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Program Requirements

The graduate option in Gender and Women's Studies is an interdisciplinary program for students who meet the degree requirements in Islamic Studies who wish to earn 9 credits of approved coursework focusing on gender and women's studies, and issues in feminist research and methods. The student's Ph.D. thesis must be on a topic centrally relating to issues of gender and/or women's studies.

Thesis

A thesis for the doctoral degree must constitute original scholarship and must be a distinct contribution to knowledge. It must show familiarity with previous work in the field and must demonstrate ability to plan and carry out research, organize results, and defend the approach and conclusions in a scholarly manner. The research presented must meet current standards of the discipline; as well, the thesis must clearly demonstrate how the research advances knowledge in the field. Finally, the thesis must be written in compliance with norms for academic and scholarly expression and for publication in the public domain.

Required Courses (9 credits)

• ISLA 603 Introductory: Research Materials - Islamic Studies (3 credits)

  Offered by: Islamic Studies (Faculty of Arts)

  Administered by: Graduate Studies

  Overview

  Islamic Studies : Exploration of research materials in Islamic Studies, including intellectual output of Islamic civilization, compositions, Arabic nomenclature, Arabic script and transliteration systems, published and unpublished materials (theses, manuscripts, books printed by lithography, facsimile editions, monographic, serial, e-publishing), websites, databases; major reference books (bibliographies, encyclopedias, handbooks, online/published catalogues, language/biographical dictionaries).

  Terms: Fall 2021

  Instructors: Keshavmurthy, Prashant (Fall)

  • Fall

  • 2 hours

  • Compulsory for M.A. students; recommended for Ph.D. students

• ISLA 701 Comprehensive Examination

  Offered by: Islamic Studies (Faculty of Arts)

  Administered by: Graduate Studies

  Overview

  Islamic Studies : An examination that must be passed by all doctoral candidates in order to continue in the doctoral program.

  Terms: Fall 2021, Winter 2022

  Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2021-2022 academic year.

  • Fall and/or Winter

• WMST 601 Feminist Theories and Methods (3 credits)

  Offered by: Inst for Gender, Sex & Fem St (Faculty of Arts)

  Administered by: Graduate Studies

  Overview

  Women's Studies : Examination of feminist theories and research methods from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.

  Terms: Fall 2021

  Instructors: Ketchum, Alexandra (Fall)

• WMST 602 Feminist Research Symposium (3 credits)

  Offered by: Inst for Gender, Sex & Fem St (Faculty of Arts)

  Administered by: Graduate Studies

  Overview

  Women's Studies : Discussion and development of participants' research in gender and women's studies.

  Terms: Winter 2022

  Instructors: Sandwell, Rachel (Winter)

  • Prerequisite: WMST 601.

  • Restriction: Must be enrolled in the Option in Gender and Women's Studies.

Complementary Courses (21 credits)

21 credits of courses at the 500 level or higher, including 6 credits at the 600 or 700 level of seminars offered by the Institute of Islamic Studies (IIS) AND an additional 3 credits in a course with a substantive focus on women and/or gender.

* Note: For the three-year-level language requirement, either, ISLA 521D (9 credits) or ISLA 541D (6 credits) will not count toward the 21 complementary credits.

With the permission of the Institute, up to 6 credits could be taken in other departments at McGill or other institutions.

With the approval of the student's supervisor, courses taken with an IIS faculty member or an associate member in other departments (i.e., History, Anthropology, Political Science) can count toward the coursework requirements in the same way as ISLA courses.

To avoid over-specialization, a maximum of 9 credits of content courses (i.e., courses that are not primarily devoted to language instruction can be taken with a single Institute professor.

Language Requirements

All Ph.D. students are required to have completed three years of Arabic language or Persian language study at the IIS. Students who do not take the third level of Arabic or Persian at the Institute may demonstrate their competence by taking a proficiency examination set by the academic staff of the IIS.

In addition to Arabic or Persian, all Ph.D. students are required to have completed the equivalent of two years of language study at the IIS of another Islamic language. They may demonstrate competence in this language by taking a proficiency examination set by the academic staff of the IIS. Students are, of course, responsible for whatever higher levels are required for their research.

In addition to English, reading knowledge of one non-Islamic research language (usually European) at a level of scholarly competence will be required for the Ph.D. Students must demonstrate their competence in the non-Islamic (usually European) research language by passing the Language Proficiency Examination administered by the Institute.