Carly Thomsen
Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality, & Feminist Studies

- Office
- Axinn Center at Starr Library 315
- Tel
- (802) 443-5785
- cthomsen@middlebury.edu
- Office Hours
- Wed and Fri 12-1 pm via Zoom
- Additional Programs
- Food Studies Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies
Courses Taught
GSFS 0203
Performing Repro Politics
Course Description
Performing Reproductive Politics: The Jane Collective on Stage
In this project-based course on reproductive politics, students will produce Paula Kamen’s play Jane: Abortion and the Underground. In so doing, students will learn about various reproductive issues by focusing on reproductive justice activism involving the creation of art and performance. Students may act in the play, or may do other work related to its production, such as working on set, costumes, lighting design, or creating a web presence related to the project. No prior experience required. .
Terms Taught
Requirements
GSFS 0269
Beyond Intersectionality
Course Description
Beyond Intersectionality: Developing Anti-Racist and Anti-Capitalist Feminisms
Nearly thirty years ago, Kimberlé Crenshaw published the theory of “intersectionality,” in which she argued that racism and sexism collide to make black women’s marginalization distinct from those of both white women and black men (1989). Today, the terms “intersectionality” and “intersectional feminism” are ubiquitous, utilized by scholars, activists, artists, and our students. In this course, we will consider how discourses of and ideas about intersectionality move between and among spaces of dissent. Starting from the position that it is more epistemologically and politically powerful to state that our feminism is anti-racist and anti-capitalist than to say it is “intersectional,” we will address the following questions: What are the benefits and limits of the original theory of intersectionality? How are academic and activist approaches alike both emboldened and limited by intersectionality? What does it mean to be socially and politically conscious, and how do we move from consciousness to action in ways that are not siloed? Texts may include Crenshaw’s “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women” (1989) and Ange-Marie Hancock’s Intersectionality: An Intellectual History (2016). (Critical Race Feminisms) 3 hrs. lect.
Terms Taught
Requirements
GSFS 0278
Current
Feminist Building
Course Description
Feminist Building: Art, Aesthetics, and Mini Golf
In this project-based course, we will build a reproductive justice mini golf course to be housed in the athletics facility. We will collaborate with graphic artists, woodworkers, activists, and faculty and students to design, develop, and construct the mini golf course. The studio course work will include opportunities to explore sculpture, construction, and engineering using many art forms and fabrication processes. The course will engage with Feminist and Queer Studies approaches to using art for social change and what it means to build in feminist ways, both in terms of process and product. All students will contribute to designing and building the mini golf course. No prior experience with GSFS or HARC required
Terms Taught
Requirements
GSFS 0289
Introduction to Queer Critique
Course Description
Introduction to Queer Critique
In this course we will examine what is meant by queer critique through exploring the concepts, issues, and debates central to queer theory and activism both in the U.S. and around the world. We will work to understand how queerness overlaps with and is distinct from other articulations of marginalized sexual subjectivity. We will consider how desires, identities, bodies, and experiences are constructed and represented, assessing the ways in which queer theory allows us to examine sexuality and its raced, classed, gendered, geographic, and (dis)abled dimensions. Through engaged projects, we will practice how to translate and produce queer critique. 3 hrs. lect./disc.*This course is part of the Public Humanities Labs Initiative administered by the Axinn Center for the Humanities.*
Terms Taught
Requirements
GSFS 0329
Current
Politics of Reproduction
Course Description
The Politics of Reproduction: Sex, Abortion, and Motherhood
In this course we will examine contemporary reproductive issues both in the United States and around the world. We will work to understand both how reproductive politics are informed by broader cultural ideas regarding gender, race, class, ability, sexuality, and geography and also how ideas about reproduction reinforce conceptions of these very identity markers and ways of experiencing the world. Because requirements for being considered a “good” woman are intimately tied to what it means to be a “good” mother, challenging dominant understandings of gender and sexuality requires critical engagement with ideas about reproduction. This course is part of the Public Humanities Labs Initiative administered by the Axinn Center for the Humanities. 3 hrs. lect. (FemSTHM)/
Terms Taught
Requirements
GSFS 0435
Feminist Engaged Research
Course Description
Feminist Engaged Research
What makes research feminist? How does one conduct feminist research? How has feminist research been useful to social movements and how have movements informed feminist research? What happens to feminist research when it moves to the public sphere? In this class students learn how to produce original feminist research—how to craft research questions, write a literature review, choose relevant methodologies, and collect and analyze qualitative data. In addition to writing a research paper, students will translate their research findings into an alternative (non-academic paper) format and for an audience beyond our classroom. (GSFS 0320 or instructor approval). 3 hrs. Sem.
Terms Taught
Requirements
GSFS 0500
Current
Upcoming
Independent Study
Course Description
Independent Study
(Approval required)
Terms Taught
GSFS 0700
Current
Upcoming
Senior Essay
Course Description
Senior Essay
(Approval required)
Terms Taught
GSFS 0710
Current
Upcoming
Senior Thesis
Course Description
Senior Thesis
(Approval required)
Terms Taught