Postgraduate Course: Contemporary Feminist Debates (SCIL11026)
Course Outline
| School |
School of Social and Political Science |
College |
College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type |
Standard |
Availability |
Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) |
SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits |
20 |
| Home subject area |
Sociology |
Other subject area |
None |
| Course website |
None
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Taught in Gaelic? |
No |
| Course description |
Gender is a central concept for social and political analysis. This course introduces students to some of the major approaches to theories of gender and their application to substantive areas of research. It begins by outlining different kinds of feminism and feminist approaches to gender and the impact of the women&©s movement and feminist theory on ideas of knowledge, identity and power. Then it discusses feminist debates about issues such as $ùequality&© and $ùdifference&©, violence against women, political representation, multiculturalism, ethnocentrism and feminism, feminism and post-structuralism. During the course, students will be expected to engage with the work of a range of key feminist debates and theorists such as Raewyn Connell, Judith Butler, Christine Delphy, Stevi Jackson, Chandra Mohanty, Catherine MacKinnon
Within this broad frame, the exact focus and content varies from year to year. The postgraduate component will require students to engage in-depth with selected key texts, both theoretical investigations and empirical studies, and to reflect on the relevance of these issues for their own dissertation research.
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Entry Requirements
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites |
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| Prohibited Combinations |
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Other requirements |
None
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| Additional Costs |
None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? |
No |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2010/11 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV1)
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WebCT enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
| Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
| No Classes have been defined for this Course |
| First Class |
First class information not currently available |
| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course students should be able to:
&· identify, summarise and critically assess major themes and contending perspectives in the theorisation of gender
&· formulate a position on the pros and cons of contending perspectives in the theorisation of gender
&· interpret contending perspectives on gender in regard to the socio-historical contexts in which they are generated
&· analyse how substantive fields of research inform the theorisation of gender
&· critically assess how specific perspectives on gender may shape empirical research
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Assessment Information
Students will be assessed by way of a 4000 word essay on a topic addressing the theorisation of gender, and agreed with the course convenor. This may concern either a general approach to the theorisation of gender, or the investigation of gender in a particular social context. Students will be expected to show initiative in going beyond the set readings for the course. The development of bibliographic and literature review skills will be emphasised.
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Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
FORMAT
Class sessions take place over three hours, with lectures provided by several contributors during the first hour with some time allowed to discuss any questions that arise from the lecture, followed by small group discussions, class debates, groups presentations and videos. Postgraduates will be expected to attend the three hour sessions as well as the mandatory five separate PG tutorials
A typical series of ten weeks of lecture topics would be:
1. Introducing key issues in the study of feminism
2. What is gender?
3. What is theory?
4. Equality and difference
5. Violence against women
6. Women, gender and political representation
7. Gender and Welfare
8. Feminism, bodies and embodiment
9. Feminism and multi-culturalism
10. Feminism and post-structuralism
PG TUTORIALS
Additionally, postgraduates will attend five one-hour special tutorials in alternate weeks, focussing on close readings of major influential contributions to the selected debates and critical discussions of book-length studies on substantive topics, informed by particular conceptions of gender (see list below). Postgraduates will be expected to submit a short, non-assessed critical reflection on each of the core tutorial readings, to form a $ùlog&© of five entries by the end of the course.
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| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
KEY SOURCES
The following is an indicative list of sources drawn on in the course. Postgraduates will be expected to read more extensively and in greater depth.
Badinter, E. (2005) Dead End Feminism. Polity.
Benhabib, S. (2002) The claims of culture: equality and diversity in the global era. Princeton UP.
Birke, Lynda (1999) Feminism and the Biological Body, Edinburgh University Press
Bradley, H. (2007) Gender. Polity.
Bryson, V. (1999) Feminist Debates. Palgrave.
Bulbeck, C. (1998) Reorienting Western Feminisms, Cambridge: CUP.
Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble. Routledge.
Butler, J. (2004) Undoing Gender. Routledge.
Cohen, J., M. Howard & M Nussbaum (eds) (1999) Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women? Princeton UP.
Collins, P. H. (1991) Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment, Routledge.
Connell, R. W. (1987) Gender and Power, Polity.
Daly, M. & K. Rake (2003) Gender and the Welfare State: care, work and welfare in Europe and the USA, Polity.
Evans, J. (1995) Feminist Theory Today: An Introduction to Second-Wave Feminism, Sage.
Gupta, R. (ed) (2003) From Homebreakers to Jailbreakers: Southall Black Sisters, Zed.
Jackson, S. & J. Jones (eds) (1998) Contemporary Feminist Theories, Edinburgh UP.
Jackson, S and Scott, S (eds) (2002) Gender: A Sociological Reader, Routledge.
Jeffreys, S. (2006) Beauty and Misogyny: Harmful Cultural Practices in the West, Routledge
Kessler, S. & W. McKenna (1978) Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach, Wiley
Kolmar, W. & F. Bartkowski (eds) (2005) Feminist Theory: A Reader, McGraw Hill.
Lewis, R. &S. Mills (eds) (2003) Feminist Postcolonial Theory. Edinburgh UP
Lister, R. (1997) Citizenship: Feminist Perspectives, Macmillan.
Lovenduski, J. (2005) Feminizing Politics, Polity.
MacLaughlin, J. (2003) Feminist Social and Political Theory, Palgrave MacMillan.
Okin, S. M. (1980/1992) Women in Western Political Thought, Princeton UP.
Phillips, A. (1995) The Politics of Presence, Clarendon.
Phillips, A. (ed.) (1998) Feminism and Politics, OUP.
Phillips, Anne (2007) Multiculturalism without Culture, Princeton UP.
Pilcher, J & I. Whelehan (2004) 50 Key Concepts in Gender Studies, Sage.
Segal, L. (1999) Why Feminism? Polity.
Tong, R. (1998) Feminist Thought, Westview.
Whelehan, I. (1995) Modern Feminist Thought, Edinburgh UP.
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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords |
Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser |
Prof Patricia Jeffery
Tel: (0131 6)50 3984
Email: P.Jeffery@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary |
Miss Cristyn King
Tel: (0131 6)51 3865
Email: cristyn.king@ed.ac.uk |
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copyright 2011 The University of Edinburgh -
31 January 2011 8:20 am
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