Program Requirements
The Master of Arts in Women and Gender Studies is a 30 credit program that includes both course work and a thesis. It can be pursued either full time or part time. The degree can be completed in two years. Graduate students have five years to complete all degree requirements. All students are required to complete the following courses:
Students are encouraged to consult with the Women and Gender Studies Program Coordinator to identify electives and independent study courses that support their special area of interest.
Note: Students will register once for the Thesis course (and be giving a grade of an IP until their thesis is complete). Students must register for FGSR 9000 in every semester in order to maintain their status as a graduate student.
GWGS / WGST 6601—Feminist Theory
Course Objectives
The course is intended to provide a wide, interdisciplinary perspective on feminist theory. It is not intended to provide a comprehensive historical overview of feminisms, although this may form a portion of the course. A substantial portion of the course will engage students with the most current disciplinary debates and theoretical frameworks. The course will engage with how feminist theory intersects with, for example, postcolonial theory, queer theory, critical race theory, disability studies, indigenous studies. Canadian perspectives will be included. The course will address theory from a perspective that engages gender as multifaceted - including the creation of space for discussions of feminist theory addressing women and femininities, men and masculinities, queer identities, trans and intersexed persons.
Course benchmarks:
Evaluation: The most significant evaluation will be the completion of a research paper or project that is directly linked to the course content. Other evaluation elements might include, student presentations, participation in class discussions, paper outline etc.
GWGS / WGST 6602—Feminist Methodologies
Course objectives:
The course is envisioned as a forum that will engage students in feminist epistemologies related to specifically feminist approaches to research. It will foreground the current state of research practices and debates of the field of Women and Gender Studies. The course will present a range of feminist methods - for example, but not limited to - ethnography, interviews, narrative, media analysis, collective biography, autoethnography, discourse analysis, content analysis, historiography, arts-based methods, archival and cultural analysis etc.
The course is inter-disciplinary and should include discussions about research from a range of disciplinary perspectives. Addressing methodologies across a range of disciplines in the social sciences and humanities is inherently complex, not only because of the different methods, but also the different concepts used. This course will address these differences and the different perspectives that students may bring with them from their undergraduate degrees as well as their particular needs within the M.A. program.
The course will include discussions and readings on current debates within feminist research, about the politics of knowledge production, research ethics, relationships of research to colonial histories and practices, representational practices, power, researcher-researched relations, relations between authors, readers and texts, validity, alternative writing and knowledge production practices.
Students may have the possibility of participating in various research exercises, for example interviewing, observations etc. Students will have the opportunity to engage in a wide range of research practices.
Course Benchmarks:
Evaluation: The most significant evaluation will be the completion of a research paper(s) or project that is directly linked to the course content. Other evaluation elements might include, student presentations, participation in class discussions and research methods exercises, research proposal, paper outline etc.
GWGS 6620 / WMST 6603—Graduate Seminar
This course has a dual objective: to assist students in professional development toward a graduate degree or career including navigating the specific requirements of our program; and, to engage students in understanding the major debates in the interdisciplinary field. The course is led by an experienced faculty member in the program. Introducing students to the program could include presentations on library resources, services of the research office, direction on constituting a thesis committee, ethics review board processes etc. Professional development could include producing a literature review, a grant proposal, developing research questions, and/or an ethics application. In recent years the second component of the course mandate has been achieved through inviting different program affiliates from both institutions to the class to present their research. Course readings include selections from the publications of program faculty. The result of this format is that students are introduced to the range of faculty expertise in the program, debates and current research in the field and are introduced to potential supervisors and committee members.
Evaluation: the major component of the evaluation is the completion of assignments based on the professional development activities listed above; written reflections on the assigned readings; preparation of questions for faculty guest speakers or a final paper.
GWGS 6620/ WGST 6604—Contemporary Issues of Feminism
The course theme will vary from year to year, depending on the instructor. These courses provide an opportunity for students to study in considerable depth and detail selected contemporary issues in feminist theory or methodologies. For example, a course might focus on African and African Diasporic Feminisms; Intersectionality: Theory, Method, and Praxis; Queer Theory; Decolonizing knowledge; Theories of Motherhood and Reproductive Justice and others.
Evaluation: The most significant evaluation will be the completion of a research paper(s) or project that is directly linked to the course content. Other evaluation elements might include, student presentations, participation in class discussions and research methods exercises, paper outline etc.