This is the required core course for the university-wide graduate certificate in Gender and Sexuality Studies and it is open to all the graduate students who are interested in gender and sexuality studies. Joan Scott famously wrote that “gender is a useful category for historical analysis.” This course expands this view towards understanding gender as a lens that informs research methodologies in a range of disciplines. Students will be introduced to foundational gender-based theories such as Marxist feminism, Black feminism, transgender studies, queer theory, postcolonial theory, and more. The course aims to provide students with the grounding to pursue their own research in topics related to feminism and gender equity.