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Syllabus:

Gender Studies: Feminist Theories and Intersectional Analysis, 15 credits

Swedish name: Genusvetenskap: Feministisk teori och intersektionell analys
This syllabus is valid: 2008-09-01 valid to 2011-01-16 (newer version of the syllabus exists)
Course code: 2KC003
Credit points: 15
Education level: Second cycle
Main Field of Study and progress level: Gender Studies: Second cycle, has only first-cycle course/s as entry requirements
Law: Second cycle, has only first-cycle course/s as entry requirements
Grading scale: Pass with distinction, Pass, Fail
Responsible department: Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS)

Contents

This course focuses on contemporary feminist theoretical debates and explores the complex relations and tensions between gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity and class. Through critical readings, central feminist theories will be scrutinized to see how they are able to theorize other power dimensions such as heteronormativity, racism, (post)colonialism and classism. The course is divided into two modules. The first module, Feminist theory encounters other critical theoretical fields (7,5 ECTS), opens with an introduction of feminist theory which puts questions of power, knowledge and subjectivity in focus. Then, in order to illustrate the potential of different feminist theories for doing intersectional analysis, feminist theory is connected to other critical theoretical fields. The other module, Intersectional analysis of power relations (7,5 ECTS), consists of a discussion on the concept of intersectionality followed by more specific discussions on the prospects of intersectional analysis in relation to three empirical fields of study; body, politics and place/space. The course takes its departure from central feminist theory texts and uses critical text analyses as a focus and methodology. Active participation by students in working seminars is vital to the successful completion of the course.

Expected learning outcomes

Module 1: Feminist theory encounters other critical theoretical fields (7,5 ECTS After the course the student shall - be able to independently identify, describe and relate critically to central divisions within feminist theory regarding the meanings of class, ethnicity/race and sexuality. - be able to, orally and in writing, present an independent analysis related to the central questions in the field of feminist theory and intersectional analysis. Module 2: Intersectional analysis of power relations (7,5 ECTS) After the course the student shall - have achieved comprehension of the different theoretical positions presented during the course and understand their consequences in relation to the intersectional analysis, and be able to apply these understandings in empirical analysis. - be able to contribute qualified analytical comments at seminars and chair a seminar discussion.

Required Knowledge

Requierements: To be admitted to the course applicants must have completed three semesters of full time studies, equivalent to 90 ECTS, of which at least 15 ECTS should be an independent project. English proficiency equivalent to IELTS Academic Training –minimum score 5.0 with no individual score below 4.5 (Tests taken before January 2005 not admissible or TOEFL – minimum score 500 on paper based test and not below 4.0 on the TWE, Alternatively 173 on computer based test with iBT61 is also required as well as basic entrance requirements for higher studies in Swedish language proficiency if the course is taught in Swedish.

Form of instruction

Teaching is conducted through lectures and seminars. Major part of the scheduled lectures and seminars are compulsory, and students who are unable to participate may be given extra examination tasks. Emphasis is placed on students’ independent work.

Examination modes

The course will be examined successively through active participation in seminars, and through individual oral, and written examination. The examination of module 1 consists of a written assignment. The examination of module 2 consists of one oral and one written assignment in which the three themes; body, politics, and place/space, are linked to each other. For both modules and the course as a whole, the following grades are given: Fail (U), Pass (G) and Pass with distinction (VG). In order to be awarded Pass for the entire course, it is necessary that all examinations and all compulsory teaching sessions have been passed. In order to achieve Pass with distinction on the whole course, this grade is demanded at both modules. A re-sit examination can be offered at the earliest ten days and at the latest three months after publishing information about the first examination. One more examination will be offered within the next year. A student who has passed the examination is not eligible for a new examination to raise grades. The option of a re-examination based on the original course syllabus will be available for at least two years after a student registered for the course. All in all, a student is given five chances of fulfilling the course examination. A student has the right to change examiner after failing two examinations for a course module, unless there are strong arguments against this. Course diplomas will be issued within 60 days after a passed examination. Academic credit transfer This course cannot be credited for other courses in gender studies at Umeå University. A course with the same name (7,5 ECTS), given during Autumn 2006, can be given credits for in this course corresponding to 7,5 ECTS. For further information we recommend contact with the director of studies.

