THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures : European Languages and Cultures - Common Courses

Undergraduate Course: Gender and Culture (ELCC08010)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Literatures, Languages and Cultures CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryGender concerns us all. It is also through gender, and its cultural representations, that we can develop critical thinking, re-evaluate our own views, and learn to see beyond stereotypes. This team-taught course on gender and culture offers a series of different forms of analysis through which we can 'read' gender. It is particularly suited to students who wish to develop their critical and analytical skills by learning more about specific gender-related issues and developing gender-specific approaches to engaging with a variety of cultural works across disciplines, genres and literary periods. All texts will be in English or in English translation.
Course description Course description:
'Gender and Culture' is primarily a skills course. Its two main aims are: (1) to introduce you to themes and topics that have dominated (recent) gender discourse; and (2) to develop your skills in critical analysis by engaging with a variety of texts (in a broad sense). You will learn how to 'read' cultural representations of gender within different critical frameworks, thereby developing a complex understanding of the concerns raised by gender studies and debated well beyond it.

The course starts with a general introduction to the topics you will study and to some important aspects of gender studies. We will ask, for example, why we study gender; how we can study it; and what we can learn from studying gender more broadly. This is followed by a number of sessions taught by different tutors on a different gender related topic or theme. You will approach these themes by studying a number of different texts.

The course is taught over one semester, both synchronously and asychnronously. As the course focusses on student-led learning, you will join an Autonomous Learning Group in which you will prepare for each week's topic as well as your group presentation to be prepared for the final week. One week will be set aside for focussed preparation of the group presentation, and one week will be dedicated to individual feed-forward sessions with the relevant tutor. You will listen to brief lecture-style presentations on theoretical/methodological issues by the tutor when appropriate, but most of the class will centre on group-based discussion.

Feedback:
General feedback will be given on the interactive learning activities in class and students will each receive written feedback on their logs. Students are also invited to schedule a feed-forward session in preparation of their group presentations. Students will receive feedback on their group presentations in the final class (if possible) and written feedback shortly afterwards.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  47
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 176 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) This course is assessed on coursework only. There are two components:

1. Participation based on 5 reflective logs (300 words each) posted on Learn. Tutors will comment on each log and give feedback (50%).

2. A group presentation at the end of the semester. This will build on the reflective logs (50%).
Feedback General feedback will be given asynchronously on the interactive learning activities or, if possible, synchronously in class. Students will receive brief written feedback on their logs. Students are also invited to schedule a feed-forward session in preparation of their group presentations. Students will receive feedback on their group presentations in the final class (if possible) and written feedback shortly afterwards. Feedback will also be given on the reflective essay.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of gender issues.
  2. apply critical analytical skills to a variety of texts and develop ideas with reference to other critics' work.
  3. write and speak about gender and culture using appropriate academic terminology and phrasing.
  4. carry out independent research, individually and as part of a group, under the guidance of the tutor.
  5. construct coherent arguments which show an awareness of the problems posed by the texts.
Reading List
Essential

Cranny-Francis, Anne, Wendy Waring, Pam Stavropoulos, and Joan Kirby, Gender Studies: Terms and Debates (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)

Evans, Mary, and Carolyn Williams, eds, Gender: The Key Concepts (London: Routledge, 2013)

Whitehead, Stephen M., Men and Masculinities, Key Themes and New Directions (Cambridge: Polity, 2002)


Recommended

Butler, Judith, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New York and London: Routledge, 1999 [1990])

Colebrook, Claire, Gender (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)

Connell, R.W., Masculinities (Cambridge: Polity, 2005 [1995])

Connell, Raewyn, and Rebecca Pearse, Gender in World Perspective, 3rd ed. (Cambridge: Polity, 2015)

Gill, Rosalind, Gender and the Media (Cambridge: Polity, 2007)

Halberstam, Judith, The Queer Art of Failure (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2011)

O'Brien, Jodi and Arlene Stein, eds, Gender, Sexuality, and Intimacy: A Contexts Reader (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 2017)


Further reading

Butler, Judith, Undoing Gender (New York and London: Routledge, 2004)

Kosofsky Sedgwick, Eve, Epistemology of the Closet, Updated with a New Preface (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 2008 [1990])

Phipps, Alison, The Politics of the Body: Gender in a Neoliberal and Neoconservative Age (Cambridge: Polity, 2014)

Reeser, Todd W., Masculinities in Theory: An Introduction (Wiley-Blackwell: Chichester, 2010)
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Students will further develop graduate attributes, personal and professional skills in the following areas:
- Research and enquiry: problem solving; analytical thinking; critical thinking; knowledge integration and application; handling complexity and ambiguity.
- Personal and intellectual autonomy: self-awareness and reflection; independent learning and development; creative and inventive thinking.
- Personal effectiveness: planning, organising and time management; team working; assertiveness and confidence; flexibility.
- Communication: interpersonal skills, verbal and written communication, presentation.
Keywordsgender,culture,critical thinking,literature,visual culture
Contacts
Course organiserDr Fionnuala Sinclair
Tel: (0131 6)50 8423
Email: Finn.Sinclair@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Claire Hand
Tel: (0131 6)50 8421
Email: claire.hand@ed.ac.uk
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