315 William L. Harkness Hall, 203.432.0845
http://wgss.yale.edu
M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.

Chair
Scott Herring

Director of Graduate Studies
Dara Strolovitch

Professors Rene Almeling, Claire Bowern, Marijeta Bozovic, Daphne Brooks, Jill Campbell, Rohit De, Carolyn Dean, Erica Edwards, Fatima El-Tayeb, Roderick Ferguson, Marta Figlerowicz, Joseph Fischel, Scott Herring, Regina Kunzel, Lisa Lowe, Mary Lui, Joanne Meyerowitz, Laura Nasrallah, Tav Nyong’o, Ayesha Ramachandran, Ana Ramos-Zayas, Dara Strolovitch, Linn Tonstad, Deb Vargas, Kalindi Vora, Laura Wexler 

Associate Professors Robin Dembroff, Crystal Feimster, Gregg Gonsalves, Greta LaFleur, Alice Miller, Juno Richards, Evren Savci 

Assistant Professors Joan Lubin, Alka Menon, Joseph Miranda, Westley Montgomery, Eda Pepi

Lecturers Igor De Souza, Jiya Pandya, Talya Zemach-Bersin

Fields of Study

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) is an interdisciplinary program that critically interrogates gender and sexuality as categories of inequality, difference, and identification. Gender (the social and historical meanings of distinctions across sexes) and sexuality (the domain of sexual practices, identities, discourses, and institutions) are studied as they intersect with class, race, indigeneity, nationality, religion, ability, and other axes of power, difference, and zones of experience. The introduction of these perspectives into all fields of knowledge necessitates new research paradigms, organizing concepts and analytics, and critique.

The Program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies offers a combined Ph.D. in conjunction with five partner departments and programs: Black Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, English, and Sociology. Students may only apply for the Ph.D. in WGSS in conjunction with their application to one of these five partnering departments or programs. Students already pursuing a Ph.D. in one of the partnering departments and programs may apply for transfer into the combined Ph.D. in WGSS in the first or second year of their degree study. Graduate students in other programs may also petition to pursue an ad hoc combined degree. They must do so during their first year in their Ph.D. programs. 

There are no subfields, specified areas of study, or concentrations within the combined Ph.D. program, but current WGSS faculty concentrate on gender and sexuality as they articulate across transnational politics and security regimes; citizenship and statelessness; public law and sexual violence; public policy and political representation; kinship, reproduction, and reproductive technologies; policing, surveillance, and incarceration; social movements and protest; indigeneity, racialization, and racism; literature, language, and translation; Islam and neoliberalism; colonialism and postcolonialism.

Students pursuing the combined Ph.D. in WGSS will determine their research and doctoral foci in coordination with their advisers and with the directors of graduate studies (DGS) in WGSS and the partnering department or program. Please consult the specific requirements for the combined degree with each partner program below.

Requirements for Transfer into the Combined Ph.D. Program

Students in the first or second year of their degree study in American studies, anthropology, English, and sociology wishing to transfer into the combined Ph.D. in WGSS should submit a departmental transfer request form and a two- to three-page statement of interest describing why they wish to pursue the combined Ph.D. to wgss.dgs@yale.edu. Please indicate whether you have completed WGSS 6600 and/or WGSS 9900, and if not, when you intend to do so. Your statement of interest should also outline a plan of completion for any outstanding WGSS course requirements.  

Interested students in their first year of other Ph.D. programs may apply to do an ad hoc combined degree with WGSS. They must do so before they have advanced to candidacy and must first get permission from their current DGS, after which they should submit a departmental transfer request form and prepare a two- to three-page written proposal describing why they wish to pursue the combined Ph.D.  The proposal should indicate whether they have completed WGSS 6600 and/or WGSS 9900 and should include a plan of completion for any other outstanding requirements in both WGSS and their other program. They should submit both the form and proposal for review and approval by the associate dean as well as by the DGS in the relevant departments. 

Interested students should submit their forms and statements of interest to wgss.dgs@yale.edu by December 15. The WGSS graduate admissions committee will inform applicants of its decisions by early March.

Special Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree

As detailed below, requirements for the combined degree vary slightly to accommodate the requirements of the individual partner departments, but all candidates for the combined degree are expected to meet the following requirements.

In their first two years of study, students in the combined Ph.D. program will complete a minimum of twelve term courses. The WGSS combined Ph.D. student’s course of study and research will be coordinated with the student’s adviser(s), the DGS of WGSS, and the DGS of the partnering department or program.  

