This module aims to engage students in a critical assessment of politics and media as gendered disciplines. It employs a gender perspective to ask questions about how media representations become political when they reinforce or subvert social roles and ideologies; what the role of the media in gendering political and social processes is; how gender is mediated and becomes a political issue. The module is divided into three main parts. First, different concepts and methods are discussed, including the concepts of gender and sexuality; intersectionality; feminisms; power, politics, domination and oppression. Second, the module introduces students to Body Politics, including the topics of heteronormativity and sexuality, reproductive rights, or gender violence. Third, the module discusses gender in different levels of international relations through empirical case studies. These topics include: Political Economy and issues of production; Civil Society and Feminist organising; Participation and Representation; and Equality and Citizenship.

This module will run throughout the semester (14 weeks).

The module aims to:

• engage students in a critical assessment of politics and international relations as gendered disciplines
• discuss concepts and methods related to gender and politics, including gender and sexuality, intersectionality, feminism, power, politics, domination and oppression
• introduce students to Body Politics, including the topics of heteronormativity and sexuality, reproductive rights, or gender violence
• discuss gender in different levels of international relations through empirical case studies, including Political Economy and issues of production; Civil Society and Feminist organising; Participation and Representation; and Equality and Citizenship

Learning outcomes to be assessed:

LO1. engage in a critical assessment of politics and media as gendered disciplines
LO2. critically evaluate concepts and methods related to gender and media, including gender and sexuality, intersectionality, feminism, power, politics, domination and oppression
LO3. investigate and research on Body Politics, including the topics of heteronormativity and sexuality, reproductive rights, or gender violence
LO4. discuss and evaluate gender in different levels of media discourse through empirical case studies, including issues of production; Civil Society and Feminist organising; Participation and Representation; and Equality and Citizenship

 

 

Assessments:

 

Type of Assessment	Word Count or equivalent	Threshold (if Professional Body-PSRB applies)	Weighting	Pass Mark	Indicative Submission week	Method of Submission & Date of Feedback (refer to NEOlms)
Essay	3000 words (+/-10%)	N/A	100%	40%	15	Via NEOlms & 10 working days after submission

 

Assessment 1: Essay

 

Throughout the module, you will be required to write a Essay where you will critically address and discuss the place and relevance of the study of politics as a gendered discipline within the field of International Relations and Governance. For this Essay, you will have to choose one of the topics covered throughout the module which is of particular interest for you. This essay should (a) integrate the relevant academic literature and readings, (b) engage with the critical view of politics as a gendered discipline, and (c) examine the critical implications of gendering politics within the broader study of International Relations.

 

Assessment criteria for Assessment 1 (LO1, LO2, LO3 and LO4 will be assessed)

 

This assessment will be marked according to the following criteria:

 

• Knowledge and understanding (30%): The student has an outstanding knowledge and understanding of the material and displays mastery of a complex and specialized area of knowledge, with exceptional critical awareness of current problems and new insights at the forefront of the academic discussion around gender and politics. Moreover the student demonstrates in depth and breadth of coverage, as well as awareness of the nature of the chosen topic.

• Cognitive Skills (30%): The student shows an outstanding ability to evaluate methodologies critically and to propose new hypotheses. The student is able to deal with a range of complex issues, making excellent judgements.

• Practical and professional skills (30%): Consistent high‐level competence in the required specialised scholarly skills, with mastery in many areas and developed understanding of professional contexts and expectations. The student is able to employ advanced skills to conduct research, displaying an exceptional grasp of techniques applicable to own research and advanced scholarship. The student shows originality in the application of knowledge and excellent understanding of how established techniques of enquiry create and interpret knowledge in the discipline. The student is able to evaluate critically, with exceptional insight, a range of literature related to the current research and advanced scholarship in the discipline. The student makes consistently excellent use of appropriate academic conventions and academic honesty. The student is able to consistently reference in accordance to Harvard style, including in-text referencing and full list of references. Moreover, the references reflect adequate reading and research from reliable academic sources.

• Transferable and key skills (10%): The Essay presents minimal grammatical errors and uses a good writing style. Ideas are communicated at a very high level to specialist and non-specialist audiences. The relevant literature is properly cited using Harvard Referencing system, and the word count satisfies the requirement.

 

 

For guidance on online submission of assignments, including how to submit and how to access online feedback, please refer to the MIUC lms student guideline.

