Gender and Development Related Courses at MSU

These courses contain 25% or more gender and development focus

‡ Signifies gender content varies with instructor - students need to contact department

Departments/Topics

Anthropology
Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies
English
Environmental Economics and Policy
Family and Child Ecology
Fisheries and Wildlife
Gender, Justice, and Environmental Change
History
Human Ecology
Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities
Integrative Studies in the Social Sciences
Internal Medicine
James Madison
Journalism
Nursing
Philosophy
Political Science
Sociology
Teacher Education
Program in Women, Gender, and Social Justice
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ANP 220: Gender Relations in Comparative Perspective
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Anthropology is unique among the social sciences in drawing attention to the ways in which gender roles and relations vary among cultures. Its cross-cultural perspectives offer new insights into our as well as other societies. In this course, case studies from Latin America, Africa, and the US are used to illustrate the cultural construction of masculinity and femininity. In these different contexts, we will examine how gender roles and relations are shaped by broad political, economic, and ideological forces, as well as how gender interacts with other systems of stratification and differentiation such as class, race, and ethnicity.

ANP 270: Women and Health: Anthropological and International Perspectives
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: This course examines cross-cultural perspectives on the health implications of differing life circumstances for women, women as health-care consumers and providers, and health in regard to women's lifestyles.

‡ ANP 280: The Anthropological Film
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Ethnographic film as a record of vanishing cultures, as a tool for ethnological analysis, and as a source of perspectives on different cultures and variability within cultures.

ANP 322: Peasants and Social Change in the Developing World
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Cross-cultural perspective on patterns and variations in peasant systems worldwide. Social mechanisms with which they respond to change.

‡ ANP 416: Anthropology of Southern Africa
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of odd years
Description: This course explores the structure and organization of major cultures, as well as transformations caused by global, national, and local forces.

ANP 431: Gender, Environment
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of odd years
Description: This course examines the relationship among processes of environmental change, development, and gender differentiation in contemporary anthropological and other social science literature. Readings and lectures explore both the environmental ramifications of existing gender, class, and ethnic hierarchies and the social, cultural, and gender-related implications of environmental change. Course content includes readings on Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the US. Both rural and urban environments are considered.

ANP 442: Genes and Diversity
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of odd years
Description: Controversies over the contributions of nature and nurture to biological diversity. Issues of gender differences and the race concept.

ANP 470: Food, Hunger and Society
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of even years
Description: This course deals with food systems cross-culturally and their relationship to economy and culture. Includes issues of gender, child malnutrition, nutritional assessment, and food policy.

ANP 831: Seminar in Cultural
Credits:3
Offered: Fall semesters of even years
Description: Anthropological theories for understanding culture as a system of mediation between humans and environment. Cultural ecological approaches applied to sociocultural change and stability.

ANP 832: Class and Ethnicity
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of odd years
Description: Anthropological theories on nature and sources of social differentiation and inequality within cultures and ethnic communities. Class and ethnic identity in cultural contexts.

‡ Medical Anthropology I: Overview
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Anthropological approaches to the study of sickness, disease, and healing. Medical anthropology as a subdiscipline.

‡ ANP 835: Medical Anthropology II: Theoretical and
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Seminar in the description and analysis of themes in medical anthropology.

ANP 836: Theories of Sociocultural Change
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters of odd years
Description: This class considers how anthropology developed in relationship to change in both the US and the colonial world. The concepts that anthopologists used to explain change in Southern Africa, India, and the US are explored. The last half of the course analyzes the anthropological ramifications of globalization, including HIV/AIDS.

ANP 839: Age and Gender
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of odd years
Description: This graduate seminar engages the geroanthropology gender debate by exploring the relationship between age and gender, similarities and differences between men and women at selected stages in the life course, and cross-cultural perspective, through the examination of global literature.

‡ Nutritional Anthropology
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters of odd years
Description: This course examines food, foodways, and nutrition in different cultural systems; production, storage, processing, and consumption; the social significance of eating, foods, and body image; and research methods.

