"False"
Skip to content
printicon
Main menu hidden.
Syllabus:

Gender, Sex, Bodies: Theories and Debates, 15 Credits

Swedish name: Genus, kön, kropp: teorier och debatt

This syllabus is valid: 2022-08-29 and until further notice

Course code: 2KC006

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

Grading scale: Three-grade scale

Responsible department: Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS)

Revised by: Director of Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS), 2022-09-15

Contents

This is a cross-disciplinary course on biological and constructionist explanatory models for giving meaning to sex, gender and the body. The course is divided into two modules. The first module, Conceptualizing gendered bodies: historical and contemporary understandings and debates (7,5 ECTS) begins by introducing central concepts in relation to historical and contemporary frontiers of debate and knowledge in different fields and disciplines where research debates have been particularly marked. The second module Theoretical and methodological studies (7,5 ECTS) involves an extended focus on theoretical and methodological issues. Active participation by students in seminars is vital to complete course. The course is taught in English.

Expected learning outcomes

Module 1: Conceptualizing gendered bodies: historical and contemporary understandings and debates
After the course the student shall 

Knowledge and understanding 
- understand and explain central concepts, research theories and debates about gender and sexuality.

Competence and Skills 
- identify and compare how concepts and theories are used to give meaning to gendered/sexed bodies.

Judgment and Approach 
- in a written assignment, be able to critically scrutinize perceptions and theories of gender, sexuality and bodies.

Module 2: Theoretical and methodological studies 
After the course the student shall 

Knowledge and understanding 
- demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how gender and bodies is approached theoretically and methodologically regarding some particular themes within gender studies.

Competence and Skills 
- account for different perspectives within gender studies on gender, sexuality, and bodies.

Judgment and Approach 
- in a written paper, be able to use the theoretical and methodological approaches covered in the module to make an independent analysis of a topic related to at least one chosen area of the course.

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 must be an independent project or four semesters of full time studies equivalent to 120 ECTS.

English proficiency equivalent to English A/6 from Swedish Upper secondary education.

Form of instruction

Teaching is conducted through lectures and seminars. 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 examinations. The examination of module 1 consists of a written assignment. The examination of module 2 consists of one written paper, where a critical analysis of theories and debates in one chosen theme area is done. 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.

Academic credit transfer
This course cannot be credited for other courses in gender studies at Umeå University.

Literature

Valid from: 2023 week 25

Obligatory Literature Module 1

Butler Judith
Is kinship always already heterosexual?
Included in:
Differences
Bloomington : Indiana University Press : 1989- :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/9630/pdf

Fausto-Sterling Anne
The Rodent’s Tale
Included in:
Sexing the body
New York : Basic Books : Books,c cop. 2000 : 473 s. : pages 195-232 :
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 195-232

Gemzöe Lena
Faux feminism? : a reply to Mia Liinason's Position paper
Included in:
Nora
London : Taylor & Francis : 1998- :
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

Haraway Donna
Situated Knowledge: the science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective.
Included in:
Feminist studies.
New York : 1972- : Vol 14 : pages 575-599 :
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3178066
Mandatory

Haraway Donna
Teddy Bear Patriarchy : Taxidermy in the Garden of Eden, New York City, 1908-1936
Included in:
Social text
Madison, Wis. : Coda P. : 1979- :
Mandatory

Harding Sandra
After the neutrality ideal: science, politics and "strong objectivity.”
Ingår i: Social Research, Fall, 1992, Vol.59(3), s. 567-587 :
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8bd484ae-2f47-4915-93c0-9831aad3c33a%40sessionmgr4005&vid=1&hid=4201
Mandatory

Hemmings Clare
Telling feminist stories
Included in:
Feminist theory [Elektronisk resurs].
Thousand Oaks : Sage : 2000- :
Mandatory

