BA in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
BA in WGSS Page
Effective August 17, 2023
The Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at San Jose State is committed to intersectional and interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching based on feminist frameworks. WGSS curriculum investigates how gender and gender identity, race, class, sexuality, and nation shape lives. The program emphasizes the importance of an intersectional understanding of gender as integral to social and political structures of power. Students will obtain skills to cultivate critical thinking, engage in dialogue, coalition building, appreciation of diversity, and contribution to social change based on feminist frameworks. The goal of the WGSS program includes integrating the academic and experiential, thereby contributing to social change and justice.
Program Coordinator: Professor Tanya Bakhru
WGSS Faculty
Tanya Bakhru, Professor
Susana L. Gallardo, Assistant Professor
Angela Castillo, Senior Lecturer
Bianca Hernandez, Lecturer
Program Learning Outcomes
Upon graduation, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies students are expected to be able to:
- Identify and analyze the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, class, and nation social and institutional contexts.
- Identify and describe major theories and political movements central to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, placing contemporary developments in cultural, historical, environmental, and embodied contexts.
- Describe the global span of feminist movements and the connection among gender and sexual minorities around the world.
- Demonstrate critical thinking and research skills through written, oral and creative means.
The Major
All Students should regularly consult the WGSS major advisor. WGSS advisors have drop-in advising hours; for a schedule of advising hours, see Advising.
Requirements of the Major (39 units)
To see a list of courses for the major concentration, and course descriptions, please see the current SJSU catalog.
Notes
See the SJSU Catalog for complete degree information on the BA in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Requirements of the major are only part of the requirements for graduation, as briefly summarized here:
Requirement | Units |
---|---|
University Graduation Requirements |
44 units |
Major Requirements |
39 units |
University Electives |
37 units |
Total |
120 units |
A minor in another department is strongly recommended.
Some classes “double count” in GE or SJSU Studies as well as in the WGSS major. However, the units for the class only count once. Students should keep track of the cumulative number of units they have earned. Check your transcript on MYSJSU.
Carol Mukhopadhyay Feminist Lecture Series
The SJSU Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies program is home to the biannual Carol Mukhopadhyay Feminist Lecture Series endowed in 2014 by Emeritus SJSU Anthropology Professor Carol Mukhopadhyay. Each year, these lectures bring to campus a prominent or emerging feminist scholar doing cross-cultural or transnational work with a feminist anthropological lens.
Recent lectures have featured:
When | Speaker | Description |
---|---|---|
Spring 2023 |
Dr. Anila Daulatzai and Dr. Najwa Mayer |
"The Possibilities and Limits of Transnational Feminist Critique in the Context of Afghanistan" |
Spring 2022 |
Irene Berrones-Kolb |
"Feminist Creativities: A chat with local artist Irene Berrones-Kolb" |
Spring 2021 |
Maribel Martinez |
"A chat with Maribel Martinez" |
Fall 2019 |
Dr. Maria Cotera, Osa Hidalgo de la Riva, Dr. Susana L. Gallardo, Dr. Maylei Blackwell, Anna Nieto Gomez, and Deanna Romero |
"Chicanas Movidas: New Narratives of Activism and Feminism in the Movement Era" |
Spring 2019 |
Dr. Elizabeth Sweet |
"She’s a Dream Come True…’: Gender and Representations of Femininity in 20th Century Doll Advertisements" |
Spring 2019 |
Dr. Theodorea Berry |
"Black America Women's Experiences in China and Germany: Examining Intersectionality and Multidimensionality in Alternate Home Spaces" |
Fall 2019 |
Antonia Grace Glenn |
"The Ito Sisters" Documentary Screening |
Spring 2018 |
Karen Branan |
“Women and Lynching: Lessons for Today” |
Spring 2018 |
Dr. Gohar Shahnazaryan |
“Women’s Rights in Contemporary Armenian Society: Between Modernization and Traditions” |
Fall 2017 |
Judy Juanita |
“Female Foot Soldiers and DeFacto Feminists: The Unseen Skeletons of Social Movements” |
Spring 2017 |
Dr. Yvonne Y. Kwan |
“Queering Transgenerational Trauma: Depathologizing Pain and Navigating Narratives of Suffering” |
Spring 2017 |
Dr. Huma Ahmed-Gosh |
"Globalization and Muslim Women's Lives in Asia: Contesting Islamic Feminisms" |
Spring 2017 |
Dr. Mythri Jegathesan |
"Stately Discomforts: Labor, Reproductive Rights,and Sexuality Among Women Workers in Postwar Sri Lanka" |
Spring 2016 |
Dr. Amy Moff Hudec |
“Unsettled and Lost: The Consequences of Being Single in the Mormon - Church” |
Fall 2015 |
Dr. Pat Wasielewski |
"Emotional Geography of Living Abroad" |
Spring 2015 |
Dr. Samantha Gottlieb |
"Marketing the HPV Vaccine and Women's Health" |
Spring 2015 |
Natalie Valdez |
"Food, Fat, Fetus, and the Future: An Ethnographic Examination of Two Clinical Trials" |
Spring 2014 |
Dr. Kathleen Coll |
"What the Domestic Workers' Rights Movements is Teaching US About Citizenship |