ANP 867: Social Impact Analysis
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters of odd years
Description: Sociocultural consequences of development programs on populations, communities, and regions in developing and industrial societies. Theory, purposes, methods, outcomes, and uses of social impact analysis.

ANP 880: Contemporary Issues in Archaeology: Gender and Archaeology
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of odd years
Description: The course explores how a feminist inspired critique of archaeological practice has increased awareness of the biases of earlier work and contributed to a critical understanding of how knowledge about the past is generated.

For more information, contact the Department of Anthropology at 353-2950

RD 491: Special Topics in Resource Development
Credits: Variable from 1 to 4
Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters
Description: Selected issues in resource development derived from current resource policy changes, or other emerging topics of interest.

RD 876: International Rural Community Development
Credits:3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: This seminar is for graduate students concerned with rural community development as practiced through such activities as agricultural extension and research, production credit for rural women, watershed management projects, community forestry, farming systems research-extension, integrated rural development, pond aquaculture, farmer cooperatives, irrigation schemes, food security programs, etc. Analyses utilize comparative interdisciplinary systems approaches to sustainable, gender-sensitive policies, strategies, programs, and projects currently found in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America. It is designed for students who have had or seek practical

For more information, contact the Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies at 353-5190

‡ ENG 153: Introduction to Women Authors
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters
Description: Writings by women from various racial, socio-economic, and historical backgrounds. Women's choices of subject matter and style. Women's redefinition of literary genres.

ENG 360: Postcolonial Literature
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Theories and literatures involving colonialism, decolonization, neocolonialism, cultural and political independence. Texts drawn principally from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and various diaspora communities.

‡ ENG 431B: Third World Cinema
Credits: 4
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Films of the Third World, including major directors and trends from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

‡ ENG 463: Studies in the Literature of Africa and the African Diaspora
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Writers, genres, regions, or themes in African and diasporic literatures.

ENG 482: Theory and Practice of Feminist
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Feminist literary critical theory and its implications for reading and studying literature.

For more information, contact the Department of English at 355-7570

EEP 260: World Food, Population and Poverty
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Description, analysis, and alternative solutions to food, population, and poverty problems, including the role of new technology, institutional change, government policy, trade, and foreign aid. The course explores current concepts and issues related to world food, population, and poverty and their relationship. The concepts presented are intended to provide students with an analytical framework for critically assessing these issues.

For more information, contact the Department of Agricultural Economics at 355-4563

FCE 842: African American Families
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Historical and contemporary approaches to the study of African and African American families. Major theoretical frameworks.

For more information, contact the Department of Family and Child Ecology at 355-7680

FW 211: Introduction
Interdepartmental with the Program in Women, Gender, and Social Justice
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: This course explores the concept of gender with an overview of environment and habitat, historical gender roles in environmental management, gender-based theoretical perspectives, case studies on developing and developed countries, and environmental management with emphasis on fisheries, wildlife, wetlands, and women environmental professionals.

FW 811: Fisheries and Wildlife Laws and Regulation
Credits:3
Offered:Fall semesters of odd years
Description: Legal and regulatory systems related to fisheries and wildlife management. State, federal, and international laws, policies, and agencies. Nongovernmental organizations. Conservation of biodiversity

For more information, contact the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at 355-4478

FW 858: Gender, Justice and Environmental Change: Issues and Concepts
Interdepartmental with Anthropology; Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies; Forestry; Geography; Sociology
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters of odd years
Description: Issues and concepts related to gender, ecology, and environmental studies. Key debates and theoretical approaches to addressing environmental issues from a gender and social justice perspective. Gender and environment issues and processes from a global perspective.

ANP 859: Gender, Justice and Environmental Change: Methods and Applications
Interdepartmental with Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies; Fisheries and Wildlife; Forestry, Geography; Sociology
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters of even years
Description: Methods and case studies related to gender, ecology, and environmental studies. Methodological and fieldwork issues from a feminist perspective and in international/intercultural contexts. Qualitative and quantitative methods for integrating social and environmental data.

