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Gender and Sexuality

  • Module code: EL6030
  • Year: 2018/9
  • Level: 6
  • Credits: 30
  • Pre-requisites: Successful completion of level 5 EL or equivalent
  • Co-requisites: None

Summary

This module traces how literature from the 19th century to the present has concerned itself with questions of gender identity and sexuality, often offering a radical voice for those - including both women and LGBTQ+ voices - excluded from dominant and mainstream discourses. Rooted in feminist and queer theory, we will explore how feminist writing has critiqued patriarchy, how literature has challenged normative gender roles, how it has engaged with powerful questions regarding the body and the politics of desire, and how it has represented the debates within different facets of the feminist and queer community. We will also consider how writers have employed literary form and genre - for example the use of experimental writing, dramatic or poetic form, or the romance genre - and to what extent debates surrounding these forms and genre contribute to a gendered politics of cultural production. Explicitly intersectional in its approach, we will frame our discussions with an interrogation of how the politics of gender and sexuality is shaped by its relationship with questions of class, race, disability, and religion. Examples of authors studied might include Jeanette Winterson, Fleur Adock, Carol Ann Duffy, Tony Kushner, Clare Macintyre, Leila Aboulela, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Virginia Woolf.

Aims

  • To permit a detailed study of the literary representation of questions of gender and sexuality
  • To situate writing on gender and sexuality within an intersectional context and within an understanding of current debates within feminist and LGBTQ+ studies
  • To draw attention to the relationship between literary choices in terms of form and genre and issues of cultural production
  • To facilitate students' ability to respond to literature in a range of creative and critical formats

Learning outcomes

  • Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of a range of texts relevant to feminist and LGBTQ+ concerns
  • Situate writing on gender and sexuality within an intersectional context and within an understanding of current debates within feminist and LGBTQ+ studies
  • Demonstrate appreciation the relationship between literary choices in terms of form and genre and issues of cultural production
  • Evidence literary engagement via critical and creative means

Curriculum content

The module will be divided into three sections:

Radical roles: Mary Wollstonecraft, Virginia Woolf, Ali Smith

Body politics: Jeanette Winterson, Clare Macintyre, Sandra Cisneros, Alison Bechdel, Jackie Kay.

Feminisms and cultural production: Dale Spender, Germaine Greer, Pat Barker, Leila Aboulela, Toni Morrison, Mills and Boon, EL James

Teaching and learning strategy

This module is taught by three hour interactive lectures, which will include lecture presentations, workshop activities, student discussions, and film screenings. In all activities, strong emphasis is given to personal engagement and response. In addition to classroom sessions, students will also have the opportunity to undertake a number of field trips to relevant exhibitions, sites of cultural interest and theatre productions.

Breakdown of Teaching and Learning Hours

Definitive UNISTATS Category Indicative Description Hours
Scheduled learning and teaching Interactive Lectures 66
Guided independent study 234
Total (number of credits x 10) 300

Assessment strategy

Assessment for this module is designed to test students' engagement with the texts studied and their ability to respond to them in a variety of critical and creative forms. Students will be given the opportunity to shape their assessment from a range of available options, suited to their own disciplinary interests and preferred method of engagement. Formative feedback is offered via classroom discussions, office hours, and the VLE.

1)    A portfolio of work comprising 3 elements, each responding to one section of the module, chosen from the following options: (75%)

- essay of 2000 words

- creative writing (fiction, poetry, script or creative non-fiction) of 1500 words with 500 word critical commentary

- performance of 5-10 minutes with 1000 word critical commentary

- original artwork, website, or music composition with 1000 word critical commentary

- film work with 500 word critical commentary

2)    Discussion posts, as recorded via the VLE (25%)

Mapping of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Strategy (Indicative)

Learning Outcome Assessment Strategy
Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of a range of texts relevant to feminist and LGBTQ+ concerns assessed formatively and summatively via portfolio and discussion posts
Situate writing on gender and sexuality within an intersectional context and within an understanding of current debates within feminist and LGBTQ+ studies assessed formatively and summatively via portfolio and discussion posts
Demonstrate appreciation of the relationship between literary choices in terms of form and genre and issues of cultural production assessed formatively and summatively via portfolio and discussion posts
Evidence literary engagement via critical, creative and reflective means assessed formatively and summatively via portfolio and discussion posts

Achieving a pass

It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module.

Bibliography core texts

Collins, Wilkie, The Woman in White (1860)

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, The Yellow Wallpaper (1899)

Kay, Jackie,  The Adoption Papers (1998) 

Plath, Sylvia, selections available online.

Smith, Ali, Girls and Boys (2007)

Winterson, Jeanette, Sexing the Cherry (1981)

Bibliography recommended reading

Eagleton, Mary, Feminist Literary Theory: A reader (Oxford: Blackwell, 1986)

Greer, Germaine, The Female Eunuch, (London: Grafton Books, 1971)

Jagose, Annamarie, Queer Theory: An Introduction. (New York: New York UP, 1996)

Nye, Robert, Sexuality. (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999)

Sullivan, Nikki, A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2003)

Woolf, Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, (1928) [Project Gutenberg text download, accessed December 6, 2012]

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