 

 

Weekly Schedule:

 

Week 1 - Introduction to the Module

Venue: MIUC

Key concepts/issues: module organisation; structure and assignments

Literature for this session:

• Waylen, G.; Celis, K.; Kantola, J. and Weldon, S. L. (2013) ‘Gender and Politics: A Gendered World, a Gendered Discipline’, Introduction in Waylen, G.; Celis, K.; Kantola, J. and Weldon, S. L. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics, Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 1-25

Documentary film: Ways of Seeing, part 2 (John Berger, 28 minutes, UK 1972)

During the first week we will go through the module study guide and discuss the assignments. During the second session we already begin exploring some concepts that are central for the module. In addition, we will watch the second part of John Berger’s documentary TV series Ways of Seeing, which focuses on the depictions of female nudity in Western art.

 

PART I. Basic Concepts

 

Week 2 – Gender in Social Sciences

Venue: MIUC

Key concepts/issues: Sex; gender; sexuality; social sciences; intersectionality; inequality; race; social class

Literature for this session:

• Holmes, M (2004) ‘Introduction to the Sociology of Gender’, in What Is Gender, SAGE Publications: London, 1–17.
• Shields, S., (2008) ‘Gender: An Intersectionality Perspective,’ Sex Roles, 59(5), 301–311.

Further reading:

• Hawkesworth, M. (2013) ‘Sex, Gender and Sexuality: from Naturalized Presumption to Analytical Category’, chapter 1 in Waylen, G.; Celis, K.; Kantola, J. and Weldon, S. L. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics, Oxford University Press: Oxford, 31–55

This week is about the concept of gender in social sciences. During the first session, we will discuss how “gender” as a social category is distinct from the biological concept of “sex.” The second session will be devoted to the idea of “intersectionality.”

Week 3 – Femininity and Feminism

Venue: MIUC

Key concepts/issues: femininity; women’s rights; feminist theory

Literature for this session:

• Ortner, S. (1972). ‘Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture?’ Feminist Studies, 1(2), 5–31.
• Freud, S. (2004). ‘Femininity’ from Sexualities – Identities, Behaviors, and Society, eds. Michael S. Kimmel and Rebecca F. Plante, Oxford University Press: Oxford, 4–11. (Orig. 1933)
• Mansbridge, J. and Okin, S.M. (2007) ‘Feminism.’ A Companion to Contemporary Political Theory, 2nd ed, eds. Robert Goodin, Philip Pettit and Thomas Pogge. Blackwell, 332–359.

During the first session we will focus on ideas and constructions of femininity. We will read Sigmund Freud’s 1933 chapter on femininity and the anthropologist Sherry Ortner’s influential essay “Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture?” The second session will provide a rudimentary introduction to feminism – a topic that will be covered more in-depth during the rest of the course.

Week 4 – Masculinity

Venue: MIUC

Key concepts/issues: masculinity; men’s history; male in the society; images of men

Literature for this session:

• Freud, S. (1927) 'Fetishism'
• Kimmel, M. (2005) ‘Invisible Masculinity’ from The History of Men, State University of New York Press: Albany, NY, 3–15.
• Mosse, G. (1996) ‘Introduction: The Masculine Stereotype’ from The Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity, Oxford University Press: Oxford, 3–16.
• Lemelle, A. (2010) ‘Black Masculinity as Sexual Politics’ from Black Masculinity and Sexual Politics, Routledge: New York, 1–35.

During this week, we will engage in a critical analysis and discussion of the concept of “masculinity” and stereotypes of men. We will approach masculinity first from a historical perspective and then move on to discuss its interconnections with race and ethnicity.

 

Week 5 – Subaltern Experience: Theories and Controversies

Venue: MIUC

Key concepts/issues: subaltern; experience; subaltern histories; Erlebnis and Erfahrung; histories from below; public sphere; feminist histories; Marxism

Literature for this session:

• Ireland, C. (2004). ‘The Appeal of Immediate Experience’ in The Subaltern Appeal to Experience: Self-Identity, Late Modernity, and the Politics of Immediacy, McGill–Queen’s University Press: Montreal & Kingston, 3–26.
• Hansen, M. (1993) Foreword to Public Sphere and Experience: Toward an Analysis of the Bourgeois and Proletarian Public Sphere, ix – xli.

This week’s subject is the concept of “experience.” Most forms of subaltern identity politics, including feminism, appeal to the immediate everyday experience of the group they represent. Also, much of the scholarly work in so-called “subaltern studies”—histories from below, women’s studies, oral histories—builds upon the lived experience of the groups they study. However, in political philosophy and social sciences, the concept of “experience” is very ambiguous, debated and deeply intertwined with the modern concept of self-identity. The key question is: is an authentic, immediate counterhegemonic experience possible or is it always already defined by social structures and the prevailing ideology? Although this week’s topic is highly abstract, it will help us to achieve a more profound understanding some key themes that we will cover later during the semester.

