About Us

Women’s and Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary program that explores gender and sexual diversity, masculinities and queer studies, practices of representation and cultural production, popular culture, and critical transnational feminisms. Drawing on innovative conceptual frameworks and interdisciplinary methodologies, our undergraduate curriculum addresses intersections of embodiment, identity, community and knowledge politics in arenas that span the intimate and the international. Engaging the everyday worlds that we inherit and inhabit, the program provides critical tools that help students re-imagine more inclusive processes for creative, social and political change.

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Program Options

Bachelor of Arts Four-year (B.A. Four-year)
Bachelor of Arts Three-year (B.A. Three-year)
Bachelor of Arts Honours (B.A. Honours)
Bachelor of Arts Double Honours
Women's and Gender Studies - Minor
Women's, Gender and Sexualities Studies MA

Applying Your WGST Education

Women’s and Gender Studies graduates are sought-after members of social justice and community-based organizations. Some go into business with others or for themselves; others pursue creative and critical work in the arts, becoming writers, artists, musicians, playwrights; still others go on to specialized work in the professions, such as Law, Journalism, Medicine, International Relations, Social Work, Academia or Education. As well, a four-year B.A. or an Honours degree in Women’s and Gender Studies provide students with the critical writing and thinking skills needed for graduate education.

For more information about career opportunities for Women's and Gender Studies students, see Transforming Scholarship: Why Women's and Gender Studies Students are Changing Themselves and the World by Michele Tracey Berger and Cheryl Radeloff.

Courses

WGST 112.3 — 1/2(3L)

Introduction to Womens and Gender Studies

Introduces students to selected research and writings in the area of Women's and Gender Studies, emphasizing the diversity of debates informing the field. Examines changing gendered positions and representations across regional, national and international perspectives. Special attention will be given to experiences of gender inequities from the Canadian context.

WGST 201.3 — 1/2(3L/2L-1T)

Images of Gender and Sexuality in Popular Culture

An introduction to the ways gender, sexuality and identity are represented and produced in popular culture, mainstream media and populist feminist culture. Focuses on critical analysis and intervention, the production of culture and a variety of cultural forms, mainstream media and representational practices.

Prerequisite(s): Completion of 30 credit units at the university level or permission of the WGST Coordinator.
Note: May be used as Humanities or Social Science credit.

WGST 204.3 — 1/2(3L)

Gender and Popular Music

The relationship between gender, sexuality, and music; four main themes to be explored, namely rock culture, masculinities and music, femininities and music, and image and identity in music.

Prerequisite(s): 30 credit units at the university level or permission of the WGST Coordinator.
Note: May be used as Humanities or Social Science credit.

WGST 210.3 — 1/2(3L)

Gendered Perspectives on Current Events

Interdisciplinary examination of current events relating to gender, race, sexuality, ethnicity, ability and class. Special attention will be paid to how recent/ ongoing wars, ecological crises, terrorism, economic recession, etc., impact the lives of women, children and subaltern men, and how such events are represented in mainstream and alternative media.

Prerequisite(s): Completion of 30 credit units at the university level or permission of the WGST Coordinator.
Note: May be used as Humanities or Social Science credit.

WGST 220.3 — 1(3L)

Queering the Terrain Cultural Space and Queer Theory

Locates queer embodiments, performances and projects in local, national and transnational contexts. What is made visible and invisible in performance theory, constructions/appropriations of the deviant, and the complex shifts in queer space taking place through globalization? How are effects produced as queer across interwoven spaces?

Permission of the instructor required.

Prerequisite(s): Completion of 30 credit units at the university level.
Note: WGST 110 or 112 is strongly recommended.

WGST 235.3 — 3L

Representation Embodiment and the City Part I Saskatoon

Initiates international study locally, grounding experiential learning in Saskatoon with a theoretical framework that addresses the interventions that artists/activists seek to make in urban spaces. The course will explore five themes: Gender and Art-making; Memorialization; Metropolis as Meeting Place of Bodies; Racialization of Urban Space; and Spatial Relations.

