Undergrad Major & Minor
Gender Studies Major | Gender Studies MinorGender Studies at the University of Chicago encompasses diverse disciplines, modes of inquiry, and objects of knowledge. Gender Studies allows undergraduates the opportunity to shape a disciplinary or interdisciplinary plan of study focused on gender and sexuality. The plan of study, designed with the assistance of a Gender Studies Adviser, can take the form of a gender-track in a traditional academic discipline, interdisciplinary work on a gender-related topic, or a combination thereof. Students can thus create a cluster of courses linked by their attention to gender as an object of study or by their use of gender categories to investigate topics in sexuality, social life, science, politics and culture, literature and the arts, or systems of thought.
Students in other fields of study may also complete a minor in Gender Studies. Information follows the description of the major.
Program Requirements
Major Program in Gender Studies
The major requires eleven courses, a B.A. Essay Seminar, and a B.A. research project or essay that will count as a thirteenth course. The Center for Gender Studies recognizes two main paths by which students might develop an undergraduate concentration. Path A is for students whose central interest lies in the interdisciplinary study of gender and sexuality; it is designed to provide students with a range of conceptual and historical resources to pursue such study with creativity and rigor. Path B is for students whose interest in gender and sexuality is primarily organized around a specific other discipline or field such as History, English, or Political Science; it is designed to provide students with the conceptual and methodological resources to pursue Gender Studies within such a field. Within those goals, each path is meant to provide students with the opportunity to design a course of study tailored to their particular interests. Each path consists of the two required introductory Problems in Gender Studies courses (GNDR 10100 and 10200), a group of nine electives chosen in consultation with the student's Gender Studies Adviser (this will often be the Director of the Center for Gender Studies), a B.A. Essay seminar for fourth-year students, and a B.A paper written under the supervision of an appropriate faculty member.
Path A: GNDR 10100; GNDR 10200; nine electives, which must meet the following chronological, geographical, and methodological distribution guidelines: at least one course with a main chronological focus that is pre-1900 and at least one course with a main chronological focus that is post-1900; at least one course with a main focus that is North America or Europe and at least one course with a main focus that is Latin America, Africa, or Asia; at least two courses in the Humanities and at least two courses in the Social Sciences. Any given course may fulfill more than one distribution requirement; for instance, a course on gender in Shakespeare would count as fulfilling one course requirement in pre-1900, Europe, and Humanities.
Path B: GNDR 10100; GNDR 10200; five Gender Studies courses in a primary field; and four supporting field courses. Courses in the primary field focus on gender and/or sexuality in a single discipline or in closely related disciplines and develop a gender track within that discipline. Supporting field courses provide training in the methodological, technical, or scholarly skills needed to pursue research in the student's primary field.
Two-Quarter Theory Course Sequence. All students majoring in Gender Studies take Problems in Gender Studies (GNDR 10100 and 10200) in their second or third year.
Research Project or Essay. A substantial essay or project is to be completed in the student's fourth year under the supervision of a Gender Studies Adviser who is a member of the Gender Studies Core Faculty in the student's primary field of interest. Students must submit the essay by May 1 of their fourth year or by fifth week of their quarter of graduation. This program may accept a B.A. paper or project used to satisfy the same requirement in another major if certain conditions are met and with the consent of the other program chair. Approval from both program chairs is required.
Students should consult with the chairs by the earliest B.A. proposal deadline (or by the end of their third year, when neither program publishes a deadline). A consent form, to be signed by both chairs, is available from the College adviser. It must be completed and returned to the College adviser by the end of Autumn Quarter of the student's year of graduation.
| 9 | courses distributed according to the requirements of Path A or Path B |
| 2 | Problems in Gender Studies (GNDR 10100-10200) |
| 1 | B.A. Essay Seminar (GNDR 29800) |
| 1 | B.A. Essay (GNDR 29900) |
| 13 | total requirements |
Grading. Two of the supporting field courses may be taken P/F. All other courses must be taken for a quality grade.
Honors. Students with a 3.0 or higher overall grade point average and a 3.5 or higher grade point average in the major are eligible for honors. The faculty adviser for the B.A. essay will be invited to nominate honors-worthy essays to a subcommittee of the Gender Studies faculty, which will then make the final decision.
Advising. Each student will have a Gender Studies Adviser who is a member of the Gender Studies Core Faculty and is chosen from among those listed below. By the beginning of their third year, students are expected to have designed their programs of study with the assistance of the Gender Studies Adviser. Students may also consult the Director of Undergraduate Studies for advice in program design.
Minor Program in Gender Studies
Gender Studies at the University of Chicago encompasses diverse disciplines, modes of inquiry, and objects of knowledge. A minor in Gender Studies allows students in other major fields to shape a disciplinary or interdisciplinary plan of study that will provide a competence in gender and sexuality studies. Such a minor requires a total of six courses: the Gender Studies core sequence, GNDR 10100 (Problems in the Study of Gender); GNDR 10200 (Problems in the Study of Sexuality); and four additional courses in Gender Studies.
Students who elect the minor program in Gender Studies must meet with the director of undergraduate studies before the end of Spring Quarter of their third year to declare their intention to complete the minor. (The deadline for students graduating in 2006-07 is the end of Autumn Quarter 2006.) Students choose courses in consultation with the director of undergraduate studies. The director's approval for the minor program should be submitted to a student's College adviser by the deadline above on a form obtained from the adviser.
Courses in the minor (1) may not be double counted with the student's major(s) or with other minors and (2) may not be counted toward general education requirements. Courses in the minor must be taken for quality grades, and at least four of the requirements for the minor must be met by registering for courses bearing University of Chicago course numbers.
The following samples show a disciplinary and an interdisciplinary plan of study.
- Gender Studies Disciplinary Sample Minor
- GNDR 10100-10200. Problems in Gender Studies
- GNDR 21300. Victorian Wives, Mothers, and Daughers (=ENGL 21100)
- GNDR 22401. Chicana/o Intellectual Thought (=ENGL 2804)
- GNDR 24702. When and Where They Entered: Black Women Writers of the 1940s and 1950s (=ENGL 25103)
- GNDR 25900. Austen: Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion (=FNDL 25500)
- Gender Studies Interdisciplinary Sample Minor
- GNDR 10100-10200. Problems in Gender Studies
- GNDR 20800. Sexual Identity/Life Course/Life Story (=HUDV 24600)
- GNDR 22701. Sexuality and Censorship in Pre-Stonewall Film (=CMST 20901)
- GNDR 24001. Love and Eros in Japanese History (=HIST 24001)
- GNDR 24900. Foucault and The History of Sexuality (=PHIL 24800)
Nonmajors are encouraged to use this listing of faculty and course offerings as a resource for the purpose of designing programs within disciplines, as an aid for the allocation of electives, or for the pursuit of a B.A. project. For further work in gender studies, students are encouraged to investigate other courses taught by resource faculty.