Sarah Lawrence College’s women’s history program immerses students in a combination of historical studies, feminist theory, and gender studies. The program also draws extensively upon resources in the social sciences and literature and on a legacy of continuing activism both within and outside the College community.
Women’s History 2021-2022 Courses
Thesis Seminar in Women’s and Gender History
Graduate Seminar—Fall and Spring
This yearlong course is designed for students who are writing MA theses in women’s and gender history. We will discuss the historiographical dimensions of thesis work; assess various research methods, interpretive models, and theories of history; and grapple with practical questions about writing and documentation. Readings include historical scholarship, theoretical works, and research guides. At critical junctures, students will also read and evaluate one another’s work.
Faculty
Diversity and Equity in Education: Issues of Gender, Race, and Class
Graduate Seminar—Fall
The education system is a central institution in the socialization of young people and the maintenance of the modern nation-state. Schools support meritocratic models of society by providing opportunities for social mobility. Paradoxically, schools also reproduce gender, racial, and class inequality. In this course, we will examine the roles that schools play in the transmission of culture, formation of identity, and reproduction of social structures. Paying special attention to gender and its intersection with other social categories, we will look at practices and policies that shape students' performance as they strive for competence, achievement, and acceptance. We will also analyze the larger political and economic contexts that shape both schools and the communities in which they are situated.