This course is designed to provide students with an opportunity to work closely with Gender and Women's Studies faculty, investigating a topic of mutual interest in great depth. Emphasis in on student discussion and collaboration. Topics will vary from semester to semester. Number of units will vary depending on specific course, format, and requirements.

We are living in a moment of crisis. The advances of the “Green Revolution,” the boom inpopulation growth, advances in communication and biotechnologies combined with deepening patterns of overconsumption in the developed world threaten the survival of human life on Earth. While there is a growing body of literature that addresses this ecological crisis little of it meaningfully addresses how social processes of white supremacy, patriarchy, free market capitalism, and technological fundamentalisms have engendered this crisis. In this course, we will bring feminist and critical race theory into conversation with the debate on global economic and environmental collapse and consider how these theoretical frameworks might enable a more expansive and transformative vision for planetary justice and necessitate more equitable global arrangements of power. We will examine how dynamics of culture, race, gender, sexuality, and capital intersect with questions of environmental sustainability, climate change, resource privatization, queer politics, and reproductive justice. We will explore the prevailing ethical frameworks that have historically structured the relationship between human and non-human species and draw from critical perspectives from feminist, queer, critical race and decolonial theory to articulate a new set of planetary ethics for survival and co-existence on a finite planet. The course readings will draw from popular science literature, speculative fiction, ethnographic/historical texts, and documentary films. This is an interactive and discussion-based course that requires active participation, debate, and critical thinking.

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