79-711: WGS may refer to: Education [ edit ] Women's and Gender Studies , a field of study at universities worldwide Schools [ edit ] Wisbech Grammar School , an independent school in Cambridgeshire, England Withington Girls' School , a girls' school in Fallowfield, Manchester, England Wolverhampton Grammar School , an independent school in Wolverhampton, England Science and technology [ edit ] Whole genome sequencing ,
158-435: A 1934 speech to refer to their concept of nation and state based on racial supremacy. In contemporary US political science studies, usage of the term is mostly divided between a poststructuralist group using the meaning assigned by Foucault (denoting social and political power over life) and another group that uses it to denote studies relating biology and political science . In the work of Foucault, biopolitics refers to
237-596: A Marxist viewpoint, Karl Marx had expressed a notion in which believed that those in power have the inability to understand the perspectives of those whom they hold power. Providing that standpoint theory acknowledges the male incapability of understanding the oppression in which women face in society. Transnational feminism is concerned with the flow of social, political, and economic equality of women and men across borders; directly in response to globalization, neoliberalism, and imperialism. Women's studies began incorporating transnational feminist theory into its curricula as
316-638: A New Era (DAWN), a network for feminist academics and activists focused on the Global South , created in 1984. African scholars among DAWN's founding members were Fatema Mernissi (Morocco), Pala Okeyo (Kenya), and Marie-Angélique Savané (Senegal). These scholars inspired a second group of researchers and activists, which included: Rudo Gaidzanwa (Zimbabwe), Ayesha Imam (Nigeria), Patricia McFadden (Eswatini), Amina Mama (Nigeria), Takyiwaa Manuh (Ghana), Maria Nzomo (Kenya), and Charmaine Pereira (Nigeria). The University of Ghana established
395-481: A PhD in the field. In 1956, Australian feminist Madge Dawson took up a lectureship in the Department of Adult Education at Sydney University and began researching and teaching on the status of women. Dawson's course, "Women in a Changing World", which focused on the socio-economic and political status of women in western Europe, becoming one of the first women's studies courses. In 2015 at Kabul University ,
474-674: A feminist standpoint, agency may be viewed as an attempt to equalize the one-sided oppression that has characterized first wave feminism. Feminists use agency in attempt to create new forms of autonomy and dependence from the reshaping of gender relations that is taking place in global society. Women's studies acknowledges the lack of agency in which women historically possessed, due to hierarchical positions in society. Feminists are actively making an effort to increase gender equality, as it may result in expanding social agency for all women. Materialist theory derives from 1960s and 1970s social work in feminism. Materialism possesses significant ties to
553-559: A food festival World Group Securities , the broker-dealer affiliate of World Financial Group (WFG) and a member of AEGON Group Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title WGS . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WGS&oldid=1224042617 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
632-563: A foundation of women's studies. Increasingly social justice has become a key component of women's studies courses, programs, and departments. Social justice theory is concerned with the fight for just communities, not on the individual level, but for the whole of society. Women's studies students engage in social justice projects, although some scholars and critics are concerned about requiring students to engage in both mandated activism and/or social justice work. Women's studies not only focus on concepts such as domestic violence, discrimination in
711-416: A global effort. Furthermore, a transnational feminist perspective perpetuates that a lack of attention to the cultural and economic injustices of gender, as a result of globalization, may aid in the reinforcing of global gender inequalities; though, this can only come about when one occupies globally privileged subject positions. Since its inception and connection with the women's movement, activism has been
790-640: A guide outlining the 17 then-existing undergraduate courses, 1 postgraduate option, four college of education offers and six polytechnics courses in Women's Studies – often called 'women in society' – in the United Kingdom. They compiled the guide from surveys of UK universities and adding to research previously published by Sue Beardon and Erika Stevenson for the National Union of Students in 1974. A part time postgraduate Diploma in Women's Studies
869-518: A laboratory process that determines the complete DNA sequence of an organism's genome at a single time World Geodetic System , a reference frame for the earth for use in geodesy and navigation Wideband Global SATCOM , a United States and Australian military communication satellite system Water gas shift reaction , a chemical reaction of carbon monoxide and water vapor into carbon dioxide and hydrogen Other [ edit ] Watergardens railway station , Melbourne World Gourmet Summit ,
