New Mexico State University

Explore how gender, race, class, disability, and sexuality shape our lives, institutions, and power structures. This interdisciplinary course introduces foundational concepts and critical tools to analyze identity, difference, and social dynamics in the U.S. and beyond. Engage with key debates and lived experiences to understand how power operates and envision pathways for positive change. Perfect for anyone interested in these topics or seeking a foundation for further study!

Examine how women are represented across global cultures in politics, media, thought, and history. This course explores the intersection of gender, culture, and power, highlighting how race, class, sexuality, and nationality shape women's lived experience. Engage with diverse perspectives to challenge stereotypes and uncover the complexities of women and gender across this and different societies. Ideal for those interested in global feminism, women of color, or cultural analysis.

Comics. Graphic medicine. Comics journalism. Graphic memoir. This course invites you to consider how graphic narratives can give shape to marginalized (gendered, LGBT+, racial and ethnic) identities and experiences, especially in relation to positive social change. Some of the questions that animate our study include: How do comics invite us to reevaluate traditional narrative forms (both literary and visual)? How do graphic novelists blur the distinction between private and public histories? Why are graphic narratives a uniquely powerful creative medium to reflect and critique social inequalities and advocate for more just futures?  Our work in this class follows adjacent paths—just as a language class might ask you to both read and practice speaking and writing the language, our class will ask you to both read and create your own graphic narratives.

Explore how women navigate, challenge, and transform borders—geographical, cultural, and ideological—in this advanced, interdisciplinary course. Through in-depth analysis of migration, transnational activism, and borderlands, we critically examine how gender, race, class, and sexuality intersect in shaping women’s experiences. Engage with scholarly texts, case studies, and creative works to unpack themes of identity, resilience, and resistance. Ideal for students with a background in gender studies, social sciences, or humanities seeking to deepen their understanding of global and intersectional feminism.

How do we research in ways that challenge inequality and center marginalized voices? This course explores feminist approaches to research, emphasizing ethics, reflexivity, and justice. Learn how power shapes knowledge production and discover innovative, interdisciplinary methods—from oral histories to essay writing. Ideal for anyone interested in conducting research that bridges theory and practice while creating meaningful social change.

Curiosity, passion, and big ideas—just like Moo Deng, G&SS at NMSU is full of energy, and we’re inviting you to bite into bold new ideas.

Our courses meet you where you are, whether that’s on campus, online, or with #NMSU Global. Enroll for Spring 2025-be part of a community ready to support you in taking on any future with knowledge, resilience, & purpose.

What does it mean to embody masculinity? What does it mean to "be a man"? How are masculinities shaped by culture, race, class, sexuality, and gender identity? This course critically examines the construction and performance of masculinities, including the experiences of trans men and LGBTQ+ individuals. Explore topics like toxic masculinity, intersectional masculinities, men in media, fatherhood, and evolving understandings of gender and power. Ideal for students interested in unpacking how masculinities influence identity, relationships, and social structures—and how they can transform for a more inclusive world.

This course is an introduction to Transgender Studies, an interdisciplinary field that continues to evolve and build upon more than thirty years of scholarship and activism. Transgender Studies centers trans peoples’ and trans studies scholars’ contributions to our shifting understandings of sex, gender, identity, and the body across cultures and disciplines, in theory and in activism. The field engages with questions such as: how do gendered embodiments come to matter and shift in the wake of settler colonialism and chattel slavery? What does trans as an analytic offer those who are invested in social change? Students will be introduced to lively contemporary discussions and debates that inform emergent transgender studies scholarship and activism, such as questions about trans inclusion/exclusion from athletics, public space, and healthcare; the sex/gender distinction and whether it remains useful; anti-trans public policy and the carceral state; and the relationships of current trans and transgender identities to much longer lineages of gender nonconformity across various cultural contexts. As a class, we will immerse ourselves in transgender theory and trans theorizing as a means of finding light and life, accessing and creating new worlds, and imagining other, more livable futures. Part of doing that critical and affirming work will push us to consider how transgender studies is in conversation with other bodies of thought with related urgent concerns such as Black, Latinx, and Indigenous studies, disability studies, feminist and queer theory, critical science studies, and the posthumanities. Students are not expected to have prior knowledge of the field, but everyone should be prepared to dedicate the time needed to fully participate in our collective study.

This course offers a direct learning approach to intersectional feminisms and socially engaged art and arts activism. We will explore public art, art activism, digital storytelling, analyze creative media that addresses social problems-- their goals, audience, message, and impact. We will focus on the exciting overlap between socially engaged art and recent social movements around the world. This broad perspective will help us decide how to create our own arts-based activism. After exploring independent short films and film festivals,  you will have opportunities to collaborate in planning the 10th annual Feminist Border Arts Film Festival, including evaluating film submissions, creating short digital documentaries, and collaborating on a class zine project.