For more information, contact the Gender, Justice and Environmental Change office at 353-5040

HST 412: Women in Modern European History
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Women in European society, economy, and politics since 1750, emphasizing the lives of ordinary women and the impact of industrial capitalism and the nation-state.

HST 413: Families in Historical
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Family forms and socio-economic change in Europe and the US. Gender, childhood, courtship, sexual relations, marriage, divorce, childbearing, and old age in peasant, industrial, and postindustrial society. War, welfare state, and the family. The marginalized: vagrants, foundlings, immigrants, and single mothers.

‡ Seminar in African History
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Issues in African social, political, cultural, and environmental history.

‡ Seminar in African History
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Political, social, and economic history of Africa. Major interpretations and research methods. Periods and topics vary.

‡ Seminar in Comparative History
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Comparative themes or problems from different cultures and countries. Major interpretations and research methods.

‡ Seminar in Women's History
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Political, social, and economic history of women. Major interpretations and research findings. Topics vary.

‡ Seminar in Comparative Black History
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Methods and concepts that inform comparative history. The slave trade as a definitive link between Africa and the two Americas and the Caribbean, creating the black diaspora. Rise and fall of the slave trade and of disparate slave systems. Periods and topics vary.

For more information, contact the Department of History at 355-7500

HEC 491A: Family Systems: An Ecological International Study
Credits: 2
Description: Study-travel experience emphasizing contemporary issues affecting families in a global, national, and local context. Application of human ecological perspectives in an analysis of a specific country or setting in Asia.

For more information, contact the College of Human Ecology at 355-7714

‡ IAH 211A: Area Studies and Multicultural Civilizations: Africa
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Arts and humanities of Africa: literature, visual arts, music, religion, and philosophy presented in historical context. Selected regions, cultures, and themes. Variable by term.

‡ IAH 211B: Area Studies and Multicultural Civilizations: Asia
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Arts and humanities of Asia: literature, visual arts, music, religion, and philosophy presented in historical context. Selected regions, cultures, and themes. Variable by term.

‡ IAH 211C: Area Studies and Multicultural Civilizations: The Americas
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Arts and humanities of the Americas: literature, visual arts, music, religion, and philosophy presented in historical context. Selected regions, cultures, and themes. Variable by term.

‡ IAH 211D: Area Studies and Multicultural Civilizations: The Middle
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Arts and humanities of the Middle East: literature, visual arts, music, religion, and philosophy presented in historical context. Selected regions, cultures, and themes. Variable by term.

For more information, contact the Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities at 353-3560

ISS 330A: Africa: Social Science Perspectives
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters
Description: Comparative study of geography, cultures, politics, and economies of Africa. Diversity and change.

For more information, contact the College of Social Science at 355-6675

IM 618: Clinical Tropical Medicine
Credits: 2
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: An introductory course to the practice of medicine in tropical settings. Specific diseases such as malaria and schistosomiasis are covered, as well as disease syndromes (fever, diarrhea, anemia, AIDS).

IM 621: Clinical Tropical Medicine Clerkship
Credits: 6-12
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: The International Health Elective Clerkship provides an introduction for medical students to the practice of medicine in a resource poor setting. The base hospital is Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, one of two hospitals serving Malawi, which receives patients from all of the southern region of the country.

For more information, contact the Department of Internal Medicine at 353-3211

‡ MC 320: Politics, Society and Economy in the Third World
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Politics of social and economic change. Policies and strategies of development and of state and nation building in Third World countries. Impact of international political, security, and economic structures on the process of state and nation building in the Third World.

