Spring 2026

The following courses are approved courses for SP26 for those pursuing a graduate certificate in Social Theory (listed alphabetically):

A-H 526/626: Art/Artist in Society (3 credits)
Instructor: Peter Wang
Day & Time: Thursdays 12:30-3pm (SAVS106)
Course Description: Borrowing from the framework of "curatorial activism," this course examines issues of race and representation in art and art history with an emphasis on works by  BIPOC artists in the United States.  (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) In addition to a closer look at how race is visualized and  represented in art, the course revisits major exhibitions and critical issues in curatorial practice. How  does art both shape and reflect on race in the United States? How do power and privilege affect the way  we express ourselves? How might art help us build more just, equitable societies? The course invites  students to explore and reconsider the role of art and the artist in society. 
 

ENG 653: Studies in American Literature Since 1900 (3 credits)
Instructor: Jeff Clymer
Day & Time: Thursdays 2:00-4:30pm (POT 1245)
Course Description: In this graduate seminar, we will study significant post-2000 American novels within the historical and theoretical paradigm known as “Critical Finance Studies.” Also sometimes called the “New History of Capitalism,” current scholarship at the nexus of literature and economics explores the roles that credit, debt, and risk have played in American literary and social history. This course will serve as an introduction to both important fiction and the scholarly paradigms that have emerged within this subfield to analyze the culture and literature of “financialization.” No advanced understanding of finance or economics is required – only an interest in how literary authors represent the social effects of money’s circulation in the United States. Reading list will include works such as Jonathan Dee, The Privileges; Don DeLillo, Cosmopolis; Lionel Shriver, The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-47; Emily St. John Mandel, The Glass Hotel; Adam Haslett, Union Atlantic, and Hernan Diaz, Trust, as well as theorists and historians of modern capitalism such as Fredric Jameson, Greta Krippner, Annie McClanahan, Randy Martin, Jacob S. Hacker, Dave Graeber, Max Haiven, Hyman Minsky, and David Harvey.

GWS 600: Queer Theory and Critique (3 credits)
Instructor: Ellen Riggle
Day & Time: Wednesdays 3:30-6pm (Kastle 210)
Course Description: “Queer” is a versatile word that may be used as a noun, verb, adverb, or adjective; the word may denote something as different, extraordinary, or unconventional. “Theory” is a “system of ideas intended to explain something,” and is how people try to understand the world around them. “Critique” is the art of evaluation or assessment of ideas.  Applied within gender and women’s studies, “queer theory” becomes a framework for critiquing existing explanations, and building new narratives that go beyond the ordinary. In this course, we will begin by reading The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer; engage in reflexivity exercises; and learn forms of expression to support the art of breaking down assumptions and hegemonies, while creating new narratives and pictures to inform our discourse and how these can (re)visualize and (re)shape our world. We will read some classic qt works and expand the scope through a student centered approach; students will be expected to engage with and help build out the syllabus based on their fields of study and expertise.

GWS 630: Feminist Research Methods (3 credits)
Instructor: Jenn Hunt
Day & Time: Tuesdays & Thursdays 2-3:15 pm (King Library 213E)
Course Description: Because Gender and Women’s Studies is an interdisciplinary field, feminist scholars employ a wide range of methodologies in their research. In this seminar, we will discuss what constitutes feminist research and examine the research process, from generating research questions through writing and dissemination. We will begin the course by discussing epistemological and ethical questions related to feminist inquiry. We then will consider a range of methodologies, including participant observation, ethnography, interviewing and oral history, survey methods, archival analysis, and decolonial and participatory action research. Approximately one-third of class sessions will be workshops focused on developing skills, including writing good questions, coding qualitative data, engaging in field work, and writing for publication. Throughout the semester, students will examine the use of various methods in existing feminist scholarship and engage in hands-on research projects to gain experience with different methodologies.

GWS 700: Hitchcock's Women (3 credits)
Instructor: Carol Mason
Day & Time: Tuesdays 3-5:30 pm (Breckinridge 107)
Course Description: Film director Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) is known as “the master of suspense” and “the original cinema influencer.” His movies have indelibly shaped world cinema and how we view women. This class presents a sliver of scholarship generated by his oeuvre with an aim to analyze how women are represented. For newcomers to Hitchcock, film studies, and American culture, we begin with a recent journalistic account, Hitchcock’s Blondes by Laurence Leamer. This first book familiarizes students with the popular representation of Hitchcock films (and why we study popular culture) and the longstanding perception that he had a “dark obsession” with his leading ladies. We will then read Tania Modleski’s The Women Who Knew Too Much: Hitchcock and Feminist Theory (third edition), which delves into scholarly readings of particular films. Our third major text is Robert Corber’s award-winning In the Name of National Security: Hitchcock, Homophobia, and the Political Construction of Gender in Post-War America, which uses film to analyze historical eras and ideas. This course is designed to meet the students where they’re at, whether they are advanced doctoral students of film studies or master’s students new to the academic pursuit of studying gender and women. 

SOC 751: Contemporary Sociological Theory (3 credits)
Instructor: Ana Liberato 
Day & Time: Tuesdays 5-7:30 pm (POT 107)
Course Description: A survey of major theoretical perspectives in modern sociology, focusing on twentieth century developments in European and American sociological theory. The principal contributions of selected theorists are considered and their role in the establishment of contemporary sociology is assessed.

**This course is accepted as a substitute for ST 500**