Prerequisite(s): 30 credit units at the University.
Note: WGST 110 or 112 is recommended.

WGST 240.3 — 2(3L)

Contemporary Body Projects Refashioning the Self in Everyday Life

The body is fundamental to our sense of self and identity. This course explores the ways in which bodies are constituted in everyday life through the intersections of class, gender, ableness, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity and race.

Prerequisite(s): WGST 110.6 or 30 credit units of university course work

WGST 242.3

Colonization Migration Diasporas Critical Transnational Feminist Perspectives, Saskatoon

Engaging feminist theoretical frameworks and interdisciplinary community-building practices arising from experiences of colonization, migration and/or diasporas across the Americas, students will participate in a range of experiential learning opportunities, examining the construction of meaning, cultural memories, processes of identity-formation and possibilities for socio-political representation in the interwoven rural/urban environments that continue to shape Saskatoon's evolution as a prairie city.

Prerequisite(s): Completion of 30 credit units of university course work. WGST 112.3 or International Studies 211.3 or 212.3 are strongly recommended.

WGST 250.3 — 1/2(3L)

Performing Masculinities

Introduces students to core theorists in masculinity studies and examines how "masculinities" circulate in, and are structured by diverse economic and political contexts, social conventions and cultural spaces. Explores the ideological underpinnings of the category "masculinity", its shifting and contested meanings, and alternative possibilities for thinking and mobilizing the masculine.

Prerequisite(s): Completion of 30 credit units at the university level, or permission of the WGST Coordinator. Note: May be used as Humanities or Social Science credit.

WGST 290.3 — 1/2(3L)

Feminist Representational Strategies Selected Topics

Considers shifts in the directions and impact of feminist critical thought and diverse practices of cultural production. Offered occasionally as faculty resources permit, the topic will vary in accordance with the research interests of the instructor, student demand and new developments in the field.

Prerequisite(s): Completion of 30 credit units at the university level or permission of the WGST Coordinator.
Note: May be used as Humanities or Social Science credit.

WGST 298.3 — 1/2(3L)

Special Topics

Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations to cover, in depth, topics that are not thoroughly covered in regularly offered courses.

WGST 299.6 — 1&2(3L)

Special Topics

Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations to cover, in depth, topics that are not thoroughly covered in regularly offered courses.

WGST 311.3 — 1/2(3L)

Contemporary Feminist Theories

Through interdisciplinary and intersectional frameworks, this course focuses on selected feminist theories that examine gender in contemporary life, analyzing the shift from what is known as 'Second Wave' to 'Third Wave' Feminisms. A variety of feminist theories will be considered with a focus on diversity, power relations and subjectivity.

Prerequisite(s): WGST 112.3, and 6 credit units in WGST and/or cognate courses, or permission of the WGST Coordinator.
Note: PHIL 227 is recommended. May be used as Humanities or Social Science credit.

WGST 312.3 — 1/2(3L)

Feminist Research Methodologies

Examines various feminist methodologies and approaches to the formal construction of knowledge. A survey of the major methods of research in diverse fields is presented in the context of feminist critique and epistemology. Androcentric bias, feminist epistemology, ethics and subjectivity are central themes of the course.

Prerequisite(s): WGST 110, or 6 credit units WGST and/or cognate courses, or permission of the WGST Coordinator.
Note: Students with credit for WGST 398 Special Topics: Feminism and the Construction of Knowledge may not take this course for credit. May be used as Social Science credit.

WGST 315.3 — 1/2(3S)

Politics of Gender and Sexuality in Transnational Feminisms

Constructed notions of gender and sexuality are profoundly implicated in uneven economic development; poverty and disadvantage accrues to women and feminized positions in both one and two-thirds worlds. How do women, men, non-governmental, state and intergovernmental organizations respond to resulting crises? What alternatives are envisioned by transnational feminisms?

