Gender, Sex, Bodies: Theories and Debates, 15 credits
Contents
This is a cross-disciplinary course on biological and constructionist explanatory models for giving meaning to sex and gender. 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 together with historical and contemporary frontiers of debate and knowledge in the field. This is followed by highlights from the fields of medicine, biology and psychology; disciplines where collisions between standpoints have been particularly marked. The second module Contemporary theoretical issues: evolution, sexualities, reproduction and parenthood (7,5 ECTS) engages more deeply on theoretical issues. Three central areas of debate are in focus: sexualities, reproduction, and parenthood. Recent debates on biologism and evolution will also be addressed. Active participation by students in seminars is vital to the successful completion of the course. The course is taught in English.
Expected learning outcomes
Module 1: Conceptualizing gendered bodies: historical and contemporary understandings and debates (7,5 ECTS) After the course the student shall - be able to give an account of central concepts and theories, and research theories and debates about gender and sex. - be able to give an account of how these concepts and theories are used to give meaning to gender and sex in medicine, biology, and in psychology. - in a written assignment, within a restricted area, be able to critically scrutiny perceptions and theories where gender and sex are given meaning. Module 2: Contemporary theoretical issues: evolution, sexualities, reproduction and parenthood (7,5 ECTS) After the course the student shall - be able to give account of important theoretical standpoints towards gender and sex, in areas such as; sexualities, reproduction, and parenthood. - be able to make independent examinations about different theoretical standpoints, and how these standpoints are expressed in public debates about gender, nature and culture. - in a written paper, be able to make a critical analysis of theories and debates in one chosen theme 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 should be an independent project. English proficiency equivalent to IELTS Academic Training minimum score 6.0 with no individual score below 5 (Tests taken before January 2005 not admissible or TOEFL minimum score 550 on paper based test and not below 4.0 on the TWE, Alternatively 213 on computer based test with iBT 79 is also required as well as Swedish B from Swedish upper secondary school or TISUS if the course is taught in Swedish.
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: 2009 week 36
Shaping biology (2003). Feminism and the idea of 'the biological'.
Birke L.
Included in:
Debating biology
London :
Routledge :
2003. :
ix, 322 p. :
Chapter 3, pp 39-55 pages
Sitting on the fence: Biology, feminism and gender-bending environments
Birke Lynda
Included in:
Women's studies international forum
Oxford :
Pergamon P. :
1982- :
587-599 pages
Invidious comparisons: Imagining a psychology of race and gender beyond differences.
Cole Elizabeth, Stewart Abigail
Included in:
Political psychology
New York :
Plenum :
1979- :
293-308 pages
Feminist body/politics as world traveller: Translating Our bodies, ourselves.
Davis Kathy
Included in:
The European journal of women's studies.
London :
Sage :
1994- :
223-247 pages
The problem with sex/gender and nature/nurture
Fausto-Sterling A.
Included in:
Debating biology
London :
Routledge :
2003. :
ix, 322 p. :
Chapter 9, pp 123-144 pages
Bare bones of sex: Part 1, Sex and gender.
Fausto-Sterling Anne
Included in:
Signs
Chicago, Ill. :
Chicago U. P. :
1975- :
pp 491-528 pages
Sexing the brain: How biologists make a difference
Fausto-Sterling Anne
Included in:
Sexing the body
1. ed. :
New York :
Basic Books :
Books,c cop. 2000 :
473 s. :
Chapter 5, pp. 115-149 pages
In fitness and in health: Crafting bodies in the treatment of Anorexia nervosa
Gremillion Helen
Included in:
Signs
Chicago, Ill. :
Chicago U. P. :
1975- :
pp 381-414 pages
Biology, gender and behaviour. A critical discussion of the biological models used for explaining cognitive and behavioural gender differences.
Hamberg Katarina
Included in:
Psychology of gender identity
New York :
Nova Science Publishers :
cop. 2005 :
178 s. :
pp 127-144 pages
Re-claiming bodies of knowledge: an exploration of the relationship between feminist theorizing and feminist style in the rhetoric in the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective.
Hayden Sara
Included in:
Western journal of communication.
