College is an environment where people commonly expand their worldviews. New ideas, friends from diverse backgrounds, and exciting experiences are waiting around every corner. The University of Utah is facilitating this type of growth with a new course for Fall 2024 that covers weed in an entirely new way.
Cannabis college courses aren’t a new concept. Universities across the country offer plant-based classes and majors on everything from cultivation to pharmacological studies, but this University of Utah course is different. Feminist Cannabis Studies, an upper-level class, will implore students to look at the history and culture of the plant through a matriarchal lens.
The course catalog features a lengthy description of the class and ends with three questions that students will ideate around for the semester:
- What does history tell us about the ways gender, race, sexuality, immigration, and class have shaped our understanding of cannabis?
- How has the image of cannabis functioned to maintain inequality based on such socially constructed categories?
- How have Communities of Color, LGBTQ+, and marginalized groups used and imagined cannabis in cultural, medicinal, and spiritual practices over time?
The Gender Studies program hosts the class, and much of the discourse will highlight moments where cannabis intersects with Queer and Trans radical history. Classes like Gender & Social Change, Medusa and Manifestos, and Black Political Thought join the offering on the course list. Frankly, Feminist Cannabis Studies fits right in.
Despite being in a highly conservative state, the University of Utah is considered more liberal than other colleges in the area. The student population is over 60 percent white, with 30 percent describing themselves as politically moderate. About 40 percent of students believe that politics are balanced at the university, while 30 percent believe it to be a liberal space. The robust class offerings on gender and queer studies indicate this reality.
Upper-level students at the University of Utah can sign up for Feminist Cannabis Studies in the fall to learn about the rich contributions of LGBTQ+ people and women in the fight for legal weed. From legends like Brownie Mary and Dennis Peron, along with his gay mafia, to ancient Bushcraft and Brujeria–there are ample spaces in pot history to uncover. This course lets students dive right in.