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#1732771791491948-564: A research facility for women scholars and provided publishing for their works. From the early 1980s, women like Juanita Barreto Gama , Guiomar Dueñas Vargas , Florence Thomas , Magdalena León Gómez , María Martínez , Donny Meertens , Yolanda Puyana Villamizar [ wikidata ] , María Himelda Ramírez and Ana Rico de Alonso worked to create an interdisciplinary field of feminist study in Colombia . First they met informally, then were able to gain official recognition in 1985 as
1027-499: A result of these pedagogies, women's studies students leave university with a tool set to make social change and do something about power inequalities in society. Notable women's studies scholars include Charlotte Bunch , Patricia Hill Collins , bell hooks , Angela Davis , Cherríe Moraga , Audre Lorde , Adrienne Rich , and Barbara Ransby . In the book Professing Feminism: Education and Indoctrination in Women's Studies , thirty Women's Studies academics came together to criticise
1106-551: A target for this milieu by the 17th century. The development of vaccines and medicines dealing with public hygiene allowed death to be held (and/or withheld) from certain populations. This was the introduction of "more subtle, more rational mechanisms: insurance, individual and collective savings, safety measures, and so on." Italian philosopher and legal theorist Giorgio Agamben's theory of biopolitics critiques that of Foucault, citing his predecessor's supposition as overly simplistic and lacking legal framework. Agamben's biopolitics
1185-410: A variety of topics, including popular culture, women in the economy, reproductive and environmental justice , and women's health across the lifespan. Women's studies programs are involved in social justice work and often design curricula that are embedded with theory and activism outside of the classroom setting. Some women's studies programs offer internships that are community-based allowing students
1264-428: A way to disrupt and challenge the ways in which knowledge regarding gender is prioritized, transmitted, and circulated in the field and academy. Transnational feminist theory is continually challenging the traditional divides of society, in which are crucial to ongoing politics and cultural beliefs. A key recognition advanced from the transnational feminist perspective is that gender is, has been, and will continue to be,
1343-516: Is a concept popularized by the French philosopher Michel Foucault in the mid-20th century. At its core, biopolitics explores how governmental power operates through the management and regulation of a population's bodies and lives. This interdisciplinary field scrutinizes the mechanisms through which political authorities and institutions exercise control over populations which goes beyond conventional forms of governance. This encompasses areas such as
1422-460: Is a conceptual and operative framework for societal development, promoting bios (Greek for "life") as the central theme in every human endeavor, be it policy, education, art, government, science or technology. This concept uses bios as a term referring to all forms of life on our planet, including their genetic and geographic variation. One usage concerns the interplay and interdisciplinary studies relating biology and political science , primarily
1501-571: Is a way of understanding and analyzing the complexity in people, human experiences, and society. Associated with the third wave of feminism, Kimberlé Crenshaw 's theory of intersectionality has become the key theoretical framework through which various feminist scholars discuss the relationship of between one's social and political identities such as gender, race, age, and sexual orientation, and received societal discrimination. Intersectionality posits that these relationships must be considered to understand hierarchies of power and privilege, as well as
1580-419: Is applied biology ." Another common usage is per a political spectrum that reflects and or advocates various positions towards regarding the biotech revolution. A less common one sometimes surfaces in the green politics of bioregionalism . Biopolitics, read as a variation of Foucault's Biopower , has proven to be a substantive concept in the field of postcolonial studies . Foucault's term refers to
1659-644: Is based on a distinction between three types of life: natural life, political life, and bare life- tracing the birth of biopolitics back to Ancient Greece, opposing Foucault's focus on modernity. Ancient Greek philosophy details a separation of bios – meaning physical life, or the life of the body, and zoe – a divine, spiritual life that is eternal and immortal. This distinction parallels the ancient Roman law of homo sacer – he who could be killed but not sacrificed. Agamben theorises that sovereign power (the state) needs to perpetually produce bare life ( homo sacer ) in order to reproduce itself- applying biopolitics as
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#17327717914911738-399: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Women%27s and Gender Studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender ; systems of privilege and oppression; and
1817-409: Is from the feminist perspective, claiming that social conditions of gender are historically situated, as well as subjected to intervention and change. Materialist feminism specifically focuses on social arrangements that accentuate the role of women notably the aspects of family, domesticity, and motherhood. Materialism analyzes gendering discourses in which promote women's marginalization; Thus, one of
