2017/18 Taught Postgraduate Programme Catalogue

MA Gender Studies

Total credits: 180

Entry requirements:

2:1 BA Hons in the Social Sciences or related discipline
English language requirements as directed by School Policy

School/Unit responsible for the parenting of students and programme:

School of Sociology and Social Policy

Examination board through which the programme will be considered:

School of Sociology and Social Policy Examination Board

Programme specification:

MA Gender Studies explores the dynamics of gender relations, past, present and future, across a range of international contexts. This course appeals to people wanting to acquire a wide range of intellectual and research skills enabling them to bring sophisticated gender analysis to work in a wide range of professional fields including academia, activism, government agencies, quasi-governmental, national and international non-governmental organisations and business environments.

The MA Gender Studies focuses upon understanding the complexity of gender relations. The study of gender relations has never been more important. Globally, women are often subject to violence and discrimination that limits their life chances. Feminist scholarship is at the forefront of efforts to explore and challenge these inequalities and their intersection with race, class, disability, sexuality and other key aspects of our identities and social and cultural lives. Gender studies is an exciting and lively area of scholarship, which brings together insights from the social and political sciences, philosophy, psychology, literary and cultural studies, history, economics and law, in order to understand the complex dynamics and material consequences of gender relations in the past, present and future. Students taking this MA in Gender Studies will engage with challenging, cutting-edge ideas which are at the forefront of developments within contemporary thought.

The programme will provide students with skills and knowledge in feminist theory and research methodologies, drawing on materials from a wide range of disciplines and international perspectives. They will be supported to develop their own specialist interests through the selection of optional modules from across the university – for example, on topics such as the body, sexuality, race, culture, religion, literature, work and policy. Students will be supported to develop their intellectual interests and capacities via completion of a dissertation on a topic of their choice, supervised by an expert in a relevant area.

By the end of the course, students will have:

- an advanced understanding of gender studies, its interdisciplinary frameworks and a range of theoretical perspectives and field-specific methodologies;
- a critical understanding and ‘hands-on’ working knowledge of a range of research methods both within and outside of the social sciences;
- the ability both to design and conduct their own research and to evaluate the research they encounter during the course of the programme and beyond;
- the ability to analyse and investigate social and cultural phenomena through the lens of gender in a way that appreciates a range of disciplinary and intersectional perspectives;
- an understanding of the ways in which key issues within gender studies play out across different global contexts;
- the ability to work proactively and self-reflectively, and to develop professional relationships with others;
- an understanding of gender studies’ key challenges, issues and questions in ways that resist the separation of the theoretical from the applied;
- the ability to conduct a piece of individual research using appropriate conceptual frameworks and methods, on an aspect of gender studies.

The programme will be delivered using a combination of private study, lectures, seminars, external speakers, presentations, reading groups and fieldtrips, and will be assessed using a variety of methods, including: essays, book reviews, group presentations, and posters. The programme will explore and take advantage of the opportunities provided by the university’s digital learning provision.

Year1 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

Candidates will be required to study 180 credits.

Compulsory modules:

Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules:

Optional modules:

Candidates will be required to study 30 credits from the following list of optional modules:

Last updated: 19/10/2017

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