"False"
Skip to content
printicon
Main menu hidden.
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

  • Valid from: 2016 week 34

    Module 1

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

    Butler Judith
    "Contingent Foundations" and "For a careful reading"
    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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Yuval Davis Nira
    “Intersectionality and feminist politics”
    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

    Abu-Lughod Lila
    Do Muslim women really need saving? Anthopological reflections on Cultural relativism and its Others.
    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

    Andersson Bridget
    A Very Private Business : Exploring the Demand for Migrant Domestic Workers
    Included in:
    The European journal of women's studies
    London : Sage : 1999- : 14 : pages 247-264 :
    http://ejw.sagepub.com/content/14/3/247.short?rss=1&ssource=mfc
    Mandatory

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Talpade Mohanty Chandra
    Under western eyes revisited. Feminist solidarity through anticapitalist struggles
    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

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

    Acker Joan
    Feminists Theorizing Class - Issues and Arguments
    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

    Valentine Gill
    Theorizing and Researching Intersectionality : A Challenge for Feminist Geography
    Included in:
    Professional geographer
    Oxford : Blackwell : 1997- : 59 : pages 10-21 :
    http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9272.2007.00587.x/abstract
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: pp 10-21

    Reference literature module 2

  • Valid from: 2015 week 45

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

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

    Butler Judith
    "Contingent Foundations" and "For a careful reading"
    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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Mouffe Chantal
    On the political
    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

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

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

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

    Yuval Davis Nira
    “Intersectionality and feminist politics”
    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

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

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

    Andersson Bridget
    A Very Private Business : Exploring the Demand for Migrant Domestic Workers
    Included in:
    The European journal of women's studies
    London : Sage : 1999- : 14 : pages 247-264 :
    http://ejw.sagepub.com/content/14/3/247.short?rss=1&ssource=mfc
    Mandatory

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

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

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

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

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

    Koskela Hille
    Urban space in plural: elastic, tamed, suppressed.
    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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Talpade Mohanty Chandra
    Under western eyes revisited. Feminist solidarity through anticapitalist struggles
    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

    Yuval Davis Nira
    “Intersectionality and feminist politics”
    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

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