English 180A-Jane Goes to the Movies
4 semester hours
Inboden, Robin
Prerequisite: English 101E
Jane Austen would probably be bemused (and amused) were she alive today to see the veritable entertainment empire that has sprung from her novels, which she self-deprecatingly described as “little bit[s] (two Inches wide) of Ivory on which I work with so fine a Brush, [producing] little effect after much labour." In her metaphor she is a miniaturist, producing tiny portraits-but for over sixty years, her work has filled the big screen, with no signs of stopping any time soon.
In this course we will read the major novels of Jane Austen and view representative film and television adaptations of them. Not only will we learn basic critical skills for reading fiction and viewing film, but we will find that our discussion of the novels will be illuminated by the choices made (and not made) by filmmakers. We will also explore the continuing popularity of Jane Austen and her novels: what does the current boom in Austen adaptations, sequels, prequels, etc. suggest about our own society’s values, desires, and anxieties? We will also examine Austen’s life in various versions, as well as considering other fictions and films related to her work. The graded work of the course will include several analytical papers, a final exam, and possibly quizzes and a creative project. Writing Intensive.
English 319 - Women in Literature II: British
4 semester hours
Inboden, Robin
Prerequisite: ENGL 200 and 280A or 290A
In the last two centuries, the enforced silence of women in the preceding millennium has been broken, sometimes indignantly and sometimes joyously, by a chorus of important women writers. These women begin to give not only a feminine perspective on the "universal" (often mostly male) experience of humanity, but also their versions of specifically feminine experience. Many of the themes we will explore are continuations and expansions of those in Women in Literature I, but this course is not dependent on that one. We will be looking at such common themes as the domestication of woman into the private sphere, the stereotyping of women as either madonna or whore, the education of women, the repression and degradation of women's writing, and the creation of the feminine self. In exploring these themes, we will, I hope, recognize the roots of many of our own ideas about gender, both positive and negative.
We will read a broad selection of British, Irish, and Commonwealth writers, beginning with Jane Austen and including authors such as the Brontës, Barrett Browning, C. Rossetti, George Eliot, Woolf, Mansfield, Boland, and Byatt. Graded work will include two short papers, a mid-term exam, a longer paper (12-15 pages), and a final examination or project. Writing Intensive. Fulfills the requirement in post-1800 British literature for the teaching licensure track. Counts towards the Women's Studies minor.
English 290 - American Literary Traditions: Money, Debt and American Dreaming
4 semester hours
Askeland, Lori
Prerequisite: ENGL 170, 180A pr 190A/C
 The average college student leaves four years of college with more than $25,250 in debt. The average new car purchase, on the other hand, is done today with a slightly larger $30,738 loan-and that on a consumer item that loses value the minute we drive it off the lot. Those educations and cars are both supposed to do the same thing, in a way: move us to where we want to go. Take us to freedom and happiness. Take us away from a nightmare vision of poverty, repetitive work and drudgery to a life of middle management success, 2.5 kids and a picket fence. Car commercials and college brochures promise us open roads and smiling futures; they are a great, open space for American dreaming. And the dream and the debt seem to go hand in hand: the dream makes the taking on of debt feel easy and smart; it's often only when it's time to pay that the shine can come off-and sometimes a nightmare begins. America has been a land of false advertisements, or at least wildly exaggerated claims, from the start. And it has been a place where, in the pursuit of dreams, debts have piled high. From John Smith's portrait of the US as a place flowing with opportunity and ease and Mary Rowlandson’s negotiations with her native captors, to Thomas Jefferson’s debt-funded Monticello dreams and Ben Franklin’s ironic frugality, from Thoreau’s cry of “enough!” at Walden Pond and Mark Twain's con men to Edith Wharton's New York city elite, Americans have been buying and selling the American dream--or being sold by it, as we'll hear from Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, and more. Writing Intensive. CLAC. Crosslisted with Women’s Studies.
ENGL 380: 'Orphans' in Classic American Literature: From Huck Finn to Disney and Jane Jeong Trenka
4 semester hours
Askeland, Lori
Prerequisite: ENGL 200 and 280
The self-reliant American, picking himself or herself up by their own bootstraps is a central figure of US history and literature, and what better way to portray self-reliance than through an orphaned character? Nearly every Disney film to date has an orphaned, or at least motherless, child or animal at its center, and the storyline predictably takes its viewers on a trip from hardship to success. Yet, legally, the state of "orphanhood" has been much more complicated: the legal term for a child without a father was for most of our history the now insulting term "bastard." Enslaved children were legal orphans--they "followed the condition of the mother," and their masters could do with them what they wished. This course will focus on orphaned characters in great American literature by Frederick Douglass, Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Edith Wharton and many contemporary texts by adoptees. We'll particularly focus on narrative theory, exploring how the adoption trope has shaped the origins in Western literature-Oedipus was, in fact, an adopted child whose tragedy was that he didn’t know his origins, and so wound up killing his father and marrying his mother. Writing intensive, including a 15-page researched paper. CLAC opportunities welcomed. Crosslisted with Women's Studies.
