ality Cutting Ed ction ge T rse he te ory In In te rd i sc ip l in a r y I n s p i r i n g S o c i a l C h a n g e Master of Arts in Gender/Cultural Studies Contents 2 Program Highlights 4 Degree Requirements 6 Recent Capstone Titles 7 Consortium for Graduate Studies in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality 8 Select Affiliated Faculty 14 GCS Graduates 2 MASTER OF ARTS IN GENDER/CULTURAL STUDIES SIMMONS.EDU/PROGRAMS/GRADSTUDIES 1 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS Intersectionality GCS students Crossing disciplinary boundaries, the graduate are prepared for professional careers program in Gender/Cultural Studies (GCS) is in areas such as: dedicated to critically analyzing intersecting n Higher education systems of power and privilege, and examining administration the ways in which race, ethnicity, nation, class, n Educational gender, sexuality, and sexual orientation are programming constructed within the United States and in n Nonprofit international contexts. administration n Public policy Cutting-Edge Theory n Social work The program places an emphasis on cutting-edge n Gender- and theory, including theories in feminism, post- race-related social services structuralism, cultural studies, and postcolonialism, and promotes multi-perspectival, multi-factored n Feminist research theoretical analyses. n Publishing n Business Interdisciplinary Many students enroll to prepare academically The interdisciplinary nature of the GCS program for PhD programs in allows students to pursue more specialized fields such as: courses of study by providing access to courses n Women’s Studies from a range of disciplines, including Africana n Sociology Studies, Children’s Literature, Economics, Education, English, History, Philosophy, n Philosophy Public Policy, Sociology, and Women’s and n History Gender Studies. n American Studies n Cultural Studies n English Inspiring Social Change The GCS program strives to prepare and inspire Others seek intellectual the next generation of scholars, educators, enrichment to enhance activists, and professional leaders. careers or to change direction in their professions. 2 MASTER OF ARTS IN GENDER/CULTURAL STUDIES SIMMONS.EDU/PROGRAMS/GRADSTUDIES 3 DEGREE REQUIREMENTS COURSEWORK GCS Electives A minimum of four approved electives are required. The following partial list of elective 16 CREDITS options will vary by semester. Additional elective courses are available through the Consortium for Graduate Studies in Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality. AST 513 The Black Struggle for Schooling in America AST 529 Race, Culture, Identity, and Achievement AST 536 Black Narratives of Oppression, Resistance, and Resiliency AST/SOCI/ Intimate Family Violence: A Multicultural Perspective WST 540 AST 588 Black Popular Culture and the Education of Black Youth CHL 401 Criticism of Literature for Children ENGL 508 The Postcolonial Novel ENGL 517 Toni Morrison and American Literature ENGL 527 Race and Gender in Psychoanalytic Discourse ENGL 554 Studies in Film Genre: Melodrama ENGL 598 Feminist Media Studies HIST 527 Archives, History, and Collective Memory HIST 560 Seminar in the History of Women and Gender HIST 561 Cross Cultural Encounters: Contacts, Connection, and Conflict HIST 567 Memory and the Holocaust The GCS program requires 32 semester hours, the equivalent of eight courses. HIST 597 Historical Methods and Research All students take three required core courses in Gender/Cultural Studies, design SOCI 500 Gender and Islam their own program from an interdisciplinary list of electives, and finish with a SOCI/AST 511 Critical Race Legal Theory capstone project that furthers their individual academic and professional interests. SOCI 521 Sociology of Food SOCI 539 Qualitative Research Workshop COURSEWORK SOCI 544 Sociology of Poetry & Prose Required Core Required core courses: SOCI 545 Health Systems and Policy 8 CREDITS GCS 403 Seminar in Gender/Cultural Studies SOCI 547 Antiracism and Justice Work GCS 430 Cultural Theory WGST 554 Feminist Theories WGST 580 Gender and Queer Theory Core Elective ONE of the following courses: Capstone GCS 455 Thesis 4 CREDITS GCS 406 Feminism and Literature 4 CREDITS GCS 460 Project GCS 410 Issues in International Studies GCS 470 Internship GCS 412 Theoretical Approaches to Cultural Narratives GCS 480 Gender/Cultural Fieldwork GCS 415 Feminism and Economic Difference GCS 417 Race Theory 4 MASTER OF ARTS IN GENDER/CULTURAL STUDIES SIMMONS.EDU/PROGRAMS/GRADSTUDIES 5 RECENT CAPSTONE TITLES Selective Visibilities: Navigating Identity The (Un)fit Mom: From an Unruly Body as an Asian-Indian American Woman to the (Re)Production of Racial Fatness through Body and Beauty Penetrating the Borders: Queer White Noise: How the