Course Listing

Health humanities explores how the arts and media illuminate aesthetic, ethical, political, and contextual elements of health in everyday life, including but going beyond clinical encounters. With context in mind, students learn how humanities epistemologies enrich understandings of concepts central to health, such as diagnosis, disease, discrimination, and disability. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits. Equivalent to UNIV 2002H.

How have feminists conceptualized social justice, especially as connected to struggles for social change? This course explores some of the key historical and contemporary feminist theories, inviting debate about the many different ways that feminists have explained and analyzed social inequalities, imagined alternatives, and strategized for social gender justice. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits including 0.5 GESO or WMST credit at the 1000 level, or permission of instructor. Equivalent to PHIL 2141H, WMST 2141H.

Cross-listed: PHIL-2141H

Uses a feminist lens to analyze a variety of contemporary social issues that may include sexual violence, migrant labour, transgender and queer politics, and environmental justice, as well as the new frontiers of transnational and digital feminist activism. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits including 0.5 GESO or WMST credit at the 1000 level, or permission of instructor. Equivalent to WMST 2151H.

Fat studies interrogates and interrupts fat as a historically dependent social and political construction. This course locates the origins of fat as moral and racial panic, critically examines anti-fatness as a social justice issue, and unpacks the systemic biases that have embedded these attitudes into our daily lives. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits.

What makes a man? Does masculinity have an inherent, fixed quality or does it change over time? This course examines the social construction of masculinity and traces how masculine identities, actions, and experiences circulate in, and are structured by, diverse economic and political contexts, social conventions, and cultural spaces. Prerequisite: GESO 1001H and 1002H.

An introduction to historical and contemporary popular and everyday culture, arts, and entertainment as mechanisms that produce and reinforce ideologies about gender, race, class, ability, sexuality, and citizenship. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits including 0.5 GESO, WMST, or CUST credit at the 1000 level, or permission of instructor. Equivalent to WMST 2210H.

Cross-listed: CUST-2210H, MDST-2210H

An analysis of the intersectional gender relations that shape political, socio-economic, and cultural issues and struggles for sustainable development across the globe. Introduces students to feminist political economy and ecology frameworks and pathways to gender justice and human rights. Prerequisite: 0.5 HURI, GDST, IDST, GESO, WMST, or POST credit at the 1000 level, or permission of instructor.

Cross-listed: GDST-2251H, HURI-2251H

Examines the role of popular culture in various forms--including live theatre, music, fashion, film, and television--within Canadian and American social movements of the twentieth century that sought to reimagine gender. Emphasizes the role of race, class, sexuality, ability, and medium in the production and consumption of protest cultures. Equivalent to WMST 2410H.

Cross-listed: MDST-2410H

Focuses on gender as a core aspect of social organization and inequality. Key concepts are gender, femininity, masculinity, sexuality, homosexuality, heterosexuality, and queer. Naturalist ideas and sociological analyses developed within feminism and lesbian and gay theories are studied. Prerequisite: 60% or higher in SOCI 1002H or 0.5 GESO credit. Not open to students with credit for SOCI-WMST 3430H.

Cross-listed: SOCI-2430H

Looks at how contemporary feminisms can urgently turn to recognition and foregrounding of Indigenous Peoples and their voices across territories. With emphasis on Indigenous women and 2SQ people as creative makers, vibrant thinkers, and vital members of our communities, we examine Indigenous/feminist acts of resistance, resilience and resurgence. Prerequisite: GESO 1001H (or WMST 1001H). Equivalent to WMST 2487H.

Cross-listed: INDG-2487H

Introduces students to the social and cultural presence, significance, and role of women in ancient Greece and Rome. Particular attention will be given to those few sources and evidence that offer a female perspective from these patriarchal societies, including literature, philosophical and medical treatises, law codes, and the visual arts. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits. Not open to students with credit for AHCL-WMST 2310H or 2320H. Equivalent to AHCL 2520H.

Cross-listed: AGRS-2520H

Documentary film, music, and poetry as modes of inquiry into contemporary Canadian life. Topics may include gender and the arts; community and memory; climate change and the "Anthropocene"; ecological ethics; the politics of indigeneity; cultural approaches to addiction and education; grief and emotional renewal. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits. Students may take only one of CAST-GESO-MDST 2600Y or 2601H for credit.