History 390 1W, History 390: Wives, Wenches, Saints and Sinners
4 credits
Livingstone, Amy
History 202H, 1W
4 credits
Livingstone, Amy
HFS 245H - History of Women in Sport
4 credits
Jurewicz, Sarah
Prerequisites: None
History of Women in Sport studies the development of sport from early religious ritual to a modern corporate model in western society. The genesis and development of recreation, sport, and exercise for women has been influenced by religion, medicine, economics, politics and ideology. The intersection of gender, race, and socioeconomic class for women of color is examined, as is the struggle by women for admission in the Olympics. Sport has served as a historical site for feminist transformation and the development of alternative western sport forms. Women have "dared to compete". The struggle of women to gain entry into sport is both sad and inspirational. Class structure includes short videos, small group discussion, and analytical minute papers. Students write a sport autobiography, conduct a short cross generation sport interview, and study a related topic of interest and depth.
HONR 300 A/C; JAPN230 A/C, "The Body in Japanese Women's Literature"
4 credits
Quimby, Joanne
Prerequisite: Permission of the Honors Program
This course offers a survey and critical reading of poetry, short fiction and novels by women from Japan’s modern period (1868-present). We will discuss the historical background and contribution of these writers to the development of modern Japanese literature. In addition to our primary thematic consideration of representations and experiences of the body in the assigned texts, we will also consider the self-representation of women, their changing roles in Japanese society, and their relationships with themselves and others. However, we will also examine the particular demands that form and style place on our reading: why are some texts more emotionally accessible than others? What sort of subject position is expressed in different narratives? We will consider these questions, and more. You will read all literature in English translation. No knowledge of Japanese is required.
MUSI 187-01 (4754) - Wittenberg Singers
0 or 1 credit hour
Conn, Adam
Prerequisite: None
Wittenberg Singers is a large non-auditioned women's SSAA choral ensemble singing music written for women by women and men composers. This choral ensemble is open to all students on campus.
Philosophy 204 R 1W. Philosophy of Women’s Lives
4 credit hours
McHugh, Nancy
No prerequisites
NOTE: This section of the course is an Inside-Out and Project Jericho collaborative course taught at the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center with female youth that are detained. If you are interested in registering for the course you must meet with me first to get permission to register. Please contact me at nmchugh@wittenberg.edu or stop by my office, Hollenbeck 306, to arrange a meeting.
Philosophy of Women’s Lives is a course that studies women’s issues at a local, national and global level. The course combines narratives of women’s lives from across the globe with arguments in feminist theory to actively connect theory with experience. We will be reading material by Latina, African, Islamic, European, East Asian and Asian writers as well as African-American, Chicana and white U.S. writers. Among the topics we will discuss are individual and collective rights, body image, sexuality, reproductive rights, women’s labor, various definitions feminism, the role of feminism in cultures, and the future of global feminism. The course will be reading intensive. You will be assessed through written assignments, and course projects.
Philosophy 204 R. Philosophy of Women’s Lives
4 credit hours
McHugh, Nancy
No prerequisites
Philosophy of Women’s Lives is a course that studies women’s issues at a local, national and global level. The course combines narratives of women’s lives from across the globe with arguments in feminist theory to actively connect theory with experience. We will be reading material by Latina, African, Islamic, European, East Asian and Asian writers as well as African-American, Chicana and white U.S. writers. Among the topics we will discuss are individual and collective rights, body image, sexuality, reproductive rights, women’s labor various definitions feminism, the role of feminism in cultures, and the future of global feminism. The course will be reading intensive. You will be assessed through quizzes, essay exams, written assignments, and course projects.
POLI 319 1W Fatherhood and Masculinity in Politics, Literature and Film
4 credits
Wright, Heather
Prerequisites: A Political Theory course (POLI 211R, 212R, 215R or 216R), or permission of the instructor; Jr class standing
What does it mean to be a “man” in America today? What conceptions circulate about men, their needs and their desires? Are men naturally violent? Is it really true that women make better parents then men? Is it a privilege to be a man, or a burden? What are the origins of contemporary American “masculinities”? How does gender discourse circulate in our political community, and what practical effect does it have on our work, family, and community lives? What is the significance of contemporary “men’s movements” - both anti- and pro-feminist? Has feminist ideology and its influence on family and criminal law resulted in “reverse” discrimination against men? We will explore the social meanings of masculinity and fatherhood through analysis of several primary works of literature and film, informed by cultural studies and political theoretical analyses. 02/12
WRITING INTENSIVE
SOCI 301 - Women and Crime
4 credits
Wagner, Brook
Prerequisite: None
This course considers historical and contemporary issues of girls and women involved in crime. We will examine such topics as the gender difference in offending, theoretical explanations for female offending, the social construction of offending women, the social construction of masculinities leading to violence against women, and the sexualization and criminalization of women’s bodies.