Hemmings Clare
What is a feminist theorist responsible for?
Included in:
Feminist theory [Elektronisk resurs].
Thousand Oaks : Sage : 2000- : 8 : pages 69-76 :
Mandatory

Kitzinger Celia
The social construction of lesbianism
London : Sage : 1987 : ix, 230 s. :
ISBN: 0-8039-8116-3 (inb.) ; £20.00 : CIP rev.
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue

Kraus Cynthia
Naked Sex in Exile: On the Paradoxes of the ‘Sex Question’ in Feminism and in Science.
Included in:
NWSA journal
Norwood, N.J. : Ablex Pub. Corp. ;a Bloomington : 1988- :
Mandatory

Liinason Mia
Feminist challenges : response to Lena Gemzöe
Included in:
Nora
London : Taylor & Francis : 1998- :
Mandatory

Liinason Mia
Institutionalized knowledge : notes on the processes of inclusion and exclusion in gender studies in Sweden
Included in:
Nora
London : Taylor & Francis : 1998- :
Mandatory

M'charek Amade
The Mitochondrial eve of modern genetics: : Of peoples and genomes, or the routinization of race
Included in:
Science as culture
London : Taylor & Francis : 2000- : 14:2 : pages 161-183 :
https://browzine.com/libraries/232/journals/17150/issues/5114189?showArticleInContext=doi%3A10.1080%2F09505430500110945
Mandatory

Rahman Oazi
The neurodevelopment of human sexual orientation.
Included in:
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews.
Fayetteville, N.Y. : ANKHO International : 1978- :
Mandatory

Schiebinger Londa
Skeletons in the closet : the first illustrations of the female skeleton in eighteenth-century anatomy

Mandatory
Reading instructions: p. 42-82

Torr Rachel
What's wrong with aspiring to find out what happened in academic feminism's recent past?
Included in:
Feminist theory [Elektronisk resurs].
Thousand Oaks : Sage : 2000- : 8 : pages 59-67 :
Mandatory

Literature can be added later, appr 150 pages.

Code Lorraine.
Encyclopedia of feminist theories[Elektronisk resurs]c edited by Lorraine Code.
London ;a New York : Routledge : 2000. : xxvi, 530 p. :
http://ezproxy.its.uu.se/login?url=http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=70627
ISBN: 0-203-28723-1z 0415132746
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.)
Search the University Library catalogue

Weedon Chris
Feminist practice and poststructuralist theory
Oxford : Basil Blackwell : 1987 : 187 s. :
ISBN: 0-631-15069-2 ;
Search the University Library catalogue

Obligatory literature Module 2

Ahmed Sara
Strange encounters : embodied others in post-coloniality
London : Routledge : 2000 : 1 online resource (218 p.) :
ISBN: 9781135120047
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: Introduction and Part 1: Encountering the stranger

Inclusive masculinity theory and the gendered politics of men's rugby
Anderson Eric, McGuire Rhidian
Included in:
Journal of gender studies
London : Taylor & Francis : 1999- : 19 : pages 249-261 :
https://search.ub.umu.se/permalink/46UMEA_INST/1l5esu/cdi_scopus_primary_359673748
Mandatory

Beasley Chris
Problematizing contemporary men/masculinities theorizing: the contribution of Raewyn Connell and conceptual-terminological tensions today
Included in:
The British journal of sociology.
London : 1950- : 63 : pages 747-765 :
https://search.ub.umu.se/permalink/46UMEA_INST/1l5esu/cdi_crossref_primary_10_1111_j_1468_4446_2012_01435_x
Mandatory

Berggren Kalle
Sticky Masculinity: Post-structuralism, Phenomenology and Subjectivity in Critical Studies on Men
Included in:
Men and masculinities
Thousand Oaks, Ca : Sage : 1999- : 17 : pages 231-252 :
https://search.ub.umu.se/permalink/46UMEA_INST/1l5esu/cdi_crossref_primary_10_1177_1097184X14539510
Mandatory

Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept
Connell R. W., Messerschmidt James W.
Included in:
Gender & society.
Newbury Park, Calif. : Sage : 1987- : 19 : pages 829-859 :
Mandatory

Kafer Alison
Feminist, queer, crip
Bloomington, Indiana : Indiana University Press : 2013 : 1 online resource (xiii, 258 pages) :
ISBN: 9781299608191
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: p. 1-24

Koskela Hille
"Bold walk and breakings" : women's spatial confidence versus fear of violence
Included in:
Gender, place and culture
Abingdon : Carfax Publ. Co. : 1994- :
Mandatory

Kumari Campbell Fiona A
Exploring internalized ableism using critical race theory
Routledge : 2008 :
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09687590701841190?needAccess=true
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 151-162

Listerborn Carina
Geographies of the Veil : Violent Encounters in Urban Public Spaces in Malmö
Taylor and Francis : 2015 :
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-1765
Mandatory

Longhurst Robyn
(Dis)embodied geographies
Included in:
Progress in human geography
Edward Arnold : 1997- : pages 486-501 :
https://search.ub.umu.se/permalink/46UMEA_INST/1l5esu/cdi_webofscience_primary_000071298500003
Mandatory

McRuer Robert
Crip theory : cultural signs of queerness and disability
New York : New York University Press : cop. 2006 : xi, 283 s. :
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip064/2005035209.html
ISBN: 978-0-8147-5712-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: pp. 1-32

Neurodiversity studies : a new critical paradigm
Bertilsdotter Rosqvist Hanna, Chown Nick, Stenning Anna
London : Routledge : 2020 : 1 online resource (xiii, 241 pages) :
Online access for UMUB
ISBN: 9780429322297
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: pp. 15-26 The production of the 'normal' child.

O’Neill Rachel
Whither Critical Masculinity Studies? Notes on Inclusive Masculinity Theory, Postfeminism, and Sexual Politics
Included in:
Men and masculinities
Thousand Oaks, Ca : Sage : 1999- : 18 : pages 100-120 :
https://search.ub.umu.se/permalink/46UMEA_INST/1l5esu/cdi_webofscience_primary_000350825100005CitationCount
Mandatory

Patsavas Alyson
Recovering a Cripistemology of Pain: Leaky Bodies, Connective Tissue, and Feeling Discourse
Liverpool University Press : 2014 :
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/548851/pdf
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 203-218

Puwar Nirmal
Space invaders : race, gender and bodies out of place
Oxford : Berg : 2004 : ix, 187 p. :
Online access for UMUB
ISBN: 9781845206390
Mandatory
Search the University Library catalogue
Reading instructions: pp. 1-12 and pp 31-54

Samuels Ellen
Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time
DSIQ : 2017 :
http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/5824/4684
Mandatory

Stenning Anna
Chapter 7 Understanding Empathy Through a Study of Autistic Life Writing : On the Importance of Neurodiverse Morality
2020 :
Mandatory

Literature can be added later, appr. 150 pages.

Waling Andrea
Problematising 'Toxic' and 'Healthy' Masculinity for Addressing Gender Inequalities
Included in:
Australian feminist studies
Adelaide : Research Centre for Women's Studies, University of Adelaide : 1985- : 34 : pages 362-375 :
https://search.ub.umu.se/permalink/46UMEA_INST/1l5esu/cdi_webofscience_primary_000490653100001

Hegemonic Masculinity and Beyond: 40 Years of Research in Sweden
Hearn Jeff, Nordberg Marie, Andersson Kjerstin, Balkmar Dag, Gottzén Lucas, Klinth Roger, Pringle Keith, Sandberg Linn
Included in:
Men and masculinities
Thousand Oaks, Ca : Sage : 1999- : 15 : pages 31-55 :
https://search.ub.umu.se/permalink/46UMEA_INST/1l5esu/cdi_swepub_primary_oai_DiVA_org_oru_38579