Feminist studies is an interdisciplinary field of analysis that investigates how relations of gender are embedded in social, political, and cultural formations. The undergraduate program in feminist studies provides students with a unique interdisciplinary and transnational perspective. The department emphasizes theories and practices derived from multiracial and multicultural contexts.

Study and Research Opportunities

• B.A. with concentrations in culture, power, and representation; law, politics, and social change; science, technology, and medicine; and sexuality studies
• Established as a major in 1974, feminist studies (formerly women's studies) at UC Santa Cruz is one of the oldest and largest such programs in the country.

High School Preparation

High school students who plan to major in feminist studies need no special preparation other than the courses required for UC admission.

Transfer Preparation

Transfer students are encouraged to declare the major as soon as possible in order to be assured entrance into the required core courses. Course 1, Feminist Studies: An Introduction, and course 100, Feminist Theories, must be completed in the junior year so that the exit requirement may be completed in the senior year (Courses 1, one 10-49, and 100 must be taken at UC Santa Cruz. Also, please see Requirements for the Major section.)

While it is not a condition of admission, students from California community colleges may complete the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) in preparation for transfer to UC Santa Cruz.

Transfer course agreements and articulation between the University of California and California community colleges can be accessed on the ASSIST.ORG web site.

Careers

• Affirmative action
• Business
• Career counseling
• Community organizing
• Health care
• Higher education
• Human resources
• Law
• Lobbying
• Politics
• Public policy
• Research
• Social services
• Social work
• Teaching
• Union organizing
• Women's health services

These are only a sample of the field’s many possibilities.

Faculty Research

Bettina Aptheker, Professor of Feminist Studies and History: Feminist histories, feminist oral history and memoir, feminist pedagogy, African American women's history, queer studies, feminist Jewish studies, feminist critical race studies

Anjali Arondekar, Associate Professor of Feminist Studies: South Asian studies, colonial historiography, feminist theories, queer theory, critical race studies, 19th-century interdisciplinary studies

Neda Atanasoski, Assistant Professor of Feminist Studies: U.S. and Eastern European film and media, cultural studies and critical theory, war and nationalism, gender, ethnicity, and religion

Karen Barad, Professor of Feminist Studies, History of Consciousness, and Philosophy: Science studies, poststructuralist theory, feminist theory, queer theory, 20th-century continental philosophy, philosophy of science, and physics

Gina Dent, Associate Professor of Feminist Studies, History of Consciousness, and Legal Studies: Africana literary and cultural studies, legal theory, popular culture

Lisbeth Haas, Chair of Feminist Studies and Professor of History: U.S.-Mexico borderlands, Chicano and Native American history; visual culture in the colonial Americas; the U.S. West and California; historical memory, theory, and historical methodology

Marcia Ochoa, Associate Professor of Feminist Studies: Gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, Latina/o studies, media and cultural studies, ethnography of media, feminism, queer theory, geography, multimedia production, graphic design, colonialism and modernity, Latin American studies -- Colombia and Venezuela

Felicity Schaeffer-Grabiel, Associate Professor of Feminist Studies: Transnational feminisms, sexuality and migration, technology, and subjectivity; Latin American/Latino studies; border studies; Chicana/o studies, affect and globalization

* * *

Angela Y. Davis, Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies

Carla Freccero, Professor of Literature, Feminist Studies, and History of Consciousness: Renaissance studies, French and Italian language and literature, early modern studies, postcolonial theories and literature, contemporary feminist theories and politics, queer theory, U.S. popular culture

Rosa-Linda Fregoso, Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies, Feminist Studies, and Film and Digital Media: Cultural studies, transnational feminist theories, Chicana/o and Latina/o cinema, issues of human rights and gender violence

Jody Greene, Associate Professor of Literature and Feminist Studies: Seventeenth- and 18th-century British and French literature and culture, pre- and early modern studies, early modern colonialisms, gay and lesbian cultural studies, gender studies, history of authorship, history of the book

Donna J. Haraway, Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies

Helene Moglen, Professor Emerita of Literature and Feminist Studies

Requirements for the Major

Feminist studies majors must complete 11 courses, including a senior comprehensive exit requirement in the feminist studies program (as noted below). All students are required to select a concentration within the major from the following: culture, power, and representation; law, politics, and social change; science, technology, and medicine; and sexuality studies. Courses appropriate for each concentration are listed on the web at: feministstudies.ucsc.edu.

A proposal for an independent concentration will be approved only when a student presents a clear, coherent, and rigorous plan of study that does not fit the existing concentrations. Both the student’s adviser and the Feminist Studies Department chair must approve a proposal for an independent concentration.

Required courses that must be taken at UC Santa Cruz are course 1, Feminist Studies: An Introduction; one FMST 10-49 or an 80 course taught by Feminist Studies affiliated faculty; course 100, Feminist Theories; and an exit (comprehensive) requirement, course 194 or 195. Requirements also include five additional upper-division courses in the student’s chosen concentration and two additional upper-division electives from among the other concentrations.

Because feminist studies is an interdisciplinary major and lists courses taught by affiliated faculty in other departments, feminist studies majors must take a minimum of five courses at UC Santa Cruz taught directly in the Feminist Studies Department, i.e., courses designated FMST, not including internships (FMST 193 or 198) or tutorials (FMST 199).

One five-unit individual study tutorial (FMST 199) can be used to fulfill a FMST major concentration or elective requirement, and one five-unit internship can be used to fulfill a FMST major elective requirement.

Two upper-division Education Abroad Program (EAP) courses may count towards the major; three upper-division transfer courses may count towards the major; and the total combined number of EAP and transfer courses that may count towards the major is a maximum of three.

Exit requirement options include a senior seminar (course 194, Senior Seminar) taught by core faculty or a senior thesis or project (course 195, Senior Thesis or Project). Course 1, Feminist Studies: An Introduction, course 100, Feminist Theories, and the composition (general education code C) requirement are prerequisite to courses 194 and 195. Guidelines for completion of the exit requirement are available on the web at: feministstudies.ucsc.edu.

More Information

Nicolette Czarrunchick
Feminist Studies Department
315 Humanities 1
University of California, Santa Cruz
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, California 95064
(831) 459-2461 (phone)
(831) 502-7231 (fax)
fmst@ucsc.edu