Literature

Introduction - The Feminist Problem with Class : In: Class questions, feminist answers
Acker Joan
Lanham, Mdb Rowman &Littlefield ,c 2006 : Rowman &Littlefield : 2006 : 219 s. :
ISBN: 0-7425-4630-6 (hft.)
Search the University Library catalogue

Postfeminisms : feminism, cultural theory, and cultural forms
Brooks Ann
London : Routledge : 1997 : 240 s. :
ISBN: 0-415-11474-8 (inb.)
Search the University Library catalogue

Against proper objects
Butler Judith
Included in:
Feminism meets queer theory
Bloomington, Ind. : Indiana Univ. Press : cop. 1997 : 341 s.a (xiii, 341 s.) : pp 1-30 pages

Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire
Butler Judith
Included in:
Gender trouble
New York ,a London : Routledge : 2006 : xxxvi, 236 s. : pp 3-33 pages

We other Victorians” and "The repressive hypothesis"
Foucault Michel
Included in:
The history of sexuality.n Vol. 1,p The will to knowledge
Harmondsworth : Penguin : 1990 : 168 s. : 1-35 pages

The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism. Towards a more progressive union
Hartmann Heidi
Included in:
The second wave
New York : Routledge : 1997 : 414 s. : 97-122 pages

The Feminist Standpoint. Developing the Ground for a Specifically Feminist Historical Materialism.
Hartsock Nancy C.
Included in:
The second wave
New York : Routledge : 1997 : 414 s. : 216-240 pages

Feminism unmodified : discourses on life and law
MacKinnon Catharine A.
Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press : cop. 1987 : 315 s. :
ISBN: 0-674-29873-X (inb.)
Search the University Library catalogue

Toward a feminist theory of the state
MacKinnon Catharine A.
Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press : 1989 : 330 s. :
ISBN: 0-674-89645-9 (inb.)
Search the University Library catalogue

Under western eyes. Feminist scholarship and colonial discourses.
Mohanty Chandra Talpade
Included in:
Feminist review.
London,c 1979- : 1979- : 61-88 pages

Is multiculturalism bad for women?
Okin Susan Moller, Cohen Joshua
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press : cop. 1999 : 146 s. :
ISBN: 0-691-00431-5 (inb.)
Search the University Library catalogue

Thinking sex
Rubin Gayle
Included in:
The Lesbian and gay studies reader
New York : Routledge : 1993 : 666 s. : 3-44 pages

Formations of class and gender : becoming respectable
Skeggs Beverley
London : Sage : 1997 : 192 s. :
ISBN: 0-7619-5511-9 (inb.)
Search the University Library catalogue

Questions of multi-culturalism
Spivak Gayatri Chakravorty
Included in:
The post-colonial critic
New York : Routledge : 1990 : viii, 168 s. : 59-66 pages

'She'll Wake Up One of These Days and Find She's Turned into a Nigger'. Passing through Hybridity.
Ahmed Sara
Included in:
Theory, culture & society.
London : Sage Publications : 1982- : pp 87-106. pages

Why Madam has so many bathrobes?: demand for migrant workers in the EU
Anderson Bridget
Included in:
Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie
Rotterdam,c 1910- : 1910- : 18-26 pages

"Feminism and Postmodernism" and "Subjectivity, Historiography, and Politics"
Benhabib Seyla
Included in:
Feminist contentions
New York : Routledge : 1995 : 176 s. :

"Contingent Foundations" and "For a careful reading"
Butler Judith
Included in:
Feminist contentions
New York : Routledge : 1995 : 176 s. :

Mapping the margins: intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of colour
Crenshaw Kimberlé Williams
Included in:
Critical race theory
New York : New Press : 1995 : 494 s. :

Space, Gender and Institutions in Processes Creating Difference
Fincher Ruth
Included in:
Gender, place and culture
Abingdon : Carfax Publ. Co. : 1994- : 5-27 pages

Bodies-Cities
Grosz Elizabeth
Included in:
Sexuality & space
New York : Princeton Architectural Press : cop. 1992 : 389 s. : 241-255 pages

Queer temporality and postmodern geographies
Halberstam Judith
Included in:
In a queer time and place
New York : New York University Press : 2005 : 213 s., [16] pl.-s. : 1-21 pages

The spectacle of the 'other'.
Hall Stuart
Included in:
Representation
London : Sage : 1997 : 400 s. : ill. : pp. 223-279. pages

In Place and At Home in the City: Connecting privilege, safety and belonging for women in Toronto.
Kern Leslie
Included in:
Gender, place and culture
Abingdon : Carfax Publ. Co. : 1994- : pp 357-377 pages

Space, place and gender.
Massey Doreen
Oxford : Polity Press : 1994 : 280 s. : tab. :
ISBN: 0-7456-1236-9
Search the University Library catalogue

Introduction. Postcolonialism and the angel of progress.
McClintock Anne
Included in:
Imperial leather
London : Routledge : 1995 : xi, 449 s. : 3-17 pages

'I Really Felt White': Turning Points in Whiteness Through Interracial Contact : I: Social Identities Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture
Mckinney Karyn D.
2006 : pp. 167-185. pages

On the political
Mouffe Chantal
London : Routledge : 2005 : 144 s. :
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip052/2004024746.html
ISBN: 0-415-30521-7 (hft.)
Search the University Library catalogue