Prerequisite(s): 30 credit units of university courses including at least 6 credit units of WGST and/or cognate courses; or permission of the WGST Coordinator.
Note: May be used as Humanities or Social Science credit.

WGST 320.3 — 1/2(3S)

Reading on the Edge Feminist and Queer Cultural Texts

Provides advanced critical interdisciplinary consideration of reading practices; theoretical, literary and media-based, in the context of feminist and queer interventions in "dominant" narratives of gender, sexuality, race, ability, nationality. We will employ intersectional analysis that understands cultural production, reproduction, circulation, and reception to be historically and ideologically situated.

Prerequisite(s): WGST 112.3, and 6 credit units in WGST and/or cognate courses, or permission of WGST Coordinator. Note: May be used as Humanities or Social Science credit

WGST 324.3 — 2(3S)

Rebels With A Cause Feminism and the Visual Arts

Examines contemporary feminist art since the 1970s, specifically: 1) diverse strategies of representing the female body and women's heterogeneous cultural experiences, 2) shifting relationships between art/activism, theory/practice, private/public spheres, Canadian/international contexts, and 3) the ways practices of making, exhibiting and writing about art have intersected feminist thought.

Prerequisite(s): WGST 110.6 or WGST 201.3 or permission of the WGST Coordinator.

WGST 335.3 — (3S)

Representation Embodiment and the City New York

Brings intersectional gender-based analysis to advanced study of the effects of representational processes on possibilities for identity formations in an international cosmopolitan center. Experiential learning engages five previously established themes: Gender and Art-making, Memorialization, the Metropolis as Meeting Place of Bodies, Racialization of Union Space, and Spatial Relations.

Prerequisite(s): WGST 235.3 and completion of 30 credit units at the university. Note: WGST 110 or 112 is recommended.

WGST 342.3

Colonization Migration Diasporas Critical Transnational Feminist Perspectives Santiago, Chile

Building on frameworks developed in WGST 242.3 in Saskatoon, students will explore the vibrant cultural, social and political life of Santiago, Chile's capital city, engaging academics, artists, activists, memorial sites, cultural activities and urban spaces in continued experiential study of the ongoing effects of colonialism, imperialism and neoliberalism, and their many related displacements - within and across borders and continents - interrogating what it might mean to cultivate a sense of critical global citizenship.

Prerequisite(s): WGST 242.3 is required.

WGST 355.3 — 1/2(2L-1S)

The Celluloid Cyborg: A Course in Technotheory and Cyberpunk

An interdisciplinary examination of selected literary and cinematic representations of cyberspace and the figure of the female cyborg in the context of feminist technotheory.

Prerequisite(s): 60 credit units at the university level, or permission of the WGST Coordinator
Note: This course is offered in a 3-hour block in order to accommodate 3 feature-length films. Students with credit for WGST 398 Special Topics the Celluloid Cyborg may not take WGST 355 for credit. May be used as a Humanities.

WGST 390.3 — 1/2(3S)

Gender in Interdisciplinary Contexts Selected Topics

Examines the ways diverse disciplinary projects have intersected with feminist studies. Whether co-taught, to provide an overview of converging approaches, or delving more deeply into a particular theme, the course is offered occasionally and topics vary in response to instructor and student interests, and developments in the field.

Prerequisite(s): 30 credit units of university courses including at least 6 credit units of WGST and/or cognate courses; or permission of the WGST Coordinator.
Note: May be used as Humanities or Social Science credit. Students may take this course more than once for credit, provided the topic covered in each offering differs substantially. Students must consult the Department to ensure that the topics covered are different.

WGST 398.3 — 1/2(3S/3L)

Special Topics

Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations to cover, in depth, topics that are not thoroughly covered in regularly offered courses.

WGST 399.6 — 1&2(3S/3L)

Special Topics

Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations to cover, in depth, topics that are not thoroughly covered in regularly offered courses.

WGST 400.0 — 1/2(3S)

Honours Colloquium

Oral presentation of an academic paper in the department. The presentation is normally based on a paper already prepared, or in preparation, for a third- or fourth-year WGST seminar course.

