GI402 Half Unit
Gender, Knowledge and Research Practice
This information is for the 2024/25 session.
Teacher responsible
Dr Hakan Sandal-Wilson
Availability
This course is compulsory on the MPhil/PhD in Gender, MSc in Gender and MSc in Gender (Research). This course is available on the MSc in Culture and Society, MSc in Gender (Rights and Human Rights), MSc in Gender (Sexuality), MSc in Gender, Development and Globalisation, MSc in Gender, Media and Culture, MSc in Gender, Peace and Security, MSc in Gender, Policy and Inequalities and MSc in Social Research Methods. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.
This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access) and demand is typically very high. Priority is given to gender studies students on programmes for which this course is compulsory or for whom it is one of a limited range of options.
Course content
This course introduces students to critical epistemological and methodological scholarship relevant for embarking on gender research at graduate and postgraduate level and beyond. The course provides a critique of ‘mainstream knowledge’ through an exploration of Black, queer, postcolonial and other intersectional feminist theories. In addition, the course offers an engagement with some of the practical, ethical and methodological challenges of conducting gender research and producing feminist knowledge through drawing on a variety of ‘disciplinary’ experiences and reflections. Finally, the course engages with decolonising and decentring intiatives and questions the place of Gender Studies as an interdisciplinary field. The course asks: what are the implications of producing research within, beyond and without the epistemic centres of global north feminism?
Teaching
This course runs in the AT. This course has a reading week in Week 6 of AT.
Formative coursework
Proposal Essay (1500 words) in the AT.
Indicative reading
Patricia Hill Collins (2000) Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment. New York: Routledge.
Sara Ahmed (2016) Living a feminist life. Duke University Press.
Uma Narayan and Sandra Harding, eds (2000) Decentering the Center: Philosophy for a Multicultural, Postcolonial and Feminist World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Assessment
Project (100%, 3000 words) in the WT.
Student performance results
(2020/21 - 2022/23 combined)
| Classification | % of students |
|---|---|
| Distinction | 32.7 |
| Merit | 53.1 |
| Pass | 12.9 |
| Fail | 1.4 |
Key facts
Department: Gender Studies
Total students 2023/24: 50
Average class size 2023/24: 50
Controlled access 2023/24: Yes
Value: Half Unit
Course selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Leadership
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication
- Specialist skills