Portland, Or. :
Western Speech Communication Association :
1992- :
pp 127-163 pages
Key concepts in feminist theory and research
Hughes Christina
London :
Sage :
2002 :
xiii, 221 s. :
ISBN: 0-7619-6987-X (inb.)
Search the University Library catalogue
The Social Construction of Medical Knowledge
Jordanova Ludmilla
Included in:
Social history of medicine
Oxford :
Oxford Univ. Press :
1988- :
pp 361-381 pages
Is it sex or is it gender?
Kim JS, Nafziger AN
Included in:
Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
St. Louis, Mo :
Mosby :
1960- :
Genders, sexes, and health: what are the connections and why does it matter?
Krieger Nancy
Included in:
International journal of epidemiology
Oxford :
Oxford U. P. :
1972- :
Differences, similarities or inequalities in the study of gender in psychology
Magnusson Eva, Marecek Jeanne
Included in:
Gender and culture in psychology: theories and applications
Stockholm :
Natur & Kultur :
2010 :
12 pages
Woman under erasure: Anorexic bodies in postmodern context
Malson Helen
Included in:
Journal of community & applied social psychology.
Chichester, W. Sussex :
John Wiley :
137-153 pages
Social suffering, gender, and women’s depression
Marecek Jeanne
Included in:
Women and depression
Cambridge ;a New York :
Cambridge University Press :
2005 :
xviii, 582 s. :
283-308 pages
Methodological essentialism, false difference, and other dangerous traps.
Martin Jane Roland
Included in:
Signs
Chicago, Ill. :
Chicago U. P. :
1975- :
Queering the center by centering the queer
Scheman Naomi
Included in:
Feminists rethink the self
Boulder, Colo. :
Westview Press :
1997 :
ix, 278 s. :
124-162 pages
Functionalism, Darwinism and the psychology of women: A study in social myth.
Shields Stephanie
Included in:
Seldom seen, rarely heard
Boulder :
Westview Press :
1992 :
459 s. :
79-106 pages
Our bodies, ourselves for the new century
: a book by and for women
The Boston Women's Health Book Collective
New York :
Simon & Schuster :
1998 :
780 p. :
ISBN: 0-684-84231-9
Search the University Library catalogue
The less noble sex
: scientific, religious, and philosophical conceptions of woman's nature
Tuana Nancy
Bloomington :
Indiana University Press :
1993 :
xii, 224 s. :
ISBN: 0-253-36098-6 (alk. paper)
Search the University Library catalogue
Shaping biology. Feminism and the idea of 'the biological'
Birke L.
Included in:
Debating biology
London :
Routledge :
2003. :
ix, 322 p. :
Men, women, and madness
: understanding gender and mental disorder
Busfield Joan
Washington Square, N.Y. :
New York University Press :
1996 :
xiv, 287 p. :
ISBN: 0-8147-1278-9
Search the University Library catalogue
The problem with sex/gender and nature/nurture
Fausto-Sterling A.
Included in:
Debating biology
London :
Routledge :
2003. :
ix, 322 p. :
Women's madness
: misogyny or mental illness?
Ussher Jane M.
Hemel Hempstead :
Harvester Wheatsheaf :
1991 :
341 s. :
ISBN: 0-7450-0831-3
Search the University Library catalogue
Debating biology
: sociological reflections on health, medicine and society
Williams Simon J.q (Simon Johnson), Birke Lynda., Bendelow Gillian
London :
Routledge :
2003. :
ix, 322 p. :
ISBN: 0-415-27902-X
Search the University Library catalogue
Queer nature- towards a non-normative view on biological diversity
Ah-King Malin
Included in:
Body Claims - Crossroads of Knowledge series
Centrum för Genusvetenskap, Uppsala university :
2009 :
Neutral claims, gendered meanings: Parenthood and developmental psychology in a modern welfare state.
Andenæs Agnes
Included in:
Feminism & psychology
London :
SAGE :
1991- :
From soft fathers to the right of the sperm? Biologism as a heteronorming resource
Annfelt Trine
Included in:
Critical studies of gender equalities
Göteborg ;a Stockholm :
Makadam :
2008 :
223 s. :
181-201 pages
I. Attachment theory revisited: Challenging conceptual and methodological sacred cows
Birns Beverly
Included in:
Feminism & psychology
London :
SAGE :
1991- :
Is kinship always already heterosexual?
