The Comprehensive Broads Guide to the Blue Book – Fall 2010

By ALEXANDRA BRODSKY

August 16, 2010

No matter what the Bullblog says, the release of the Blue Book is a joyous occasion.  For over a month, before we swap our tans for our neuroses, we get to revel in the glory of thousands of classes.  Soon we will be forced to remember that, actually, 6.5 credits is a bad idea—I don’t care that you’re really into gypsies!— but for now, unencumbered by reality, we are allowed to construct our fantasy course schedules, our dream teams.  As we all  devote the last few hours of our summers to finding the perfect combination of our passions, we here at Broads are of course looking for classes sure to expand our knowledge and refine our rhetorical skills regarding women’s issues—and these are courses we plan to keep well past the hazy days of summer, through OCS confirmation.

Although Yale offers many courses relevant to feminist scholarship, other ingredients to a liberal arts education are much easier to search; if you want a science credit, there’s a button for that, and the English department has handily designated all those exciting pre-1800s. Yet there is no simple step to find classes relevant to refining feminist thought. Though the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies faculty offers a host of feminist classes, there are also plenty of relevant courses outside the department.  Indeed, a course on women, gender and sexuality outside WGSS may offer a unique opportunity to find a challenging diversity of opinions amongst classmates.

Since there is no easy way to search for these courses, Broads has come to the rescue!  Below are the courses relevant to women’s issues that we are most excited to shop based on course descriptions, syllabi, friends’ recommendations, and online evaluations.  Some are WGSS, but we have done our best to find classes in other departments, from bio to English to EP&E, to satisfy this need for a multidisciplinary feminist education.

AFST 360 01 (11994) /EP&E365/INTS347/PLSC417/ECON487

The Political Economy of AIDS in Africa

Nicoli Nattrass

HTBA

Firstly, for better or for worse, this is not a class about political economy.  There is some interesting demographic modeling—which, as one reviewer notes, can be “difficu[l]t but [is] a great skill to have if you are interested in pursuing epidemiology or public health”— but that’s about as technical as it gets.   The most interesting discussions revolve around the role of women in the epidemic, particularly regarding the “victimized wife” myth and the legal status of sex work.  The final paper (of three) offers a valuable opportunity to explore in depth any specific interest you have developed.  Nattrass is a big deal in her field, offers internships to students, and is willing to lend her resources and connections to help your research.  Last year the class drew a big crowd during shopping period and Nattrass gave preference to those who had e-mailed early, were in one of the listed majors, and had relevant African health work experience, so fire away or hope you have a really cute puppy dog face.

ANTH 302 01 (12689) /WGSS380/AMST404

Gender and Sexuality in Media and Popular Culture

Laura Wexler
Inderpal Grewal

T 3.30-5.20

This class has not been offered before, but Broads is putting money on it anyway.  Why?  Firstly, as difficult as this may be to believe, we hold a vague interest in both gender/sexuality and media/popular culture.  Wexler and Grewal are also a WGSS pairing from heaven.  The former taught the intense but popular “History of Feminist Thought” last fall, and you may also know her from her AMST/WGSS class on the sociology of photography.  Grewal brings to the table her international focus, and the two perspectives should ensure we move beyond the “magazines make girls anorexic” shtick.

AMST 111 01 (12059) /RLST111/HIST129/WGSS111

Sexuality and Religion

Kathryn Lofton

TTh 11.35-12.25

One friend of Broads said that she had been “indescribably obsessed” with this course while enrolled last fall.  It is somewhat disappointing that the class is only concerned with religion in America, but this focus allows for extensive discussion of pressing national issues, like abortion and gay marriage.  These topics are obviously discussed to death in plenty of courses, but are handled particularly well by Lofton, called “one of Yale’s best instructors” by an online evaluator.  The OCI bar graphs look just like we want them (all to the left, and then all to the right—you know what I mean), though reviewers warn that the course load is slightly larger than your “average 100-level lecture,” so perhaps keep this one out of your gut column.

