| Unit name | Contemporary Feminist Thought: Debates and Issues |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Why is the unit important?
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 activists and theorists understand feminism, and how they conceptualize sex, gender and sexuality/ies. It also considers feminist epistemology and methodology, and addresses topical debates and issues related to politics, such as equality and difference, citizenship and democracy, discrimination and inclusion. Readings from feminist thought are explicitly applied to 'real world' concerns, for example, parental support, domestic labour, pay and discrimination; women's movements, civil society, and mass/elite participation in politics; male violence, misogyny, femicide and heterosexuality; race/ethnicity, feminist intersectionalities of race/ethnicity, religion, migration and displacement. While these topics are all headline issues currently, this unit is important because it trains students in rigorous conceptual and contextual analysis yet requires them to communicate these insights accessibly.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
This unit builds on the conceptual and theoretical studies and reading developed at H/4 and H/5. At H/6 it uses the skills and insights gained there to ensure that students understand how theory has emerged from practice, most recently from feminists and feminisms. It enables students to make the political personal by engaging with the debates and issues that are current and topical in media representations of feminist politics. Over and above the skills and insights gained in essay-writing the summative assessment tasks in this unit emphasise the practicalities of communication to audiences outside academia.
An overview of content
The content of this unit derives in equal measure from two major sources: (1) current political writing that presents and discusses issues and controversies that are topical in feminist thinking, and in thinking about feminism; and (2) classic and contemporary academic writing by activists and theorists that covers power/knowledge and political change, feminist activism and organisation, women’s oppression and male domination, heterosexuality and gender, masculinity and masculinisation, bodies and sexes, essentialist and queer perspectives, transformation and utopia.
How will students personally be different as a result of the unit
Feminist thought and feminist activism have been historically troubling to established power-structures of male, masculine and masculinising dominance that are made to appear normal and natural. In a supportive yet challenging intellectual environment you will be alerted to the current ways that these structures are replicated and justified, but also reformed and transformed. The groupwork exercises, formative comments, and assessment tasks ensure that you will think beyond academia to the wider world in an up-to-the-minute way. Feminist perspectives are open to everyone, and feminist intellectual, political, scientific, cultural and artistic challenges will be eye-opening.
Learning Outcomes
The content in this unit is issue-driven from current quality press articles and commentaries posted from on-line accessible sources. This reading introduces students to feminist issues and activist debates (ILO 1) and provides exemplars for writing in the genres assigned in the two summative tasks: ‘Plan to make a difference’ 25% and ‘Feature article interview 75% (ILO 4). From the on-line accessible academic reading students will encounter classic and contemporary works of feminist thought (ILO 2), and will consider this material in a discussion-mode that ensures equal participation. In-class groupwork for selected seminar-workshops will ensure that students develop skills in relating theoretical concepts and activist insights to ‘real world’ situations that are problematic and conflictual (ILO 3). Formative preparation and feedback for the two summative tasks will take place in a formal and collaborative way in two seminar-workshops related to each task in turn. There are no lectures, so students will encounter content and tasks in an active-learner mode as time is allocated within each two-hour seminar-workshop.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative)
Two seminar-workshops per the two summative tasks will be supported by groupwork exercises through which students will develop skills and insights collaboratively and also gain confidence in writing to the required two different genres. Within the groupwork, role-plays will simulate the ‘real world’ thinking and activity that the two summative tasks require. In two further seminar-workshops per the two summative tasks students will ‘share’ (rather than ‘present’) their thinking to date about the tasks and then collaboratively support each other with comments and suggestions. For anyone uncomfortable with this, there will be supportive recourse to office-time or video-call with the instructor, over and above access to the weekly two office hours.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative)
(1) ‘Plan to make a difference’ (1000 words) 25%. Each student will conceptualise and plan an activist engagement with a current feminist issue of their choice. The Plan must: (a) state the problem and context, (b) develop activities that will ‘make a difference’, (c) detail the exact practicalities of organisation to do this, (d) explain the costs involved and how resources can be assembled, (e) show what counts as a ‘difference’ and how that can be measured, (f) discuss ways that the activities can be scaled up to a wider context in order to make ‘more of a difference’.
(2) ‘Feature article interview’ (2000 words) 75%. Each student will conceptualise and research as for-publication an interview with a feminist of their choice. The Feature article interview must be (a) for publication in a named periodical or other mode of non-academic media communication, (b) written entirely within the genre of the medium as ‘the real thing’, (c) topical in the genre for the target audience of the medium, (d) engaging for the reader in both the persona of the interviewer and in drawing out the feminist commitment of the interviewee, (e) understanding of audience-level interests and capacities in fostering effective communication between reader, interviewer and interviewee, (f) adept at paraphrase and dialogical stimulus in guiding readers to sources and reading outside the author/date format, which is inappropriate in non-academic media.
When assessment does not go to plan
In exceptional circumstances, reassessments may be offered as determined by the exam board.
You will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. POLI30001).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