MC 386: Women and Power in Comparative
Credits:4
Offered:Fall semesters
Description: This multidisciplinary and cross-cultural course explores the interplay between sex/gender systems and the distribution and exercise of power in contemporary societies. The course will examine traditional social science perspectives on power and the ways in which feminist theory and research have challenged these perspectives and developed new understandings of the nature, dimensions, and exercise of power. It will look specifically at theories of the relation between power in 'private' domains (households, sexuality, marriage, and family) and 'public' domains (political, economic, and religious institutions). It will also examine the relationship between constructions of gender and power in 'cultural' texts and arenas. It will then assess these theories and relationships through a comparative examination of women and power in specific societal contexts, especially in the US, Ireland, and/or South Africa.

‡ MC 492: Senior Seminar in International Relations
Credits: 5
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Major issues and theories of international relations. Current topics include: "Transnational Corporations and World Politics" and "The Global Environment."

For more information, contact James Madison College at 353-6757

JRN 460: Women and the News Media
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: Seminar covering the roles, contributions, and problems faced by women in journalism. Historical overview. Coverage of women by news media.

For more information, contact the School of Journalism at 353-6430

‡ NUR 413: Issues in Professional Nursing
Credits: 2
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Past, current, and future impact of selected legal, economic, educational, social, political, ethical, and professional forces on health care and nursing practice at local, national, and international levels.

‡ NUR 491: Special Topics
Credits: Variable from 2 to 4
Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters
Description: Explorations of selected issues in nursing.

For more information, contact the College of Nursing at 355-6523

PHL 356: Philosophical Aspects of Feminism
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Conceptual and normative issues in feminist theory. Topics such as sexism, oppression, coercion, control, power, equality, person-hood, respect and self-respect, rape, separatism, community, intimacy, and autonomy.

PHL 850: Seminar in Political Philosophy: Feminism, Equality and Impartiality
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters of even years
Description: The course offers an examination of feminist and philosophical debate over the normative ideals of equality and impartiality. Readings include work by liberal equality theorists, such as Ronald Dworkin and John Rawls, as well as material drawn from a variety of feminists.

For more information, contact the Department of Philosophy at 355-4490

PLS 364: International Organization and Cooperation
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: History and evolution, League of Nations, United Nations. Growth and role of regional specialized and non-governmental organizations. Impact of new states. Politics, functions, and problems.

‡ PLS 392: Special Topics in Political Science
Credits: 4
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters
Description: Issues and problems in contemporary political science. Offerings include: Gender and Global Politics; Women and Politics - An International Perspective.

PLS 461: Refugees, Displaced Persons, Exiles
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Political refugees caused by nationalism, social change, persecution, war, and tyranny. Definition, analysis, history, causes, and consequences. Political, legal, sociological, psychological, economic, and historical problems. International aid.

For more information, contact the Department of Political Science at 355-6590

SOC 161: International Development and Change
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Global issues of development and change. Population growth, poverty, structural inequalities, environmental degradation, social conflicts, social movements. Alternative development strategies and future perspectives.

SOC 216: Sex and Gender
Credits:3
Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters
Description: This course will explore the realities of inequality in the US and elsewhere by focusing on intersecting categories of meaning such as gender, race, class, and sexuality. It will (1) examine explanations for inequality in a variety of settings and social institutions and (2) consider how people attempt to survive, struggle with, resist, and change oppressive conditions in their lives. The course will be concerned with one central question: How is inequality in its various forms produced, reproduced, and experienced by women and men of different classes, races, and sexualities? In addition to seeking answers to this question, the course will make a continuous effort to relate theoretical issues to personal experience. For example, when the economy is discussed, students will be encouraged to think about the way gender, in interaction with race, class, and sexuality, infuses jobs they have or have had. The goal will be to sharpen insight into structures and experiences which are often taken for granted, thereby increasing students' ability to make choices now and in the future.

SOC 362: Developing Societies
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Dynamics of agricultural and industrial transformations in developing nations. Structural problems, behavioral and institutional changes at local and societal levels. Socioeconomic interdependencies in the world system.

SOC 452/452L: Environment and Society
Credits: 3/1
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: The course explores how different societies relate to the biophysical environment; resources, pollution, energy, and risks. Problems of growth and limits to growth as they differentially affect people of different gender, race, ethnicity, age, and location are discussed. Gendered and racialized differences in environmental attitudes, actions, movements, and regulation are discussed.