Cross-listed: CAST-2601H, MDST-2601H

Studies a range of works from different periods and genres that raise moral questions and ethical dilemmas concerning issues of social justice involving race, ethnicity, class, gender, age, and other variables. Considers literature's power to evoke the plight of the socially disadvantaged, and the implications for social change. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits.

Cross-listed: ENGL-2703H

An overview of the history of feminist ideas, strategies, and actions in Canada. We explore the diversity and distinctiveness of Canadian feminism at different historical moments, celebrating the strength and creativity of organized and individual forms of resistance, while also probing the complicated, difficult, and sometimes "messy" workings of feminism. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits including 0.5 GESO, WMST, CAST, or HIST credit at the 1000 level, or permission of instructor. Equivalent to WMST 2711H.

Cross-listed: HIST-2711H, CAST-2711H

How can research be used as a tool for social change? This course teaches students how to design anti-oppressive, decolonial, and feminist research in collaboration with community organizations. With attention to a range of current social issues, students learn about the theory, ethics, and design of engaged research. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits including GESO 2141H and 0.5 additional GESO or WMST credit at the 2000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor. Equivalent to WMST 3021H.

A study of philosophical concepts of gender, sex and sexuality, feminist critique, and developments in feminist philosophies. Prerequisite 7.0 university credits or permission of department chair.

Cross-listed: PHIL-3050H

Highlighting work by racialized and Indigenous women, this course explores contemporary themes within feminism about critical race theory, white supremacy, and anti-racist practice. Topics include intersections of racism with other systems of inequality, everyday and systemic racism, racial violence, whiteness and privilege, and feminist anti-racism responses. Prerequisite: 6.0 university credits including 1.0 GESO, SOCI, or WMST credit at the 2000 level, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for GESO-SOCI 4052H.

Cross-listed: SOCI-3052H

A critical analysis of contemporary activisms, drawing upon diverse racial justice, climate justice, Indigenous sovereignty, border justice, feminist, and/or queer/trans justice scholars and activists. With attention to critical race, decolonial, and feminist scholarship, students learn alongside local change-makers and may participate directly in diverse activisms and ways of organizing. Prerequisite: 6.0 university credits including 1.0 GESO or WMST credit at the 2000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for GESO 4122H. Equivalent to WMST 3122H.

Undertakes a socio-cultural analysis of how gender, race, and sexuality shape the construction, configuration, and meanings of sports and athleticism. Examines professional and amateur sports and athletics as they are played and represented within the gender binary and beyond, engaging with pertinent questions related to trans bodies, disability, aging, settler colonialism, etc. Prerequisite: 8.0 university credits.

Cross-listed: KINE-3134H

Examines feminist engagements, in theory and practice, with environmental movements, issues, and health concerns, primarily in North America but with attention to north/south interconnections. Topics may include ecological feminisms, environmental justice, gender and climate change, environmental links to breast cancer and reproductive health, green consumerism, and gendered food politics. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits including 0.5 GESO or WMST credit at the 2000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for WMST-CAST-ERST 3140Y. Equivalent to WMST 3141H.

Cross-listed: CAST-3141H, ERST-3141H

Explores the ways trans and gender diverse bodies intersect with questions of queerness, feminism, nationalism, colonialism, citizenship, criminalization, race, and capital. What strategies of representation and resistance do trans communities engage in as part of their work of imagining and enacting freedom? Prerequisite: 1.0 GESO or WMST credit at the 2000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for GESO 4150H. Equivalent to WMST 3150H.

How does sexual and gendered difference map on to cultural, racial, and national difference? This course considers how marginalized, transnational, and diverse forms of sexuality and/or gender expression shape, and are shaped by, discourses of (homo)nationalism and sexual citizenship, histories of race and racialization, indigenous contexts, neoliberalism, (im)migration and labour, sex work, and human rights. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits including 0.5 GESO or WMST credit, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for WMST 2161H.

Selected themes and topics examining the relationship between gender and spatial organization. Themes include the nature of domestic space; gendered use of public, private, and urban space; and the intersections between gender, sexuality, racism, and cultural difference. Prerequisite: GEOG-CAST-ERST 2710H or GEOG-CAST 2810H; or 1.0 GESO or WMST credit at the 2000 level or beyond; or permission of instructor.

