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2018-2019 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Descriptions
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SUNY Oneonta offers students more than 1,400 courses—from Accounting to Zoology—from over 25 separate departments. Requirements for majors and minors and course descriptions are listed under the departments that offer them; and these departments are arranged in alphabetical order. See the “Course Index” for details.
Please note that requirements, courses, and course descriptions are subject to change after publication of this catalog. Contact the appropriate departments for updated information. Also note that some course descriptions have been edited for clarity and consistency. Complete descriptions are available from the instructors or the departments concerned.
Key to Course Descriptions
| Abbreviation |
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Meaning |
| (PACT) |
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Activity course in Health & Fitness |
| (LA) |
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Liberal Arts (course is a Liberal Arts offering) |
| SUSF |
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Sustainability Focused Courses |
| s.h. |
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Semester Hour(s) |
| SoS |
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Sophomore standing |
| JrS |
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Junior standing |
| SrS |
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Senior standing |
Course Numbering System
| 001 - 099 |
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No credit; usually developmental in nature. |
| 100 - 199 |
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Lower-division undergraduate-level courses. |
| 200 - 299 |
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Upper-division intermediate undergraduate-level courses. |
| 300 - 499 |
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Upper-division advanced courses. |
| 500 - 699 |
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Graduate-level courses. |
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World History |
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WMST 250 - Anime and Manga History 3 s.h.
This course traces the history of Japanese anime (animation) and manga (comics) from Japanese traditions of illustrated scrolls and woodblock prints, to the explosion of comics in post-war Japan and the saturation of Japanese television with anime in the late-twentieth century and early twenty-first century. In 2015, manga made up one-third of all Japan’s print publications (over ten thousand different releases) while Japan’s animation industry (with help from other Asian studios) produced over three hundred forty different television anime series. Today people around the world enjoy anime and manga, however, this class will examine them as a way to understand their Japanese cultural significance and how they reflect social, political, and military history of Japan and the rest of the world. In addition, we will discuss the production of anime and manga and how it differs from animation and comics produced in the United States. A-E only. Offered annually.
LA
Prerequisite(s): JAPN 101 , GEOG 279 , WHIS 251 or POLS 251 .
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Women’s and Gender Studies |
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WMST 130 - Gender, Power and Difference 3 s.h.
Introduces approaches of women’s and gender studies from a variety of feminist perspectives, across the social sciences and humanities. Surveys feminist theorizing of sex, gender, and sexuality the social constructions of gender and sexuality, and the intersections of social and cultural markers, such as class, dis/ability, and nation across diverse historical and community formations. The course examines social justice movements, and issues of critical importance within the discipline - relationships and intimacy, power and difference, reproductive health and bodily issues, representation of marginalized groups, structural inequalities - that impact daily life and experience as vectors of the political.
LA
BC3
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WMST 150 - Self Defense for Women 3 s.h.
Self Defense for Women will educate students on realistic techniques that can be used to combat physical attacks as well as to protect psychological well-being. It will teach awareness, assertiveness, risk reduction, and avoidance of various victimizations ranging from harassment to assault. The course will include lessons on current trends and the historical significance of changes in approach from women’s passivity towards assertiveness in demanding safety in society.
Cross-listed as PHED 150 .
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WMST 205 - LGBTQ U. S. Communities of Color 3 s.h.
This course draws on the history of Sexuality, Women’s and Gender, Whiteness, Latino/as and Chicano/as, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, People Indigenous to the Americas, Arab Americans, and African Americans in order to explore lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex people’s (lgbtqi) experiences in the United States from the colonial era to the present. In this course, students examine the ways in which discourses on sexuality and gender are fundamentally and inextricably enmeshed with race, class, ability, ethnicity, national identity, immigration status, and religion. Students also explore lgbtqi identity and community formation, racial, class, and ethnic conflict among lgbtqi people, the use of illegal and extra-legal violence to repress homoeroticism and gender nonconformity, and the ways in which lgbtqi communities of color endured in a context of oppression. Offered irregularly.
LA
Cross-listed as ALS 205 and AHIS 205 .
Prerequisite(s): SoS or 3 s.h. 100-level HIST course.
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WMST 206 - Medieval Sexuality 3 s.h.
This course will take students through the changing definitions of gender, sexuality, and marriage from late antiquity through the 14th century. We will use literature, law codes, philosophy, theology, medical texts and art to examine definitions of sexuality, gender, health care, and life-cycle in the period as well as the historical impact of these ideas and controversies. Offered irregularly.
