 WGS credit at the 300+ level
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

WGS470Y1 - Community Engagement

Hours: 48S

The application of theoretical study to practical community experience. Advanced Women and Gender Studies students have the opportunity to apply knowledge acquired in the Women and Gender Studies curriculum through a practicum placement within a community organization. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

WGS480H1 - Challenging Coloniality: Caribbean Sexualities in Transnational Perspective

Previous Course Number: WGS435H1S

Hours: 24S

This course foregrounds the Caribbean as a transnational space, where sexuality, gender, race and class are intimately connected and shaped by colonial legacies and contemporary circuits of globalization.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level
Exclusion: WGS435H1 (Topics: Challenging Coloniality: Caribbean Sexualities in Transnational Perspective), offered in Summer 2017
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

WGS481H1 - Gender, Sexuality and Black Liberation from Black Power to #BlackLivesMatter

Previous Course Number: WGS435H1

Hours: 24S

This course maps genealogies of black insurgency and transnational itineraries of intersectional theorizing, organizing, and praxis from the 20th century to our present moment. Through close study of works by and about black revolutionary migrants, exiles, intellectuals, fugitives, and so-called terrorists, participants will critique and create radical visions for emancipation. Major topics and themes may include black feminisms; queer insurgencies; transnational imaginaries and solidarities; silence and intracommunal violence; accountability and transformative justice. Through collective discussion, writing, and reflection we interrogate visions and strategies of emancipation, and imagine radical futures historically and in our own times.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level
Exclusion: WGS435H1 (Topics: Sex, Gender and Revolution from Black Power to #BlackLivesMatter), offered in Winter 2017 and Fall 2017
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

WGS482H1 - Translating Sexuality: Queer Migration, Queer Diasporas

Previous Course Number: WGS434H1

Hours: 24S

This course examines how notions of sexuality travel as people move within and beyond national borders. It investigates how queer and trans migrants pursue different versions of belonging, solidarity, survival, and hope. Participants will study transnational archives (which may include popular culture, new media, film, literature, and performance) as they trace globalization's effects on racialized, queer, and trans communities. Major topics may include: queer of color critique; queer settler colonialism; transnational and global south sexualities; imperialism and militarism; neoliberalism and homonationalism; humanitarianism and sexual rights; queer and trans social movements; postcolonial intimacies.

Prerequisite: 2.5 WGS credits including WGS160Y1 and 1.0 WGS credit at the 300+ level
Exclusion: WGS434H1 (Topics: Trans/national Sexuality), offered in Fall 2016 and Fall 2017
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

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