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Women's Studies at Aquinas College

Women's Studies Minor

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Women's Studies is an interdisciplinary academic curriculum that exposes students to women's historical and contemporary roles, their accomplishments, and their experiences in our society and across cultures.

Minor Requirements:

A minimum of twenty-one (21) semester hours, which include the required courses, WS100 Introduction to Women’s Studies (3), WS/HY309 Women in American History (3), and WS/PS325 Feminist Theory and Activism (3), plus 12 elective credit hours of course offerings from the list of courses.

Courses

  • WS100 Introduction to Women's Studies (3) PSC

    This course is designed to introduce students to Women's Studies as an area of interdisciplinary study and research. Students will read classic and contemporary texts from a variety of disciplines in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences. Topics include: women's contributions to the arts, sciences, and religion, an overview of feminist/womanist theory, epistemological issues, and feminist research methodologies. The course offer students the opportunity for cultural and cross-cultural study of the effect of representations and the various ways assumptions about gender, race, class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation impact identities and shape perceptions, thinking, and actions in everyday life.

  • WS/HY309 Women in American History (3)

    A social historical introduction to history from a feminist perspective focusing on women’s lived experience in the United States from the colonial era to the present. Topics include American Colonial women, Native American women, the impact of slavery on all American women, nineteenth and twentieth century social movements (Suffrage, Temperance, Social Reform, Women’s Liberation, Equal Rights Amendment, etc.) and women’s legal issues. This course is not accepted for the General Education Humanities requirement.

  • WS325/PS325 Feminist Theory and Activism (3)

    Feminist Theory and Activism is designed to explore different ways of thinking about sex/gender, power, and justice, and examines how different theories of gender, power and justice shape political activism. By comparing a variety of theoretical perspectives (such as liberal, Marxist and radical feminism), we look at different possibilities for analyzing core feminist concepts and the practical implications of theory.

  • 12 elective credit hours

    Take an additional 12 credit hours from the list of elective courses from the Women's Studies department found on the courses page.

Women's Studies