1896-557: Is related to the fields of gender studies , feminist studies, and sexuality studies, and more broadly related to the fields of cultural studies , ethnic studies , and African-American studies . Women's studies courses are now offered in over seven hundred institutions in the United States, and globally in more than forty countries. The erasure of women and their activities in Africa was complex. When women's studies emerged in
1975-458: The Collège de France from 1975 to 1976. Foucault's concept of biopolitics is largely derived from his own notion of biopower , and the extension of state power over both the physical and political bodies of a population. While only mentioned briefly in his "Society Must Be Defended" lectures, the conceptualisation of biopolitics developed by Foucault has become prominent in social science and
2054-574: The Institute for Biopolitics in the late 1950s, and also with Glayde Whitney , a behavioral geneticist. Most of his opponents label his model as antisemitic. Kuttner and Mullins were inspired by Morley Roberts , who was in turn inspired by Arthur Keith , or both were inspired by each other and either co-wrote together (or with the Institute of Biopolitics) Biopolitics of Organic Materialism dedicated to Roberts and reprinted some of his works. In
2133-491: The University of Buea (Cameroon), and the University of Zambia (Zambia). The first accredited women's studies course in the U.S. was held in 1969 at Cornell University . After a year of intense organizing of women's consciousness raising groups , rallies, petition circulating, and operating unofficial or experimental classes and presentations before seven committees and assemblies, the first women's studies program in
2212-559: The University of Buenos Aires . In 1987, María Fernández became the chair of UBA's degree program in women's studies. In 1992, the Area Interdisciplinaria de Estudios de la Mujer (AIEM, Interdisciplinary Area of Women's Studies), which became the Instituto Interdisciplinario de Estudios de Género (Interdisciplinary Institute of Gender Studies) in 1997, was founded at UBA linking academics from
2291-404: The feminist movement that compelled the formation of women's studies found itself at odds with the institutionalized academic feminism of the 1990s. As "woman" as a concept continued to be expanded, the exploration of social constructions of gender led to the field's expansion into both gender studies and sexuality studies. The field of women's studies continued to grow during the 1990s and into
2370-487: The "unhealthy conditions and self-destructive tendencies that appear to be intrinsic to many Women's Studies programs". Professors spoke of being unable to "discuss their concerns about this belligerent anti-intellectualism with other faculty members in Women's Studies", with claims of a "constant emphasis on political purity.... from both students and professors". [REDACTED] Learning materials related to Women's Studies at Wikiversity Biopolitics Biopolitics
2449-462: The 1960s and 1970s. The first generation of scholars focused on establishing and legitimizing Africa's precolonial history. They also questioned whether the Western construct of gender applied in Africa or whether the concepts of gender existed in pre-colonial Africa. Ifi Amadiume 's work Male Daughters, Female Husbands (1987) and Oyeronke Oyewumi 's The Invention of Women (1997) are some of
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2528-474: The 1960s-70s development of women's studies, "in the summer of 1969 Juliet Mitchell taught a short course entitled 'The Role of Women in Society' in the 'Anti University', which had been organised by radical academics as part of the student protest movement". Maggie Humm identifies this summer course as "Britain's first women's studies course". In 1975, Margarita Rendel, Oonagh Hartnett, Zoe Fairbairns, wrote
2607-709: The 1980s and continued expanding throughout the 1990s. In 1992, Brazilian academics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro launched Revista Estudos Feministas , one of the primary academic journals on gender in Brazil. Among the contributors for the inaugural issue were Ana Arruda Callado [ pt ] , Heloísa Buarque de Hollanda , Maria Carneiro da Cunha , Mary Garcia Castro [ pt ] , Rosiska Darcy de Oliveira , Valéria Lamego , Miriam Moreira Leite , Leila Linhares , Heleieth Saffioti , Bila Sorj , and others. The political aims of
2686-418: The 1980s as a way of critically examining the production of knowledge and its resulting effects on practices of power. Standpoint theory operates from the idea that knowledge is socially situated and underrepresented groups and minorities have historically been ignored or marginalized when it comes to the production of knowledge. Emerging from Marxist thought, standpoint theory argues for analysis that challenges
2765-505: The 1980s, it focused on recovering women from the obscurity of all of African history caused by colonialism and the "patriarchal social systems" left behind in Africa after decolonization. Because systems prevailed which supported boys' education over that of girls, in the era following independence there were few women who could read and write. Those who could were not encouraged to become professionals and often resorted to activism to address educational and other disadvantages women faced in
