MA/PGDip Gender, Sexuality and Culture / Course details

What are the differences between the sexed body and gender, or gender and sexuality, and how are they interrelated? How have feminist and queer theorists shaped the ways we understand the self and the other, the social, cultural, political, and historical? Can the identities we create also become our prison house? These are a few of the difficult but fascinating questions we will explore together in this discussion-intensive, theory-based interdisciplinary postgraduate seminar. We will trace several key developments in the study of gender and sexuality by reading and discussing a wide range of works, focusing particularly on theoretical questions. 
 
This MA module is organized as a participatory and collegial seminar, and not as a conventional (undergraduate) lecture course. Each of us will study the readings with great care in advance of our meeting, and then be ready to discuss the readings with others in an active and engaged way. 

To consider a range of critical key concepts essential for understanding gender and sexuality within culture

To encourage students to think critically about the ways in which historical, theoretical, and cultural texts mediate social change within modernity in relation to gender and sexuality

To understand important and ongoing debates by leading theorists of gender and sexuality by undertaking close analysis of a range of cultural texts

To engage in the critical analysis of new developments in feminist and queer theories

Knowledge and understanding
demonstrate an awareness of the diverse theoretical debates on questions relating to gender and sexuality

demonstrate how theories around gender and sexuality work within larger processes of social, historical and cultural change

Intellectual skills
Demonstrate an ability to read closely and critically in the light of the contextual and theoretical knowledge developed

Practical skills
work in a seminar-setting as participants and discussion leaders

Transferable skills and personal qualities
construct and defend complex arguments through textual evidence, both in writing and in seminar discussions

Demonstrate an awareness of the diverse theoretical debates on questions relating to gender and sexuality

Demonstrate an understanding of how theories around gender and sexuality work within larger processes of social, historical and cultural change

Demonstrate an ability to read closely and critically in the light of the contextual and theoretical knowledge developed

Work in a seminar-setting as participants and discussion leaders

Gain research skills through reading and assimilating large amounts of written information

Develop ability to write precisely and coherently about complex ideas

Construct and defend complex arguments through textual evidence, both in writing and in seminar discussions

H. Abelove, M.A. Barale, D. Halperin, eds. Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader (1993)
B. Beemyn and M. Eliason, eds. Queer Studies (1996)
J. Butler, Gender Trouble (1990)
J. Butler, Bodies That Matter (1993)
K. Conboy, N. Medina, S. Stanbury, eds. Writing on the Body (1997)
M. Foucault, Discipline and Punish (1979)
M. Foucault, History of Sexuality, vols. 1-3, (1979-88)
E. Grosz, Volatile Bodies (1994)
J. Halberstam, Female Masculinity (1998)
J. Halberstam, In a Queer Time and Place (2005)
S. Jackson and S. Scott, eds. Gender: A Sociological Reader (2002)
A. Jagose, Queer Theory: An Introduction (1996)
R. N. Lancaster and M. Di Leonardo, eds. The Gender/Sexuality Reader (1997)
T. Laqueur, Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud (1992)
A. Medhurst and S. R. Munt, eds. Lesbian and Gay Studies: A Critical Introduction (1997)
T. T. Minh-Ha, Woman, Native, Other: Writing, Postcoloniality and Feminism (1989)
T. T. Minh-Ha, When the Moon Waxes Red (1991)
T. Moi, What is a Woman? And Other Essays (1999)
R. A. Nye, Sexuality (1999)
E. K. Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet (1990)
A. F. Sterling, Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality (2001)
M. Storr, ed. Bisexuality: A Critical Reader (1999)
N. Sullivan, A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory (2003)
M. Warner, ed. Fear of a Queer Planet: Queer Politics and Social Theory (1993)
E. Weed and N. Schor, eds. Feminism Meets Queer Theory (1997)
J. Weeks, Sexuality (1986).
Donald E. Hall and Annamarie Jagose (eds), The Routledge Queer Studies Reader.  London:  Routledge, 2013

Required texts

Many of the readings for the course will be in the form of articles and extracts, but we will also consult a small number of books in their entirety:


- Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction (1976)

Core module for MA Gender, Sexuality, and Culture.

All students pursuing MA-level work are welcome regardless of academic background or level of preparation.

Please note: no auditors. This module is NOT open to PhD students