Welcome to GEN140: Gender, Activism, and Social Change!

This site is for the Fall 2025 GEN140 with Professor Ellie J Bell. Please refer to this website for all assignments, course content, and course updates.

This course introduces students to general topics in activism, gender studies, and justice. The course will draw connections between gender, race, sexuality and grassroots, community and organizational activism and social justice and change. Students will be expected to apply the knowledge gained in the classroom to observational and documentation projects focusing on the activism occurring on the college campus and in the larger community. The course will introduce key terms in the interdisciplinary fields of gender and activist studies and some of the important debates in these fields. It will then focus on a specific form of activism toward social justice and change.

We will learn from different materials about gender, activism, and social change, and from the knowledge we all bring to class about how gender works with other forces we know, like race, class, ethnicity, migration, religious practice, work etc. Our methodology will include close reading of texts, videos, and podcasts, physical exploration, observations, and more. We will draw from the fields of applied theater, anthropology, history, queer theory and, of course, gender studies.

Essentials

Course: GEN140 Gender, Activism, and Social Change, Sect. 37332

Days/Time: Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:25-10:40AM

Location: TBD

Professor: Ellie J Bell (they/them)

Office Hours: By appointment in person or via Zoom (email to schedule)

Email: [email protected] & [email protected]

 

About Your Professor

Hello! My name is Ellie, my pronouns are they/them. I’m a third year PhD student in Urban Education with Advanced Certificates in Women’s and Gender Studies and LGBTQ+ Studies. My research interests center the hidden curriculum of cisheteronormativity and the experiences of trans and nonbinary youth in schools. When not teaching or doing school work, I love biking, walking, watching TV, hanging with my cats, or going to cultural institutions.