Cross-listed: GEOG-3220H, CAST-3220H

Students explore bodies, desires, relations, and culture through queer and feminist theories. We consider connections among queer feminist scholarship, personal experience, political struggle, and artistic expression. Gender, sexuality, transgression, and intersectionality are central to the inquiry and conversation. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits including 0.5 GESO or WMST credit at the 2000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for GESO-CUST 4250H. Equivalent to WMST 3250H.

Cross-listed: CUST-3250H

Ancient Greeks and Romans explored concepts of love, sexual roles, and violence through writing that inspires scholars and artists to this day. This course draws upon works ranging from ancient drama and poetry to philosophy and epitaphs in order to explore both ancient attitudes and their critical reception. Prerequisite: 8.0 university credits. Equivalent to AHCL 3310H.

Cross-listed: AGRS-3310H

Introduces students to critical perspectives that push thinking about disability beyond medical and social models. Focuses on connections between gender and disability. Explores feminist challenges to ableism. Other topics include bodies, race, sexuality, education, creativity, access, eugenics, intersections, and austerity. Prerequisite: 6.0 university credits. Equivalent to WMST 3300H, 3400H.

Cross-listed: PHIL-3400H, SOCI-3400H

An intersectional feminist analysis of social welfare issues and policies in Canada. Focusing on topics including poverty, homelessness, childcare, and employment, we examine historical roots and contemporary contexts shaping the lives of women and marginalized groups bearing the brunt of the growing income gap and neoliberal threats to equality. Prerequisite: 6.0 university credits including 1.0 GESO or WMST credit at the 2000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for GESO-CAST-POST 4431H or 4430Y. Equivalent to WMST 3431H.

Cross-listed: CAST-3431H, POST-3431H

Explores sexuality as a complex issue in sociological analysis. Examines theoretical approaches to the body, gender, and sexuality, the construction of "normal" and "deviant" sexualities, and various forms of sexual regulation and resistance. Prerequisite: 5.0 university credits including at least 1.0 credit in SOCI and/or GESO at the 2000 level.

Cross-listed: SOCI-3440H

A critical look at gender-based violence as a political and legal construct. Topics may include missing and murdered Indigenous women, legalization debates regarding sexed work, hegemonic masculinities and violence. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits including 60% or higher in CRIM 2616H or GESO 2141H.

Cross-listed: CRIM-3625H, PLCW-3625H

Examines issues of diverse intersectional gender identities and gender experiences, including Indigeneity, (dis)ability, race, class, LBTQ, and fat, and provides socio-political perspectives to understand activism, community building, and possibilities for socio-political and policy change. Prerequisite: 7.0 university credits including 1.0 POST, CAST, GESO, and/or SOCI credit at the 2000 level, or permission of instructor. Recommended: POST-CAST 2011H and/or 2012H. Not open to students with credit for POST-CAST-WMST 3670Y.

Cross-listed: POST-3672H, CAST-3672H, SOCI-3672H

Studies how literary production is influenced by gender and sexuality, with selected works from different genres and literary periods in English. Areas of study may include the female literary tradition, discourses in masculinities, and queer and trans-gendered narratives, among others. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits. Students may take only one of ENGL-GESO 3700Y or 3701H for credit.

Cross-listed: ENGL-3701H

Examines literary and cultural representations of queerness through historical, theoretical, and aesthetic approaches. What does it mean for a text to be "queer"? How do sexual identities intersect with racial, ethnic, and religious ones? What can explorations of queerness as an identity category tell us about identity itself? Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits.

Cross-listed: ENGL-3704H

Studies selected girlhood bodies and narratives as they have developed within the contexts of Canadian and global literature and popular culture. Focusing on the negotiation of girlhood bodies and narratives through a variety of spaces and over diverse borders, this course considers relationships between Canadian and global girlhoods. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits including 1.0 ENGL credit or permission of the instructor.

