Resources for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at the Divinity School and University of Chicago
Welcome to the Divinity School's resource page for students interested in pursuing coursework and research on women, gender, and sexuality. The following pages offer information and opportunities for both within the Divinity School and in the wider University of Chicago community.
Centers
Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality
CSGS is multidisciplinary and offers resources for students from all areas of the University. In addition to an extensive and helpful list of University faculty whose research and teaching interests include gender and sexuality, the Center also offers courses and fellowships, prizes, and teaching positions.
The Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture
The Karla Scherer Center promotes multidisciplinary research and coursework on American culture; the center offers courses, frequent lunch talks, lectures, and other events. Many of these events feature scholars of gender, women, and sexuality. For more information, visit http://americanculture.uchicago.edu/
Workshops & Student Organizations
Gender and Sexuality Studies Workshop
This Council on Advanced Studies workshop meets biweekly on Tuesday afternoons; for more information, see: http://cas.uchicago.edu/workshops/genderandsexuality/.
Regulation of Family, Sex, and Gender Workshop
Organized by Professor Mary Ann Case at the University of Chicago Law School; for more information, see: http://www.law.uchicago.edu/workshops/familysexgender.
Gender and Philosophy Workshop
Contact Hannah Mosher at hmosher@uchicago.edu for more details.
Divinity School Women’s Caucus
Holds weekly gatherings for female students and faculty on Fridays from 4:30-6pm in Swift Hall: http://divschoolwomenscaucus.wordpress.com/.
GALS (Gender Activism, Learning, and Service)
Meets weekly; focused on issues of women and gender in western society: http://galsgalatea.wordpress.com/.
Courses
- Upcoming Divinity School Courses and Descriptions
- Sampling of Past Divinity School Courses
- Current Gender and Sexuality Course Offerings
Upcoming Divinity School Courses on Women, Gender, and Sexuality
Winter 2013
Race, Gender and African American Religions (Butler)
As a formative influence in the development of the Atlantic World, religion has been a defining force for determining human social intercourse. With definitions of humanity at the center of the construction of the Atlantic World, the religions of the Americas shaped what it means to be African American. Framing course analyses and reflections within the psychology of religion, we will explore African American identity formation and the impact of religions on African American constructions of race and gender. This will include conversations on the ways African American religions—both African-derived and Christian-influenced traditions—have encouraged or inhibited resistance to domination.
Gender, Power and Religion in Medieval Europe (800-1100) (Pick)
This course will examine the intersection of religious and secular power and the way these were reflected in and shaped by the gender systems of early medieval Europe. Topics to be studied include Kantorowicz's notion of "the king's two bodies," royal men and women, women and memorial culture, lineage and gender, marriage, and monastic culture. We will examine the Carolingian world and its aftermath, Ottonian Germany, Anglo-Saxon England, Hungary, and the early Spanish kingdoms.
Spring 2013
Feminist Theology and Theory: Selected Texts (Culp)
This seminar will engage a close reading of Simone de Beauvoir's Le Deuxieme Sexe (1949) in English translation and in relation to selected feminist theologians. Beauvoir's attention to the situation and "situatedness" of women resulted in new ways of thinking about freedom, destiny, reciprocity, and subjectivity; it brought literature, autobiography, and cultural studies into philosophical reflection. We will examine how Beauvoir's text addressed mysticism and transcendence and consider the reception of Beauvoir's work in feminist theological reflection.
Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly: Its Lives and Afterlives (Brekus/Rosengarten)
This seminar will engage in intensive reflection on Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel in both its immediate, pre-Civil War context and in its subsequent renditions and valorizations. Our central question will be the relation of historical significance and importance to aesthetic value: much of what was made of the novel, both by contemporaries and in later periods, pivots on different assessments of each, and indeed on the relation of them as tandem considerations in evaluating the novel.
Feminist Philosophy (Nussbaum)
The course is an introduction to the major varieties of philosophical feminism: Liberal Feminism (Mill, Wollstonecraft, Okin, Nussbaum), Radical Feminism (MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin), Difference Feminism (Gilligan, Held, Noddings), and Postmodern "Queer" Feminism (Rubin, Butler). After studying each of these approaches, we will focus on political and ethical problems of contemporary international feminism, asking how well each of the approaches addresses these problems.
