Gender Studies

Description
The interdisciplinary fields of gender and women's studies constitute one of the most innovative and challenging areas of recent scholarship that pervades not only the social sciences and the arts, but also disciplines apparently alien such as computing, engineering, health, or the natural sciences.

Departing from a transdisciplinary approach, the main aim of this course is to provide students with a critical framework for thinking of gender identity as an integral component of the human condition that pervades both the real and symbolic orders of social life, and intersects with other social and cultural identities such as race, class, nationality, or religion.

Together with this main goal, this course aims at
* analysing the construction of women as social and cultural subjects
* exploring how gender identities are constructed, and to identify the dominant cultural fabric of stereotypes and prejudices that underlie an apparently neutral reality.
* getting acquainted with the main trends of feminism and theoretical thinking on women's studies in the past, and the challenges for the future.
* promoting gender justice by identifying the challenges of gender inequality in contemporary societies, in order to gain mutual understanding and a fairer society.
* It will also improve their communicative skills in English and show them how to use proficiently the key concepts in disciplines related to the Humanities.

Pre-requisites
Very good command of the English language and reasonably consolidated knowledge of the tools of social and cultural analysis.

Contents
1. INTRODUCTION Gender.
2. A GLANCE AT HISTORY: WOMEN'S WRITING AND WRITING ON WOMEN
3. EDUCATION AND CIVIC RIGHTS
4. ONE IS NOT BORN A WOMAN... SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR AND THE SECOND WAVE.
5. CONTEMPORARY DEBATES: EQUALITY VS DIFFERENCE. ETHNOCENTRISMS AND DIVERSITY
6. WOMEN'S STUDIES, GENDER STUDIES, GLOBALIZATION, AND NEW CHALLENGES: POSTCOLONIALISMS AND POSTMODERNITIES

Methodology
In order to acquire and develop the above-mentioned competences, the following teaching-learning techniques will be used:
- Close reading of specific sections from both scholarly and literary texts, and follow-up discussions of the topics therein represented in the classroom.
- Exposure to audio and visual materials to activate and reconstruct the critical gaze towards gender roles in film and the media.
- Reading and researching autonomously gender & feminist theory materials.
- Preparing a term paper on a text covering some of the themes in the course.
- Brief presentations in groups about some seminal texts in gender's studies.
- Working on the study questions at home and, then, reporting on them in class.
- Quizzes and on-the-spot exercises on the reading materials.
- Case studies
- Argumentation: class, face to face group debate on a controversial topic.

Assessment
The assessment of the students' work will be progressive and formative. It will include the following:
- Attendance, participation in discussions, short study questions, quizzes: 35 %
- Team presentation. 15%
- End of term paper: 40 %
- Debate: 10%

N.B. Students will only get credit for this course if: a) they complete ALL FOUR assignments; b) they hand in the written assignments on the appointed day and follow the guidelines they will be given, c) they receive a passing mark at least in Attendance, participation in discussions (35%) and term paper (40%).