Module GEOG3997: FEMINIST GEOGRAPHIES: INTIMACY, BODY, STATE

Department: Geography

GEOG3997: FEMINIST GEOGRAPHIES: INTIMACY, BODY, STATE

Prerequisites

• Any Level 2 BA Geography Module

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To develop students’ knowledge and understanding of feminist geographies and the place of feminism and feminist theory within geography and related social sciences
• To evaluate the breadth and form of feminist geographical research drawn from the Global North and Global South across a range of key themes related to the study of the intimacies, including space, ‘the body’, mothering, violence, geopolitics, and the transnational
• To engage critically with key debates in contemporary feminist geography and related social sciences in seminar and workshop settings
• To develop feminist informed critical thinking skills in relation to academic and non-academic sources through the completion of a feminist geographies research diary

Content

• Increasingly, feminist geographers are turning to the concept of ‘intimacy’ to perform the work of connecting seemingly disconnected spaces and theories, and taking apart those that are implied to be self-contained. Intimacy performs work central to feminist geographical thinking, facilitating the critical assessment of the assumptions implicit within disciplinary frameworks and concepts by disaggregating spatial and scalar perspectives used within geography, and challenging the use of binary spatial thinking, such as public/ private, global/ local, and macro/ micro, for being masculinist, disembodied, and essentialist. Intimacy is a concept that opens up the space for feminist geographical analyses that situates global processes like globalization, nationhood, neo-colonialism, and capitalism within spheres of life related to materiality, emotions, relationships, and the biopolitical. In short, feminist geographies of intimacy illuminate the connectedness and blending of spaces and scales within people’s lived, embodied and emotional experiences.
• This module will seek to develop an understanding of feminist geographies of intimacy across the three themes of ‘space’, ‘bodies’ and ‘nations’. In so doing, a range of theoretical work, research case studies and examples drawn from non-academic sources will be explored which will focus specifically on some of the following topics: ‘the everyday, ‘the home’, mothering, violence, sexuality, geopolitics, political economies, transnational ties, memory, solidarity, emotions and affect, migration, friendship, the senses, technologies and social justice movements.

Learning Outcomes

• On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
• Demonstrate an advanced level of understanding of contemporary feminist geographical research on ‘intimacy’
• Critically reflect on a range of concepts and theoretical approaches central to feminist geography research on ‘intimacy’
• Situate feminist geographical research within key conceptual debates across geography and related social science fields

• On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
• Think critically and engage with social and political issues related to intimacy, and the contribution that feminist geographical analysis and related social science understandings could make to understanding and addressing these issues
• Evaluate and apply key feminist concepts and approaches to contemporary problems and issues • Produce writing that engages with key conceptual and substantive debates within feminist geography

• On successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
• Demonstrate clear and effective academic written communication skills
• Demonstrate an ability to reflect critically on academic and non-academic sources using a feminist approach
• Demonstrate an ability to synthesise information and to develop an argument in relation to contemporary issues and problems

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures. Lectures will introduce the field of feminist geographies and provide historical and disciplinary context for the three thematics (i.e. spaces, bodies and nations), highlight the main concepts and theories that feminist geographers use to research intimacy and the intimate, and draw on relevant case studies from geographical and wider social science research and non-academic sources
• Seminars. Seminars will provide an environment for exploring topic areas in greater depth, and will involve independent and critical thinking as well as a variety of learning techniques such as group discussion, presentations, or responses to media examples
• Workshop. The workshop will be framed by core readings and will provide an opportunity to connect the ongoing Feminist Geographies Diary project with central course themes. The workshop will involve small group discussion, presentations, or other diverse learning techniques
• Formative assessment. (Critical reflection) The formative assessment will draw on students’ abilities to critically reflect on non-academic sources using the concepts and theories present within feminist geographies of intimacy
• Summative assessment. (Evaluative essay on feminist geographies diary) The summative assessment will require in-depth engagement with concepts and theories from feminist geographical research on intimacy and demonstrate an application of these concepts and theories in a reflexive, self-critical, and personal analysis using examples taken from the feminist geographies diary

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Critical reflection on a non-academic source (3 pages A4).

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University