GENDER STUDIES
Academic Year 2023/2024 - Teacher:
MARIA GRAZIA NICOLOSI
Expected Learning Outcomes
According to the Dublin descriptors, students, at the
end of the course, will demonstrate:
1) The objective
of the course is the acquisition of the knowledge and comprehension of the
theories that have transformed the notion of gender in relation to other
notions such as sex and sexuality, difference and differences, the body,
subjectivity and identity.
2) The Course intends to enhance new theoretical and
critical abilities by drawing on feminist epistemology whose perspectives can
be profitably employed in the production of new knowledge. The notion of gender
will be used as a tool to focus on the interconnections between self and other,
culture and society, the social and symbolic dimensions as well as several
aspects of representation.
3) Students of Gender
Studies will investigate not just “the condition of women” as
subjects and objects of enquiry, the relationships between men and women, or
same-sex relationships, but they will learn how to recognize and exercise
independent judgement on issues and conceptual categories relating to subjects
and phenomena of the social and cultural imaginary.
4) Students will be able to describe social phenomena
and artistic and literary representations from the point of view of gender,
using the vocabulary and the concepts developed by philosophical and political
theories in the field of Gender Studies.
5) The
objective of developing and refining the students’ learning capacity with
regard to gender theories and gender analysis of social and cultural phenomena
will be achieved through workshop activities and the active participation of
students in the classroom.Course Structure
Teaching and group discussions in the classroom.
Attendance of Lessons
Attendance is not compulsory.
Detailed Course Content
This Course will provide a theoretical and practical
overview of issues bearing on the representation and self-representation of
sexed and gendered identities from different perspectives. Special attention
will be given to those theoretical paradigms traditionally marginalised in the
humanities with the aim of offering students alternative models for the
analysis of – mainly, but not exclusively – British literature and culture
(including visual, media, and “pop” culture). The following issues will be
analysed in depth:
Gender and sex: real and imaginary (dis)symmetries.
Gender inequalities and biological differences between
men and women.
Symbolic, social, cultural, and historical construal
of difference.
Gendered apprehension of otherness.
The body and signification.
Eros and desire.
Sexual orientation and identity.
Feminist studies.
Gender as a social power relation.
History of feminist political struggles.
The different forms of gendered violence.
The representation of the body in culture, literature,
the arts, and the discourses of science and philosophy.
Gender as rhetorical device in literature, philosophy,
the social sciences and new technologies.
Our
methodology is a multi- and interdisciplinary approach with contributions from
several trends of feminist criticism combined with additional analytical tools
from diverse disciplines and theories such as Marxism, New Historicism,
Freudian and post-Freudian psychoanalysis, poststructuralism, postcolonial
studies, lesbian and gay studies, queer theories, sexuality studies, body and embodiment
theories, etc.Textbook Information
Module 2. The Invention of Gender:
Masculinity, Femininity and Their Others (prof. M.G.
Nicolosi)
- J. Butler, Undoing Gender, Routledge,
New York and London, 2004 (available
as ebook), 284
pages.
- J. Pilcher, I. Whelehan, eds, 50 Key Concepts in Gender
Studies, London:
Sage 2004, only
the following entries: Androcentrism
(1-2); Dichotomy (24-26); Domestic Division of Labour (pp. 30-34); Double
Standard (34-37); Family (43-47); Feminisms (48-51); First Wave Feminism
(52-55); Gender (56-58); Masculinities (2-85); The Other (90-92); Patriarchy
(93-96); Pornography (96-101); Power (115-119); Public/Private (124-128);
Representation (135-139); Second Wave Feminism (144-147); Third Wave Feminism
(169-172); Violence (172-175).
Out-of-print material will
be made available through the platform Studium UniCT.
Please remember that in compliance with art 171
L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or
journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.
For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning
photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla
Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i
Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on
Copyright).
Some of the
books listed above can be consulted in the Library.
Learning Assessment
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
How is gender represented?What are the metaphysical implications of the sex/gender, nature/culture binarisms?
What social relations are implied in gender representations in any given literary/cinematic/televised text?
How was the notion of gender understood in pre-modern times?
What is the difference between “Woman” and “women” in feminist political theory?
What are the most influential theories of sexed corporeality from pre- to post-modernity?
VERSIONE IN ITALIANO
