Sociology and Gender Studies Track
The Program
In this track, students will explore gender and its relation to class, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. Students will use these concepts to analyze the human experience throughout history in politics, culture and economics.
Program Structure
This track is residential with the option of commuting. Classes take place on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9:30 AM- 12:00 PM and Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 2:00- 4:30 PM EST. Enrichment and student life activities will be held in both the early day and evening time frames (10am EST- 8pm EST)
The Curriculum
Instructor: Thomas March
U. S. high schools are only just beginning to incorporate the history of LGBTQ people in their History curricula, and many lag far behind. Without understanding the obstacles and discrimination that a group has faced, one cannot fully appreciate that their demand for equal treatment is in fact a struggle for civil rights. Covering queer U.S. History and Culture from the early 20th Century through the present, this course introduces students to how enforcement of and reaction against institutionalized discrimination have shaped the LGBTQ experience in this country. Students will learn not just about events but about often-overlooked people who shaped the course of this history—often heroically. Our study of historical sources will be supplemented by visits from influential and dynamic guest speakers in the arts and humanities. Students will have an opportunity to study our guests’ work in advance and discuss it with them when they visit. This course is not restricted to students who identify as LGBTQ—this history is important for everyone, so allies are welcome and encouraged!
Time: Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Friday 9:30 AM- 12:00 PM EST
Tues and Thurs afternoons from 2:00- 4:30 PM EST.
Instructor: Ali Syed
Gayle Rubin’s seminal essay “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the ‘Political Economy’ of Sex” explores the “sex/gender system” by analyzing the history of women as objects of exchange between groups in society to facilitate alliances and kinship through their reproductive labor. For centuries this exchange has also thrived in the market of royal young women as widely chronicled by their representations in media. One such depiction is James Boulton’s gripping podcast on the history and historiography of the "Queens of England," which identifies the following criteria shaping a queen’s success in life and in legacy: sex – her ability to produce an heir to secure the peaceful transition of power; power – her ability to shape alliances and affect the flow of capital; and god – her ability to uphold the divine myths that justify her reign.
This course will also consider shifting notions of sex, power, and god that represent the increasingly complex relationship between identity, knowledge, and media in the modern era as we explore the concurrent changes in the social, political, and economic systems that made it possible for millions to worship the massive media culture icons of the 20th century: the Disney princess, First Lady Jackie Kennedy, and Princess Diana. By exploring these changes in the works of scholars like Tim Wu and Bernard Harcourt we will gain a deeper sense of contemporary sexual politics in “expository society” as we determine the criteria for evaluating the success of the modern celebrity. Finally, we will consider how the celebrity reality [tv] industrial-complex shifts notions of sex, power, and god by exploring the emergence of icons “famous for being famous” in the 21st century whose command of attention and social influence in the digital age represents power, capital, and divine myth befitting a queen: Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian.
REGISTRATION NOTES: please note that this course is recommended for rising juniors and seniors seeking rigorous college level work; daily reading may take students 2-3 hours; written assignments will take an additional 3-5 hours per week. A course schedule with readings has been provided to give students an insight into the course they are registering for and for those interested in exploring these materials before the start of the course. Some advance reading will be required.
Time: Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Friday 9:30 AM- 12:00 PM EST
Tues and Thurs afternoons from 2:00- 4:30 PM EST.
Instructor: Elsa Stephan
As stated by second-wave feminists in the 1970’s and illustrated by the MeToo movement, the personal is political. In this course, we will examine the link between feminism and social policies since World War II from the French perspective. In a nation where citizens regularly march in the streets and have made social justice a pillar of society, how does activism influence law making and how do social policies influence feminism? What are the advantages and limits of the French model? How does activism differ from one country to another? What do these differences reveal about our own culture? We will focus on issues such as access to child care and education, reproductive rights, parental leave policies, and gender-based violence. We will examine these matters through scholarly works, newspaper articles, political pamphlets as well as street art and graphic novels. Course taught in English.
Time: Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Friday 9:30 AM- 12:00 PM EST
Tues and Thurs afternoons from 2:00- 4:30 PM EST.