Permission of the WGST Coordinator required.

Prerequisite(s): At least 3 credit units of 400-level WGST.
Note: WGST 400 is required in all Honours programs. Application for Honours must be made at least 18 months in advance of expected graduation date so requirement can be met.

WGST 411.3 — 1/2(3S)

Situated Transnational Feminisms

Examines women's and allied efforts to organize across national borders with focus on: social movements and self-advocacy; innovative uses of human rights and international change instruments; efforts to reduce poverty and create access to citizenship in processes of cooperation and conflict; critiques of economic "development", land use, and environmental damage.

Permission of the WGST Coordinator required.

Note: May be used as Humanities or Social Science credit.

WGST 490.3 — 1/2(3S)

Gender Culture and Political Struggle Selected Topics

Examines critical and creative crosscurrents that surface at sites where gender, culture and political struggle converge. Designed for advanced students , specific topics addressed in this course will vary according to instructor and student interests and emergent issues in the field.

Permission of the WGST Coordinator required.

Prerequisite(s): 18 credit units WGST and/or cognate courses, including WGST 311.3, 312.3.
Note: May be used as Humanities or Social Science credit.

WGST 498.3 — 1/2(3S)

Special Topics - Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations to cover, in depth, topics that are not thoroughly covered in regularly offered courses.

WGST 499.6 — 1&2(3S)

Special Topics - Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations. Students interested in these courses should contact the department for more information.

History of Women's and Gender Studies

The development of Women’s and Gender Studies began in the fall of 1985, when the Committee on Academic Affairs established a Subcommittee to review the need for the more formal delivery of women’s studies programming at the University of Saskatchewan. Six years later, in the fall of 1991, Professors Susan Gingell and Lesley Biggs taught WGST 200.6: Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies (now WGST 112.3) and in May 1992, Professor Diana Relke was appointed Coordinator of the program. Simultaneous with Dr. Relke’s appointment, the University Senate approved a proposal for a Department of Women’s and Gender Studies.

Over the next two years, thanks to Associate Members and Sessional Instructors, course offerings leapt to five, and then to nine, and in 1994, Women’s and Gender Studies appointed Professor Pamela Downe as its second full-time faculty member. With a growing faculty, and increased course offerings, a Minor degree program was approved in 1995, and a Major approved the following year. In 1997, Professor Louise Forsyth was appointed to the department, and Professor Lesley Biggs was elected to the Headship. Degree options continued to expand as the Department added a B.A. Honours Degree and a B.A. Four-Year Program with options for a stand-alone WGSt major, or specializations in the areas of Art & Art History, Economics, English, History, Native Studies, Philosophy, or Sociology.

The department gained faculty, resources, and strength over the next ten years, and although Professor Louise Forsyth retired in July 2002, she became the department’s first Professor Emerita in Women’s and Gender Studies. Professor Joan Borsa was hired in December 2003 and became the new Department Head in the summer of 2004, and that same year, Professor Caroline Tait joined the Department, with a cross-appointment at the Indigenous Peoples’ Health Research Centre. In 2005, Professor Marie Lovrod was hired for a one-year term position that was extended each year following, until she officially joined the department as a member of faculty in 2009. Since then, Women's and Gender Studies has welcomed new faculty members including Emily Snyder, who holds a cross appointment with Indigenous Studies, Mirela David, who is cross-appointed with History, and Priscilla Settee, who is cross appointed with Indigenous Studies.

In 2006, the division of Humanities and Fine Arts (HUMFA) began discussions about how to expand the range of programs and course offerings at the University of Saskatchewan, and how to strengthen interdisciplinary programming. These discussions resulted in the formation of an Interdisciplinary Centre for Culture and Creativity (ICCC) which aims to bring together various artistic and academic initiatives and programs dedicated to creative, cross-disciplinary programming and collaboration.

