Return to WOW/EMWomen's Studies programs vary from campus to campus, but, in general, they are fundamentally interdisciplinary and draw on the talents and resources of faculty across the curriculum. Courses offered in WS programs often focus on gender issues and on women's experiences, scholarship and perspectives. WS courses are often concerned, too, with related and intersecting issues, such as masculinity and sexuality. That said, WS courses come in all shapes and sizes -- a feminist perspective applied to chemistry is as likely as a literature course devoted to novels written by women.
Although much feminist scholarship done earlier in this century failed to incorporate considerations of the connections between womanhood/gender identity and other significant aspects of individual and cultural identity -- like race, sexual orientation and socioeconomic background -- many WS programs today recognize and celebrate the centrality of such connections. Today, just as there is a body of feminist theory and scholarship which informs much WS teaching, there is a growing body of theory and scholarship about the intersections of feminist thought and poststructuralism, postcolonial theory, queer theory, and other contemporary approaches to scholarship and research which likewise informs WS approaches.
Some WS programs offer a major, while others do not. Most offer at least a concentration or a minor in WS. Some programs actually have one or more faculty with appointments in WS, while others have none and draw all faculty who teach WS courses from other departments or programs. Depending on the institution's own strengths, WS programs can privilege (by choice or happenstance) some and not other academic disciplines -- historically, many WS programs have had stronger humanities and social science components and less extensive offerings and opportunities in the sciences, for example. This trend has been changing in institutions with large and diverse departments in the sciences.
Another important aspect of WS programs and courses is their commitment, in general, to alternative approaches to managing authority and generating community. While certainly cognizant of the danger of replicating the myth that women -- and, therefore, by extension, WS (despite the presence of men in these programs) -- need be the world's nurturers, feminist critiques of hierarchy and power imbalances inform the day-to-day administration of most WS programs as well as the pedagogical approaches of most WS faculty. Many WS students describe having found a comfortable, "safe" space in WS programs or classes while, at the same time, describing having been challenged in new and extremely productive ways.
Note: There is a national email discussion list devoted to Women's Studies -- it's called WMST-L. You can subscribe by sending a message that reads [subsribe wmst-l (your name) ] to listserv@umdd.umd.edu.
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Copyright December 5, 1996, Giavanna Munafo, Dartmouth College
Questions? Contact me, Giavanna.Munafo@Dartmouth.EDU.
Copyright September 1996,
updated February 2004.
Kristine H. Burns,
Florida International University
Questions? Contact me.
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