Gender theory and the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East

Key information

Start date
End date
Duration
Full
Module code
15PGNC002
FHEQ Level
7
Credits
30
Department
Centre for Gender Studies

Module overview

This interdisciplinary and transnational course introduces students to contemporary debates on gender, feminist, queer and trans* epistemologies and movements. It offers intellectually rigorous training in feminist and gender studies to provide an epistemological base for postgraduate learning in Gender Studies.

Term 1 and Term 2 each explore a key provocation. The first, what is gender? The second, what is feminism? Through exploring these questions, we will consider how gender is constituted and sustained by social differences such as race, class and sexuality. We will analyse how gendered power relations are configured through enduring historical-social-economic processes such as capitalism, imperialism and nationalism.

Further, we will examine how different and disparate understandings and/or emphases of gender result in a variety of feminist, queer and trans* political mobilisations, knowledge productions and worldmaking.

Objectives and learning outcomes 

  • A critical understanding of contemporary gender theory and as it relates to the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East
  • A comprehensive knowledge of the relationship between a variety of contemporary theory and cross-cultural study of gender
  • A comprehensive understanding of the variety of methodologies that these approaches offer
  • The ability to record and reflect on the relevance of these approaches to students’ areas of research, particularly regarding methodological application
  • The ability to critically evaluate a variety of texts relevant to the topics studied on the course
  • The ability to produce argumentative written work on topics relevant to the course

Workload

The module will be taught over 20 weeks with one 2-hour lecture and one 1-hour tutorial per week.

Scope and syllabus

Term 1

  • Introduction and Intersectional Struggle
  • Gender/Sex/Race
  • Sexuality & the Homo/Hetero Binary
  • Trans*/Gender
  • Modernity
  • Gender and Capitalism
  • Gender and Imperialism

Term 2

  • Feminism’s Subjects
  • Queer Theory’s Subjects
  • Feminism and Agency
  • Feminism and the Nation
  • Feminism’s Collusions
  • Feminism and Disability
  • Feminism and Reproduction
  • Feminism and Abolition

Method of assessment

  • Assignment 1: Reaction paper (1000 words) 25%
  • Assignment 2: Reaction paper (1000 words) 25%
  • Assignment 3: Essay (3000 words) 50%

Suggested reading

  • Anne McClintock (1995) Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality In the Colonial Contest. Routeledge New York: Routeledge.
  • Catherine Hall (2014) Gendering Property, Racing Capital. History Workshop Journal. 78(1): 22–38.
  • David L. Eng and Jasbir K. Puar (2020). Introduction: Left of Queer. Social Text. 38(4): 1–24.
  • Gail Lewis (2013) Unsafe Travel: Experiencing Intersectionality and Feminist Displacements. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 38(4): 869-92.
  • Hortense Spillers (1987) Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book. Diacritics 17(2): 65-81.
  • Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan (1994) Scattered Hegemonies: Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practices. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.
  • Jacqui Alexander (1994) 'Not Just (Any) Body Can Be a Citizen: The Politics of Law, Sexuality and Postcoloniality in Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas', Feminist Review (48) 5-23. 
  • Judith Butler (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge.
  • Kimberle Crenshaw (1989) Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum 139-168.
  • Obioma Nnaemeka (2004). Nego‐Feminism: Theorizing, Practicing, and Pruning Africa’s Way. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 29(2): 357–385.

Disclaimer

Important notice regarding changes to programmes and modules.