Women's and Gender Studies Courses

WGST 100

Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies

This course will examine the historical emergence of feminisms and women’s and gender studies. This course interrogates gender at the intersection of race, sexuality, colonialism, ability, class, and among others. This course will include a range of topics that may draw on experiential learning, community engagement, and visual culture from a decolonizing and social justice framework.

WGST 200

Feminisms: Feminist Theories and Knowledge

An examination of theoretical and epistemological issues related to feminist and indigenous systems of knowledge. Course materials will bring diverse theorists into dialogue with such topics as gender, identity, sexuality, the body, work, the family, language, violence, representation.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 12 credit hours or WGST 100.***

WGST 201

Women, the Environment and Change

This course is an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural exploration of issues revolving around women, the environment and change. Some topics explored will be a feminist view of the social, historical and cultural roots of the environmental crisis, environmental rights and ethics, and women's participation in environmental movements to name a few.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 12 credit hours or WGST 100.***

WGST 202

Women and Reproductive Technologies: Ancient and Modern

This course is an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and historical exploration of women and reproduction through a feminist lens. Topics will range over a broad spectrum of social, cultural and scientific issues. These may include: women's reproductive knowledge and midwifery and/or rituals and taboos surrounding conception among others.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 12 credit hours or WGST 100.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 202 or WGST 380AP.*

WGST 206

Feminism & Activism

How do feminist principles translate into political action, public policy, organizational structures, artistic or religious movements? Why have some movements been successful where others failed? We will examine this "dance" through the context and biographies of suffragette leaders, feminist global movements, and engage in service learning at successful feminist agencies.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 12 credit hours or WGST 100.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 206 or WGST 280AG.*

WGST 207

Indigenous Feminisms

This class focuses on Canadian Indigenous women and feminist analysis, identity, activism and the interplay of gender, colonialism, racism and sexism on Indigenous women today. Students will come away with a strong understanding of Canadian Indigenous feminist work, located within the larger global context of Indigenous scholarly and activist work.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 12 credit hours or WGST 100.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one WGST 207 or WGST 280AH.*

WGST 208

Masculinities and Media

An introduction to the field of exploring key theories and epistemologies in Masculinity Studies through mainstream and alternative media forms. Historical and contemporary masculinities will be explored.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 12 credit hours or WGST 100.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 208 or WGST 280AP.*

WGST 280AJ

Mother Nature, Natural Mothers and the Nature of Mothering

This course provides a critical interdisciplinary exploration of biological and evolutionary as well as social, historical, and cultural influences on women's mothering practises and lived experiences. Concepts considered include control of female reproduction, survival and sacrifice, cooperative breeding, allomothering, infanticide, and shared nursing in mothers across several cultures and species.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 12 credit hours or WGST 100.***

WGST 280AK

Sex and Sexualities in Religion

Religious teachings on sexual practices, desires and orientations have regulated social norms and notions of morality. Examining a number of religious traditions, historical moments and current religious, feminist and queer movements, this course invites students to discern tropes and potentiality within the larger discourse of personal agency and social power.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 12 credit hours or WGST 100.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 280AK, WGST 490AC, RLST 290AP, or RLST 390BL.*

WGST 280AM

Indigenous (First Nations, Metis and Inuit) Masculinities in Canada

This course examines how historical and contemporary constructions of Indigenous masculinity have shaped our understanding of what it means to act and be an ‘Indigenous male’ in Canadian society. It draws on critical gender theory to interrogate how issues associated with maleness interact with questions of race, class, and sexuality.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 12 credit hours or WGST 100.***

WGST 280AO

Religion and Gender, Sex and Sexualities in Historical and Contemporary South Asia

Religion contributes to the construction and understanding of gender and sex/ualities. This course examines how this happens in both historical and contemporary South Asia, for example, how Hinduism informs gender and sex/ualities in India, Islam the same in Bangladesh and Pakistan, or Buddhism in Sri Lanka.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 12 credit hours or WGST 100.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 280AO or RLST 290BA.*

WGST 300

Missing Women: Decolonization, Third Wave Feminisms and Indigenous Peoples

Why are Indigenous women throughout the world more likely to "go missing"? This class will examine systems that intersect and perpetuate racism and colonialism, sexism and poverty, and the effects of globalization on the breakdown of family structures. Expertise and voices from community activists will be integral to this class.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 24 credit hours or a 200-level WGST course.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 300 or WGST 390AF.*