2844-564: The 2000s with the expansion of universities offering majors, minors, and certificates in women's studies, gender studies, and feminist studies. The first official PhD program in Women's Studies was established at Emory University in 1990. As of 2012, there were 16 institutions offering a PhD in Women's Studies in the United States. Since then, UC Santa Cruz (2013), the University of Kentucky-Lexington (2013), Stony Brook University (2014), and Oregon State University (2016) also introduced
2923-812: The Centro de Estudios de la Mujer (Center for Women's Studies) in the psychology faculty at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The field was formalized with the creation of the Programa Universitario de Estudios de Género (PUEG, University Program on Gender Studies) in 1992, at the urging of academics like Gloria Careaga , Teresita de Barbieri , Graciela Hierro [ es ] , Araceli Mingo , Lorenia Parada , and Alicia Elena Pérez Duarte . Activists and researchers in Chile began meeting in 1978 with creation of
3002-679: The Círculo de la Mujer (Women's Circle). In 1984, they founded the Centro de Estudios de la Mujer (CEM, Center for Women's Studies) in Santiago to facilitate multi-disciplinary studies on women and gender. That same year, Virginia Vargas began teaching women's studies in Peru, and the following year, she along with Virginia Guzmán Barcos and others, founded the Flora Tristán Peruvian Women's Center . The center provided
3081-574: The Development and Women's Studies Program (DAWS) in 1989, which by 1996 offered both undergraduate and graduate level studies. After the demise of Apartheid , the University of Cape Town , South Africa established the African Gender Institute in 1996 to facilitate research and gender studies in Africa. By 2003, full departments dedicated to gender and women's studies had also been established at Makerere University (Uganda),
3160-852: The English department, administration and within the community. By 1974, San Diego State University faculty members began a nationwide campaign for the integration of the department. At the time, these actions and the field were extremely political. Before formalized departments and programs, many women's studies courses were advertised unofficially around campuses and taught by women faculty member – without pay – in addition to their established teaching and administrative responsibilities. Then, as in many cases today, faculty who teach in women's studies often hold faculty appointments in other departments on campus. The first scholarly journal in interdisciplinary women's studies, Feminist Studies , began publishing in 1972. The National Women's Studies Association (of
3239-808: The Grupo de Estudios Mujer y Sociedad (Women & Society Study Group) and finally in 1994, they launched the Programa de Estudios de Género, Mujer y Desarrollo (PGMD, Gender, Women and Development Studies Program) in the Human Sciences Department at the National University of Colombia . In 1985, activists in Argentina launched the "Introduction to Women's Studies" and a post-graduate seminar, "La construcción social del género sexual" (The Social Construction of Sexual Gender) at
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3318-566: The Marxist theories of history, agency, and ideology; though, may be distinguished through the incorporation of language and culture to its philosophy. Materialism poses questions to both social analytics and social relations, in which may be found in the material conditions of any given society. In addition from examining from a gender standpoint, material conditions are studied in relation to realistic aspects of women's lives. A key aspect in which materialist feminists have revealed these relations
3397-484: The Middle Ages pandemics made death a permanent and perpetual part of life, this was then shifted around the end of the 18th century with the introduction of milieu into the biological sciences . Foucault then gives different contrasts to the then physical sciences in which the industrialisation of the population was coming to the fore through the concept of work, where Foucault then argues power starts to become
3476-578: The Politics of Empowerment (Collins). Alice Walker coined the term womanism to situate black women's experiences as they struggle for social change and liberation, while simultaneously celebrating the strength of black women, their culture, and their beauty. Patricia Hill Collin's contributed the concept of the " matrix of domination " to feminist theory, which reconceptualized race, class, and gender as interlocking systems of oppression that shape experiences of privilege and oppression. Intersectionality
3555-612: The Polytechnic of North East London and at Preston Polytechnic. Veronica Beechey was recruited by the Open University in 1983 to initiate a women's studies course there. Current courses in Women's Studies in the United Kingdom can be found through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service . Early women's studies courses and curricula were often driven by the question "Why are women not included? Where are
3634-485: The United States was established in 1970 at San Diego State College (now San Diego State University ). In conjunction with National Women's Liberation Movement , students and community members created the ad hoc committee for women's studies. The second women's studies program in the United States was established in 1971 at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. It was mostly formed through many efforts by women in
