Local Genders, Global Transformations

3 units

This course examines the dynamic relationship between gender and other social, economic, biological, and political processes. The course compares a variety of theoretical frameworks proposed by anthropologists, as well as Foucault, Butler, Carby, Laquer, and Engels. Using ethnographic and historical materials, students will explore how shifts in communities' notions of gender, femininity, and masculinity are connected to larger forces, including shifts in the marketplace, global cultural flows, reproductive and sexual technologies, social movements, racial and ethnic hierarchies, international declarations, and HIV/AIDS and STDs. The course also considers ways in which gender studies and feminism have influenced anthropology. Prerequisite: Anthro 160B, or permission of instructor.