AMST 135 01 (11845) /HIST127/WGSS200

U.S. Lesbian and Gay History

George Chauncey

TTh 10.30-11.20

As one student so eloquently put it, “I would definitely recommend this course because it’s amazing.”  We’ll buy it.  Chauncey’s class is probably the most popular WGSS course offered this fall, and fulfills American Studies and History requirements as well. One reviewer notes that the course is not just essential to an understanding of homosexuality in the U.S., but of American history as a whole.  However, the lecture gets rave reviews from students in all majors, and tends to attract a more diverse group than most other WGSS courses.  Chauncey is one of the top three most influential historians of gay culture in contemporary academia (which, given the youth of the discipline, basically means ever), and is reportedly a great senior essay advisor.  Particularly interesting is the credit Chauncey gives to oft-ignored lesbians for success in gay political rights.  Take the class.  All your interesting friends already have.

CDE 594 01 (13416)

Maternal-Child Public Health Nutrition

Rafael Perez-Escamilla

M 10.00-11.50 LEPH 102

Unfortunately, you probably aren’t qualified for this class; the prereqs are Chronic Disease Epidemiology 508a and Biostatistics 505a, which are both in the School of Public Health.  However, to those ambitious few (probably 5-year BA/MPH superstars) holding golden tickets: Broads is jealous.  The course description makes us drool, with a serious focus on interdisciplinary understanding of the relevant issues combined with intervention evaluation.  Plus, Professor Perez-Escamilla is a YSPH all-star; he’s director of the Office of Community Health, and is hugely accessible to students—he is advising this Broads staff writer’s summer research after a cold-call (cold e-mail?) introduction.  If you can get into the course, get us a copy of the syllabus?  Please?

CSBK 231 01 (10125)

New Understandings of Breast Cancer

Minoti Hiremath

T 9.25-11.15

This Berkeley college seminar purports to offer a scientifically rigorous examination of breast cancer.  Such medical knowledge is sure to enhance any student’s understanding of the debates surrounding the illness, which has become so ubiquitous in America’s female population; according to the National Cancer Institute, one in eight women born in America in the past decade will be diagnosed with breast cancer.  Without course evaluations, Broads was forced to turn to the wild forests of the Internet, but our searches proved fruitful.  While Hiremati’s twitter history was disappointingly bare (@minoti_h, follow @yalebroads!), her published paper and CV are impressive, particularly for someone so fresh out of school.  If you can drag yourself out of bed for a 9:25am class, let us know how it goes.

ENGL 431 01 (12893)

The Brontës and Their Afterlives

Linda Peterson

T 9.25-11.15

Our excitement about this class does not just derive from the fact that this is one of few courses devoted entirely to female authors. The syllabus looks delicious: students will read Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Shirley, and Villette.  But Peterson’s course deserves a place on this list for its simultaneous focus on both the ways female characters are depicted by female authors, and how female authors are depicted by a largely male academy. The syllabus promises discussion of the mythology surrounding status of the sisters, crafted by critics of both genders.  Peterson has not offered this course before, but her previous courses—including Major English Poets, and nobody likes Major English Poets—have gotten good reviews.  One student from her Fall 2009 course on nature writing says that “Professor Peterson really knows her stuff, and she’s great at leading discussion and at asking the right questions.”  And honestly, Heathcliff seems a little sexier than leaves. 

HIST 122J 01 (12126)

American Women Religious Leaders and Activists

Cynthia Russett

T 1.30-3.20

This will be the first time Russett offers this course, so we have no evaluations to take into account.  Nevertheless, the topic is too fantastic (WGSS, how did you not pick this up?) to leave the course off this list. Russett’s previous classes have gotten fairly positive reviews; her skills as a lecturer are applauded, but the reviews on her seminars are mixed.  However, this Broads staff writer may or may not have spent a large part of her childhood reading Anne Hutchinson biographies/historical fiction—such a bad ass!—so we’re excited.

HIST 170 01 (12107) /AMST270

Women in America: From the Colonial Period to 1900

Rebecca Tannenbaum

MW 10.30-11.20

Here’s another history course that, somehow, WGSS missed.  Tannenbaum teaches a couple of women-related history courses, like Witchcraft in Colonial America, but this one gets the best reviews.  Students describe the course as a great introduction to the topic and a good introduction to Yale history courses in general, standing out amongst the consistently solid roster of 100-level lectures.  Reviews of the workload vary, but one student notes that while there is “lots of reading… lectures are really interesting, engaging, and easy to get.”  Others are more effusive in their views, resorting to excessive capitalization. Looks like the course is worth a shot.

