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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: 2015-11-02 valid to 2019-06-23 (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)
Revised by: Director of Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS), 2015-05-28

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

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 must be an independent project or four semesters of full time studies equivalent to 120 ECTS.
English proficiency equivalent to English A/5 from Swedish Upper secondary education.

Form of instruction

Teaching is conducted through lectures and seminars. The seminars are compulsory, and students who are unable to participate will be given extra written examination tasks. The time to hand in extra examinations follow the same rules as renewed examination in general, that is within two year after the student registered. 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

Module 1

"Feminism and Postmodernism" and "Subjectivity, Historiography, and Politics"
Benhabib Seyla
Included in:
Feminist contentions
New York : Routledge : 1995 : 176 s. :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 17-34

"Contingent Foundations" and "For a careful reading"
Butler Judith
Included in:
Feminist contentions
New York : Routledge : 1995 : 176 s. :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 35-58

”The intersectional turn in feminist theory. A dream of a common language?”
Carbin Maria, Edenheim Sara
European Journal of Women Studies. Vol. 20, nr. 3. :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 233-248

The Psychodynamics of the Family
Chodorow Nancy
Included in:
The second wave
New York : Routledge : 1997 : 414 s. :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 181-197

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. :
Mandatory

Introduction to The Second Sex
de Beauvoir Simone
Included in:
The second wave
New York : Routledge : 1997 : 414 s. :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 11-18

The Dialectic of Sex
Firestone Shulamith
Included in:
The second wave
New York : Routledge : 1997 : 414 s. :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 19-26

The subject and power
Foucault Michel
Ingår i: Critical Inquiry, vol. 8, No 4. s.777-795. 1982 :
Mandatory

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

The feminine subject
Hekman Susan J.
Cambridge : Polity : 2014. : 228 pages :
ISBN: 9780745687834 (hbk.) :
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue

This Sex Which is Not One
Irigaray Luce
Included in:
The second wave
New York : Routledge : 1997 : 414 s. :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 323-329

Sexuality
MacKinnon Catharine A
Included in:
The second wave
New York : Routledge : 1997 : 414 s. :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 158-180

The problem of Marxism and Feminism
MacKinnon Catharine A
Included in:
Toward a feminist theory of the state
Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press : 1989 : 330 s. :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 1-12

Subjectivity : theories of the self from Freud to Haraway
Mansfield Nick
New York : New York Univ. Press : 2000 : ix, 198 s. :
ISBN: 0-8147-5651-4 (hft.)
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue

“The complexity of Intersectionality”
McCall Leslie
Ingår i: Signs. Vol. 30. No.3. 2005 : 2005 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 1771-1800

“Introduction. Justice and Gender”
Moller Okin Susan
Ingår i: Gender, Justice and the Family. Basic Books. S. 1-24. :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 1-24

Empathetic reading. The art of reading a text in its own terms
Norlander Kerstin
Swedish Secreteriat for Gender Research : 2013 :
Gender Studies Education and Pedagogy
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 10-13

Where have all the subjects gone? : bringing together the concepts of intersectionality and subjectification
Staunæs Dorthe
Included in:
NORA
Stockholm : Taylor & Francis : 1993- :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 101-110

“Intersectionality and feminist politics”
Yuval Davis Nira
European Journal of Women's Studies August 2006 vol. 13 no. 3. s. 193-209. :
http://ejw.sagepub.com/
Mandatory

Reference literature module 1

Module 2

Do Muslim women really need saving? Anthopological reflections on Cultural relativism and its Others.
Abu-Lughod Lila
Ingår i: American Anthroplogist, 104(3) pp. 783-790. 2003. : 2003 :
http://org.uib.no/smi/seminars/Pensum/Abu-Lughod.pdf
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 783-790

A Very Private Business : Exploring the Demand for Migrant Domestic Workers
Andersson Bridget
Included in:
The European journal of women's studies
London : Sage : 1999- : 14 : 247-264 pages

Mandatory

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

Volatile bodies : toward a corporeal feminism
Grosz Elizabeth
Bloomington : Indiana Univ. Press : cop. 1994 : xvi, 250 s. :
ISBN: 0-253-32686-9 (inb.)
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue

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
Mandatory

Urban space in plural: elastic, tamed, suppressed.
Koskela Hille
Included in:
A companion to feminist geography
Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub. : 2005 : 617 s. :
Mandatory

Geographies of the veil: violent encounters in urban public spaces in Malmö, Sweden.
Listerborn Carina
Ingår i: Social & Cultural Geography, 16(1), 95-115. : 2015 :
Mandatory

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

Interrogating intersectionality: Productive ways of theorising multiple positioning.
Phoenix Ann
Ingår i: Kvinder, kön & forskning, (23). (2006). :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 21-30

"Circuits of queer mobility. Tourism, travel and globalisation"
Puar Jasbir Kaur
Included in:
GLQ
Yverdon : Gordon and Breach : 1993- : 8 : 101-137 pages
Mandatory

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

"It was entirely his fault. Constructing white masculinities and the Haga Man assults in Umeå, Sweden 1998-2006"
Sandberg Linda
Included in:
Gender, place and culture
Abingdon : Carfax Publ. Co. : 1994- :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 178-194

"Introduction and Ambivalent Femininities"
Skeggs Beverly
Included in:
Formations of class and gender
London : Sage : 1997 : 192 s. :
Mandatory

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

Under western eyes revisited. Feminist solidarity through anticapitalist struggles
Talpade Mohanty Chandra
Signs. Vol. 28/no 2. 2002. s. 499-535. :
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~dasgupta/Mohantysigns.pdf
Mandatory

Intersectionality as multi-level analysis: Dealing with social inequality.
Winker Gabriele, Degele Nina
European Journal of Women's Studies, 18(1), 51-66. 2011 :
Mandatory

“Intersectionality and feminist politics”
Yuval Davis Nira
European Journal of Women's Studies August 2006 vol. 13 no. 3. s. 193-209. :
http://ejw.sagepub.com/
Mandatory

Feminists Theorizing Class - Issues and Arguments
Acker Joan
Included in:
Introduction - The Feminist Problem with Class
Lanham, Mdb Rowman &Littlefield ,c 2006 : Rowman &Littlefield : 2006 : 219 s. :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 15-44

Theorizing and Researching Intersectionality : A Challenge for Feminist Geography
Valentine Gill
Included in:
Professional geographer
Oxford : Blackwell : 1997- : 59 : 10-21 pages

Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp 10-21

Reference literature module 2

Imaginary prohibitions: Some preliminary remarks on the founding gestures of the ‘new materialism’.
Ahmed Sara
European Journal of Women Studies, 2008. 15 (1), 23-39. : 2008 :
Mandatory

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

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

”The intersectional turn in feminist theory. A dream of a common language?”
Carbin Maria, Edenheim Sara
European Journal of Women Studies. Vol. 20, nr. 3. :
Mandatory

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. :
Mandatory

The subject and power
Foucault Michel
Ingår i: Critical Inquiry, vol. 8, No 4. s.777-795. 1982 :
Mandatory

The feminine subject
Hekman Susan J.
Cambridge : Polity : 2014. : 228 pages :
ISBN: 9780745687834 (hbk.) :
Mandatory
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.)
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue

Subjectivity : theories of the self from Freud to Haraway
Mansfield Nick
New York : New York Univ. Press : 2000 : ix, 198 s. :
ISBN: 0-8147-5651-4 (hft.)
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue

“The complexity of Intersectionality”
McCall Leslie
Ingår i: Signs. Vol. 30. No.3. 2005 : 2005 :
Mandatory

“Introduction. Justice and Gender”
Moller Okin Susan
Ingår i: Gender, Justice and the Family. Basic Books. S. 1-24. :
Mandatory

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.)
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue

Empatisk läsning : om konsten att läsa en text på dess egna villkor
Norlander Kerstin
Included in:
Genusvetenskapens pedagogik och didaktik
Göteborg : Nationella sekretariatet för genusforskning : [2012] : 66 s. :
Mandatory

Where have all the subjects gone? : bringing together the concepts of intersectionality and subjectification
Staunæs Dorthe
Included in:
NORA
Stockholm : Taylor & Francis : 1993- :
Mandatory

