Areas of Excellence

Studies in this area investigate how gender and health interrelate and are shaped within political, cultural, and environmental contexts. We are one of the only Women’s and Gender Studies Departments in the nation with several professional health practitioners (nurses, nurse-midwives, and MD's) as members of our permanent faculty.

Focused on the humanities and the arts as well as cultural history, scholarship and teaching in this area explore the ways in which gendered meanings are produced through cultural artifacts, representations, and performances, both in the present and in the past. Faculty with expertise in European and American history, literature, and music comprise the core of this area.

Research and teaching in this area examines issues in all of the other areas, but considers them in terms of our interconnectedness as part of a global community. A Global Feminisms Project, underwritten by the Institute for Research on Women and Gender and the Rackham Graduate School, has propelled this area into developing cutting-edge curriculum, while ties to Fudan University in Shanghai and opportunities for international service learning during the spring/summer term have extended our global connections.

Scholars and students in this area scrutinize theories and histories of the interlocking nature of multiple categories of identity and difference. With joint faculty appointments with the ethnic studies programs within the Program in American Culture and the African and African American Studies Program, as well as in disciplinary departments, we have significant faculty strength in this area.

Scholarship and pedagogy in this area explores the role of sexuality in individuals, in cultural representations, and in the distribution of power. The University of Michigan boasts one of the largest groups of faculty working in this area in the country, many of whom hold appointments in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department.