Sampling of Past Divinity School Courses on Women, Gender, and Sexuality
by subject area (this is a representative, not a comprehensive, list of past courses)
History of Christianity
Women in American Religious History, 1630 – present (Brekus)
Incarnation and the Body in the Latin West: From Tertullian to Thomas Aquinas (Otten)
Late Medieval Women: Authorship and Authority (Otten)
Gender, Power, and Religion in Medieval Europe (800-1100) (Pick)
History of Religions
Myths of Transvestism and Transsexuality (Doniger)
Religion, Sex, Politics, and Release in Ancient India (Doniger)
Islamic Studies
Women Writing Persian: Survey of Poetry and Prose (Lewis)
Religion and Literature
Subject/Subjectivity (Meltzer)
Religious Ethics
Texts of Indian Modernity: Rabindranath Tagore's Writings about Nationalism, Universalism, Gender and Faith (Nussbaum/Sarkar)
Theology
Feminist Theory and Theology: Beauvoir’s Second Sex (Culp)
Black Theology and Womanist Theology (Hopkins)
Faculty
Divinity School faculty and affiliated faculty with teaching and research interests in topics relating to women, gender, and sexuality.
by subject area
History of Christianity
History of Religions
Religion and Literature
Religions in America
Religious Ethics
Theology
Library and Archive Resources
The University of Chicago Library offers many resources for students interested in studying women, gender, and sexuality.
- Library Resource Guides and Librarians
- Articles Database and Indexes
- Full Text Collections
- University of Chicago Special Collections and Archives
A good place to start is the Resource Guide pages created by the Subject Librarians.
- Women’s Studies Resource Guide
- Gay and Lesbian Studies Resource Guide
- Religious Studies Resource Guide
The librarian for Gender & Sexuality Studies is Julia Gardner.
Contact Information:
JRL-130, Special Collections Research Center
773-834-0627
juliag@uchicago.edu
The librarian for Religion & Philosophy is Anne Knafl.
Contact Information:
Joseph Regenstein Library, Room 462
773-702-8442
aknafl@uchicago.edu
These databases provide searchable digital access to scholarly work in the fields of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
- ViVa: A Bibliography of Women's History in Historical and Women's Studies Journals
- Alternative Press Index
- Alternative Press Index Archive
- ARIADNE
- Feminae: the Medieval Women and Gender Index
- Diotima: Materials for the Study of Women and Gender in the Ancient World
- Feminist Periodicals
- Left Index
These websites offer searchable, full-text collections of women’s writings.
- Black Women Writers
- Emory Women Writers Resource Project
- Italian Women Writers
- North American Women's Drama
- North American Women's Letters and Diaries
- Women' s Travel Writing
- Women Writers Project
- OECD iLibrary
Enter the term "gender" in the OECD iLibrary search box and you will see socioeconomic information on gender issues around the world, including the Atlas of Gender and Development; Gender equality: Factors reducing women’s quality of life; Gender, Institutions and Development
University of Chicago Special Collections and Archives
Check out these helpful guides for finding manuscripts and documents at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center.
Women's Studies Collections - Special Collections Research Center
A guide to collections relating to women's studies in the Special Collections Research Center.
Archives and Manuscript Finding Aids
Search Special Collections Research Center finding aids.
University of Chicago Archives
A guide to the University of Chicago Archives in the Special Collections Research Center.
Women at the University of Chicago: A Guide for Researchers in the Archives
© The Center for Gender Studies: "This guide is intended to provide a brief summary of that history with specific emphasis on the materials, archives, collections and photographs at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center. These materials will enable scholars of gender history and the University’s history to paint a richer portrait of women’s contributions to the University of the Chicago."
Women at the University of Chicago Finding Aid
© The Center for Gender Studies: "...outlines key themes and terms related to the history of women at the University. The key words are in chronological order, and yearbook dates for clubs/events/teams usually indicate the first year of appearance...."