Review Essay: New Feminist materialisms
Van der Tuin Iris
Ingår i: Women Studies International Forum. 34, pp. 271-277. 2011 : 2011 :
Mandatory

“Intersectionality and feminist politics”
Yuval Davis Nira
European Journal of Women's Studies August 2006 vol. 13 no. 3. s. 193-209. :
http://ejw.sagepub.com/
Mandatory

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 i rörliga bilder
Tollin Katharina, Törnqvist Maria
2., utök. uppl. : Stockholm : Liber : 2014 : 215 s. :
ISBN: 9789147111343
Search the University Library catalogue

Do Muslim women really need saving? Anthopological reflections on Cultural relativism and its Others.
Abu-Lughod Lila
Ingår i: American Anthroplogist, 104(3) pp. 783-790. 2003. : 2003 :
http://org.uib.no/smi/seminars/Pensum/Abu-Lughod.pdf
Mandatory

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.)
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue

A Very Private Business : Exploring the Demand for Migrant Domestic Workers
Andersson Bridget
Included in:
The European journal of women's studies
London : Sage : 1999- : 14 : 247-264 pages

Mandatory

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

Volatile bodies : toward a corporeal feminism
Grosz Elizabeth
Bloomington : Indiana Univ. Press : cop. 1994 : xvi, 250 s. :
ISBN: 0-253-32686-9 (inb.)
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue

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
Mandatory

Changing sex : transsexualism, technology, and the idea of gender
Hausman Bernice Louise
Durham, N.C. : Duke Univ. Press : 1995 : 245 s. :
ISBN: 0-8223-1680-3 (inb.)
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue

"From Lesbian and Gay to Queer Geographies: Pasts, Prospects and Possibilities"
Knopp Larry
Included in:
Geographies of sexualities
Aldershot, Hampshire : Ashgate : cop. 2007 : [xii], 264 s. :
Mandatory

Urban space in plural: elastic, tamed, suppressed.
Koskela Hille
Included in:
A companion to feminist geography
Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub. : 2005 : 617 s. :
Mandatory

Hegemonin och den socialistiska strategin
Laclau Ernesto, Mouffe Chantal, Edenborg Carl-Michael
Göteborg : Glänta : 2008 : 260 s. :
ISBN: 978-91-85000-60-9 (inb.)
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue

Geographies of the veil: violent encounters in urban public spaces in Malmö, Sweden.
Listerborn Carina
Ingår i: Social & Cultural Geography, 16(1), 95-115. : 2015 :
Mandatory

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

Interrogating intersectionality: Productive ways of theorising multiple positioning.
Phoenix Ann
Ingår i: Kvinder, kön & forskning, (23). (2006). :
Mandatory

"Circuits of queer mobility. Tourism, travel and globalisation"
Puar Jasbir Kaur
Included in:
GLQ
Yverdon : Gordon and Breach : 1993- : 8 : 101-137 pages
Mandatory

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

"It was entirely his fault. Constructing white masculinities and the Haga Man assults in Umeå, Sweden 1998-2006"
Sandberg Linda
Included in:
Gender, place and culture
Abingdon : Carfax Publ. Co. : 1994- :
Mandatory

"Introduction and Ambivalent Femininities"
Skeggs Beverly
Included in:
Formations of class and gender
London : Sage : 1997 : 192 s. :
Mandatory

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

Under western eyes revisited. Feminist solidarity through anticapitalist struggles
Talpade Mohanty Chandra
Signs. Vol. 28/no 2. 2002. s. 499-535. :
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~dasgupta/Mohantysigns.pdf
Mandatory

Intersectionality as multi-level analysis: Dealing with social inequality.
Winker Gabriele, Degele Nina
European Journal of Women's Studies, 18(1), 51-66. 2011 :
Mandatory

“Intersectionality and feminist politics”
Yuval Davis Nira
European Journal of Women's Studies August 2006 vol. 13 no. 3. s. 193-209. :
http://ejw.sagepub.com/
Mandatory

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

Upp till kamp : socialistisk feminism och "Flickorna i Dagenham"
Tornhill Sofie
Included in:
Feminism i rörliga bilder
2., utök. uppl. : Stockholm : Liber : 2014 : 215 s. :