3713-510: The United States) was established in 1977. In 1977, there were 276 women's studies programs nationwide in the United States. The number of programs increased in the following decade, growing up to 530 programs in 1989, which included the program at the University of Puerto Rico founded by Margarita Benítez in 1986. Around the 1980s, universities in the U.S. saw the growth and development of women's studies courses and programs across
3792-443: The administration of life itself, rather than solely focusing on individual behaviors or actions. Accordingly, biopolitics entails the governance of populations as biological entities, with an emphasis on optimizing their health, productivity, and reproductive capacities in manners conducive to broader political and economic objectives. In its essence, biopolitics investigates how political power intersects with biological life, shaping
3871-417: The authority of political and social "truths". Standpoint theory, assumes that power lies solely within the hands of the male gender as the process of decision making in society is constructed exclusively for, and by men. An example of where standpoint theory presents itself in society is through the processes of political analysis, as this field of study is almost entirely controlled by men. Furthermore, from
3950-410: The biopolitical in his "The Birth of Biopolitics" and "The Courage of Truth" lectures. Foucault gave numerous examples of biopolitical control when he first mentioned the concept in 1976. These examples include "ratio of births to deaths, the rate of reproduction, the fertility of a population, and so on." He contrasted this method of social control with political power in the Middle Ages. Whereas in
4029-562: The bodies, behaviors, and well-being of populations through diverse strategies and controls. Previous notions of the concept can be traced back to the Middle Ages in John of Salisbury 's work Policraticus , in which the term body politic was coined and used. The term biopolitics was first used by Rudolf Kjellén , a political scientist who also coined the term geopolitics , in his 1905 two-volume work The Great Powers . Kjellén used
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#17327717914914108-474: The colonized subject, who are oppressed and subaltern . Edward Said , in his work Orientalism , analysed the means by which colonial powers rationalised their relationship with the colonized societies they inhabited through discursive means, and how these discourses continue to influence modern-day depictions of the Orient. Franz Fanon applied a psychoanalytic frame to his theories of subjectivity, arguing that
4187-796: The country at: Around the same time, women academics in Latin America began to form women's studies groups. The first chair of women's studies in Mexico was created in the political and social sciences faculty of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1970. Starting in 1979, the Grupo Autónomo de Mujeres Universitarias (GAMU, Autonomous Group of University Women), which included both Mexican faculty and students began meeting periodically to discuss how feminism could be introduced to various campuses across
4266-442: The country while the field continued to grapple with backlash from both conservative groups and concerns from those within the women's movement about the white, existentialist , and heterosexual privilege of those in the academy. In Canada The first few university courses in Women's Studies were taught in the early 1970s. In 1984 the federal government established five regional endowed chairs in Women's Studies for each region of
4345-727: The country. In 1982, a women's studies program was created at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco . Similarly in 1983, activists in the Mexican feminist movement, including Lourdes Arizpe , Flora Botton , and Elena Urrutia , founded the Programa Interdisciplinario de Estudios de la Mujer (PIEG, Interdisciplinary Women's Studies Program) at El Colegio de México in Mexico City. In 1984, academics formed
4424-480: The effects in which they manifest in an individual's life. Though events and conditions of social and political life are often thought to be shaped by one factor, intersectionality theorizes that oppression and social inequality are a result of how powerful individuals view the combination of various factors; emphasizing that discrimination is accounted for by power, not personal identity. Standpoint theory , also classified as feminist standpoint theory, developed in
4503-476: The experiences and conditions of women's lives. Theorists and writers such as bell hooks , Simone de Beauvoir , Patricia Hill Collins , and Alice Walker added to the field of feminist theory with respect to the ways in which race and gender mutually inform the experiences of women of color with works such as Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (hooks), In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens (Walker), and Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and
4582-432: The experiences of women at the center of inquiry through the use of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Feminist researchers acknowledge their role in the production of knowledge and make explicit the relationship between the researcher and the research subject. Feminist theory refers to the body of writing that works to address gender discrimination and disparities, while acknowledging, describing, and analyzing