Instructor: Michelle Smith
We examine the theory and practice of two “models” of feminist leadership: liberal-individualist and radical-collective. Advocates of both models seek women’s empowerment. However, they disagree over the means and ends of women’s activism. Broadly, liberal feminists seek equal power in political institutions and corporations as well as equal access to the means for social and economic advance. Liberal feminists may pursue “reproductive rights” and consider gender-equality the mark of feminist success. Social justice feminists seek nothing less than the end of sexism and all forms of subjugation (racial, class, sexual orientation ETC.) which sustain existing anti -egalitarian, sexist, racist and hetero-normative structures. Social justice feminists may pursue “reproductive justice” and consider the transformation of existing gender, social and economic relations success. Culture, language, and representation are important venues for all sorts of feminist action and theorizing. But again, disagreement is more common than not. Radical-collective feminists, committed as they are to substantive and socio-political change, see language and culture as necessary (if not sufficient) for defeating anti-egalitarian, sexist, racist, and heteronormative structures. Liberal-individualist feminists are either less convinced that cultural change is required for women’s empowerment or are committed to “free expression” they believe “political correctness” to threaten.
Time: Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Friday 9:30 AM- 12:00 PM EST
Tues and Thurs afternoons from 2:00- 4:30 PM EST.
The Instructors
Thomas March
Queer Studies: The Queer American Century
An essayist, performer, and poet, Thomas March is the author of Aftermath (2018), which Joan Larkin selected for The Word Works Hilary Tham Capital Collection. OUT Magazine praised its “diamond-sharp lyricism” and hailed it as “a stimulating, if sober, tonic for our times.” His work has appeared in The Account, The Adroit Journal, The Believer, Bellevue Literary Review, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, The Good Men Project, The Huffington Post, New Letters, OUT, Pleiades, RHINO, and Verse Daily, among others. Since 2018, he has been the host and curator of Poetry/Cabaret, a bi-monthly “variety salon” performance series. Nominated for four Broadway World Cabaret Awards (including “Best Variety Show or Recurring Series” and “Best Host or Emcee”), the show brings together the city’s top poets, comedians, and cabaret performers to share their responses to a common theme. Broadway World has called Poetry/Cabaret “a daring, edgy, and divinely human way of looking at art and artists.” With painter Valerie Mendelson, he is the co-creator of A Good Mixer, a character-based dramatic poetry and visual art hybrid project based on an obscure 1933 bartender’s guide of the same name. He has recently become a Contributing Editor to GRAND, a literary journal launched in 2021 and founded by Aaron Hicklin, Editorial Director of Document and proprietor of One Grand Books. A past recipient of the Norma Millay Ellis Fellowship in Poetry, from the Millay Colony for the Arts, he has also received an Artist/Writer grant from The Vermont Studio Center.
Ali Syed
Sex, Power, God
Ali Syed holds an M.A. in sociology from City College and a B.A. from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU. He has taught at Barnard as an Instructor for the Pre-College Programs since 2019 and as a Teaching Assistant in the Departments of Sociology and Political Science since 2015. Since 2010 Ali has also taught courses as a lecturer in sociology, political science, urban and ethnic studies, gender and sexuality, social theory, research methods, and law and society at: NYU, the Macaulay Honors College at City College, Hunter College, BMCC, FIT, and the Bard College Prison Initiative Microcollege at the Brooklyn Public Library. Finally, he is also an experienced educator of “early advanced learners” in the CUNY College Now program and also serves as an examiner for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme of which he is a graduate. He is also a doctoral candidate in sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Elsa Stephan
Feminist Activism and Social Justice: The French Model
Elsa Stéphan is originally from France. She studied at the Sorbonne and l’Institut d’Études Politiques (“Sciences Po”), in Strasbourg, France before earning her Ph.D in French Literature from Tulane University. Her peer-reviewed articles and doctoral dissertation focus on science and technology studies and literature. She analyzes the development of science fiction and the representation of virtual spaces in the writing of French authors such as Jules Verne and Villiers de L’Isle-Adam. Related to this research, she has developed technologically innovative methods in French language pedagogy and has received several teaching grants that support the use of technology in the classroom. Her current research and teaching projects focus on Gender Studies (the history of feminism, inclusive writing and the feminization of the French language).
Bridging Curriculum and Community
Community Building Programming
We believe student life does not start and end in the classroom. Each night after class students can choose from 2-3 evening activities led by our Program Assistants.
Program Assistants
Program Assistants are current Barnard students who manage small cohorts of student teams. Your PA is a resource for you to ask questions about non academic issues (remember: your Course Assistant is your point of contact for academics). PAs plan and facilitate nightly community building activities such as self care nights, Netflix parties, Broadway shows, and much more.