Programme Description
This three-week interdisciplinary course addresses the intersection of gender and media through developing a critical understanding of how ‘gender’ helps shape media texts and institutions and how media (understood to include all forms and genres of communication) structure our understandings of gender. The term ‘gender’ refers to constructed ideologies of femininity and masculinity in the public sphere as well as to the intersection of gender with other social identities – including cultural categories such as religion, race, class, and sexuality. Focusing on studies and examples from Asia, Africa and the Middle East, we will examine the ways in which gender is represented, reproduced, targeted and normalized in a variety of media outlets, and address how textual, visual and aural images mediate, challenge and also reproduce gender ideologies and gender identities that intersect with other social identities, class and race. At the same time, we will address how the social construction of gender is continuously challenged in different media genres and forms and by whom, thus acknowledging individual and collective agency and lived experiences in different socio-historical contexts.
For more information, please see the course handbook:
Media and Gender: Representations, Subjectivities and Power Handbook (pdf; 105kb)
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the course, a student should be able to demonstrate the ability to:
- Understand key theories and methods of studying media, power, and social identities
- Examine the role of media in constructing gender and its intersections with race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality
- Address and recognize the persistence of gendered media industries
- Address the role of new media technologies in challenging and/or reaffirming traditional constructs of gender
Credit
This course is worth 15 credits in the UK system. 15 credits is equivalent to 4 credits in the US system and 7.5 ECTS in the European system. If you intend to transfer credit to your home institution, please check the requirements with them before you apply. We will be happy to assist you in any way we can, however please be aware that the decision to transfer credit rests with your home institution.
Current SOAS students selecting this course as an open option module will not be charged the tuition-fee. For further information and assistance, please contact summerschool@soas.ac.uk.
Enquiries
For more information, please fill out our enquiries form.
Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings
Start of programme: 20 July – 7 August 2020
Mode of Attendance: Full-time
Entry requirements
- You will have completed one year of undergraduate study at the time of joining the Academic Summer School. Professional experience can be acknowledged as equivalent to a university qualification.
- duration:
- 3 weeks
Tuition Fees
Credit assessed: £1,750
Non-assessed: £1,600
Week 1: Gender and media
- Introduction to Gender and Media
- Media, gender and sexual violence
- Media, gender and conflict
- New media, gendered representation and power
- Media economies and gendered representations
Week 2: Critical Methods
- Intersectional and interdisciplinary approaches to media
- Feminist media critique and practices
- Queering approaches to media
- Crip methods and media
Week 3: Gendered Experiences of Media
- Media reproducing homonationalism and heteronormativity
- Media across borders: transnational and transregional feminist approaches
- Media, diasporas and mobilities
- Case study
In addition to classroom-based lectures and tutorials, students will participate in and attend a range of activities and field trips that support and contribute towards the core learning outcomes and objectives.
Examples include:
- Student-run blog
- Zine-making Activity
- Image Archive Activity with Dr Nydia Swaby, Learning Curator at the ICA
- Feminist Academic Publishing Roundtable (Research Event, open to the public)
- Student Presentations
Sample Reading list:
- Feminist Principles of the Internet (2016). Available at: https://feministinternet.org/en/download
- Hall, Stuart (1997). The Work of Representation. In Stuart Hall, ed.,. Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: Sage.
- Haraway, Donna (1988). Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575–599
hooks, bell (1992). The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators. In Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press. pp. 115-131
- Mulvey, Laura (1975). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Screen, 16(3), pp. 6–18
- Rush, Peter and Elander, Maria (2018). Working through the cinematography of international criminal justice: procedures of law and images of atrocity. London Review of International Law, 6(1), 17–43.
- Tan, Jia (2017). Digital Masquerading: Feminist Media Activism in China. Crime, Media, Culture, 13(2), 171–186.
Important notice
The information on the programme page reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session. If you are a current student you can find structure information on the previous year link at the top of the page or through your Department. Please read the important notice regarding changes to programmes and modules.
Teaching & Learning
Course Convenor(s)
Dr Gina Heathcote, Dr Dina Matar, Dr Kyoung Kim
Contact hours:
50 hours (lectures, tutorials, activities). The course will be delivered Monday - Friday over the 3 weeks.
Core hours:
Monday - Friday 10am-3pm. In addition to regular lectures and tutorials, each course is composed of a range of activities relating to their academic content (e.g. museum visit, company visit etc).
Assessment
Assessment will be in the form of an assignment to be handed in 2 weeks after the end of the course.
If you have opted to study for credit, you will be required to complete all course assessments. Should you complete the assessments with success, you will receive a transcript confirming your marks and credits. If you have not chosen to study for credit, you will be exempt from any course assignments and not receive a mark.
Tuition Fees
Credit assessed: £1,750
Non-assessed: £1,600
Application fee
A one-off, non-refundable application fee of £40 will be charged to cover administration costs. Please visit the SOAS online store to make your application fee payment.
Discounts
10% discount if you apply by 31st March
10% discount if you apply for two courses over 6 weeks
15% discount for SOAS alumni (including Academic Summer School alumni)
20% discount for our partner institutions
Other discounts are available for groups. Please contact us for more information.
Accommodation
For more information, please see our accommodation page.
Scholarships
For further details and information on external scholarships visit the Scholarships section
How to Apply
To secure your place on the Academic Summer School, please apply using our application form.
Once you have paid the £40 application fee and submitted the online application form, you will be informed as to whether you have a place on the summer school within 5 working days. Please do not pay your tuition fee prior to having received your offer letter.
Please see our Ambassador Scholarship page for details regarding scholarship application.
Application Deadline
Applications for the Academic Summer School close on 25th May 2020.
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