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Spring
2011 Professor Charlene Makley Office: 312 Vollum Phone: 771-1112, ext. 7461 Office Hours: Tues.-Thurs. 4:10-5:30 Course DescriptionWhat is the difference
between sex and gender? And why is this important in today's world? This
course introduces students to an anthropological perspective on the relationship
between sex, the biological attributes by which a person is deemed "male"
or "female", and gender, the norms and ideals associating appropriate
roles, behaviors and sexualities with men or women. In order to understand
the various debates and their stakes, we will read anthropological accounts
of cultures in which sex and gender are construed very differently from
our own, and combine these with discussions of documentary and popular
movies and video clips. The course will provide students with ways to
understand how we come to consider and express ourselves as "men", "women",
or something else, the social forces that constrain us to act and think
as gendered persons, and the potential consequences for not conforming
to those norms.
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