Independent Study

Women's Studies majors at Wooster determine the specific focus that will enable them to explore their own research questions relating to the construction of gender and the examination of women's and men's lives. They learn about feminist research methodologies in a junior-year seminar, and use this knowledge as the basis for exploring a diverse set of issues in their Senior Independent Study projects. A description of the IS process in Women's Studies, as well as a complete listing or topics, can be found in the Women's Studies IS Handbook. Recent research projects have included the following:

 

An analysis of recent feminist scholarship on classical music and African-American literary theory used to create a theoretical model to examine the improvisational forms of Miles Davis.

Development of the first Women's Studies course at the local high school and successful proposal of the course to the social sciences department and the administration.

 

The inventory and cataloging of the Josephine Long Wishart Collection, which guarantees that this important collection of advice manuals and domestic literature will be available to future scholars.

A feminist analysis of the low representation of women in Physics.

 

A comparative feminist analysis of the portrayal of female characters in Disney films and its effect on the construction of gender roles.

 

A feminist analysis of the portrayal of Mary Magdalene in religious texts.

An in-depth look at the effects of significant others in the careers of women artists.

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Last updated August 2, 2005by Heather Fitz Gibbon