Cross-listed: ENGL-3709H, CAST-3709H

Explores principles and practices of feminist psychology, theories of gender and sexual development, and the psychology of women. Focus is on feminist critiques of psychology and feminist contributions to psychology. Feminist relational, community, post-colonial, and narrative approaches are emphasized. Prerequisite: 6.0 university credits including 1.0 GESO, WMST, and/or PSYC credit at 2000 level or beyond. Not open to students with credit for GESO-PSYC 4796H. Equivalent to WMST 3796H.

Cross-listed: PSYC-3796H

Analyzes power relations and lived experiences through the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, and class. Students undertake the critical work of understanding the ongoing implications of these interlocking systems of privilege and oppression upholding inequalities and fueling resistance in Canadian and international contexts. Prerequisite: 6.0 university credits including 1.0 GESO, WMST, CAST, and/or SOCI credit at 2000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor. Equivalent to WMST 3860H.

Cross-listed: SOCI-3860H, CAST-3860H

Focuses on how globalization is transforming intersectional gender dynamics that underpin relationships between and within states, markets, civil society, and households. Introduces students to feminist perspectives on the global political economy, focusing on specific issues such as international trade agreements, labour, security, migration, health, environment, and human rights. Prerequisite: 1.0 HURI, GDST, IDST, GESO, WMST, POST, and/or SOCI credit at the 2000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for GESO-POST 4881H or WMST-POST 3880Y. Equivalent to IDST 3881H.

Cross-listed: GDST-3881H, POST-3881H, SOCI-3881H, HURI-3881H

Explores key issues, theories, and debates concerning gender, feminism, and the law, primarily in Canada. Approaching law as a site of regulation and constraint and drawing upon restorative justice pedagogies and decolonial methodologies, the course examines issues such as family, sexuality, violence, pornography, prostitution, poverty, employment, and immigration. Prerequisite: 1.0 GESO, WMST, CAST, CRIM, POST, and/or SOCI credit, or permission of instructor. Equivalent to WMST 3962H.

Cross-listed: CAST-3962H, POST-3962H, CRIM-3962H, SOCI-3962H

Examines how gender-based violence impacts individuals, communities, and societies, and applies an intersectional lens to consider differences in experiences, interventions, and acts of resistance. This course assesses responses to gender-based violence at the community, institutional, and policy levels, and critically reflects on strategies required to make change. Prerequisite: 6.0 university credits including GESO 1001H.

Cross-listed: CRIM-3965H

A criminological analysis of women in trouble from early to late modernity to the present moment, with specific analysis of the disciplining and incarceration of cisgender women and trans women. Focuses on the Canadian criminal justice system, with analysis of its racist, colonial, patriarchal, homophobic, ableist legacies. Prerequisite: 1.0 GESO, WMST, CAST, CRIM, and/or SOCI credit, or permission of instructor. Equivalent to WMST 3966H.

Cross-listed: CAST-3966H, SOCI-3966H, CRIM-3966H

Highlighting work by racialized and Indigenous women, this course explores contemporary themes within feminism about critical race theory, white supremacy, and anti-racist practice. Topics include intersections of racism with other systems of inequality, everyday and systemic racism, racial violence, whiteness and privilege, and feminist anti-racism responses. Prerequisite: 8.0 university credits including 1.0 GESO, SOCI, or WMST credit at the 3000 level, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for GESO-SOCI 3052H. Equivalent to GESO 4050H, WMST 4050H.

Cross-listed: SOCI-4052H

A critical analysis of contemporary activisms, drawing upon diverse racial justice, climate justice, Indigenous sovereignty, border justice, feminist, and/or queer/trans justice scholars and activists. With attention to critical race, decolonial, and feminist scholarship, students learn alongside local change-makers and may participate directly in diverse activisms and ways of organizing. Prerequisite: 6.0 university credits including 1.0 GESO or WMST credit at the 2000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for GESO 3122H. Equivalent to WMST 4122H.

Explores the ways trans and gender diverse bodies intersect with questions of queerness, feminism, nationalism, colonialism, citizenship, criminalization, race, and capital. What strategies of representation and resistance do trans communities engage in as part of their work of imagining and enacting freedom? Prerequisite: 1.0 GESO or WMST credit at the 2000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for GESO 3150H. Equivalent to WMST 4150H.

