One is not born a woman, but rather becomes one."

Gender Studies is a dynamic interdisciplinary field of academic study and research. Drawing on continuing scholarly developments in the Natural and Social Sciences and in the Humanities, Gender Studies invites us to consider and to question the assumptions and values that shape our individual self-image and our interactions with others in society. Some students approach Gender Studies from the angle of Environmental Studies, others with the cross-cultural concerns of anthropology, or with an interest in how gender inflects the field of ethics; what joins them in conversation is a will to examine how human understandings of gender and sexual identity have changed over time and how they continue to shape our experience of the world. Broadly defined at New College, Gender Studies encompasses work that could also be called women’s studies, masculinity studies, lesbian and gay studies, queer studies, or feminist studies; it also intersects with the issues raised in the various fields of ethnic studies.

Here at New College, students combine their work in Gender Studies with work in another established discipline, completing what we call a "joint disciplinary" Area of Concentration. Students thus enhance their interdisciplinary work in Gender Studies with a solid grounding in a complementary discipline (such as biology, literature, or sociology). In addition to the requirements listed below, students are encouraged to take foundational courses in several different disciplines, so that they can build on that grounding as they develop their own Gender Studies curriculum in consultation with their sponsors. Much Gender Studies course work takes the form of group Tutorials or Independent Research Projects. Internships and activist and service-learning opportunities are strongly encouraged. Students interested in considering a Gender Studies Area of Concentration should download the “Gender Studies Worksheet” early in their academic career and use it to track their progress toward fulfilling the requirements in consultation with an affiliated faculty member. 

The Joint-Disciplinary AOC in Gender Studies complies with the New College Academic Learning Compact, which ensures that graduates have demonstrated the requisite oral and written communication skills, appropriate content knowledge, and creative and critical thinking skills for the Bachelor of Arts degree. These skills are assessed in each academic and service-learning component. The senior thesis project and the baccalaureate examination are the final capstone requirement, demonstrating the student’s achievement of the required skills and abilities for the Gender Studies portion of the AOC.

Course of study:

To fulfill the following requirements, students may combine gender-oriented courses offered in established disciplines with Tutorials, Independent Research Projects, and Independent Study Projects. In addition to selecting courses from among those cross-listed under Gender Studies in the Course Schedule, students may also arrange with faculty at the start of term to focus on gender issues in the papers and assignments for other appropriate courses, which may then count towards a Gender Studies concentration.

Students are strongly encouraged to seek out appropriate internships, activist projects, or service-learning opportunities during the semester, the January Independent Study Period, or the summer. Faculty and Career Services can help students find local or national placements. Students may also want to consider participating in one of the intensive off-campus semesters offered by various universities around the country, which combine Gender Studies-related internships with research opportunities in cities such as Washington, D.C. or Atlanta. We encourage students to pursue Gender Studies in an international context by studying a foreign language and/or by undertaking a semester of study abroad.

In what follows, a "course" is defined as an activity or pair of activities equivalent to a full term of work (i.e., a semester-long course or Tutorial, IRP, or an ISP). Students need to complete at least:

• two courses each in the Humanities and in the Social Sciences with papers or projects focused on gender;
• one course in the Natural Sciences with papers or projects focused on gender;
• a course or tutorial on gender or feminist theory;
• a senior project/thesis that raises gender-related issues but which may be sponsored by any member of the faculty (not only those listed above). The senior thesis will usually have a strong Gender Studies focus, and is often inter or cross-disciplinary in nature.
• At least one of the projects must be cross-cultural or deal with gender as it intersects with race, ethnicity, and/or social class.

It is recommended that students complete:

One broadly interdisciplinary project. Although a specifically interdisciplinary course may not be offered regularly, an interdisciplinary undertaking could productively combine coursework in one field with course, tutorial, or Independent Study work on a related topic in another disciplinary field. For instance, coursework in Psychology on parenting practices and attitudes could be effectively combined with a tutorial in Philosophy on embodiment and maternity, OR in Literature on representations of motherhood and alternative families, OR in Biology on women’s health issues.

A Methods course is highly recommended for serious students of Gender Studies, ideally surveying both qualitative and quantitative methods. Regularly offered courses in the Social and Natural Sciences in methods may, at the discretion of the instructor, fulfill this recommendation.

When undertaking courses or projects not cross-listed under Gender Studies, students should be sure to ask faculty to indicate on their term evaluation that their work fulfills Gender Studies requirements. They may then list the course on their Gender Studies Worksheet.

Recent course offerings have included:

• In Humanities: Music, Gender and Culture; An-Other Story: the Art of Women through the Ages; Anglo-American Feminist Theory: Problems in Conceiving  Women, Feminist Ethics, Women and Religion
• In the Natural Sciences: Women and Science; Gender Development in Science Fiction; Current Issues in Genetics, Role of Women in Natural History.
• In Social Sciences: Social Movements; The Colonial Encounter; Race and Ethnicity in Global Perspective.
• Interdivisional: Women in the United States of America: Our Voices and Experiences, Gender Studies Across the Disciplines: Tutorial; Challenges for African Women: Tutorial

Sample senior thesis titles:

• Gender Bias in Physiological Stress Research (Biology/Gender Studies)
• Inanimate Abjections: Configuring Identity in the Work of Hans Bellmer, Cindy Sherman, and Mike Kelley (Art History/Gender Studies)
• The Healing Power of Narrative: The 1937 Haitian Massacre and Two Literary Representations (Literature/Gender Studies)
• Gazing the Streets: A Visual Arts Installation Project (Visual Arts/Gender Studies)
• Jewish Women’s Lives in the Interwar Polish Shtetl (Special Area of Concentration)
• Existence in the Inquiry: The Dynamism of Feminist Existentialism(Religion/Gender Studies)
• Strange Fruits: An Academic Journal on Issues of Gender and Race (Special Area of Concentration)
• Queening/Queering: Gender in Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene and the Practice of Queer Criticism (Literature/Gender Studies)
• Dancing with Desire: Theorizing the Possibility of Feminist Dance (Sociology/Gender Studies)
• You Don’t Have to Be Straight to Shoot Straight: Military Formations and the Impossibility of Masculinity (Special Area of Concentration)