The political rhetorics of class
Skeggs Bewerly
Included in:
Class, self, culture
London : Routledge : 2004 [dvs. 2003] : 226 s. : 79-95 pages

Where have all the subjects gone?
Staunæss Dorthe
Included in:
NORA
Stockholm : Taylor & Francis : 1993- : pp 101-110 pages

Brown skinned white girls : class, culture and the construction of white identity in suburban communities
Twine France Winddance
Included in:
Gender, place and culture
Abingdon : Carfax Publ. Co. : 1994- : pp. 205-225. pages

Communication and the other. Beyond deliberative democracy
Young Iris Marion
Included in:
Intersecting voices
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press : 1997 : 195 s. : 60-74 pages

Intersectionality and feminist politics : I: European Journal of Women's Studies.
Yuval-Davis Nira
pp. 193-209. pages

Introduction - The Feminist Problem with Class : In: Class questions, feminist answers
Acker Joan
Lanham, Mdb Rowman &Littlefield ,c 2006 : Rowman &Littlefield : 2006 : 219 s. :
ISBN: 0-7425-4630-6 (hft.)
Search the University Library catalogue

A companion to gender studies
Essed Philomena, Goldberg David Theo., Kobayashi Audrey Lynn
Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub. : 2005 : 561 s. :
ISBN: 0-631-22109-3 (alk. paper)
Search the University Library catalogue

Feminism, Foucault, and ´Subjects´ of Power and Freedom
Sawicki Jana
Included in:
Feminist interpretations of Michel Foucault
University Park, Pa. : Pennsylvania State Univ. Press : cop. 1996 : ix, 320 s. : 159-178 pages

Introduction - The Feminist Problem with Class : In: Class questions, feminist answers
Acker Joan
Lanham, Mdb Rowman &Littlefield ,c 2006 : Rowman &Littlefield : 2006 : 219 s. :
ISBN: 0-7425-4630-6 (hft.)
Search the University Library catalogue

Against proper objects
Butler Judith
Included in:
Feminism meets queer theory
Bloomington, Ind. : Indiana Univ. Press : cop. 1997 : 341 s.a (xiii, 341 s.) : pp 1-30 pages

Introduction.
Butler Judith, Scott Joan
Included in:
Feminists theorize the political
New York : Routledge : 1992 : xvii, 485 s. : pp xiii-xvii pages

Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire
Butler Judith
Included in:
Gender trouble
New York ,a London : Routledge : 2006 : xxxvi, 236 s. : pp 3-33 pages

We other Victorians” and "The repressive hypothesis"
Foucault Michel
Included in:
The history of sexuality.n Vol. 1,p The will to knowledge
Harmondsworth : Penguin : 1990 : 168 s. : 1-35 pages

The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism. Towards a more progressive union
Hartmann Heidi
Included in:
The second wave
New York : Routledge : 1997 : 414 s. : 97-122 pages

The Feminist Standpoint. Developing the Ground for a Specifically Feminist Historical Materialism.
Hartsock Nancy C.
Included in:
The second wave
New York : Routledge : 1997 : 414 s. : 216-240 pages

Introduction
Lewis Reina, Mills Sara
Included in:
Feminist postcolonial theory
Edinburgh : Edinburgh Univ. Press : cop. 2003 : xi, 754 s. : 1-21 pages

Feminism unmodified : discourses on life and law
MacKinnon Catharine A.
Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press : cop. 1987 : 315 s. :
ISBN: 0-674-29873-X (inb.)
Search the University Library catalogue

Toward a feminist theory of the state
MacKinnon Catharine A.
Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press : 1989 : 330 s. :
ISBN: 0-674-89645-9 (inb.)
Search the University Library catalogue

Technologies of Truth and the Function of Gender in Foucault
McCallum E.L.
Included in:
Feminist interpretations of Michel Foucault
University Park, Pa. : Pennsylvania State Univ. Press : cop. 1996 : ix, 320 s. : 77-97 pages

Under western eyes. Feminist scholarship and colonial discourses.
Mohanty Chandra Talpade
Included in:
Feminist review.
London,c 1979- : 1979- : 61-88 pages

Is multiculturalism bad for women?
Okin Susan Moller, Cohen Joshua
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press : cop. 1999 : 146 s. :
ISBN: 0-691-00431-5 (inb.)
Search the University Library catalogue

Thinking sex
Rubin Gayle
Included in:
The Lesbian and gay studies reader
New York : Routledge : 1993 : 666 s. : 3-44 pages

Feminism, Foucault, and ´Subjects´ of Power and Freedom
Sawicki Jana
Included in:
Feminist interpretations of Michel Foucault
University Park, Pa. : Pennsylvania State Univ. Press : cop. 1996 : ix, 320 s. : 159-178 pages