SOC 833: Gender and Power
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters of even years
Description: Theory and research on gender and sexual inequality in socially-based systems of production and reproduction. Global and national gender inequalities in selected institutional settings.

SOC 839: Structural Inequalities and Families
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of odd years
Description: Macrostructural forces and family life. Role of class, race, and gender.

SOC 850: Population, Food and Rural Development
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: The course looks at the interactions among economic development, mortality decline, fertility decline, and international migration. The approach is historical and global. Special attention is paid to differences by gender in longevity and in motivations for childbearing. The effects of malnutrition on fecundity are discussed.

SOC 864: Social Ecology
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of even years
Description: Interaction of technology, environment, social organization, population, and culture in processes of social evolution. Role of organization and structure in determining sustainability of both developing and industrialized societies. Co-evolution of significant components of society and biophysical environment.

‡ Topics in Structural Inequality
Credits:3
Offered: Fall semesters
Description: This graduate course focuses on current research on socioeconomic class, gender inequality, racial and ethnic inequality, power structures, social conflict, urban dynamics, and social change. One topic offered is Gender/Development/Globalization, which discusses women and post-colonial regimes of production and reproduction. Through readings and discussions, the course explores how capital, culture, and politics are linked to women's lives and communities and to their organization. The goal throughout the course is to interrogate the way historical transformations are implicated in unequal relations among and between people and nations and to interrogate the possibility of feminist and international politics of solidarity.

‡ Topics in Well-Being and Health
Credits:3
Offered:Fall semesters
Description: This course focuses on topics such as family work and stress, risk and uncertainty, social epidemiology, and life course. For instance, the section entitled Political Economy of Women's Health addresses the social determinants of women's health and well-being. Through readings and discussions, students explore how interlocking political, economic, and medical systems are linked to women's bodies (the site where sickness and health are played out) and to women's experience of their corporeality. The goal throughout the course is to interrogate the way power is implicated in women's well-being and how health and sickness

For more information, contact the Department of Sociology at 355-6640

TE 250: Human Diversity, Power, and Opportunity in Social Institutions
Credits: 3
Offered: Summer semesters
Description: Comparative study of schools and other social institutions. Social construction and maintenance of diversity and inequality. Political, social, and economic consequences for individuals and groups.

TE 311: Growing Up and Coming of Age in Three Societies
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall semesters of odd years
Description: Diverse disciplinary and cultural perspectives of childhood and youth. Continuity and change in families and schools. Factors such as ethnicity, race, gender, and political philosophies. Focus on at least three contrasting societies (one of which is located in the developing world--usually China).

For more information, contact the Department of Teacher Education at 355-9628

WS 401: Feminist Theory
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Integrative and multidisciplinary approaches to theory in women's studies. Conceptualization of sex and gender and the subordination of women. Feminist critique of theories of knowledge. Comparison of evolving feminist theories.

WS 403: Women and Change in Developing Countries
Credits: 3
Offered: Spring semesters
Description: Drawing on insights from women's studies and development studies, this course examines the problems and prospects facing women in an increasingly complex and interrelated world. Through readings and discussions, students will explore the meaning and practice of "feminism" as it is defined in the North and South, examine the material and ideological realities of women's lives both at home and abroad, and analyze the relations among identity, agency, and diversity. The goal throughout the course will be to identify the various systems of oppression that crosscut gender, to highlight differences among women, and to interrogate the possibility of building feminist struggles across difference.

WS 404: Women and the Law in the United States
Credits: 3
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters of odd years
Description: Law in the United States as a vehicle for structuring and maintaining women's social roles and for social change.

For more information, contact the Program in Women, Gender, and Social Justice at 355-4495

Women and International Development Program
209 International Center
East Lansing, MI 48824-1035
Tel: 517.353.5040
Fax: 517.432.4845
Email: wid@msu.edu