Master's Degree in Comparative Literature and Languages
Academic Year 2018/2019 - 1° Year - COMPARATIVE LITERATURE Curriculum
GENDER STUDIES
Teaching Staff
MARIA GRAZIA NICOLOSI - Module THE INVENTION OF GENDER: MASCULINITY, FEMININITY AND OTHER - L-LIN/10 - 3 CFUSTEFANIA ARCARA - Module The Politics of Gender - L-LIN/10 - 3 CFU
Learning Objectives
- THE INVENTION OF GENDER: MASCULINITY, FEMININITY AND OTHER
Knowledge
Drawing on a number of theories that have transformed of late the notion of gender in relation to other notions such as sex and sexuality, difference and differences, the body, subjectivity and identity, this Course intends to enquire into the ways in which the language of culture, religious and anthropological discourse, as well as the discourse of philosophy and science articulate the relationship of gender, the body and sexed identity; the Course will also enquire into the ways in which these discourses produce representations and images conveying gendered stereotypes in Western culture through the traditional binaries of nature-culture, body-mind, emotion-reason. Special attention will be given to those discursive constellations and cultural phenomena that have founded and consolidated, or subverted, gendered stereotypes, as well as to those theories that have challenged the epistemological models underlying such stereotypes, thus forcing new themes, subjects and methodologies into ‘high’ cultural contexts.
Competence
The notion of gender will be used as a tool to shed light on the interconnections between self and other, culture and society, the social and symbolic dimensions as well as several aspects of representation. This Course intends to enhance new theoretical and critical abilities by drawing on feminist epistemology whose perspectives can be profitably employed in the production of new knowledge. Students of Gender Studies will therefore investigate not just “the condition of women” as subjects and objects of enquiry, the relationships between men and women, or same-sex relationships, but they will become acquainted with issues and conceptual categories meant to expand the scope to those subjects and phenomena of the social imaginary, and to artistic-literary representations and self-representations so far excluded from the fields of traditional academic disciplines.
- The Politics of Gender
Knowledge
Drawing on a number of theories that have transformed of late the notion of gender in relation to other notions such as sex and sexuality, difference and differences, the body, subjectivity and identity, this Course intends to enquire into the ways in which the language of culture, religious and anthropological discourse, as well as the discourse of philosophy and science articulate the relationship of gender, the body and sexed identity; the Course will also enquire into the ways in which these discourses produce representations and images conveying gendered stereotypes in Western culture through the traditional binaries of nature-culture, body-mind, emotion-reason. Special attention will be given to those discursive constellations and cultural phenomena that have founded and consolidated, or subverted, gendered stereotypes, as well as to those theories that have challenged the epistemological models underlying such stereotypes, thus forcing new themes, subjects and methodologies into ‘high’ cultural contexts.
Competence
The notion of gender will be used as a tool to shed light on the interconnections between self and other, culture and society, the social and symbolic dimensions as well as several aspects of representation. This Course intends to enhance new theoretical and critical abilities by drawing on feminist epistemology whose perspectives can be profitably employed in the production of new knowledge. Students of Gender Studies will therefore investigate not just “the condition of women” as subjects and objects of enquiry, the relationships between men and women, or same-sex relationships, but they will become acquainted with issues and conceptual categories meant to expand the scope to those subjects and phenomena of the social imaginary, and to artistic-literary representations and self-representations so far excluded from the fields of traditional academic disciplines.
Course Structure
- The Politics of Gender
This Course will provide a theoretical and practical overview of issues bearing on the representation and self-representation of sexed and gendered identities from different perspectives. Special attention will be given to those theoretical paradigms traditionally marginalised in the humanities with the aim of offering students alternative models for the analysis of – mainly, but not exclusively – British literature and culture (including visual, media, and “pop” culture).
Detailed Course Content
- THE INVENTION OF GENDER: MASCULINITY, FEMININITY AND OTHER
This Course will provide a theoretical and practical overview of issues bearing on the representation and self-representation of sexed and gendered identities from different perspectives. Special attention will be given to those theoretical paradigms traditionally marginalised in the humanities with the aim of offering students alternative models for the analysis of – mainly, but not exclusively – British literature and culture (including visual, media, and “pop” culture). The following issues will be analysed in depth:
Gender and sex: real and imaginary (dis)symmetries.
