This course exposes students to the representative works by and about women from historical, sociocultural, and literary perspectives. It explores the critical debates of gender studies through, but not limited to, the theoretical constraints of history, philosophy, culture, hegemony, ethnicity, transnationalism, and psychosocial frameworks.  Students will conduct close readings of a wide range of the most acclaimed literary works and formulate and produce a variety of critical responses both written and oral.