All students are required to complete the following courses: 

• WGSS 6600, Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 
• WGSS 7700, Feminist and Queer Theories 
• WGSS 9900, Colloquium and Working Group (half credit per term; students should enroll for two sequential terms, ideally in the same academic year) 
• One elective. Typically, electives taken in the student’s partnering department will be cross-titled with WGSS or will substantively examine gender and sexuality.  
• Students are also required to take at least one graduate-level methods course. Students are strongly encouraged to fulfill this requirement by taking WGSS 8800, Methods in Gender and Sexuality Studies, but may also do so using the methods courses offered by their partner department. Students should consult with the WGSS DGS about their plan to fulfill the WGSS methods requirement. 

As a default rule, students should assume that a WGSS or WGSS-affiliated faculty member should participate in any partnering program/department requirements involving faculty committee supervision or assessment. For example, if a program requires oral exams or a dissertation prospectus to be defended to a multi-person faculty committee, at least one member of the committee should be WGSS or WGSS affiliated faculty. If the partnering program/department requires students to construct multiple reading lists for oral and/or written exams, one such list should substantively include gender and sexuality scholarship. At least one faculty member of the student’s dissertation committee will hold a primary or secondary tenured or tenure-track appointment in WGSS. Specific program pathways are listed below.​

Language Requirement Language proficiency requirements follow the partner departments. There are no additional requirements for WGSS.

Qualifying Exams Qualifying exams will follow the student’s primary department; however, a significant portion of the student’s exam lists must be on topics associated with gender and sexuality. See guidelines for individual partner departments below.

Prospectus Procedures for the submission and approval of prospectuses follow the student’s primary department; at least one faculty member affiliated with the Program in WGSS must be on the committee. WGSS combined-degree students are strongly encouraged to hold a prospectus meeting and at least one post-approval meeting at which all members of their committee are present.

Teaching requirement WGSS combined-Ph.D. students typically teach or serve as a teaching fellow (TF) in their third and fourth years in the program, unless their dissertation research plans require other arrangements (funding permitting). WGSS combined-degree students will be given priority for TF slots in WGSS classes, and at least one of the courses for which they serve as a TF should have an undergraduate WGSS numbers.

Admission to Candidacy Students will be admitted to candidacy when they have fulfilled all requirements of both WGSS and the relevant partnering department or program. The scheduling and structure of qualifying examinations, prospectuses, and dissertations will follow the protocols of the partnering department. However, WGSS combined-degree students are strongly encouraged to hold a prospectus meeting and at least one post-approval meeting at which all members of their committee are present.Students must be admitted to candidacy by the beginning of the fourth year of study.

Specific Requirements by Partner Department

Details for the combined degree with specific affiliate departments are listed below.

Combined Program in WGSS and American Studies

Coursework During the first two years of study students are required to take twelve term courses. These must fulfill the following requirements:

• At least six courses must be in American studies
• Two required courses in AMST: AMST 6600, American Scholars, taken in the first year, and AMST 6602, Field Studies, taken in the second year. These will be graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.
• Four required courses in WGSS: WGSS 6600, WGSS 7700, WGSS 8800 (or equivalent), and WGSS 9900 

Language Requirement Students are required to show proficiency in a language other than English; they may fulfill this requirement by (1) conducting substantial research in the chosen language as part of the course requirements for one of the twelve required seminars, (2) passing a translation test, offered each term by various language departments, or (3) receiving a grade of B or higher in a Yale College intermediate- or advanced-level language course or in a Yale language-for-reading course.

Teaching Students will serve as teaching fellows in courses belonging to either or both AMST and WGSS, according to the need of each department, to satisfy their teaching obligations.  
 
Qualifying Examinations Students will take oral qualifying examinations in four fields in the fifth or sixth term of study. Exam lists are crafted in conjunction with faculty examiners and must be approved by the DGSs in AMST and WGSS. The exam committee must include at least one faculty member with an affiliation with WGSS. 

Dissertation Prospectus Upon completion of coursework, students in their third year of study are required to participate in at least one term of a monthly prospectus workshop, AMST 9002. Intended to complement the work of the prospectus committee, the workshop is designed as a professionalization experience that culminates in students’ presentation of the dissertation prospectus at their prospectus colloquium. Preparation, submission, and approval of the dissertation prospectus should be completed by the end of the sixth term,

Dissertation Committee At least one member of the dissertation committee must be a faculty member with an affiliation to WGSS.

Combined Program in WGSS and Anthropology

The combined program in WGSS and Anthropology is specifically linked to the program in socio-cultural anthropology. 