LA
Cross-listed as: EHIS 206 .
Prerequisite(s): HIST 100 or SoS
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WMST 210 - Women’s Health 3 s.h.
This course offers a culturally competent, intersectional approach to introduce a range of health issues across the lifespan that are of special concern to women. It will explore the gendered, biological, cultural, political and economic forces that impact women’s health status. Health disparities and issues of social justice will be studied. This course provides a holistic framework for wellness, identify risk, and protective factors and encourages personal health promotion.
LA
Prerequisite(s): SoS.
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WMST 212 - Women of Resistance 3 s.h.
This course studies women in history, literature, popular culture, and real life who fought against exploitation, subjugation and repression. Readings and discussions focus on literary characters from fairy tales to the Bible, Greek plays, contemporary fiction, arguments and philosophies found in feminist writings, and autobiographical writings such as diaries and memiors. We will address topics such as contemporary struggles for reproductive, civil, and political rights, as well as ongoing challenges regarding beauty, sexuality, and power.
LA
Prerequisite(s): SoS and 3 s.h. Humanities.
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WMST 214 - Witches, Harlots, Wild Women 3 s.h.
This class will study cultural stories - various literatures, religious writings, medical arguments, laws, feminist essays, song lyrics, and others - of the past 3500 years focusing on various forms of the Archetypal Wild Women, including goddesses, teachers, wise women, healers, witches, warriors, whores, saints, mothers, green women, and mad women. Readings will include biblical texts, mythologies of goddess from various cultures, the Malleus Maleficarum, and critical writings on contemporary female sexuality to trace the reoccurring pattern of containment of female sexuality that attempts to produce a sense of order and stability created only by severely restricting women. We will explore the potential results of women refusing boundaries and containment as we examine the cultural stories that define, patrol, and discipline the socially constructed functions, roles, and definitions of women.
LA
BC3
Prerequisite(s): SoS and 3 s.h. Humanities.
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WMST 215 - Gender Politics 3 s.h.
Examines how politics and government affect women and women’s interests, as well as how women affect government and politics. Topics include political culture and definitions of female roles; views of women in political theory; female political participation and protest movements; women and the law; and public policy and women. Offered every third or fourth semester.
LA
Cross-listed as POLS 215 .
Prerequisite(s): SoS or 3 s.h. POLS.
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WMST 234 - Global Perspectives in Gender and Nature 3 s.h.
This course examines the role of gender in nature - society relations and more specifically in societal understanding and interaction with nature. The course draws from diverse theoretical frameworks such as feminist political ecology to interrogate historical and contemporary spatial dimensions of issues such as distribution, access, and management of natural resources as well as the disproportionate vulnerability to environmental change along gender lines. By drawing on case studies from around the world, this course will also discuss the diverse ways in which women are involved in environmental and social justice movements and the implications of such involvement for environmental sustainability. Examples of case studies that will form the basis of class discussions include the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya and the Chipko Movement in India. Offered irregularly.
LA
Cross-listed as: GEOG 234 .
Prerequisite(s): SoS or GEOG 100 .
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WMST 238 - Women in Western History 3 s.h.
Studies in history of women in Europe and America since 1789. Topics include the difference between men’s and women’s experiences of war and revolution; suffrage and feminist movements; reproduction and population policy. Offered irregularly.
LA
Cross-listed as EHIS 238.
Prerequisite(s): SoS or 3 s.h. 100-level HIST course.
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WMST 240 - Boys to Men: European Masculinities 3 s.h.
This course will analyse the roles of boys and men in European society, politics and war, as well as investigate representations of men and maleness in the European past. It aims at directing students’ attention to gender history as a useful tool for approaching European history, sharpening their research, analytical and writing skills, and encouraging reflections on social and cultural aspects of early modern and modern Europe. Students will investigate developments in the domestic, societal, political and military roles of men as part of wider trends in European history, such as the growth of the European middle classes, changes to family and state structures, transformations in education, and the rise of European empires. There will also be sessions on developments in male manners and fashions, and on transformations in male sociability, friendship and sexuality. Offered Fall and Spring.
LA
Crosslisted as: EHIS 240.
Prerequisite(s): SoS or 3 s.h. 100-level HIST course.
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WMST 241 - Gender and Communication 3 s.h.
Explores the relationship between gender and communication, analyzing multiple and varying gender theories and the available public vocabularies for understanding gender dynamics and issues. This course further investigates gender stereotypes and “gendered” cultural patterns of interaction within personal, professional, and social relationships.