Explores historical representations of several Indigenous women in what is now North America. Particular attention is paid to the symbolic uses of these women and how their bodies been put into the service of settler histories. Prerequisite: INDG 2306H (or 2305Y). Not open to students with credit for INDG-HIST-WMST 4205Y.

Cross-listed: INDG-4206H

Drawing from the meta-paradigm concepts of nursing science--person, health, environment, and nursing--the focus of this course is women's health and women-centered health care delivery in the Canadian context. Androcentric science, sex/gender-based analysis, and topics such as methadone and mothering, smoking as social control, and HPV vaccination are discussed. Prerequisite: A pass in NURS 3020H and 3021H; 60% or higher in NURS 3000H, 3001H, 3004H, 3031H, and 3550H; and permission of the department. For non-Nursing students: GESO 2121H and permission of the School of Nursing.

Cross-listed: NURS-4208H

Students explore bodies, desires, relations, and culture through queer and feminist theories. We consider connections among queer feminist scholarship, personal experience, political struggle, and artistic expression. Gender, sexuality, transgression, and intersectionality are central to the inquiry and conversation. Prerequisite: 1.0 GESO or WMST credit at the 2000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for GESO-CUST 3250H. Equivalent to WMST 4250H.

Cross-listed: CUST-4250H

An intersectional feminist analysis of social welfare issues and policies in Canada. Focusing on topics including poverty, homelessness, childcare, and employment, we examine historical roots and contemporary contexts shaping the lives of women and marginalized groups bearing the brunt of the growing income gap and neoliberal threats to equality. Prerequisite: 6.0 university credits including 1.0 GESO or WMST credit at the 2000 level or beyond, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for GESO-CAST-POST 3431H or WMST-CAST-POST 4430Y. Equivalent to WMST 4431H.

Cross-listed: CAST-4431H, POST-4431H

Explores how difference--especially who is labelled "different"--changes according to social, political, and cultural factors and interests. Students focus on disability and its intersection with other identity-based categories, including gender, race, and sexuality. Readings come from Canadian literature and film, critical theory, social policy, and the mass media. Prerequisite: 14.0 university credits. Not open to students with credit for CAST-SOCI-WMST 4550Y.

Cross-listed: CAST-4551H, SOCI-4551H

Examines intersections of gender with "race," ethnicity, sexuality, and class. The implications of intersectional perspectives for how we understand gender equality strategies and outcomes are considered. Specific topics will be determined yearly and may be different in Peterborough and Durham. Prerequisite: 10.0 university credits, including one of SOCI-GESO 2430H or 3440H, and 2.0 credits at the 3000 level; or permission of instructor. Equivalent to SOCI-WMST 4610H.

Cross-listed: SOCI-4630H, GDST-4630H

Explores principles and practices of feminist psychology, theories of gender and sexual development, and the psychology of women. Focus is on feminist critiques of psychology and feminist contributions to psychology. Feminist relational, community, post-colonial, and narrative approaches are emphasized. Prerequisite: 2.0 GESO or WMST credits at the 2000 level or beyond; or 1.0 GESO or WMST credit and PSYC 2700H and one of PSYC 3730H, 3740H, 3300H, or 3760H. Not open to students with credit for GESO-PSYC 3796H. Equivalent to WMST 4796H.

Cross-listed: PSYC-4796H

The Trent Community Research Centre makes available to students research placements with community organizations. Projects are supervised jointly by a faculty member and representative of a community organization. Projects with sufficient gendered content might be eligible for credit in Gender & Social Justice. For details, see Community-Based Research Program. Prerequisite: 10.0 university credits and a minimum cumulative average of 75%. Equivalent to WMST 4820Y, 4821H.

A structured course arranged between student and instructor, and approved by the department chair, involving independent study of a topic that is not already covered by regular courses. Only offered when faculty resources permit. Students must complete a Course Registration Form, available from the department office, prior to registering. Equivalent to WMST 4900Y, 4901H, 4902H, 4903H.

Students focus on a key area of feminist scholarship through intensive seminar discussions that may include guest lectures from various feminist faculty members from the Social Sciences and Humanities. Students engage in a major independent research project and collaboratively organize a public or campus event. Prerequisite: Open to Honours Gender & Social Justice students with 12.0 university credits including GESO 3021H. Equivalent to WMST 4995Y.