WGST 301

Women and Health: Local and Global

This course examines a wide range of issues in women's health and wellness from a critical feminist perspective. It will cover a range of topics such as the ramifications of the biomedical model for women's health, disparities in women's health, AIDS, mental health, violence against women, aging, disabilities, and reproduction.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 24 credit hours or a 200-level WGST course.***

WGST 303

Gender, Justice and Settler Colonialism

An intersectional lens will be used to analyze how settler colonialism directly impacts justice outcomes in criminal and child welfare proceedings in Canada and other settler states. The class will include case studies and legal theory including the Gladue Principle. Students do not need to have a justice background.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 24 credit hours or a 200-level WGST course.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 303, WGST 380AY or JS 398AE.*

WGST 304

Espionage in Popular Culture

With a focus on gender, race, and sexuality this course explores media representations of spying, security, surveillance, transparency, secrets, conspiracy, and paranoia in popular culture.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 24 credit hours or a 200-level WGST course.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 304 or WGST 380AZ.*

WGST 305

The Practice of Feminist Research: Power and Inequality

This course examines the research process through feminist lenses engaging with questions about power, inequality, and positionality inherent in doing research. Considerations of how power relations inform the various steps in the research process are examined from the selection of topics to the presentation of findings.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 24 credit hours or a 200-level WGST course.***
*Note: Students may only receive credit for one of WGST 220 or WGST 305.*

WGST 320

Queer Studies in Popular Culture

Utilizing an interdisciplinary queer feminist approach, this course interrogates social relations of power embedded within Western popular culture. We will examine a range of cultural texts from television and film, to artistic representations and performances, to social media posts and podcasts.
The course will provide an intersectional theoretical framing to queer studies in popular culture. Central to the course are constructions of identity and processes of subjectivity and embodiment; popular culture is all around us and informs our everyday lives.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 24 credit hours or a 200-level WGST course.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 320 or WGST 380AM.*

WGST 361

Gender, Race, and the History of Art

Seminar on the impact of feminist post-colonial critiques on the discipline of art history. Readings, discussions, and papers will focus on topics such as body imagery, the gaze, sexuality, primitivism, orientalism, the canon, and the culture wars, the studying of non-Western cultures, etc.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 24 credit hours or a 200-level WGST course.***

WGST 380AI

History of Illness in Visual Culture

What does it mean to represent the diseased body? What are the relations between health, illness, other-ness, and deviance in representation? Through a series of multidisciplinary investigations of the body in crisis this course will explore how gender and illness have been represented from the sixteenth century to the present.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 24 credit hours or a 200-level WGST course.***

WGST 380AO

Theory of Feminisms & Activism

A variety of theoretical locations of feminisms in relationship to activist styles, methods and issues will be examined through readings, films, advanced individual research and service learning in the community.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 24 credit hours or a 200-level WGST course.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 380AO or WGST 280AG.*

WGST 380AP

Women & Reproductive Technologies: Ancient & Modern - Advanced

An advanced, interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and historical exploration of women and reproduction through a feminist lens. Topics range over a broad spectrum of social, cultural, and scientific issues. Students will produce a major research paper and present an oral report of their research.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 24 credit hours or a 200-level WGST course.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 380AP or WGST 202.*

WGST 380BA

Women in the Late Middle Ages

This course investigates issues faced by women in Europe in the later Middle Ages: heresy, power, mysticism, war, and debates about their worthiness. Students will explore these topics by playing two "Reacting to the Past" role-playing games throughout the course.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 24 credit hours or a 200-level WGST course.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 380BA or HIST 390DM.*

WGST 390AQ

Stories We Tell

Examining the stories of women from select religious time periods as told through their own words, artistry, music and the subsequent legends that followed, we ask what influenced the way they told their stories, and what influence, if any, do they have on storytellers today? Students engage in storytelling!
***Prerequisite: Completion of 60 credit hours. WGST 100 is recommended.***

WGST 390AV

Queer Indigenous Studies

This course examines literature and studies that examine queer Indigenous systems.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 60 credit hours. WGST 100 is recommended.***

WGST 390AW

Directed Readings in Ecofeminism, Gender, Nature

An exploration of readings and studies connecting gender, nature, and environment.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 60 credit hours. WGST 100 is recommended.***

WGST 420

Queer Theory and Trans Studies: Embodiment and Representation of Gender and Sexuality