4661-545: The faculties of Arts, Anthropology, Classics and Letters, Education, History, Languages, and Philosophy to encourage broader research and analysis of women in these fields. Hilda Habichayn founded the Centro de Estudios Históricos sobre las Mujeres (Center for Historical Studies on Women), which began in 1993 to offer the first master's degree in women's studies in Latin America. The first women's study program in Paraguay
4740-696: The first master's degree course in gender and women's studies in Afghanistan began. Elizabeth Bird traced the development of Women's Studies in the UK out of informal education run by the women's liberation movement (WLM), the Workers' Educational Association, "CR" or " consciousness raising " groups, left-wing activist groups, and extramural departments attached to universities and colleges. Bird notes that, according to feminist activists and scholars Anna Coote and Beatrix Campbell who interviewed many participants in
4819-724: The first works which sought to examine gender perceptions in Africa. In 1977, the Association of African Women for Research and Development (AAWORD) was established to promote research on African women by African women. Scholars affiliated with the organization from its founding included: Simi Afonja (Nigeria), N'Dri Thérèse Assié-Lumumba (Ivory Coast), ( Bolanle Awe (Nigeria), Nawal El Saadawi (Egypt), Nina Mba (Nigeria), Omolara Ogundipe-Leslie (Nigeria), Achola Pala Okeyo (Kenya), Filomena Steady (Sierra Leone), Fatou Sow (Senegal), and Zenebework Tadesse (Ethiopia). Other scholars joined Development Alternatives with Women for
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#17327717914914898-467: The humanities. Foucault described biopolitics as "a new technology of power...[that] exists at a different level, on a different scale, and [that] has a different bearing area, and makes use of very different instruments." More than a disciplinary mechanism, Foucault's biopolitics acts as a control apparatus exerted over a population as a whole or, as Foucault stated, "a global mass." In the years that followed, Foucault continued to develop his notions of
4977-400: The intersection between power (political, economic, judicial etc.) and the individual's bodily autonomy. According to postcolonial theorists, present within the colonial setting are various mechanisms of power that consolidate the political authority of the colonizer; Biopolitics is thus the means by which a colonising force utilises political power to regulate and control the bodily autonomy of
5056-499: The learning process. Women's studies programs and courses are designed to explore the intersectionality of gender, race, sexuality, class and other topics that are involved in identity politics and societal norms through a feminist lens. Women's studies courses focus on a variety of topics such as media literacy, sexuality, race and ethnicity, history involving women, queer theory, multiculturalism and other courses closely related. Faculty incorporate these components into classes across
5135-449: The lives of subjects, however they identify, are constituted. At the core of these theories is the notion that however one identifies, gender, sex, and sexuality are not intrinsic, but are socially constructed. Major theories employed in women's studies courses include feminist theory , intersectionality , standpoint theory , transnational feminism , and social justice . Research practices associated with women's studies place women and
5214-525: The most influential aspects of materialist feminism is its attentiveness with questions of ideology and how they relate to history and agency. In most institutions, women's studies courses employ feminist pedagogy in a triad model of equal parts research, theory, and praxis. The decentralization of the professor as the source of knowledge is often fundamental to women's studies classroom culture. Students are encouraged to take an active role in "claiming" their education, taking responsibility for themselves and
5293-905: The opportunity to experience how institutional structures of privilege and oppression directly affects women's lives. Women's studies curricula often encourage students to participate in service-learning activities in addition to discussion and reflection upon course materials. However, Daphne Patai , from the University of Massachusetts Amherst , has criticized this aspect of women's studies programs, arguing that they place politics over education, stating "the strategies of faculty members in these programs have included policing insensitive language, championing research methods deemed congenial to women (such as qualitative over quantitative methods), and conducting classes as if they were therapy sessions." Since women's studies students analyze identity markers including gender, race, class, and sexuality, this often results in dissecting institutionalized structures of power. As
5372-416: The regulation of health, reproduction, sexuality, and other aspects of biological existence. The governmental power of biopolitics is exerted through practices such as surveillance , healthcare policies, population control measures, gender-based laws, and the implementation of biometric identification systems. Foucault's thesis claims that contemporary power structures are increasingly preoccupied with