As of July 1, 2010, Women’s and Gender Studies became the first official program to offer undergraduate programming in the Interdisciplinary Centre, with a view of developing an Interdisciplinary M.A. in the near future. In joining the ICCC, Women’s and Gender Studies has undergone a revision of its current curriculum in order to strengthen and update course offerings and to reflect emergent shifts in the fields of gender and feminist studies, critical race theory, cultural studies, and transnational politics. The largest transformations have taken place in terms of course offerings, with the addition of eight new classes, revisions of five existing courses, and the deletion of eight previously offered courses, now addressed by other courses and programs throughout the University.

Women’s and Gender Studies joined the ICCC with core faculty members, Dr. Lesley Biggs, Dr. Joan Borsa, Dr. Theresa Cowan, and Dr. Marie Lovrod, as Program Coordinator. In addition, the program enters this new phase of development with the invaluable support of many sessional instructors, some of whom have been loyal contributors to the Department and its students for more than fifteen years. After eighteen years with the department, Dr. Diana Relke retired in the spring of 2010, but she remains a Professor Emeritus in Women’s and Gender Studies. In 2016, the ICCC underwent a formal review process and began its transformation into a research unit. With this transition, Women's and Gender Studies will also be evolving into an institute. We look forward to deepening our existing relationships, building new connections with programs and faculty throughout the University, and maintaining our commitment to teaching and research excellence.

WGST Links & Resources

University and Community Organizations

Associations

Women's and Gender Studies et Recherches Féministes
WGSRF is the national professional association for the academic discipline of Women's and Gender Studies in Canada. Joining the association indicates both support for and affliliation with the discipline. WGSRF was established in 1984 and have membership across the country.

Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW/ICREF)
CRIAW/ICREF is a not-for-profit organization that promotes research, which reflects the diverse experiences of women in Canada. Members have access to the online resource centre, information on current and upcoming research projects, and CRIAW’s newsletter. Members also get discounts on publications and conference admissions.

Canadian Feminist Journals/Publications

Additional Links

www.feminist.com
An American website for anyone interested in feminist issues, activism, job postings and events.

http://www.webring.org/hub/unitedfeministsw

About the Logo

The WGSt logo combines the symbol for woman with the sun-moon symbol for male-female to mirror the balance we are seeking between women's and gender studies. In its integration of cosmological/planetary and plant imagery, the design also suggests the seamlessness, rather than the constructed opposition of transcendence and immanence, heaven and earth, spiritual and material. These allusions are especially appropriate for an academic program whose interdisciplinary philosophy values the integration of knowledge across disciplinary boundaries.

The logo has been designed and generously donated to the University of Saskatchewan by sculptor Joan Relke. Relke was raised in Moose Jaw and received her education at the University of Regina. She currently lives and works in Australia, with her partner and collaborator, Carl Merten.

People

Faculty

	Lesley Biggs - B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D. Office: Arts 1022 Phone: 966-1645 Email: clb885@mail.usask.ca Research Interests Sociology of health care professions History of health care Alternative medicine Sociology and history of the body Black history Midwifery
	Joan Borsa - B.A. (Sask), M.Ed. (Alta.), M.A. (Leeds) Office: Arts 909 Phone: 966-1289 Email: joan.borsa@usask.ca Research Interests: Site-specific public art Community-based art projects Contemporary curatorial practice New exhibition genres Museum interventions
	Marie Lovrod - Assistant Professor, ICCC (WGst.) & English Office: Arts 1021 Phone: 966-7538 Email: marie.lovrod@usask.ca Research Interests: Transnational Feminisms Intergenerational trauma and resilience Feminist theory and methods Queer theory and methods Creative methodologies Autobiography/collective auto-ethnography
	Emily Snyder - PhD. Assistant Professor, Indigenous Studies and WGSt. Office: 132 Kirk Hall Phone: 966-1925 Email: emily.snyder@usask.ca Research Interests: Feminisms (Indigenous feminisms, feminist legal studies) Indigenous laws Critical pedagogies and anti-colonial feminist education Legal education Queer Indigenous studies and law Violence against women Representation and aesthetics
	Mirela David - PhD. Assistant Professor, Modern Chinese History and WGSt. Office: Arts 608 Phone: 966-8861 Email: mirela.david@usask.ca Research Interests: Modern Chinese history Eugenics in praxis, particularly birth control praxis and venereal disease policies in 1930s China Eugenics and love, birth cotnrol, population and sexology in 1920s Chinese women's magazines Medical history Gender history
	Priscilla Settee - PhD., M.Ed., Full Professor, Indigenous Studies and WGSt. Office: Kirk Hall 134 Phone: 966-5556 Email: priscilla.settee@usask.ca Research Interests: Indigenous Foods Indigenous politics Social Economies in Indigenous Communities Indigenous Knowledge Systems Protection of Biodiversity Impact of Globalization on Indigenous Peoples Indigenous Women's Rights Food Sovereignty