This course provides critical overview and engagement with the field of Trans Studies and Queer Theory. Central to the course is the examination and disruption that dominant notions of sex, gender, and sexuality are biological and natural as well as the assumed correlation between sex, gender, and sexuality. As part of this process, we examine the colonial, historical, and social construction of gender and sexuality, including historical interpretation of sexual acts, development of identity rights movements, impact of space and borders on gender and sexuality, and contemporary debates and activism. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the course brings together queer, trans, and feminist theory, anti-racist and postcolonial theory, and Indigenous and cultural studies.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 60 credit hours. WGST 100 is recommended.***

WGST 421

Feminism, Women, and Globalization

An examination of the conditions of women's lives in a global context. Engaging feminist theoretics within postcolonialism, anti-racism and civil rights locations, this course examines women's issues such as poverty, environmental degradation, labour, power, and so forth and subsequent feminist responses generated from a variety of geo-political locations.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 60 credit hours. WGST 100 is recommended.***

WGST 480AG

Women and Reproductive Knowledge Advanced

This course is an advanced version of WGST 202 and is an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and historical exploration of women and reproduction through a feminist lens. Topics will range over a broad spectrum of social, cultural and scientific issues. These may include: women's reproductive knowledge and midwifery and/or rituals and taboos surrounding conception among others.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 60 credit hours. WGST 100 is recommended.***

WGST 480AH

Racialized Policing

This class will explore the complexity of radicalized policing practices by looking at the history of policing, its roots in white supremacy, and settler colonialism in North America. The class will be organized through an intersectional lens to analyze many movements including Black Lives Matter and Indigenous Lives Matter within broader discussions of justice reform including an exploration of the abolitionist movement.
*This class will be offered at the 400-level with options for 800-level modifications for graduate level instruction.*
***Prerequisite: Completion of 60 credit hours. WGST 100 is recommended.***

WGST 480AJ

Doing Women's and Gender History

In this senior level course, students learn how to “do” women’s and gender history. Through discussions about interpreting sources and disseminating historical knowledge, they acquire deep familiarity with women’s and gender historiography. As well, by applying advanced historical methods and sharing their findings, they themselves become practising historians.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 60 credit hours. WGST 100 is recommended.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 480AJ or HIST 420.*

WGST 490AB

Advanced Missing Women: Decolonization, Third Wave Feminisms and Indigenous Peoples

Why are indigenous women throughout the world more likely to "go missing"? This class will examine systems that intersect and perpetuate racism and colonialism, sexism and poverty, and the effects of globalization on the breakdown of family structures. Upper level research required.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 60 credit hours. WGST 100 is recommended.***

WGST 490AC

Directed Readings in Sex and Sexualities in Religion

Course material will evaluate religious and secular discourse on sex, gender, sexualities, and sexual orientations culminating in a major student project.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 60 credit hours. WGST 100 is recommended.***
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 490AC, WGST 280AK, RLST 290AP, or RLST 390BL.*

WGST 490AE

Advanced Feminisms and Activism

This course explores the myriad of ways that activism becomes a way of life. With feminist analyses applied to community organizations, literature, governmental policies and more, this course allows students to develop their own methodological approach to both feminism and activism.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 60 credit hours. WGST 100 is recommended.***

WGST 490AF

Advanced Studies in Multiculturalism and Feminism

What shape does the discourse of multiculturalism take when examined through feminist theories? What models of dialogue amongst religions and between the religious and the secular arise within our Canadian context?
***Prerequisite: Completion of 60 credit hours. WGST 100 is recommended.***

WGST 490AG

Trans Theory and Media

This course explores key texts and media related to recent Trans theory.
***Prerequisite: Completion of 60 credit hours. WGST 100 is recommended.***

WGST 498AA

Honours Seminar

Honours seminar.
***Prerequisite: Admission to the Honours program.***
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

WGST 499AA

Honours Essay

Honours essay.
***Prerequisite: Admission to the Honours program.***
**Permission of the Department Head is required to register.**

WGST 800

Feminist Theory

This course is an examination of feminist theory from 1980s until present. Our intention is to examine in detail different epistemological positions and theoretical orientations (with some attention to methodology) such as standpoint, poststructuralism, postcolonialism, queer, and antiracist feminist theories.
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 800 or WGST 880AG.*

WGST 801

Queer Theory and Trans Studies: Embodiment and Representation of Gender and Sexuality