5451-893: The relationships between power and gender as they intersect with other identities and social locations such as race , sexual orientation , socio-economic class , and disability . Popular concepts that are related to the field of women's studies include feminist theory , standpoint theory , intersectionality, multiculturalism , transnational feminism , social justice , affect studies, agency , bio-politics , materialism , and embodiment. Research practices and methodologies associated with women's studies include ethnography , autoethnography , focus groups , surveys, community-based research, discourse analysis, and reading practices associated with critical theory , post-structuralism , and queer theory . The field researches and critiques different societal norms of gender , race , class, sexuality , and other social inequalities . Women's studies
5530-553: The study of the relationship between biology and political behavior. Most of these works agree on three fundamental aspects. First, the object of investigation is primarily political behavior, which—and this is the underlying assumption—is caused in a substantial way by objectively demonstrable biological factors. For example, the relationship of biology and political orientation , but also biological correlates of partisanship and voting behavior . (See also sociobiology .) Note here Ernst Haeckel 's famous proposition that " [p]olitics
5609-515: The style of government that regulates populations through " biopower " (the application and impact of political power on all aspects of human life ). Morley Roberts , in his 1938 book Bio-politics argued that a correct model for world politics is "a loose association of cell and protozoa colonies". Robert E. Kuttner used the term to refer to his particular brand of "scientific racism", as he called it, which he worked out with noted antisemite Eustace Mullins , with whom Kuttner co-founded
5688-526: The subjectivity of the colonized is in constant dialogue with the oppressive political power of the colonizer, a mirroring of the Oedipal father-son dynamic. While not using the term himself, Fanon's work has been cited as a major development in the conceptualisation of biopolitics in the colonial setting. French philosopher and social theorist Michel Foucault first discussed his thoughts on biopolitics in his lecture series "Society Must Be Defended" given at
5767-414: The term in the context of his aim to study "the civil war between social groups" (comprising the state) from a biological perspective, and thus named his putative discipline "biopolitics". In Kjellén's organicist view, the state was a quasi-biological organism, a "super-individual creature". The Nazis also subsequently used the term in the context of their racial policy , with Hans Reiter using it in
5846-424: The ways in which women's personal lives reflect larger power structures. Since the 1970s, scholars of women's studies have taken post-modern approaches to understand gender and its intersections with race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, age, and (dis)ability to produce and maintain power structures within society. With this turn, there has been a focus on language, subjectivity, and social hegemony, and how
5925-472: The women?". That is, as more women became more present in higher education as both students and faculty, questions arose about the male-centric nature of most courses and curricula. Women faculty in traditional departments such as history, English, and philosophy began to offer courses with a focus on women. Drawing from the women's movement's notion that "the personal is political", courses also began to develop around sexual politics, women's roles in society, and
6004-437: The work of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri , biopolitics is framed in terms of anti-capitalist insurrection using life and the body as weapons; examples include flight from power and, "in its most tragic and revolting form", suicide terrorism , conceptualized as the opposite of biopower, which is seen as the practice of sovereignty in biopolitical conditions. According to Professor Agni Vlavianos Arvanitis , biopolitics
6083-421: The workplace, and gender differences in the division of labor at home, but gives a foundation for understanding the root cause of these concepts, which is the first step to making for a better life for women. Agency may be defined as the capability to make choices individually and freely. An individual's agency may be restricted due to various social factors, such as gender, race, religion and social class. From
6162-595: Was offered by The Polytechnic of Central London from 1977, and in 1978 an MA course on the subject of 'Rights', including women's rights, was organised by Margarita Rendel at the London Institute of Education. In 1980, the University of Kent launched the first named MA degree in Women's Studies, with Mary Evans leading the development of the course. Following Kent, Bradford (1982), Sheffield City Polytechnic (1983), Warwick (1983) and York (1984) opened MA courses. In 1990, part-time BAs in Women's Studies launched at
6241-741: Was the Centro Paraguayo de estudios de la Mujer (Paraguayan Center of Women's Studies) at the Universidad Católica "Nuestra Señora de la Asunción" . It was founded in 1983 by Olga Caballero , Manuelita Escobar , Marilyn Godoy and Edy Irigoitia . The Grupo de Estudios de la Mujer Paraguaya (GEMPA, Paraguayan Women's Studies Group) was founded at the Paraguayan Center for Sociological Studies in 1985 by Graziella Corvalán and Mirtha Rivarola . Gender studies also began to be established in universities in Brazil in
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