Module SGIA2411: Gender and Politics

Department: Government and International Affairs

SGIA2411: Gender and Politics

Prerequisites

• Any Level 1 SGIA module

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• This module challenges assumptions of traditional theories within politics and international relations through engagement with a range of feminist and gender perspectives.
• This module aims to introduce students to debates between different feminist approaches - (this may include liberal, marxist, intersectional, poststructuralist, postcolonial, queer and posthuman) - and their application to empirical cases across the Global North and Global South.
• Furthermore, this course provides an understanding of the gendered underpinnings of knowledge within traditional spaces of academia, and asks, what new insights do we meet when we consider knowledge that is traditionally considered ‘informal’ or ‘irrational’.

Content

• This course will explore the merits of different feminist theories and the application of different theoretical approaches to empirical cases within Politics and International Relations across the Global North and Global South.
• This course will also look to more ‘informal’ sites which may include emotions, art, poetry, zines, and oral history as a means to rethink traditional conceptualisations of theory and knowledge.

Learning Outcomes

• Through the module students will gain an understanding of:
• The ways that feminist approaches challenge traditional and conventional politics;
• The characteristics of different feminist theories;
• Feminist contestations of various empirical cases in politics and IR.

• Students will also develop some subject specific skills, such as:
• The ability to understand and critically evaluate different feminist theories and their relationship with concepts in politics and international relations;
• The ability to apply feminist theories to issues in politics and international relations;
• The ability to explain the value of creative and non-traditional praxis.

• Students will also develop some important key skills, suitable for underpinning study at this and subsequent levels, such as: The ability to deploy appropriate scholarly material and resources in support of reasoned, analytical argument;
• The ability to link theoretical concepts to empirical evidence and political practice;
• The ability to work to tight time deadlines.
• The ability to reflect upon ethical issues relating to academic research.

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

• Teaching and learning are through a series of 1-hour lectures and an associated series of 1-hour seminars;
• The lectures will provide formal instruction and will draw attention to the contested nature of key concepts;
• Seminars will allow students, under guidance, to test their own evaluation and understanding of both the context of debates and the appropriate concepts;
• Students are expected to deploy research skills in preparation for seminars and to be able to analyse complex theoretical issues, requiring recourse to interdisciplinary sources, and to defend their assessment of highly contentious practical and normative choices.
• Formative assessment is a 1,500-word written assignment. This formative will provide students with an opportunity to engage in depth with key theoretical approaches. This, in turn, enables students to reflect on their learning and prepares them for both summative assessments.
• Summative assessment by a 1,500-word written assignment that could be in the form of an essay or a more creative engagement. This will encourage students to think critically and imaginatively about feminist approaches to international politics.
• Summative assessment by a 2,000-word essay will give students the opportunity to develop a grasp of the course material through specific engagement with key texts, and general knowledge of the subject scope. It will test students' ability to form a coherent and sustained argument and their ability to support their argumentation through evidence and through consideration of counterarguments.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

1,500 word written assignment.

■ 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