PhD Coursework

PhD Coursework (this information posted originally on the GFWS website)

 

PhD students are required to complete 18 credits of coursework (3 full courses or 6 half-courses), including: 


The final selection of courses will be determined in consultation with the faculty advisor and/or the Director of the Graduate Program. With permission, up to 6.0 credits may be chosen from courses offered by another Graduate Program at York. Typically, full-time students will complete all the coursework in the first year of the doctorate. (See Course Descriptions for details). 


GFWS 6008 3.0 FEMINIST METHODOLOGIES AND RESEARCH METHODS 

Explores the relationship among theory, methodology and research methods, prepares students to identify, critique and assess the appropriateness of selected research methods and reviews some of the current debates on feminist methodologies. Required course for all PhD students. 


GFWS 6009 3.0 ADVANCED RESEARCH IN FEMINIST THEORY 

This PhD course has two objectives: to provide advanced scholarship in feminist epistemologies and theories to prepare PhD students for their comprehensive exams and dissertations, and to engage critically with theoretical issues pertaining to students' research interests. 

MA and PhD Core Course Options - Electives  


GFWS 6111 3.00 (DE)COLONIZING RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES 

This course examines the colonizing roots, contemporary problems, and possibilities of field-based research methodologies with relevance to education. From issues in science and positivism to anthropological questions of representation and ethics, the course asks what it means to decolonize methodology. 


GFWS 6113 3.00 GENDER AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF GLOBAL MARKETS 

No summary provided online. 


GFWS 6114 3.00 RACE, GENDER, AND AMERICAN POLITICS 

In recent years, a wealth of scholarship on race, gender and ethnicity has transformed the way scholars treat almost every aspect of US. history. This course uses this historical literature to re-examine conventional topics, such as the New Deal and the Cold War, broach fresh subjects like the history of whiteness, and shed new light on American culture and politics. Weekly readings explore such topics as slavery, the formation of the US. welfare system, Americanization and ethnicity, lynching and miscegenation, African American organizing in the Jim Crow south, gay history, and the urban crisis. 


GFWS 6214 3.00 MATERNAL THEORY 

Theory on mothering and motherhood has emerged as a distinct boy of knowledge within motherhood studies and feminist theory more generally. This course examines the rich and diverse tradition of maternal theory that has evolved over the last thirty years. 


GFWS 6301 3.00 FEM. ISSUES IN ANTH. HIST. & CURRENT DEBATES 

Perceiving Women. This course explores literature in feminist anthropology during the past twenty years. Major theoretical contributions and debates discussed include issues that dominated the field during the 1970's (women in the ethnographic literature; the public/private dichotomy; male dominance; impact of colonialism) as well as current concerns regarding feminist methodology, cultural constructions of gender and the female body, and women's resistance.  


GFWS 6801 3.00 READING COURSE 

Individual students or small groups may conduct readings under a faculty member's supervision in one or two selected areas during one term. Students wishing to enrol should contact the Director of the Graduate Program in Women's Studies for permission. 


GFWS 6801A 3.00 DIRECTED READING 

Students undertake a detailed independent study of their own choosing and will undertake intensive reading and writing in one or two selected areas. Students wishing to enrol should contact the Director of the Graduate Program in Women's Studies for permission. 


GFWS 6801 6.00 READING COURSE 

Individual students or small groups may conduct readings under a faculty member's supervision in one or two selected areas over two terms. Students wishing to enrol should contact the Director of the Graduate Program in Women's Studies for permission. 


GFWS 6805 3.00 HEALTH AND ILLNESS 

This course is designed to consider current debates about health and care within a feminist political economy framework. The focus will be Canada, but a Canada located within an international context. Of course, students will be invited to introduce other perspectives and other countries into the readings, discussions and their papers. 


GFWS 6904 3.00 CRITICAL APPROACHES TO ‘RACE’ AND RACISM 

Explores historical and contemporary projects of race-making and race-thinking through an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach. It investigates the possibilities and limits of critical debates about race and racism through a range of overlapping theoretical perspectives, including poststructuralism, critical race theory, critical whiteness studies, anti-racist feminism, post-colonial studies, queer theory, and transnationalism and diaspora studies.  


GFWS 6906 3.00 THE CULTURAL AND SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF GIRLS AND GIRLHOOD: CRITICAL FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES 

Drawing upon multiple theoretical perspectives from contemporary girlhood studies, students explore the cultural and social construction of girls and girlhood. Critical feminist perspectives combined with "girls'" own experiences enable students to uncover and critique the ways in which girlhood is socially constructed and regulated through time, place and space. The role of oppression will be explored through an intersectional lens. 


GFWS 6910 3.00 BLACK FEMINISMS  

An introduction to the histories, theories, concepts, and praxis of Black Feminism, as produced through intersectional struggles around race, class gender and sexuality. It considers shifts in the articulation of Black feminisms across geography, culture, and time, and encourages further research into the specificities of Black Canadian feminism. 


GFWS 6915 3.00 ISLAMOPHOBIA AND GENDER IN NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE 

This course will provide students with a graduate level seminar and discussion space to articulate and develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between Islamophobia or/and anti-Muslim racism and gender. We will discuss the historical roots and contemporary manifestation of anti-Muslim racism and how it enables the production of gender representations and stereotypes, as well as different types of resistance to this racism and its consequences, including by looking at the work done by Islamic feminists. 


GFWS 6916 3.00 FEMINIST DIGITAL CULTURES: MEDIATIONS OF IDENTITY, AFFECT, EMBODIMENT, AND POLITICS 

This course focuses on intersectional feminist approaches to understanding digital texts, contexts, technologies and practices, engaging with entanglements of self, social bonds and political action and digital media from within fabric of everyday life. The course will both critique dominant digital systems and discuss Feminist political interventions and creative projects that utilize digital tools for social transformation. 


Want to take a course offered at York (or another institution) that's not listed above?

There are ways to take courses in other departments, and at other schools, if you aren't able to find offerings relevant to your interests in GFWS! Make an appointment to speak with the Graduate Program Director, and complete the appropriate form.