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WOMEN, CULTURE AND SOCIETY
WOMEN, CULTURE AND SOCIETY (WCS) Contact: Chris Evams, evanscp@stthom.edu
Women, Culture and Society is an interdisciplinary program for an undergraduate minor or a graduate concentration within the Master of Liberal Arts Program. The WCS Program is unique nationally in its focus on deepening historical understanding and advancing contemporary discourse on the Roman Catholic tradition (both its intellectual and contemplative dimensions) in relation to the women’s revolution, begun in late modern times. The program is inspired by the call of Pope John Paul II to fulfill this revolution in a way that models collaboration between women and men. This Pope, along with St. Edith Stein, made clear that male domination and exploitation is an effect of original sin that, like poverty, needs to be remedied in order to restore to woman as fully human, in his words, “the richness of the femininity which she received on the day of creation.”
The required introductory course, “Introduction to Theories and Practice of Women’s Studies,” historically integrates questions that are interdisciplinary in nature. The course includes guest speakers from representative fields of inquiry and readings of selections from classic and contemporary writers, including at least two women Doctors of the Church, that are especially relevant to women’s studies.
The program as a whole aims to increase awareness of woman’s particular situation in culture and society; to address social justice, accordingly, in consonance with Church teaching; and, in so doing, to provide students with means for appropriate service to their community.
MINOR PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS The Women, Culture and Society minor is an introduction to the study of women in culture and society in various academic disciplines in relation to Catholic tradition. Course components include theology, philosophy, natural and social sciences, and art and literature. All departmental prerequisites for elective courses apply.
Women, Culture and Society minor: 18 credit hours
Required for Women, Culture & Society minors (3 credit hours): WCS 3300 Introduction to Women, Culture, and Society
Choose one course from the following (3 credit hours): WCS 4391 Internship WCS 4392 Directed Reading/Independent Study