Course Description and Objectives

This course introduces you to representative works by and about women from historical, social, and literary perspectives as it seeks to inform you about gendered identities. You will learn how gender roles develop and change and how women's views of themselves are reflected in their writing. You will read different literary forms, and you should become able to identify motifs, themes, and stereotypical patterns in that literature. Additionally, you will learn historical, philosophical, religious, and cultural information to help increase your understanding and appreciation of the works. By the end of the course, you should be able to demonstrate knowledge of the texts, the authors and literary and social movements that produced them, and the elements of those texts, such as symbols, themes, and points of view.

Berthe Morisot's La Lecture, 1869-1870

Specifically, by the end of the course students should demonstrate the ability to:

Objective 1: Examine the development of gender norms, identities, and roles as they are shaped by historical, political, and social factors, such as the representation of women in writings, whether philosophical, literary, etc.
Objective 2: Analyze various literary works by and about women for what they say about gender.
Objective 3: Understand the influence that theories about and definitions of gender have on writers’ beliefs about gender and about themselves.
Objective 4: Express the way society and literature impact one’s gender development, and vice versa.
Objective 5: Consider their own lives, as either males or females, and their own writing, as the product of either males or females, in light of these perspectives, and be empowered to think critically on topics such as cultural and political values and norms.

If you are interested in taking this course or if you have any questions about it that this website has not answered, please e-mail me at Kimberly_Radek@ivcc.edu .