This course examines sexualities cross-culturally and historically. Subjects such as heterosexuality, homosexuality, heterosexism, transsexuality, so-called sexual deviancy, and gay and lesbian culture are investigated. Included will be an elucidation of sexualities via recourse to social, cultural, and ritual practices.
***Prerequisite: Permission of the Department Head.***

WGST 802

Women, Feminism and Globalization--Advanced

This course will be an examination of the conditions of women's lives in a global context. Engaging feminist theoretics within postcolonialism, anti-racism and civil rights locations, this course will examine women's issues, poverty, environment, labour, power, etc. and subsequent feminist responses generated from a variety of geo-political locations.

WGST 803

Gender: Theories and Practices

This graduate level course is a comparative investigation of gender/sex ideology. Our endeavor is to isolate and examine gender/sex as a category of analysis and then analyze its deployment through sign-symbol, myth and ritual in varying geographical, historical and cultural location, e.g., modern Eurowest, ancient Greece and Rome, and Africa.

WGST 880AB

Masculinity and Gendered Violence

This course is an exploration of theories of masculinity and how masculinity is related to gender-based violence. Topics will include: construction of male identity, male hegemony, social representations of masculinities, and racialized masculinities. An in-depth literature review and theoretical paper on existing research in the area will be included.

WGST 880AI

Violence and Indigenous Women

This course will engage postcolonial, feminist, Indigenous and poststructuralist theory to examine the discourse on missing and murdered Indigenous Women. Working from our national context and moving to a global perspective, students will identify patterns of violence and resistance and become skilled at historical, political, gendered, economic and cultural analyses.

WGST 880AJ

Women, Motherhood and Mothering - Advanced

This course is a feminist exploration of the many issues revolving around women as mothers. Motherhood as a patriarchal institution has often oppressed women while women's experiences of mothering have often been empowering. Mother roles, expectations, stereotypes, and experiences will be examined from an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and historical perspective.

WGST 880AK

Indigenous Feminist Storytelling

This course examines intersecting methods of Indigenous storytelling and feminist methodology as intersecting and decolonizing processes.

WGST 880AL

Feminist Theories and Islamic Scholars

This course addresses contemporary social justice issues in feminist Islamic scholarship with specific attention paid to historical, socio-cultural, legal, geographical and religious discourses. Leading scholars specific to student concerns will be analyzed, and postcolonial and poststructural methodologies employed.
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 880AL or RLST 390AM.*

WGST 880AM

Advance Gender, Race, and Sexuality in Popular Culture

This course interrogates social relations of power embedded within Western popular culture from a feminist perspective. It examines a range of cultural texts from television and film, to artistic represenatations and performaces, to blogs and podcasts. The course is organized around three themes of critique: representaton, consumption, and production.

WGST 880AN

Feminist Interrogations of Violence

This course provides students with an opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of violence as it is enacted in social bodies around the globe. Subjects examined by students can be intimate partner violence, sexual violence, racial violence, violence enacted in civil conflict and war, bullying, and so forth.
*Note: Students may receive credit for one of WGST 880AN or WGST 490AD.*

WGST 880AO

Racialized Policing

This class explores racialised policing practices by looking at the history of policing, its roots in white supremacy, and settler colonialism. The class is organized through an intersectional lens to analyze movements including Black Lives Matter and Indigenous Lives Matter within broader discussions of justice reform and the abolitionist movement.

WGST 880AP

Women's Memoir: Theory and Practice

This seminar examines the genre of women's memoir through both a critical and creative lens. We analyze several contemporary women's memoirs while gaining practice in the craft of memoir writing. Feminist and gender theory enables us to understand as well as trouble categories such as woman, identity, memory, and narration.

WGST 880AQ

Research Methodologies

Students will develop research methods to support their graduate projects.

WGST 880AR

Reproductive Justice

This course is an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and historical exploration of women and reproduction through a feminist lens. Topics will range over a broad spectrum of social, cultural and scientific issues. These may include: women's reproductive knowledge and midwifery and/or rituals and taboos surrounding conception among others.

WGST 880AS

Feminist and Social Justice Research Methodolgies

This course examines the research process through feminist lenses engaging with questions about power, inequality, and positionality inherent in doing research. Considerations of how power relations inform the various steps in the research process are examined from the selection of topics to the presentation of findings.

WGST 901

Thesis Research

Thesis Research