Formations of class and gender : becoming respectable
Skeggs Beverley
London : Sage : 1997 : 192 s. :
ISBN: 0-7619-5511-9 (inb.)
Search the University Library catalogue

Questions of multi-culturalism
Spivak Gayatri Chakravorty
Included in:
The post-colonial critic
New York : Routledge : 1990 : viii, 168 s. : 59-66 pages

Why Madam has so many bathrobes?: demand for migrant workers in the EU
Anderson Bridget
Included in:
Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie
Rotterdam,c 1910- : 1910- : 18-26 pages

"Feminism and Postmodernism" and "Subjectivity, Historiography, and Politics"
Benhabib Seyla
Included in:
Feminist contentions
New York : Routledge : 1995 : 176 s. :

Reading the Slender body
Bordo Susan
Included in:
Unbearable weight
Berkeley : Univ. of California Press : cop. 1993 : 361 s. : 185-214 pages

Ain't I a woman: revisiting intersectionality.
Brah Avtar, Phoenix Ann
Included in:
Journal of international women's studies
Bridgewater, Mass. : Bridgewater State College : 75-86 pages

"Contingent Foundations" and "For a careful reading"
Butler Judith
Included in:
Feminist contentions
New York : Routledge : 1995 : 176 s. :

Preface and Introduction
Butler Judith
Included in:
Bodies that matter
New York : Routledge : 1993 : xii, 288 s. : ix-26 pages

Mapping the margins: intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of colour
Crenshaw Kimberlé Williams
Included in:
Critical race theory
New York : New Press : 1995 : 494 s. :

Space, Gender and Institutions in Processes Creating Difference
Fincher Ruth
Included in:
Gender, place and culture
Abingdon : Carfax Publ. Co. : 1994- : 5-27 pages

Bodies-Cities
Grosz Elizabeth
Included in:
Sexuality & space
New York : Princeton Architectural Press : cop. 1992 : 389 s. : 241-255 pages

Foucault Pumped: Body politics and the Muscled woman
Haber Honi Fern
Included in:
Feminist interpretations of Michel Foucault
University Park, Pa. : Pennsylvania State Univ. Press : cop. 1996 : ix, 320 s. : 137-158 pages

Queer temporality and postmodern geographies
Halberstam Judith
Included in:
In a queer time and place
New York : New York University Press : 2005 : 213 s., [16] pl.-s. : 1-21 pages

In Place and At Home in the City: Connecting privilege, safety and belonging for women in Toronto.
Kern Leslie
Included in:
Gender, place and culture
Abingdon : Carfax Publ. Co. : 1994- : pp 357-377 pages

Space, place and gender.
Massey Doreen
Oxford : Polity Press : 1994 : 280 s. : tab. :
ISBN: 0-7456-1236-9
Search the University Library catalogue

Introduction. Postcolonialism and the angel of progress.
McClintock Anne
Included in:
Imperial leather
London : Routledge : 1995 : xi, 449 s. : 3-17 pages

What is a woman? Sex, gender and the body in feminist theory
Moi Toril
Included in:
What is a woman?
Oxford : Oxford University Press : 1999 : xxiv, 517 s. : 3-120 pages

On the political
Mouffe Chantal
London : Routledge : 2005 : 144 s. :
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip052/2004024746.html
ISBN: 0-415-30521-7 (hft.)
Search the University Library catalogue

The political rhetorics of class
Skeggs Bewerly
Included in:
Class, self, culture
London : Routledge : 2004 [dvs. 2003] : 226 s. : 79-95 pages

Where have all the subjects gone?
Staunæss Dorthe
Included in:
NORA
Stockholm : Taylor & Francis : 1993- : pp 101-110 pages

Communication and the other. Beyond deliberative democracy
Young Iris Marion
Included in:
Intersecting voices
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press : 1997 : 195 s. : 60-74 pages

Throwing like a girl
Young Iris Marion
Included in:
Throwing like a girl and other essays in feminist philosophy
Bloomington, Ind. : Indiana University Press : cop. 1990 : 213 s. : 141-159 pages

Introduction - The Feminist Problem with Class : In: Class questions, feminist answers
Acker Joan
Lanham, Mdb Rowman &Littlefield ,c 2006 : Rowman &Littlefield : 2006 : 219 s. :
ISBN: 0-7425-4630-6 (hft.)
Search the University Library catalogue

A companion to gender studies
Essed Philomena, Goldberg David Theo., Kobayashi Audrey Lynn
Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub. : 2005 : 561 s. :
ISBN: 0-631-22109-3 (alk. paper)
Search the University Library catalogue

Feminism, Foucault, and ´Subjects´ of Power and Freedom
Sawicki Jana
Included in:
Feminist interpretations of Michel Foucault
University Park, Pa. : Pennsylvania State Univ. Press : cop. 1996 : ix, 320 s. : 159-178 pages