Coursework Students are required to complete twelve term courses. These must fulfill the following requirements: 

• Two introductory courses in anthropology: ANTH 5730, Engaging Anthropology: Histories, Theories, and Practices; and in the spring, ANTH 5740, Anthropological Imaginations
• One required methods course: in consultation with their committee, students may choose either ANTH 5750 or WGSS 8800.
• Three required courses in WGSS: WGSS 6600, WGSS 7700, and WGSS 9900
• Participation in the Ethnography and Social Theory (EST) Colloquium and Seminar in all four semesters of their first two years for a total of 2 credits. Special arrangements will be made on a case-by-case basis to enable combined degree students to attend both EST and the WGSS Monday colloquium if they overlap.
• Four elective courses. One of these courses may be Qualifying Exam Preparation in the fourth semester.

Students will typically undertake preliminary summer fieldwork after their first or second years.

Advising In the first two years, students are guided by their advisers and two successive committees: a first-year committee of three faculty members, which meets by the end of a student’s second semester and focuses especially on course selection and preliminary fieldwork plans, and a pre-candidacy committee of three faculty members, formed by the end of the student’s third semester and focused on the student’s progress from that point until candidacy is achieved. At least one member on each of these committees must be affiliated with WGSS.

Teaching Students will serve as teaching fellows in courses belonging to either or both Anthropology and WGSS, according to the need of each department, to satisfy their teaching obligations.  
 
Qualifying Examinations By the end of a student’s third semester, a pre-candidacy committee should be formed to (1) set and administer a student’s qualifying exams in the fourth semester and (2) advise, examine, and approve the field paper/prospectus in the third year. At least one member of this committee must be a faculty member affiliated with WGSS. Students will develop three lists: List A should focus on history and theory in anthropology (not limited to, but potentially building from the required courses); Lists B and C will cover the student’s fields of focus. The oral examination is typically taken in the spring semester of the second year.

Field Paper and Dissertation Prospectus Students will submit a field paper of not more than 10,000 words alongside the dissertation prospectus; for deadlines and specific guidelines, please consult the Anthropology graduate handbook. At least one member of the dissertation committee must be a faculty member affiliated with WGSS.

Combined Program in WGSS and Black Studies

Coursework WGSS and BLST each require students to take four core courses in the first two years (not including their dissertation prospectus workshops, in which students enroll in year three). Students must satisfy each unit’s core requirements, which include the four required WGSS courses (WGSS 6600, WGSS 7700, WGSS 8800 (or equivalent), and WGSS 9900), and the four required BLST courses (BLST 5005, Theorizing Racial Formations, and one history course, one social science course, and one literature course, all of which must be listed or cross-listed with BLST). WGSS requires one additional elective course. 
 
Structure of Courses: 

1. BLST 5005, Theorizing Racial Formations
2. One history course in BLST
3. One social science course in BLST
4. One literature course in BLST 
5. WGSS 6600, Introduction to WGSS
6. WGSS 7700, Feminist and Queer Theory 
7. WGSS 8800 or an equivalent methods course
8. WGSS 9900, Colloquium in Women and Gender Studies, taken as a 0.5-credit course for two consecutive semesters 
9. One elective course in WGSS
10. Elective
11. Elective
12. Elective 

Language Exams Students are required to demonstrate competence in two languages appropriate to the student’s field of specialization, each to be demonstrated by:

1. Passing a translation exam administered by a Yale language department 
2. Taking a graduate course that closely engages with and analyzes sources and scholarship in the given language
3. For languages not tested elsewhere at Yale, by some means approved by the DGS for both BLST and WGSS.

Teaching Students will serve as teaching fellows in either or both BLST and WGSS courses or courses in conversation with one or both fields depending on relevant course offerings in any given year.  
 
Qualifying Examinations During the second year, students will develop four lists of topics upon which their qualifying exams will be based. The qualifying exam committee will consist of the examiners for these topics. At least one faculty member must be appointed in BLST, and at least one must serve in WGSS; students can also meet this requirement by including a dually-appointed faculty member on this committee. Students will complete the oral exam by the end of the third year.

The student will develop four topics as follows:

• A primary disciplinary area
• A theory or method-focused area
• Two additional areas that support the primary area above

Lists will be developed by student in consultation with the examiners. Three of the topics will be conducted as an oral exam; each topic will be examined for thirty minutes respectively. The fourth topic may be flexible in scope and tailored to the student’s professional goals. This may include any of the following options:

• A syllabus paired with a short essay that explains the rationale and throughline of the syllabus
• A discussion of a conference paper or an article manuscript written by the student (and addressing the readings that went into it)
• A written exam based on the readings
• A bibliographic or historiographical essay that explains the history and shape of a field relevant to the student’s dissertation. Other variations might be permissible in consultation with the student’s qualifying exam committee and the DGSs of the combined programs. 

