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GI424      Half Unit
Gender Theories: An Interdisciplinary Approach

This information is for the 2024/25 session.

Teacher responsible

Dr Aiko Holvikivi

Availability

This course is compulsory on the MPhil/PhD in Gender, MSc in Gender, MSc in Gender (Research), 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 and MSc in Gender, Policy and Inequalities. This course is available on the 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 high. Priority is given to students in Gender Studies, for whom the course is mandatory. Students from outside this programme are welcome to apply, but may not get a place.

Course content

The course aims to enable students to: become familiar with the fullest range of gender theories with particular attention to the intersections of gender, sexuality and race; develop a critical appreciation of these different theories of gender; use gender theories to inform their appreciation of existing work in their own disciplines and in an interdisciplinary context; use the analysis of gender as a basis for case study evaluation and research.

It is a half unit course which runs for 10 weeks. It begins with a review of the formative influences on the development of gender theory, including the sex/gender distinction, race and intersectionality, production/reproduction.  It enables students to consider the implications for analysis of a variety of sites and topics including coloniality,  power and social and psychic structures of gender, representation, queer theory, nation, and rights. The course considers the impact of gender analysis on key areas of social science investigation, and develops these with particular attention to location, ethics and the importance of global and transnational dimensions. Our expectation is that this course provides a thorough grounding for work across all other courses and for the dissertation module.

Teaching

This half-unit foundational course runs in the Autumn term. It is taught through lectures and seminars.

Formative coursework

Short writing assignment in AT.

Indicative reading

  • hooks, bell. 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge.
  • Lugones, María. 2007. “Heterosexualism and the Colonial/Modern Gender System.” Hypatia 22(1): 186-209.
  • Fraser, Nancy. 2016. Contradictions of capital and care. New Left Review, 100: 99- 117.
  • Butler, Judith. 2004. Undoing Gender. Routledge.
  • Sara Ahmed. 2004 The Cultural Politics of Emotion. Edinburgh University Press.
  • Tamale, Sylvia. 2020. Decolonization and Afro-Feminism. Daraja Press.
  • Abu-Lughod, Lila. 2013. Do Muslim Women Need Saving? Harvard University Press
  • Chen, Sally Xiaojin. 2020. “Relational Interaction and Embodiment: Conceptualizing Meanings of LGBTQ+ Activism in Digital China.” Communication and the Public 5(3-4): 134-148.

Assessment

Coursework (100%, 3000 words) in the AT.

Student performance results

(2020/21 - 2022/23 combined)

Classification % of students
Distinction 36.8
Merit 55.2
Pass 7.6
Fail 0.5

Key facts

Department: Gender Studies

Total students 2023/24: 161

Average class size 2023/24: 16

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