Sex, Gender, and Culture

This course will examine the social construction of gender in a wide range of cultures. Beginning with the question of the degree to which gender roles are biologically determined, we will focus our attention on the divergence of gender roles and the nature of gender inequality throughout the world. We will analyze power dynamics between men and women at the household level, the community level, and in the larger context of the state for a variety of societies ranging from hunter gatherers in Africa, to peasants in China, to professionals in the United States. We will discuss the ways in which women in different cultures obtain degrees of autonomy and power within their cultural contexts. The course will draw on theoretical and ethnographic readings dealing primarily with non-western societies.

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