CONCENTRATION in the BA SOCIOLOGY / ANTHROPOLOGY MAJOR

What You’ll Study

We’ve all heard phrases like “a real man” or “not very ladylike” — but what is a “real” woman or man? These concepts are endlessly negotiated in everyday situations. Gender is created in large part by the social processes of culture — processes that involve power and intersect with sexuality, race, and class in complex ways. Feminine and masculine roles are the ideological territory both of violence and opportunity.

Our program will introduce you to a critical perspective on the social construction of gender as well as to women’s cultural contributions and experiences, emphasizing the challenges that women face locally and globally.

Our program prepares you to:

  • understand a range of disciplinary approaches to the study of gender and women.
  • analyze the ways women contribute to and transform social life.
  • compare social gender norms across history and cultures.
  • analyze how power and privilege function where gender intersects with race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality.

Explore Classes in This Program

SOC 1030

Introduction to Gender and Women's Studies

You’ll focus on critically examining and understanding the social construction of gender. Explore a range of gendered experiences, including gender socialization, body image, reproductive rights, gender and work, and gendered violence, as well as how these differ by race, class, and sexuality. 

SOC 3012

Women of Color and Feminism

In this course, you’ll analyze social inequality and critiques of dominant Western feminist thought as it relates to women of color. You’ll learn the diversity of experiences among women of color in a national and local context. Special attention is given to the diversity of knowledge among Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian American, and other women of color. We’ll discuss how people who identify as women work to decolonize and democratize feminist practices.

ANT 3800

Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective

This course guides students through an anthropological examination of gender as a social construct across cultures. You’ll begin with an examination of how gender has been defined as a category within anthropology and how gendered experiences effect fieldwork and research. You’ll examine connections between gender, identity, and the body, as well as how gender plays out in the arenas of kinship, sexuality, ritual, and performance in order to reveal the diversity of expressions of gender across time and cultures.

Still curious? See the Curriculum
Meet Our Faculty

Warren Wilson students are poised to learn and to expand their horizons.

Siti Kusujiarti, Ph.D.
Meet Siti Kusujiarti See all Social Sciences Faculty
As one of Indonesia’s “Traveling World Class Professors,” Warren Wilson College professor Siti Kusujiarti is building a collaborative research partnership with Jenderal Soedirman University faculty members.
Siti Kusujiarti, Ph.D.
Ben Feinberg

At Warren Wilson, we have the time we need to know our students as real, complete, complicated human beings, not just a butt in a seat and a name on a paper.

Ben Feinberg, Ph.D.
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Ben Feinberg
Ben Feinberg, Ph.D.
Christey Carwile

I love that Warren Wilson allows me to be my own quirky self both in and outside of the classroom. If I cannot be honest and true to who I am while teaching and learning, then what's the point? The kinds of connections I am able to make with students here are invaluable; I am always learning from them, always being challenged and always growing along with them.

Christey Carwile, Ph.D.
Meet Christey Carwile See all Social Sciences Faculty
Christey Carwile
Christey Carwile, Ph.D.

Warren Wilson is the place where both academics and intellectual virtues matter. We are all on a journey together to build a more trusting, empathetic, patient, caring, and connected community, state, nation, and world.

Dr. Susan Ortiz
Meet Susan Ortiz See all Social Sciences Faculty
Susan Ortiz, Ph.D.
As one of Indonesia’s “Traveling World Class Professors,” Warren Wilson College professor Siti Kusujiarti is building a collaborative research partnership with Jenderal Soedirman University faculty members.

Hands-on, All-in

As one of Indonesia’s “Traveling World Class Professors,” Warren Wilson College professor Siti Kusujiarti is building a collaborative research partnership with Jenderal Soedirman University faculty members.
International Gender Relations 
Dr. Siti Kusujiarti, Chair of the Sociology/ Anthropology department, studied gender relations in Java.
A close-up shot of a pregnant belly
Start from Seed 
Iris Rountree '17 worked with Start from Seed, a doula program providing non-medical, comprehensive support to low-income, high-risk women
Queer Resource Center Staff tabling at Accepted Students day
Work 
The Queer Resource Center Crew works to uplift, support, and advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community on campus and provide training and resources about gender and sexual diversity to the community at large.

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Sociology / Anthropology English