Media Amplified Immigration in Arizona and Drowned Out Black Political Protest: “Post Ferguson” The Lesbian Bar is Dead, Long Live the Lesbian Bar: The Importance of Lesbian Subversive Masculinity: Cultivating Bars as Cultural Institutions and Why It Men’s Engagement in Gender Equality Matters That They’re Closing Desexualization of Sex Education The Invisibility of STD Research, Resources, and Education for Queer People who were Assigned Female at Birth (FAAB) Consent Culture: A Workshop for Sexual Violence Prevention on College Campuses Playing with Femininity: Transfeminine Gamers and Identity Play Wonder Woman in Chains: Images of CONSORTIUM FOR GRADUATE STUDIES IN “Alt” Sex in Golden Age Comics Color of Her Skin, Content of GENDER, CULTURE, WOMEN, AND SEXUALITY Her Character: The Media vs. Michelle Obama Simmons is a member of the Consortium for Graduate Studies in Gender, White Futures: Stratified Labor and Culture, Women, and Sexuality (GCWS). GCWS offers interdisciplinary, Reproduction in Biopolitical Times team-taught seminars to students who are enrolled in related programs Hades Sings Torch Songs: A Queer at nine member institutions. Courses are designed to foster a dynamic Reading of Villain Characters in interchange between and among scholars and to provide intellectual stimulation Active Minds, Docile Bodies, and the Disney Renaissance Films for faculty and students doing work across disciplines. GCWS courses allow Freedom to Read: How U.S. Prison faculty and students to explore traditional and cutting edge theories, and Libraries Function as Instruments of develop new avenues of inquiry. The Consortium membership includes State Power Made Visible: Analyzing News Coverage of Simmons College, Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis University, Transgender Students at Women’s Colleges Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Tufts University, and UMASS Boston. GCS students in GCWS courses receive Simmons credits and pay Simmons tuition. 6 MASTER OF ARTS IN GENDER/CULTURAL STUDIES SIMMONS.EDU/PROGRAMS/GRADSTUDIES 7 SELECT AFFILIATED FACULTY SPECIALIZATIONS: COURSES: NAME: Renee Bergland Early and 19th-century American GCS 406 Feminism and Literature DEPARTMENT: English literature and culture; Native ENG 520 American Women’s Poetry EMAIL: [email protected] American studies; women, gender, ENG 528 American Ghosts: The Cultural and sexuality studies Politics of Haunting ENG 531 Literary Boston NAME: Sheldon George American and African-American ENGL 517 Toni Morrison and American Literature DEPARTMENT: English literature; Lacanian psychoanalysis ENGL 527 Race and Gender in Psychoanalytic Discourse EMAIL: [email protected] to investigate the effects of slavery and racism on American racial identity NAME: Diane Grossman Continental philosophy, feminist GCS 430 Cultural Theory DEPARTMENT: Women and Gender Studies, Philosophy theory, and applied ethics WGST 554 Feminist Theories EMAIL: [email protected] NAME: Valerie Leiter Medical sociology, gender and MPP 504 Quantitative Analysis DEPARTMENT: Sociology, Public Policy health, research methods, sociology SOCI 521 Sociology of Food EMAIL: [email protected] of childhood and youth, and SOCI 539 Qualitative Research Workshop disability SOCI 545 Health Systems and Policy NAME: Sarah Leonard Cultural history; history of gender GCS 430 Cultural Theory DEPARTMENT: History and modern Germany; advantages HIST 567 Memory and the Holocaust EMAIL: [email protected] and challenges of fusing theory and HIST 577 Seminar in Topics in Modern empirical research European History HIST 597 Historical Methods and Research 8 MASTER OF ARTS IN GENDER/CULTURAL STUDIES SIMMONS.EDU/PROGRAMS/GRADSTUDIES 9 SELECT AFFILIATED FACULTY SPECIALIZATIONS: COURSES: NAME: Suzanne Leonard Feminist media studies, film and GCS 406 Feminism and Literature DEPARTMENT: English, Cinema and Media Studies television studies, women’s GCS 430 Cultural Theory EMAIL: [email protected] literature, and the intersections ENGL 554 Studies in Film Genre between feminism and popular ENGL 598 Feminist Media Studies culture NAME: Cathryn Mercier Literary theory and children’s/ CHL 401 Critical Theory — Children’s & YA Literature Director of Children’s Literature Graduate Programs young adult literature (YA); CHL 403 The Picturebook Director of Center for the Study of Children’s Literature construction of childhood/YA/new CHL 413 Contemporary YA Realistic Fiction adulthood in literature; the DEPARTMENT: Children’s Literature CHL 426 The Child in Fiction intersections of cognitive sciences CHL 513 Survey of Children’s and YA Literature EMAIL: [email protected] and literary insight NAME: Stephen Ortega Middle Eastern and early modern HIST 527 Archives, History, and Collective Memory Director