Gender and Sexuality Studies

专业介绍

Program Description

Housed in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, the program in Gender and Sexuality Studies (GSS) fosters broad interdisciplinary investigation of gender and sexuality as key aspects of human experience both past and present, paying particular attention to how they shape social roles and identities in various cultural contexts. Its curriculum makes gender and sexuality central rather than peripheral terms of analysis, while also considering their significance both vis-à-vis each other and in relation to race, ethnicity, locality, nation, and geographic circulation. Most fundamentally, the program encourages students to question gender and sexual norms wherever they are in effect, and thus to complicate what in many other settings—both academic and nonacademic—is often presented as “natural.” In this way, GSS contests the privileging of some categories (e.g., male or heterosexual) over others, and thereby challenges the social and political implications of such hierarchies.

Honors Program

Majors who have completed 48 credits of graded work in CAS and have a 3.65 GPA or higher (overall and in the major) are encouraged to register for SCA-UA 92 Senior Honors Seminar in the spring semester of their junior year. Upon successful completion of the seminar requirement, students will be eligible to register for SCA-UA 93 Senior Honors Thesis for two semesters in which they will work with their advisers to complete their research and writing. For more information on the honors program, please visit the department’s Honors Program website.