 

PART II. Gender and Culture

 

Week 6 – Popular Culture, Gender and Race

Venue: MIUC

Key concepts/issues: Gender; popular culture; race; intersectionality; media

Literature for this session:

• Dyer, R. (1997) ‘The White Man’s Muscles’ from White: Essays on Race and Culture, Routledge: New York, 145–183.
• Macdonald, M. (2004) ‘From Mrs Happyman to Kissing Chaps Goodbye’ in (eds.) Cynthia Carter and Linda Steiner, Critical Readings: Media and Gender, Open University Press: Maidenhead, 41–67.

During this week, we will discuss gender in popular culture, and also explore some interconnections between masculinity, race and white supremacy.

 

Week 7 – Gender and Visual Media

Venue: MIUC

Key concepts/issues: visual media; male gaze; visual pleasure; oppositional gaze

Literature for this session:

• Mulvey, L. (1992) ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ in The Sexual Subject: A Screen Reader in Sexuality, Routledge: New York; 22–34. (Orig. 1975)
• Berger, J. (1972) Part 3 in Ways of Seeing, Penguin: London, 45–64.
• hooks, b (1992) ‘The Oppositional Gaze’ in Black Looks: Race and Representation, South End Press: Boston, 115–132.

Film Screening: Gilda (dir. Charles Vidor, USA 1946).

This week will focus on gender in visual media. We will read Laura Mulvey’s classic and provocative essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” which argues that in mainstream cinema the spectator is put in a masculine subject position and the female protagonist on the screen is represented as the desired object of the “male gaze.” As a companion to Mulvey’s article, we will watch the Hollywood classic Gilda (1946), with Rita Hayworth as the female protagonist (and hence the object of sexual desire). Later, we will read bell hook’s essay “The Oppositional Gaze,” which argues that the gaze in visual culture is not only defined by gender but also by race/ethnicity. Ultimately, the crucial question for this week is: what are the political implications of the representational conventions of gender in visual media?

Week 8 – Digital Culture, Social Media and Gender

Venue: MIUC

Key concepts/issues: gender conventionality, heterosexuality, and family traditionalism, system of privileging, heteronormativity as socially constructed

Literature for this session:

• Carstensen, T. (2013) ‘Gender and Social Media: Sexism, Empowerment, or the Irrelevance of Gender?’ in (eds.) Cynthia Carter, Linda Steiner, and Lisa McLaughlin, The Routledge Companion to Media & Gender, Routledge: New York, 483–493.
• Giresunlu, L (2008) 'Cyborg Goddesses: The Mainframe Revisited' in Cyberculture and New Media, (ed). Francisco Ricardo, 157–187.
• Attwood, F (2013) 'Cybersexuality and Online Culture', in (eds.) John Hartley, Jean Burgess, and Axel Bruns, A Companion to New Media Dynamics, Wiley-Blackwell: Malden, 483–492.

During this week we will discuss gender in digital culture, new media and internet.

PART III. Politics and Gender

Week 9 – IR as Gendered Discipline

Venue: MIUC

Key concepts/issues: gender in international relations; gender and politics; gender and global security

Literature for this session:

• Zalewski, M. (2010) ‘Feminist International Relations: Making Sense…’ in (ed) Laura J. Shepherd, Gender Matters in Global Politics: A feminist introduction to International Relations, Routledge: New York, 28–43.
• Blanchard, E. (2003) ‘Gender, International Relations, and the Development of Feminist Security Theory,’ Signs, 28(4), 1289–1312.

During the recent decades, gender has become an important part of the study of International Relations. However, there are several different approaches to gender within the discipline, and this week will provide an introduction to some of them. We will, for instance, discuss feminist contributions to international security and the study of power.

Week 10 – Politics of Body and Sexuality

Venue: MIUC

Key concepts/issues: body politics; biopower; biopolitics

Literature for this session:

• Foucault, M. (1990) Parts I and II from History of Sexuality: Volume 1,
• Taylor, D. (2013) 'Toward a Feminist “Politics of Ourselves”' in A Companion to Foucault, Wiley-Blackwell: Malden, 403–419.
• Coole, D. (2013) ‘The Body and Politics’, chapter 6 in (eds.) Waylen, G.; Celis, K.; Kantola, J. and Weldon, S. L. The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics, Oxford University Press: Oxford, 165–188.