Butler Judith
Included in:
Differences
Bloomington :
Indiana University Press :
1989- :
Prohibition, Psychoanalysis, and the Production of the Heterosexual Matrix.
Butler Judith
Included in:
Gender trouble[Elektronisk resurs]b feminism and the subversion of identity
New York :
Routledge :
1999. :
xxxiii, 221 p. :
45-100 pages
III. Bowlby's theory of attachment and loss. A feminist reconsideration
Cleary Rose J.
Included in:
Feminism & psychology
London :
SAGE :
1991- :
Critical studies of gender equalities
: Nordic dislocations, dilemmas and contradictions
Magnusson Eva, Rönnblom Malin, Silius Harriet
Göteborg ;a Stockholm :
Makadam :
2008 :
223 s. :
ISBN: 978-91-7061-058-5
Search the University Library catalogue
The Rodent’s Tale
Fausto-Sterling Anne
Included in:
Sexing the body
1. ed. :
New York :
Basic Books :
Books,c cop. 2000 :
473 s. :
195-232 pages
II. Historicizing attachment theory: Binding the ties that bind.
Franzblau Susan H.
Included in:
Feminism & psychology
London :
SAGE :
1991- :
Bear Patriarchy: Taxidermy in the Garden of Eden, New York City, 1908-1936
Haraway Donna
Included in:
Social text
Madison, Wis. :
Coda P. :
1979- :
Extract from The Social Construction of Lesbianism.
Kitzinger Celia
Included in:
Feminism & psychology
London :
SAGE :
1991- :
Naked Sex in Exile: On the Paradoxes of the ‘Sex Question’ in Feminism and in Science.
Kraus Cynthia
Included in:
NWSA journal
Norwood, N.J. :
Ablex Pub. Corp. ;a Bloomington :
1988- :
New Fathers and Mothers as Gender Troublemakers? Exploring Discursive Constructions of Heterosexual Parenthood and their Subversive Potential.
Nentwich Julia C.
Included in:
Feminism & psychology
London :
SAGE :
1991- :
The neurodevelopment of human sexual orientation.
Rahman Oazi
Included in:
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews.
Fayetteville, N.Y. :
ANKHO International :
1978- :
Deconstructing the essential father.
Silverstein Louise, Auerbach Carl
Included in:
The American psychologist
Washington,c 1946- :
1946- :
Undoing gender
Butler Judith
New York :
Routledge :
cop. 2004 :
viii, 273 s. :
ISBN: 0-415-96922-0 (alk. paper)
Search the University Library catalogue
The heart of whiteness
: normal sexuality and race in America, 1880-1940
Carter Julian
Durham :
Duke University Press :
2007. :
ix, 219 p. :
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip075/2006037279.html
ISBN: 978-0-8223-3937-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
Search the University Library catalogue
The history of sexuality.n Vol. 1,p The will to knowledge
Foucault Michel
Harmondsworth :
Penguin :
1990 :
168 s. :
ISBN: 0-14-026868-5
Search the University Library catalogue
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.)
Search the University Library catalogue
Feminist discourses and women’s heterosexual desire.
Hollway Wendy
Included in:
Feminism and discourse
London :
Sage :
1995 :
ix, 193 s. :
The politics of heterosexuality-a missing discourse in cancer nursing literature on sexuality: A discussion paper.
Hyde A.
Included in:
International journal of nursing studies.
London :
Pergamon :
1963- :
The invention of heterosexuality
Katz Jonathan
University of Chicago Press ed. :
Chicago :
University of Chicago Press :
2007 :
ix, 291 p. :
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip075/2006039623.html
ISBN: 978-0-226-42601-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Search the University Library catalogue
Imperial leather
: race, gender and sexuality in the colonial contest
McClintock Anne
London :
Routledge :
1995 :
xi, 449 s. :
ISBN: 0-415-90889-2 (inb.)
Search the University Library catalogue
Sexuality
Weeks Jeffrey
Chichester :
Ellis Horwood ;a London :b Tavistock :
1986 :
127 s. :
ISBN: 0-85312-879-0 (inb.)
Search the University Library catalogue