For administrative support contact Wendy Lucyshyn:

Arts 522
9 Campus Drive
Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A5
ph: 306.966.7893
email: wgst.program@usask.ca

Students

The Women's and Gender Studies Students Union (or AGENTS) was established in January of 1996, and was formerly known as W.A.G.S. In the past, we have sponsored various events including guest speakers, movie viewings, potlucks, teas, bake sales and pub-crawls. We have also worked collaboratively with the U of S Student's Union Women's and Pride Centres, as well as the World University Service of Canada.

On a more personal level, AGENTS provides an opportunity for students who are interested in gender and social justice issues to come together and share ideas, become involved in a variety of activities and have fun.

AGENTS have been involved in Orientation at the U of S, meeting with visiting high school students and others interested in WGSt. If you have any questions or would like to become a member of AGENTS, please contact (306) 966-7538.

USSU Women's Centre:
The USSU Women's Centre is a postitive space for individuals to discuss topics of feminism and activism. The Women's Centre has a feminist library, resources, information as well as a space for like-minded individuals to empower, inspire and enlighten one another.

Where to find us:
The USSU Women's Centre is located in Room 105 Memorial Union Building or visit our facebook page.

Pride Centre:
The USSU Pride Centre is a welcoming, vivacious, and celebratory campus community. We provide a friendly environment with a diverse group of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

Our Mission:
The USSU Pride Centre seeks to work with people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in an open and progressive environment that advocates, celebrates and affirms sexual and gender diversity.

Hours of operation:
September through April
Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. During end of term exams and February break, the Centre is open 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
May through August
Monday to Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The Pride Centre is closed weekends and statutory holidays.

Where to find us:
The USSU Pride Centre is located in Room 104 Memorial Union Building, or visit our facebook page.

How to contact us:
Phone: 966-6615
Email:pride.centre@ussu.ca

Mailing Address:
Room 110 - Place Riel Student Centre
#1 Campus Drive
Saskatoon SK S7N 5A3

Words from WGST Students

"While attaining my Women’s & Gender Studies degree, I learned to apply a gendered lens to a range of ideas, historical interpretations and perspectives on society from biology through to science fiction, media and film. My degree provided me with the writing, research and discussion skills to undertake an M.A. in Philosophy, and to continue to hold ideas to a critical standard. I appreciate the mentorship and guidance I received from the department and highly recommend Women's & Gender Studies classes to other students looking for a dynamic and challenging learning experience."

Rachel Loewen Walker, WGST High Honours, M.A. in Philosophy, SSHRC Grant recipient

Student Updates

Irena Smith

Irena Smith received her B.A. in the International Studies Development Stream from the University of Saskatchewan. Owing to the multidisciplinary nature of Women and Gender Studies, she was able to complete her final honours project and colloquium with Dr. Marie Lovrod in WGST in April of 2014. WGST courses enriched Irena's studies by providing insights into mindful solidarity, transnational activism and intersectional feminism. She is currently completing her M.A. in Women and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto where she plans to research the gendered and racialized nature of precarious labour in Canada and possible sites for intersectional feminist labour organizing.