LA
Cross-listed as COMM 241 .
Prerequisite(s): SoS or 3 s.h. COMM.
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WMST 242 - Muslim Women Writers 3 s.h.
This course provides an Introduction to Islamic teachings on the rights and roles of women and then examines memoirs, fiction, and poetry written by Muslim women. This course focuses on modern writing and will cover a variety of genres, geographic regions, and ideological perspectives. Examples of writers to be studied include Leila Ahmed, Amina Wadud, Fatima Mernissi, Shirin Ebadi, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nawall el Saadawi, Hanan Al-Sheikh, Fadwa Tuqan, and Leila Aboulela.
(LA)
Prerequisite(s): COMP 100 .
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WMST 243 - Psychology of Women 3 s.h.
A feminist perspective is used to explore the influence of social and psychological factors in shaping women’s attitudes and behavior and in shaping the attitudes and behavior of people toward women. The role played by psychology in creating scientific myths about women and, more recently, psychology’s interest in correcting these misconceptions, are examined. Topic areas include sex-role stereotyping and androgyny, traditional and non-traditional roles of women, women and mental health issues, sexuality, culture and language, and health.
LA
Cross-listed as PSYC 243 .
Prerequisite(s): “C” or better in PSYC 100 .
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WMST 253 - Women and Gender in Prehistory 3 s.h.
Introduces students to archaeological research and perspectives on women and gender in prehistoric societies and ancient civilizations, emphasizing cross-cultural variation in the past. Outlines the historical development of gender archaeology and contemporary approaches to engendering the past. Examines facets of gender (ideology, relations, sexuality, age, class, alternative genders, etc.) in past cultures and in a range of prehistoric cultural contexts (early hunter-gatherers, farmers and pastoralists, states and empires). Select ancient cultures (Andean, Mesoamerican, Egyptian, etc.) are examined in more detail. (Emphasis is on non-Western ancient cultures.) Offered Fall and Spring.
LA
Cross-listed as ANTH 253 .
Prerequisite(s): 100 level ANTH or WMST 130 , SoS.
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WMST 257 - Psychology of Human Sexuality 3 s.h.
An overview of human sexual behavior. Topics include sex and gender, biological factors, sexual development, interpersonal relationships, intimacy and love, communication, sexual orientation, pregnancy and birth, contraception, abortion, sexual dysfunction, sexual diseases, sexual exploitation, legal and ethical issues. Gender differences and sex role behavior will be discussed, with special attention to the question of whether male and female behaviors differ, and how best to explain such differences.
LA
Cross-listed as PSYC 257 .
Prerequisite(s): “C” or better in PSYC 100 .
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WMST 267 - Gender and Crime 3 s.h.
This course sociologically analyzes and deconstructs the common sense of the social world with regards to gender and crime. Students will develop their sociological imagination and critical thinking skills as they explore a variety of substantive issues within criminology. Topics include but are not limited to violence and sex work, domestic violence, and street and white collar crime. The course explores ways in which crime and deviance interface with women and gender studies, and feminist theory and methods. To the extent that gender intersects with other axes of social inequality, we deal with other aspects of social location within the scope of the course.
LA
Cross-listed as CRJ 267 .
Prerequisite(s): 3 s.h. SOC.
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WMST 268 - History of Women and Women’s Movements in the U.S. 3 s.h.
Survey of the changing status and role of women in American society. Main emphasis will be the origin and development of feminism from 19th century to the present, its ideology, and leadership and organization problems within the context of broader social change. Offered irregularly.
LA
Cross-listed as AHIS 268 .
Prerequisite(s): SoS or 3 s.h. 100-level HIST course.
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WMST 269 - Women of Color in the U.S. 3 s.h.
This course will use a multidisciplinary approach to survey the contemporary experience of women of color in the United States. We will explore the lives of African American, Asian American, Latinas and Native American Women in the context of historical, economic and political arrangements that give meaning to and shape their lives. We will also examine the cultural patterns which under-lie race, class, sexuality, and gender-based inequalities as a basic element of contemporary society. Focusing on individual and community experiences, we will assess the dynamic variation in women’s class, racial-ethnic and gender identity formation, their differential treatment based on race, class, and gender at different levels of society, and their responses to the structural arrangements that affect their lives.
LA
Cross-listed with ALS 269 .
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WMST 274 - Gender and Power in Africa 3 s.h.
