Unit name | Contemporary Feminist Thought: Debates and Issues |
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Unit code | POLI30001 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Professor. Carver |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
This unit examines debates and issues in contemporary feminist thought as they relate to the central concerns of politics. Eschewing traditional typologies of feminism (liberal, socialist and radical feminism) it explores the ways in which different theorists theorize feminism, and conceptualize sex and gender. It also considers feminist epistemology and methodology. In the latter stages, it addresses particular debates and issues related to politics, such as equality and difference, and citizenship and democracy. Here readings from feminist thought are explicitly applied to 'real world' concerns, for example, maternity leave, pay and discrimination; Muslim young women, schooling and the veil; women's movement, civil society, and mass and elite participation in politics.
Aims:
A 3 hr seminar
Summative assessment:
The Feature Article assesses the achievement of learning outcomes 1, 3, 4 and 5. The Think-Tank Briefing assesses the achievement of learning outcomes 1, 2, 4 and 5.
Recommended film: 'Some Like It Hot', dir. Billy Wilder (1959), easily available to rent and available in the Library DVD PN1997.S5672. All the themes, concepts and issues in this unit can be found in, or read into, this film, which bears very careful watching. You may enjoy reading a forthcoming article in Contemporary Political Theory (March 2009), now posted on the Blackboard site for this unit: Terrell Carver, 'Sex, Gender and Heteronormativity: Seeing Some Like it Hot as a Heterosexual Dystopia'.