Women's and Gender Studies (BA.WGS)

The Women's and Gender Studies major provides students with the opportunity to explore a variety of topics with an interdisciplinary approach. Students are required to take core courses in the field, in order to establish a shared language and understanding of the world. This also equips students with new tools to see the world differently. Students are encouraged to claim their education and activate their knowledge during their academic careers at Castleton.

The Women's and Gender Studies major prepares students to engage in important and relevant issues; the courses encourage students to think across the curriculum. Students learn critical thinking skills, and other skills that cultivate their global citizenship. Faculty support student-initiated projects that reflect traditional research, as well as projects focused on activism and advocacy.

Upon completion of the Women's and Gender Studies major, students will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the following:

• The interdisciplinary characteristic of the field, and the ways that such interconnections enhance knowledge and knowledge production.
• The "situated knowledge" that individual's possess as a reflection of their social locations and related experiences in the world.
• The ways of seeing the world through the theoretical framework of "intersectionality," or the intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality, and other social locations.
• The construction of, and appreciation for, difference, within and across categories of gender, as well as race, class, sexuality, and other social locations.
• The historical and contemporary relevance of activism, advocacy, and social justice within the field, and the importance of supporting such justice.
• The importance of centering the experiences and voices of marginalized and oppressed groups of people and advocating for change to minimize existing social inequities.