HUMS 218 01 (12037)

Shakespearian Character: Falstaff, Hamlet, Iago, Cleopatra

Harold Bloom

W 1.30-3.20

Bloom, however great his genius, isn’t exactly known around campus as a feminist force.  Yet one source notes that Bloom “intensely admires [Shakespeare’s] greatest heroines (Beatrice, Rosalind) and is quick to point out how they are aware of their place in society and expert at subverting from within.”  While the famed professor is breaking from his pattern of recent years with two new courses, his Shakespeare course will spend significant time dealing with Cleopatra, whose complex power and romances demands serious thought on gender and sexuality.  Now good luck getting in…

INRL 686 01 (11166)

Sexual Rights: Perspectives from International and Comparative Law

Alice Miller

W 10.10-12.00

This is a very mysterious class.  There are no reviews, no syllabus is available, and since Miller is a lecturer in the Law School, there are no evaluations of her teaching available.  Nonetheless, we already want to take her class.  The course description indicates a focus on legal approaches to global sexual policy absent from all other course offerings (credit for this Broads writer’s EP&E concentration!). Further, Miller’s CV—she co-founded Amnesty International USA’s women’s rights program—proves she has first-hand experience with these issues.  This is a grad school course, so it’ll take some extra work to get in—but don’t you dare take our spots.  Seriously.

MCDB 060 01 (12933)

Topics in Reproductive Biology

Harvey Kliman

M 2.30-4.00

This year-long freshman seminar is a great introduction to, well, topics in reproductive biology.
Although the course fulfills a science requirement, one rising junior notes that it is “focused primarily on social/psychology/cultural aspects of reproduction more than the biology” (take MCDB 240 in the spring if you want a technical understanding—and to lose all desire for children). It touches on issues of abortion rights and demographic patterns, among others.  All reviewers note a light workload, as appropriate for a one-credit course spanning a full year.  Kliman is famous for treating his students as family, inviting them and their friends out to dinner, so the course is a great way for freshmen to make a close faculty friend many seniors would envy.

PLSC 114 01 (11970)

Introduction to Political Philosophy

Steven Smith

MW 11.35-12.25

The poli sci department’s introduction to political philosophy (not to be confused with the philosophy department’s class by the same name, which gets pretty bad reviews) is not a course about women.  That being said, it is important for a well-rounded feminist education.  Though Smith does not spend too much time dealing specifically with debates concerning gender in lecture, the readings—particularly from Aristotle, Locke, and Rousseau—do, in ways that informed the subsequent treatment of women in the Western cannon.  The syllabus is also bookended by Antigone and Madame Bovary, interesting for their depictions of historical views of women and the questions raised through the use of repressed female sexuality as a symbol of political oppression.

WGSS 120 01 (12337)

Women, Food, and Culture

Maria Trumpler

TTh 1.30-2.20

“Women, Food, and Culture” is one of the more appealing course names Broads has heard, and the reviews line up.  Despite a light course load, students find the course informative, both on public and private matters.  “The 4 papers are predominantly personal essays, which are much less stressful and time-consuming to write than most analytical work,” and offer that rare opportunity to learn about ourselves in college (wasn’t that supposed to be, you know, all the time?).  Also, you’re probably good at talking about your neuroses, since you’re a Yalie.  One student notes that “it was fun to go on field trips during section and have apple and cheese tasting,” and we think this sounds like basically the best class ever.   Before you get too excited about interesting material and free food with little work, make sure you’re ok spending time in section with students just there for a gut credit.

WGSS 370 01 (13111)

Theorizing Sexual Violence

Melanie Boyd

TTh 1.00-2.15

Theorizing Sexual Violence, formerly titled Cultural Narratives of Violence Against Women, is one of the most highly acclaimed WGSS courses.  This small, intimate class epitomizes how an interdisciplinary approach should work, and the semester culminates in the planning of an intervention, planning a practical approach to combat sexual violence at Yale.  Given the absurdity of our school’s sexual assault reporting system—don’t get us started—such evaluation is clearly needed, and as one reviewer reports, “you will never again take a class that integrates theory and real life so well.”   The readings and discussion can be emotionally draining, but Boyd is aware of the intensity of the experience and works to keep everyone thinking positively.

Alexandra Brodsky is a junior in Yale College. She is a staff writer for Broad Recognition.