Program Requirements and
Course Descriptions

(Beginning with students entering Hope College in Fall 2008)
Click here for old requirements

Major Requirements (32 Credit Hours)

• complete the following 4 core classes for 16 credits, and
• obtain the remaining 16 elective credits by choosing from a list of cross-listed courses with at least one course from each Block:

WS 160. Global Feminisms
This course now fulfills the general education [Social Science 1B - 4 credit] requirement. It seeks to investigate the broad spectrum of women’s movements that thrive across the developing world. Particular emphasis will be laid on globalization and development as well as women’s interaction with neo-liberal economics. Third World feminist and womanist theories will be examined. The students will also encounter the impact that culture plays on women in the developing world. (Cross-listed with POL 160).
Four Credits
Dandavati
Offered every semester

WS 200. Introduction to Women's Studies
Whereas historically women have been studied as outsiders or objects, this course will study women as subjects. Through readings and extensive discussion participants will explore and assess the underlying assumptions in scientific and pseudo-scientific, academic and popular theories about gender. We will explore the effects of sexism and prejudicial attitudes on women and men. We will assess the validity of biological, psychological, sociological, anthropological and biblical explanations for gender asymmetry (why men have historically had more privilege and power). Participants will be encouraged to examine their own lives and empowered to teach and learn from one another.
Four Credits
Dickie, Kipp, Young
Offered every semester

WS 350. Visions of Justice: Theory and Methodology
Doing something about an issue or problem requires an understanding, called theory, and a methodology to bring about change. Women’s Studies is based in women’s movements, in women’s lives and actions, and in feminist analysis around the globe. This course looks at feminist visions for justice and invites students to examine their own theories and methods of actions in light of current issues in women’s studies, including: globalization, anti-racist and anti-heterosexist critical theory, generational shifts in second and third wave feminisms, and other contemporary issues.
Four Credits
Dickie
Offered once a year

WS 494. Keystone Seminar
This course is a senior course in which students integrate feminist theory and practice into an individual project or internship or project and meet with other Women's Studies majors and minors to discuss the implications of their work for themselves and society. The course requirements can be satisfied in one of three ways: 1) doing a research project and writing a paper, 2) doing an activist project which seeks to transform some aspect of the community, 3) completing a community-based internship. This requirement can also be met in an off-campus program with prior approval.
Four Credits
Dickie, Kipp
Offered once a year

Minor Requirements (20 Credit Hours)

• complete 3 core classes for 12 credits
  • WS 200 - Introduction to Women's Studies
  • Choose two of the following three core classes
    • WS 160 - Global Feminisms
    • VWS 350 - Visions of Justice: Theory and Methodology
    • WS 494 - Keystone Seminar
• and obtain the remaining 8 elective credits by choosing from the following cross-listed courses with at least one course from each Block:

• ENG 373/WS 373. Literary Forms and Reformulations
  
  
• ENG 375/WS 375. Language, Literature, and
  Social/Cultural Difference
  
  
• ENG 480/WS 480. Introduction to Literary Criticism:
  Feminist Theories
  
  
• FREN 342/WS 395-03. French Society from the Revolution
  to the 21st Century
  
  
• FREN 443/WS 495-01. Early Modern French Literature
  and Culture
  
  
• HIST 200/WS 295-01A. Women in Early Modern Europe
  
  
• HIST 285/WS 285. Women in Antiquity
  
  
• HIST 352/WS 352. U.S. Women and Social Change
  
  
• HIST 357/WS 395-01. U.S. Intellectual History: Ideas of Race, Gender, and Class
  
  
• REL 260/WS 236. Introduction to Theology: Christian Feminism
  
  
• REL 349/WS 395. Women in American Religious History
  
  
• REL 366/WS 366. Feminist Theology
  
  
• SPAN 494/WS 495. Literature Seminar: Spanish Narrative by Women in 20th Century Spain
  
  
• PHIL 295/WS 295. Sexual Ethics

• COMM 470/WS 470. Cultural Communication Theory
  
  
• COMM 371/WS 371. Intercultural and Gender Communication
  
  
• POL 295/WS 295. Gender, Islam, and Democracy
  
  
• POL 340/WS 340. Women and the Law
  
  
• PSY 380/WS 380. Psychology of Women
  
  
• PSY 395/WS395. Peace and Gender
  
  
• PSY 395/WS 395. Human Sexuality
  
  
• SOC 271/WS 271. Sociology of Gender I
  
  
• SOC 272/WS 272. Sociology of Gender II

Descriptions of cross-listed courses can be found here.