This course examines the social conditions and gendered experiences of women and men in Africa contrasting the precolonial, colonial and post colonial eras. Offered irregularly.
LA
OW3
Cross-listed as WHIS 274 and ALS 274 .
Prerequisite(s): SoS.
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WMST 275 - Feminist Theories 3 s.h.
The purpose of this course is to provide an opportunity to develop a thorough understanding of feminist theory and gain exposure to the writings of a range of several contemporary feminists. By the end of the course, you will be knowledgeable about the varieties of feminist thought and methodologies. You will be able to identify different feminist theories and theorists. You will also be able to apply theoretical ideas to actions. You will be exposed to these ideas through both primary texts and a secondary text which provides an overview.
LA
Prerequisite(s): WMST 130 .
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WMST 280 - Women in Sports 3 s.h.
This course is a survey of American women’s experience in sports from the 1860s to the present. History, philosophy, and gender theory will be discussed along with current issues such as Title IX, women as sports professionals, the media and its influence, and governance of competitive sports.
Cross-listed as PHED 280 .
Prerequisite(s): SoS
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WMST 285 - Writing Lives: Gender and Memoir 3 s.h.
This course considers diverse life writings in order to explore the influence of gender, sexuality, and other categories of identity on literary self-representation. We consider forms of memoir ranging from graphic novels to mixed-genre texts, and how they respond to questions such as the relationship between writer and reader; “truth” and narrative authenticity; memory and imagination; the personal and political. Offered every 2-3 years. Offered every 2-3 years.
LA
BC3
LITR 285 .
Prerequisite(s): COMP 100 ; LITR 100 or LITR 150 .
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WMST 287 - From Romance to Gothic 3 s.h.
The novel has always been closely tied to ideas about women, and this class will trace the history of a genre with a focus on gender. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the novel as either a teaching method or a dangerous distraction for women and young people, and we will examine the ways women writers navigated scandal and respectability in the romances of authors will Aphra Behn, in the sentimental and comic novel, and works of gothic terror by novelists like Ann Radcliffe. At the same time, we will look at the social, economic, and cultural conditions surrounding publishing, women’s rights, and marriage through essays and journalism by writers such as Mary Astell, Eliza Haywood, and Mary Wollstonecraft. Offered every 2-3 years.
LA
Cross-listed as ELIT 287 .
Prerequisite(s): LITR 100 or LITR 150 .
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WMST 289 - Feminist Research Methods 3 s.h.
This interdisciplinary course demonstrates how feminist epistemologies and methodologies shape research inquiry in different fields. Students will identify historical and theoretical underpinnings of feminist research practices in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. More specifically, they will examine how intersectionality, privilege, gender, theory and feminist politics inform research methods and practices. Students will learn how to design and conduct a feminist research project. Extensive reading and writing assignments will be required. Offered once a year.
LA
Prerequisite(s): WMST 130 .
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WMST 290 - Women, Race, and the Law 3 s.h.
This course uses written text and cinematic text to explore the legal conditions of gender and women in diverse contemporary transnational contexts. More specifically the course addresses how laws map out gender, women’s rights and social and ideological symbols. The course emphasizes the ways in which legal definitions and representations of women have been understood in terms of race, religion, occupation and constitutional rights. Coursework and class discussions will be grounded in feminist and cultural theories and critical legal studies.
LA
Cross listed as ALS 290 .
Prerequisite(s): WMST 130 or WMST 255 or ALS 255 or ALS 273 .
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WMST 291 - Gender, Race, and Sexuality in Popular Culture 3 s.h.
This course addresses how popular culture - film, television, music, mass and digital media - reinforces conceptions of gender and sexuality, race, and class. Using methodologies of gender, sexuality, and media studies, as well as critical race theory, we will examine the popular production, consumption, and reception of gendered social relations and roles. The course emphasizes critical inquiry regarding the production of normative and alternative gender and sexual identities, while noting their intersection with multiple, complex categories of identity, including most notably race, ethnicity, class, and nationality.
LA
Cross-listed as ALS 291 .
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WMST 294 - Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies 1 s.h. - 3 s.h.
A course which focuses on particular issues, problems or research topics. The purpose is to explore a particular subject that may not yet be contained in a regularly offered course. (e.g., U.S. Latinas and Cultural History; Feminist Philosophy; Women and Music).
LA
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WMST 295 - Women’s Studies Teaching Assistantship 1 s.h. - 3 s.h.
This course provides teaching experience for students minoring in Women’s Studies. The assistant works directly under the guidance of a faculty member.
