Feminist Studies - PhD

Feminist Studies is a dynamic and interdisciplinary field that examines how gender and sexuality impact every aspect of our lives. Our faculty approach gender from a critical, global, and intersectional perspective that centers the knowledge, movements, and survival strategies of people most targeted by gender-based violence and inequality. As a student in our department, you’ll learn to identify the gendered dimensions of today's most pressing issues and to produce timely and original research that helps us understand our past and present and that contributes to creating a more just future. During your studies, you’ll build broad expertise on issues of gender and sexuality, preparing you for further academic training, leadership in feminist and LGBTQ organizations, and a vast range of other careers. Our department's particular areas of strength include Black cultural studies, queer theory, trans studies, labor studies, migration studies, reproductive justice, and performance studies.

Admission

Students applying to the graduate program must possess a B.A. or B.S. degree from an accredited institution or equivalent, have a strong background in women's, gender, or feminist studies, and have evidence of potential for excellence in research, analysis, and oral and written communication. Applicants must complete the online application and upload a statement of purpose, an achievements/contributions essay, a CV/résumé, and a writing sample. Official transcripts from all institutions attended, and three letters of recommendation are also required. Candidates should have at least a 3.3 grade point average. International applicants must provide evidence of sufficient English language ability as required by the Graduate Division.

MA students not admitted annually: Interested MA candidates must contact the Feminist Studies Graduate Director before applying.

Areas of Emphasis

The graduate program is organized into three areas of emphasis. Ph.D. students will focus on one of three areas but take courses in all three:

1)  Race and Nation: “Race and nation” centers the experiences of race and ethnicity and the inextricability of race and ethnicity from all other categories of identity and difference. 

2)  Genders and Sexualities: “Genders and sexualities” concentrates on an interdisciplinary exploration of the historical and global processes by which desires, sexual acts, relationships, gender and sexual identities, communities, and movements have been constructed, transformed, and challenged. A number of our affiliated faculty members specialize in masculinities and queer sexualities, which are part of this concentration.

3) Labors (Productive and reproductive labors): “Productive and reproductive labors” focuses on the economic (both paid and unpaid) and reproductive roles and experiences of diverse groups globally and historically and the complex relationship between employment and child-bearing and child-rearing.

All three areas of concentration attend to the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, nationality, age, religion, ability, and other categories of difference. In addition, all three areas integrate attention to the contemporary United States with historical and global perspectives. Applicants indicate an area of focus upon application to the program, although they may change areas if they so choose once they are enrolled.

Required and Recommended Courses

Both the MA and the Ph.D. begin with a core of courses that ground students in the theoretical, methodological, epistemological, and pedagogical traditions of feminist studies.

MA/Ph.D. and Ph.D. students concentrate in one of three thematic fields (race and nation, genders and sexualities, productive and reproductive labors) while taking some coursework in all three, thus gaining broad expertise. They may also take a cluster of courses in an outside disciplinary or interdisciplinary field to complement their work in feminist studies. In addition, they engage in extensive original research, both in research seminars and in the completion of a dissertation.

• Nonprofit organizations

• Social work

• Law

• Community organizing

• Higher education

• Gender Studies

• Ethnic Studies

• Law

• Public Policy

• Universities/Colleges

• Non-profit organizations

• local and national politics

• We were the first department to have an endowed chair, thanks to socially conscious feminist Kristin Hull, daughter of Blair Hull

• UCSB was the second UC, after UCLA, to have a Feminist Studies graduate program

• The majority of our majors are from underrepresented groups or people of color

• Sociology & Anthropology

• Ethnic Studies

• Film and cultural studies

• English

• History

• Racial justice

• Global perspectives

• Trans and queer rights

• Sexuality

• Film and culture

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