This information is part of the Colgate University catalog, 2024-25.
Major Requirements
A minimum of eight courses, four of which are required as follows:
Required Courses
- WGSS 202 - Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies A student must receive a minimum grade of C in WGSS 202 in order to be admitted to the major program.
- One of WGSS 260, WGSS 279, WGSS 341/ALST 341 as a required theory course
- WGSS 301 - Feminist Methodologies: Theory and Praxis
- WGSS 490 - Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Senior Seminar
- One course in LGBTQ Studies with either an LGBT prefix or counts toward LGBQT credit (WGSS 202 does not fulfill this requirement).
Feminist Methodology
- WGSS 301 - Feminist Methodologies: Theory and Praxis
- WGSS 302 - Special Topics: Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Feminist Theory
A course in feminist theory:
- WGSS 260 - Intersectionality in Theory and Practice
- WGSS 279 - Black Feminist Thinkers
- WGSS 341 - Corridors of Black Girlhood
Divisions
At least four more courses from the following lists. Must have two courses from each list and at least one must count towards LGBTQ Studies.
List A
- ALST 242/LGBT 242 - Religions of Resistance: Gender, Sexuality and Performance in the Caribbean
- FMST 350 - Hollywood and the World: Performing Gender and Sexuality Onscreen
- LGBT 227 - Machismo & the Latin Lover
- LGBT 303 - Queer Identities and Global Discourses
- WRIT 242 - Stand and Speak: Feminist Rhetorics and Social Change
- WRIT 345 - Crafting Bodies: Movement, Gender, and Performance
- WGSS 260 - Intersectionality in Theory and Practice
- WGSS 279 - Black Feminist Thinkers
- CLAS 232 - Sexuality and Gender in Ancient Greece and Rome
- ENGL 208 - Sex and the Global City
- ENGL 305 - The Female Protagonist
- ENGL 333 - African/Diaspora Women's Narrative
- ENGL 405 - The Brontës
- ENGL 408 - Literature of Medieval Women
- FREN 353 - Introduction to Literature in French: Literary Innovations in the 20th to 21st Centuries
- FREN 453 - Contemporary Literature in French
- FREN 455 - Francophone Voices from North Africa
- JWST 213/RELG 213 - The Bible as/and Literature
- JWST 343/RELG 343 - Gender and Judaism
- PHIL 360 - Feminist Philosophy
- RELG 234 - Goddesses, Women and Power
- RELG 253 - Love, God, and Sex
- SPAN 474 - Short Fiction in Contemporary Spain
- SPAN 488 - Latin American Women Dramatists
List B
- ANTH 216 - Men, Masculinities, and Power
- ANTH 228 - Women and Gender in Prehistory
- ANTH 315 - Gender and Culture
- ANTH 371 - Gender and Society in Africa
- ECON 234 - Gender in the Economy
- ECON 410 - Seminar in Gender and Development
- EDUC 303 - Decolonizing Development: Gender, Power & Education in International Development
- EDUC 339/ WGSS 339 - Critical and Feminist Disability Studies
- GEOG 321 - Transnational Feminist Geography
- HIST 211 - Women's Rights in US History
- HIST 213 - Women in the City)
- HIST 304 - Sex and Sexualities in U.S. History
- LGBT 220 - An Exploration into LGBTQ Studies: Lives, Communities, and Modes of Critical Inquiry
- LGBT 350 - Sexuality, Gender, and the Law
- NAST 310 - Indigenous LGBTQ and Feminist Studies
- PCON 160 - Gender (In)Security
- SOCI 212 - Power, Racism, and Privilege
- SOCI 220 - Gender, Sexuality, and Society
- SOCI 310 - Sociology of the Body
- SOCI 333 - Sociology of the Life Course (RI) and SOCI 333L
- SOCI 367 - Sociology of Gender
- SOCI 369 - Women, Health, and Medicine
- WGSS 312/ALST 312 - Gender, Race and Punishment: Toward an Inclusive History of the American Carceral State
- WGSS 341/ALST 341 - Corridors of Black Girlhood
Other Courses
Other courses may count toward a Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies major, depending on the orientation of the course, the instructor's choice of syllabus, and/or the direction of the readings and student projects during a particular year. Such courses need the approval of the instructor and the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies director to be counted toward a Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies major. Students must check with their WGSS adviser about which of the following courses meet WGSS concentration requirements. WGSS credit cannot be granted once the course is completed with a non-approved instructor.
These courses include:
- CORE C166 - India
- CORE S172 - The Biology of Women: Sex, Gender, Reproduction, and Disease
- EDUC 204 - Child and Adolescent Development
- EDUC 310 - Racial Capitalism and Education Policy
- ENGL 202 - Justice and Power in Postcolonial Literature
- ENGL 363 - Contemporary Fiction
- ENGL 461 - Studies in the Renaissance
- JWST 208/RELG 208 - The Hebrew Bible in America
- LGBT 220 - An Exploration into LGBTQ Studies: Lives, Communities, and Modes of Critical Inquiry
- RELG 202 - Introduction to Islam
- SOCI 312 - Social Inequality
- SOCI 333 - Sociology of the Life Course (RI) and SOCI 333L
- WGSS 291 - Independent Study
- WGSS 391 - Independent Study
- WGSS 491 - Independent Study
- WGSS 499 - Honors in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Additional Information
Students' relationships with their advisers are a critical part of the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program. Following admission to the program, students, in consultation with their advisers, may develop a sequence of required and elective courses related to a particular topic. Some suggested topics are postcolonial and critical race studies; family studies; women in the United States; global perspectives on women; women, work, and family; women and social change; women and religion; and women, knowledge, and text.
Honors and High Honors
Students interested in pursuing honors can find the additional requirements on the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program page.
Women's Studies Program
For more information about the department, including Faculty, transfer credit, awards, and more, please visit the Women's Studies program catalog page.