Dissertation Prospectus In their third year of study, students are required to complete a two-semester dissertation prospectus workshop, in conjunction with the Department of Black Studies’ requirements (BLST 8095 and BLST 8096). 
 
Dissertation Committee The student’s dissertation committee must also include one faculty member from WGSS and one faculty member from BLST (although this requirement can be satisfied by one faculty member who serves both departments).    

Combined Program in WGSS and English

Coursework Students will complete twelve term courses by the end of their second year of study. These will be structured as follows:

• Historical Distribution: coursework must include one course in at least three out of four designated historical periods: medieval, early-modern, eighteenth- and/or nineteenth-century, twentieth- and/or twenty-first-century.
• One required course in English: ENGL 9090, The Teaching of English
• Three required courses in WGSS (WGSS 6600, WGSS 7700, WGSS 8800 or equivalent) 

Students are also encouraged to take at least one seminar that adds geographic, linguistic, cultural, and/or methodological breadth to their course of study. Three courses may be taken in other departments with the approval of the DGS. A total of nine courses must be in English (or have a cross-listed English number). 

Language Requirement Two languages appropriate to the student’s field of specialization, each to be demonstrated by:

1. Passing a translation exam administered by a Yale language department, at the conclusion of a GSAS Summer Language for Reading course, or (for languages not tested elsewhere at Yale) by the English department;
2. Passing an advanced literature course at Yale (graduate or upper-level undergraduate, with DGS approval); or
3. Passing both ENGL 6500, Old English I, and ENGL 6501, Old English II, or ENGL 6500 and ENGL 6502, Beowulf and the Beowulf Complex. 

Teaching Students will serve as teaching fellows in courses belonging to either or both English and WGSS, according to the need of each department, to satisfy their teaching obligations.  

Qualifying Examinations Early in the fifth term of study, students will take an oral examination which consists of questions on four topics developed by the student in consultation with examiners and subject to approval by the DGS in both English and WGSS. All four members of the orals committee must be ladder faculty members: two members must be from the English department; at least one member of the committee must be faculty affiliated with WGSS. 

Dissertation Prospectus and Committee Students will complete and present a dissertation prospectus by the sixth term of study. Dissertation committees are typically made up of three faculty members: at least one member of the committee must be faculty in English and at least one member must be affiliated with WGSS. 

Combined Program in WGSS and Sociology

Coursework Students will complete twelve courses as well as the required WGSS Graduate Colloquium (WGSS 9900), which is taken in addition. These will be structured as follows:

• Four required courses in sociology (SOCY 5000, SOCY 5500, SOCY 5610, SOCY 5620)
• Two required courses in WGSS (WGSS 6600, WGSS 7700) 
• Six elective courses (this must include at least one workshop in sociology) 

SOCY 5610 or SOCY 5620 may be taken in place of WGSS 8800, though combined degree students are encouraged to consider taking both depending on the course of study. 

Teaching Students will serve as teaching fellows in courses belonging to either or both Sociology and WGSS, according to the need of each department, to satisfy their teaching obligations.  
 
Qualifying Examinations After completion of courses, students prepare and submit a research paper and will undertake a field exam. The exam will be supervised by two faculty members, one of which must have an affiliation with WGSS. For details, please consult the Sociology graduate handbook. 

Dissertation Prospectus and Committee Students will be required to appoint the chair and two other members of the dissertation committee, one of whom must have an affiliation with WGSS. The student will work closely with the committee to develop a dissertation prospectus. By the end of the third year, the student will be expected to defend the dissertation prospectus in an oral examination with the committee.

Master’s Degrees

M.Phil. See Degree Requirements under Policies and Regulations.

M.A. (en route to the combined Ph.D.) Students will be awarded a combined M.A. degree in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and the partnering department or program upon successful completion of all coursework with the exception of the WGSS dissertation proposal workshop. 

Students enrolled in combined programs normally receive a single en route degree if both programs offer the same en route degree. If only one of the programs offers an en route degree, the student will be eligible to receive it from that program. If the two programs offer different en route degrees (for example, one offers an M.A. and the other an M.S.), the student may receive only one en route degree and will choose which one in consultation with their departments and the appropriate academic dean. This policy also applies to ad hoc combined degree programs. See Degree Requirements under Policies and Regulations.

Courses