This module is discontinued in the selected year. The information shown below is for the academic year that the module was last running in, prior to the year selected.

2016/17 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

ARTF5030M Feminism and Culture: Theoretical Perspectives

30 creditsClass Size: 15

Module manager: Griselda Pollock
Email: g.f.s.pollock@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2016/17

This module is not approved as an Elective

Module summary

Feminism as a global movement is itself the product of the historical period of modernity. Feminism as a theory, motivated within the movement for social change yet searching for adequate means to analyse, propose and critique models of social transformation at all the levels at which it can be imagined, has registered its own internal shifts and embodied changing theoretical paradigms, while also functioning as an external - a political critique of contemporary cultural theory in general. It has, itself however, always been a contested site struggling in its own emerging enunciations to work through the internal contradictions around class, sexuality and ‘race’ that fracture and differentiate the necessary but problematic calling card of gender. This module offers a historical and theoretical mapping of the major debates and new directions in feminist cultural theory.

Objectives

By the end of the module students will have acquired a theoretical map of international feminist theory in relation to culture, gender, sexuality, difference, language and embodiment. The module aims to introduce students at an advanced level to the major theoretical developments that constitute international feminist cultural theory, identifying the major debates, conflicts and international perspectives. In addition, the module will focus on new directions in feminist cultural theory confronting the changed historical conditions of contemporary social formations, technological innovations and international participation.

Learning outcomes
The students will have a substantial knowledge of the historical emergence of feminist cultural theory, its resources, major formations and debates, the challenges it has faced, the evolution of new directions in response to changing global and technological conditions.

Syllabus

Outline Syllabus.
1. Feminism and Theory: Gender v Difference
2. Gender and (Self) Representation
3. Sex, Gender, Sexual Difference: Philosophy and Materialism
4. Sexual and Other Differences/Indifferences
5. Socialist Feminist Materialism, Beyond Gender and Globalisation
6. Reading Week
7. Culture as Exchange and Sign System: The Postcolonial Critique
8. Feminism, Gender and Sexualities: Performatiity and Queer Feminism
9. Psychoanalysis, Sexuality, Image and Fantasy
10. The Deleuzian Turn: Virtuality and Feminism
11. Psychoanalytical Inflections: The Matrixial

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

Schedule of weekly readings for the seminars some of which the students will introduce
Background reading to complement the weekly readings
Preparation of assessed essay

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Participation in class discussions, level of preparation and participation, signs of growing confidence in the methods of close reading and theoretical debate

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	7,000 word essay to be submitted by the first day of the second term. (Essays should be 7,000 words maximum, including all bibliographies, footnotes and appendices)	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

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