2017/18 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

ARTF5003M Reading Sexual Difference

30 creditsClass Size: 15

Module manager: Dr Eric Prenowitz
Email: E.Prenowitz@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2017/18

Pre-requisite qualifications

A Good BA Hons degree

This module is not approved as an Elective

Objectives

On completion of this module, students will be able to think critically on the topic of sexual difference, and on other cultural studies themes from a perspective informed by the problematics of sexual difference. Students will have become familiar with a self-reflexive, 'meta-critical' practice of analytical reading that in recent years has offered a new approach to the ancient divide between theory and poetry. Students will be able to provide an account of the history of modern thought on sexual difference. They will be able to read and discuss key works of major thinker-writers on the subject, including Freud, Lacan, Cixous, Butler, Irigaray and Derrida. In methodological terms, students will have developed skills in close reading. They will be able to take sexual difference into account in making detailed analyses of literary texts and other forms of creative expression.

Skills outcomes
Skills necessary to undertake higher research degree and/or for employment in a higher capacity in an area of professional practice.
Evaluating own achievement and that of others.
Self-direction and effective decision-making.
Independent learning.
Use of methodologies and theoretical resources.

Syllabus

This is a module in reading, as if sexual difference were some 'thing' that could only be read, interpreted, and never simply observed from a neutral, transcendental, scientific viewpoint. Of course we will be interested in what philosophers have to say (or not) about it, and indeed sexual difference can be understood as the motor or the mother of all philosophical questioning. However, as such, it must also constitute a challenge to the very foundations or possibility of philosophy itself. The passage from seeing to reading is thus a passage beyond theory. Not that science or philosophy is necessarily for boys and poetry for girls. And yet our 'literary' penchant is anything but neutral: we would like our study to itself be inscribed in and with sexual difference. The module will open with an introduction to Freudian theories of sexuality and Lacanian developments thereof, through close readings of primary source texts. The module will proceed to critiques of these two authors from a wide range of perspectives (psychoanalytical of course but also anthropological, literary and philosophical). Next, we will read a series of readings of sexual difference by such authors as H. Cixous and J. Derrida. These will include both interviews and written texts. The module will conclude with a number of literary and artistic examples exploring questions of sexual difference in modern and post-modern contexts.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Seminar	10	3.00	30.00
Private study hours			270.00
Total Contact hours			30.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			300.00

Private study

Seminar preparation 55 hours
Reading 135 hours
Assignment preparation and completion 83 hours

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Class register
Required seminar contribution and oral feedback
Tutorial availability

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	7,000 words (inc footnotes and bibliography)	100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 31/03/2016

Disclaimer

Browse Other Catalogues

• Undergraduate module catalogue
• Taught Postgraduate module catalogue
• Undergraduate programme catalogue
• Taught Postgraduate programme catalogue

Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team.PROD