Women of the West
This course explores a variety of topics in United States literature after 1865, often focusing on a particular theme or genre. A description of the specific topic offered will be posted prior to the registration period. All sections satisfy a requirement for the English major and concentration; an elective for the Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities major; and an Exploration requirement for the Core Curriculum. 3.00 credit hours. Topics may include (among others): Women of the West: Despite the American West’s reputation as a place where “men can be men,” women have always been there too, and these women participated equally with men in creating the West’s myths as well as its realities. Through examining women’s stories of the West, this course will explore the ways that the region functioned as a borderland or “contact zone” where gender, racial, ethnic, and sexual identities were destabilized and negotiated. We will also analyze the ways women used literature to represent their own relationship to the landscape, and we will consider the perspectives of both newcomers and those who call the region not “the West,” but simply “home.”
