Undergraduate Course: Gender and Culture (ELCC08010)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Gender 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.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 46 |
| 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 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| 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%).
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| 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:
- demonstrate knowledge and understanding of gender issues.
- apply critical analytical skills to a variety of texts and develop ideas with reference to other critics' work.
- write and speak about gender and culture using appropriate academic terminology and phrasing.
- carry out independent research, individually and as part of a group, under the guidance of the tutor.
- construct coherent arguments which show an awareness of the problems posed by the texts.
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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. |
| Keywords | gender,culture,critical thinking,literature,visual culture |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Fionnuala Sinclair
Tel: (0131 6)50 8423
Email: Finn.Sinclair@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Lina Gordyshevskaya
Tel:
Email: pgordysh@ed.ac.uk |
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