Modern political theory recognizes that physical human bodies are very much part of the network of political power relations. This week will provide an overview of the various ways in which bodies and sexuality have become political issues. Topics covered include Michel Foucault’s ideas of biopower and biopolitics and the concept of body politics.

Week 11 – Gender, Nation and Nationalism

Venue: MIUC

Key concepts/issues: nationalism; nation state

Literature for this session:

• Hooper, C. (2001) ‘Masculinities in International Relations’ in Manly States: Masculinities, International Relations, and Gender Politics, Columbia University Press: New York, 79-116.
• Nagel, J., (1998) ‘Masculinity and nationalism: gender and sexuality in the making of nations’ Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21(2), 242–269.

Nationalisms are usually strongly gendered ideologies, and ideas of nation are often build upon an implicit acceptance of male supremacy. During this week, we will discuss the ideologies of masculinity in International Relations, and especially in various forms of nationalism.

Week 12 – Postcolonial Perspectives to Gender

Venue: MIUC

Key concepts/issues: third world feminism; people of color (POC); women of color (WOC); postcoloniamism; subaltern feminism

Literature for this session:

• Spivak, G.C. (1988) “Can the Subaltern Speak?” in (eds) C. Nelson and L. Grossberg, Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, Macmillan Education: Basingstoke, 271–313.
• Mohanty, C.T. (1991) “Under Western Eyes” in (eds) Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres, Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism, 51–80.

Further reading:

• Moghadam, V. M. (2002) ‘Islamic Feminism and Its Discontents: Toward a Resolution of the Debate,’ Signs, The University of Chigago Press, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 1135-1171.
• Mikell, G. (1995) ‘African Feminism: Toward a New Politics of Representation’, Feminist Studies, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 405-424
• Hernández Castillo, A. R (2010) ‘The Emergence of Indigenous Feminism in Latin America’, Signs, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 539-545
• Hernández Castillo, A. R. (2002) ‘Zapatismo and the Emergence of Indigenous Feminism’, NACLA Report on the Americas, vol. 35, issue 6, pp. 39-43
• Schaffer, K. and Xianlin, S. (2007) ‘Unruly Spaces: Gender, Women’s writing and Indigenous Feminism in China’, Journal of Gender Studies, vol. 16, issue 1, pp. 17-30

The feminist theorists were usually white middle-class women. However, very soon intellectuals representing non-western nations (“women of color” = WOC) began formulating their own approaches to feminism, criticizing not only patriarchy but also the theories of Western feminists, arguing that women of color face different types of oppression and have needs different from those of Western middle-class women. Thus, the non-Western feminists argue, there is a need for various types of feminism. The readings of this week consist of two influential essays by the post-colonial feminists C.T. Mohanty and G.C. Spivak.

Week 13 – Civil Society, Gender and Feminism

Venue: MIUC

Key concepts/issues: Feminist organising, equality, citizenship, representation, participation

Literature for this session:

• Rosenberg, J. & Garofalo, G. (1998) ‘Riot Grrrl: Revolutions from within,’ Signs, 23(3), pp.809–841.
• Al-Ali, N. (2005) ‘Gender and civil society in the Middle East’ in (eds) Jude Howell and Diane Mulligan, Gender and Civil Society: Transcending Boundaries, Routledge: New York, 101–116.
• Stall, S. and Stoecker, R. (1998) ‘Community Organizing or Organizing Community? Gender and the Crafts of Empowerment’, Gender & Society, 729–756.
  
  

Much of recent political theory has been devoted to the idea of civil society and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Various non-governmental activist groups and organizations also represent some of the most influential forms of modern practical feminism. During this week, we will discuss the role of civil society in feminist theory.

Week 14 – Gender in Development Policy

Venue: MIUC

Key concepts/issues: gender in the developing world; development policy; gendered poverty

Literature for this session:

• Connell, R. (2014) ‘The Sociology of Gender in Southern Perspective,’ Current Sociology 62, 4, 550–-567.
• Ferguson, L. (2010) ‘Interrogating 'Gender' in Development Policy and Practice,’ International Feminist Journal of Politics 12, 1, 3–24.
• White, S. (1997) ‘Men, Masculinities, and the Politics of Development,’ Gender and Development, (Special Issue: Men and Masculinity) 5, 2, 14–22.
• Schech, S. & Mustafa Mochamad (2010) ‘The Politics of Gender Mainstreaming Poverty Reduction: An Indonesian Case Study,’ Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 17, 1, 111–135.

We will begin the final week by discussing the role of gender in development policy. Finally, we will have a wrap-up discussion and a recap of the content that has been covered throughout the module.