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S1508 Gender Studies (Cultures of the World core)

Levenson Deborah

Transfigurations:  Feminisms, Latin America and the West

 

This course is an introduction to the study of gender. Looking at contrasting cases and sources from Latin America, the United States, Europe and elsewhere, Transfigurations situates gender as a social and historical construction that has established norms and roles that have been challenged and transgressed by different forms of feminism. It locates feminism as a global concept that has shifting, rather than ultimate, meanings. Its global roots are deep and sustaining.
Covering much time and space, the main thread of this course is the transformation of women who critically reflect on their place in society, and endeavor to change their roles, possibilities and representations. We explore the universality and the specificity of women’s experiences in different milieus and times that, in terms of women, have surprising commonalities. Whether a non-conformist nun in 17th century colonial Mexico City or in Venice, 19th and 20th century women’s rights advocates worldwide, intellectual women searching for space in modernist artistic circles, or political activists, these women broke the boundaries of traditional gender roles and formulated variations of feminist understandings, practices and visions. The impact of the struggle for women’s rights is apparent in work of international organizations such as the United Nations.