Syllabus, Gender, Sex, Bodies: Theories and Debates, 2022-08-29 and until further notice

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

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

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
Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 195-232

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

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

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

After the neutrality ideal: science, politics and "strong objectivity.”
Harding Sandra
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

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

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

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

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- :
Mandatory

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

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

The Mitochondrial eve of modern genetics: : Of peoples and genomes, or the routinization of race
M'charek Amade
Included in:
Science as culture
London : Taylor & Francis : 2000- : 14:2 : 161-183 pages

Mandatory

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

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

Mandatory
Reading instructions: p. 42-82

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

Literature can be added later, appr 150 pages.

Encyclopedia of feminist theories[Elektronisk resurs]c edited by Lorraine Code.
Code Lorraine.
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

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.)
Search the University Library catalogue

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

Obligatory literature Module 2

Strange encounters : embodied others in post-coloniality
Ahmed Sara
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 : 249-261 pages

Mandatory

Problematizing contemporary men/masculinities theorizing: the contribution of Raewyn Connell and conceptual-terminological tensions today
Beasley Chris
Included in:
The British journal of sociology.
London : 1950- : 63 : 747-765 pages

Mandatory

Sticky Masculinity: Post-structuralism, Phenomenology and Subjectivity in Critical Studies on Men
Berggren Kalle
Included in:
Men and masculinities
Thousand Oaks, Ca : Sage : 1999- : 17 : 231-252 pages

Mandatory

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

Feminist, queer, crip
Kafer Alison
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

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

Exploring internalized ableism using critical race theory
Kumari Campbell Fiona A
Routledge : 2008 :

Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 151-162

Geographies of the Veil : Violent Encounters in Urban Public Spaces in Malmö
Listerborn Carina
Taylor and Francis : 2015 :

Mandatory

(Dis)embodied geographies
Longhurst Robyn
Included in:
Progress in human geography
Edward Arnold : 1997- : 486-501 pages

Mandatory

Crip theory : cultural signs of queerness and disability
McRuer Robert
New York : New York University Press : cop. 2006 : xi, 283 s. :

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.

Whither Critical Masculinity Studies? Notes on Inclusive Masculinity Theory, Postfeminism, and Sexual Politics
O’Neill Rachel
Included in:
Men and masculinities
Thousand Oaks, Ca : Sage : 1999- : 18 : 100-120 pages

Mandatory

Recovering a Cripistemology of Pain: Leaky Bodies, Connective Tissue, and Feeling Discourse
Patsavas Alyson
Liverpool University Press : 2014 :

Mandatory
Reading instructions: pp. 203-218

Space invaders : race, gender and bodies out of place
Puwar Nirmal
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

Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time
Samuels Ellen
DSIQ : 2017 :

Mandatory

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

Literature can be added later, appr. 150 pages.

Problematising 'Toxic' and 'Healthy' Masculinity for Addressing Gender Inequalities
Waling Andrea
Included in:
Australian feminist studies
Adelaide : Research Centre for Women's Studies, University of Adelaide : 1985- : 34 : 362-375 pages

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 : 31-55 pages

Valid from: 2022 week 21