LA
Prerequisite(s): JrS and a minimum of 15 s.h. in WMST; a minimum GPA of 2.5 plus permission of the instructor and the Dept. Chair.
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WMST 299 - Independent Study in Women’s and Gender Studies 1 s.h. - 3 s.h.
Individual studies under faculty supervision. Admission by consent of department chair and instructor involved.
LA
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WMST 308 - Queer Literature 3 s.h.
This course will look at literature spanning the last three hundred years to investigate attitudes and concepts pertaining to queer identities and lives, the queer struggle for identity creation, social legitimacy, acceptance and the fight for equality - and the corresponding heteronormative backlash. Critical exploration of literature will follow an intersectional approach that examines the connections among race, sexed embodiment, gender, class and sexual orientation in relation to the concepts that frame the meanings of bodies within social contexts. Students will have opportunities to do queer readings of some traditional texts, to see how the meaning changes when characters are not assumed to be heterosexual, gender normative, or cis-gendered. In addition to essays, letters, diaries, memoirs, poems, short stories, songs, plays, and novels, students will also read selections on queer theory to guide their readings. Offered every 2-3 years.
LA
Cross-listed as LITR 308 .
Prerequisite(s): SoS; LITR 250 or 3sh of any WMST course.
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WMST 351 - Trans Lives & Constructs of Conformity 3 s.h.
This course explores the medical, historical, sexological, and social ongoing constructions of gender variances, gender identities, and sexed bodies. Central foci of the course include: critiquing binaries, normativity, the boundaries of female/male/intersex and feminine/masculine/androgyny/gender non-conforming. Course readings draw from different fields in the social sciences and humanities, culminating in the ability for critical reflection of hierarchical values given to bodies, narratives, histories and identities. Offered every 3-4 semesters.
LA
Prerequisite(s): WMST 130 and WMST 275 .
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WMST 365 - Queer Migrations 3 s.h.
Queer Migrations examines the relationship between LGBTQ identities, communities, and bodies as they migrate across borders. Readings span the macro and the personal, including narratives of queer migrants, structures of the state that define citizenship, how communities and borders are policed, global trends in policy, acceptance and rejection of asylum claims, and survival strategies of queer migrants. Offered once per year.
LA
Prerequisite(s): WMST 130 .
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WMST 388 - Capstone: Feminist Organizing 3 s.h.
This course will explore the historical, social, and political contexts that have shaped feminist organizing and activisms for social justice, examining the challenges associated with envisioning, promoting, organizing, and instigating change across a range of gender issues. A central focus of this course will be acquiring the necessary skills to intervene in unjust discourses, wherein individuals and groups can address both the structural or systemic changes affecting the underlying conditions and circumstances in society that contribute to injustice, in addition to improving the actual day-to-day lives of people most impacted by the particular injustice through small and large-scale interventions. Offered every two semesters.
Prerequisite(s): WMST 130 , WMST 275 , and WMST 289 .
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WMST 390 - Transnational Feminisms 3 s.h.
This course examines feminist scholarship and activism produced by and about U.S. women of color and Third world women. Main foci of the course include gender, race, sexuality, human rights, economics, labor rights, colonialism, imperialism, and nationalism as relations of power across and throughout transnational settings. Course readings draw from different fields in the social sciences and humanities, culminating in the ability for cross-cultural feminist analysis. Extensive reading and writing required for original research. Offered once a year.
LA
Prerequisite(s): WMST 130 and WMST 275 .
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WMST 394 - Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies 1 s.h. - 3 s.h.
A course which focuses on particular issues, problems or research topics. The purpose is to explore a particular subject that may not be contained in a regularly offered course (e.g., Women in Spanish American Lit).
LA
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WMST 397 - Women’s and Gender Studies Internship 3 s.h. - 6 s.h.
Working, reading and/or research in all areas of Women’s and Gender Studies under faculty supervision (e.g., government agency, publishers, reproductive health). Approval of the advisor and Department chair required.
LA
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WMST 398 - Seminar in Women’s and Gender Studies 3 s.h.
Group discussions and independent research studies in gender, race, class, and sexuality.
LA
BC3
Prerequisite(s): JrS required, 3 s.h. in Women’s and Gender Studies recommended.
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WMST 399 - Independent Study in Women’s and Gender Studies 1 s.h. - 3 s.h.
Individual studies under faculty supervision. Admission by consent of Department chair and instructor involved.
LA
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