Gender inequalities and biological differences between men and women.
Symbolic, social, cultural, and historical construal of difference.
Gendered apprehension of otherness.
The body and signification.
Eros and desire.
Sexual orientation and identity.
Masculinity and feminist studies.
The “transgender” phenomenon: androgyny or trans-sexuality?
Power and gender issues.
Intersectionality of feminist political struggles.
The different forms of gendered violence.
The representation of the body in culture, literature, the arts, and the discourses of science and philosophy.
Gender as rhetorical device in literature, philosophy, the social sciences and new technologies.
Methodologies.
Multi- and interdisciplinary approach with contributions from several trends of feminist criticism combined with additional analytical tools from diverse disciplines and theories such as Marxism, New Historicism, Freudian and post-Freudian psychoanalysis, poststructuralism, postcolonial studies, lesbian and gay studies, queer theories, sexuality studies, body and embodiment theories, etc.
- The Politics of Gender
This Course will provide a theoretical and practical overview of issues bearing on the representation and self-representation of sexed and gendered identities from different perspectives. Special attention will be given to those theoretical paradigms traditionally marginalised in the humanities with the aim of offering students alternative models for the analysis of – mainly, but not exclusively – British literature and culture (including visual, media, and “pop” culture). The following issues will be analysed in depth:
Gender and sex: real and imaginary (dis)symmetries.
Gender inequalities and biological differences between men and women.
Symbolic, social, cultural, and historical construal of difference.
Gendered apprehension of otherness.
The body and signification.
Eros and desire.
Sexual orientation and identity.
Masculinity and feminist studies.
The “transgender” phenomenon: androgyny or trans-sexuality?
Power and gender issues.
Intersectionality of feminist political struggles.
The different forms of gendered violence.
The representation of the body in culture, literature, the arts, and the discourses of science and philosophy.
Gender as rhetorical device in literature, philosophy, the social sciences and new technologies.
Methodologies.
Multi- and interdisciplinary approach with contributions from several trends of feminist criticism combined with additional analytical tools from diverse disciplines and theories such as Marxism, New Historicism, Freudian and post-Freudian psychoanalysis, poststructuralism, postcolonial studies, lesbian and gay studies, queer theories, sexuality studies, body and embodiment theories, etc.
Textbook Information
- THE INVENTION OF GENDER: MASCULINITY, FEMININITY AND OTHER
MODULE A: (Prof. Maria Grazia NICOLOSI)
The Invention of Gender: Masculinity, Femininity and Their Others (3 CFU)
- S. Ahmed, Living a Feminist Life, Duke UP, 2017, pp. 1-88 (“Introduction” + chapters 1, 2, and 3).
- J. Pilcher, I. Whelehan, eds, 50 Key Concepts in Gender Studies, London: Sage 2004 (selected excerpts, 15 entries).
N.B.: Non-attending students are required to study selected chapters from the following text: A. Cranny-Francis and W. Waring, Gender Studies: Terms and Debates, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2003 (chapters 1, 2, and 4, pp. 1-88; 139-177).
Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.
For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).
All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.
- The Politics of Gender
MODULE B: (Prof. Stefania ARCARA)
The Politics of Gender (3 CFU)
The following Reader containing short extracts and critical essays will be discussed during classes:
- S. de Beauvoir, ‘Introduction’ to The Second Sex, Vintage, 1989, pp. xix-xxxvi (consultabile sul sito della University of Berkeley, http://burawoy.berkeley.edu/Reader.102/Beauvoir.I.pdf)
- A. Cavarero, F. Restaino, a cura di, Le filosofie femministe, Bruno Mondadori 2002 (selected passages: G. Rubin, ‘Lo scambio delle donne’, pp. 160-64; T. de Lauretis, ‘Soggetti eccentrici’, pp. 205-8)
- The Combahee River Collective Statement, in L. Nicholson, ed., The Second Wave, Routldege, 1997, pp. 63-70 (consultabile anche sul sito della Yale University http://americanstudies.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Keyword%20Coalition_Readings.pdf)
- J. Butler, “The Question of Social Transformation”, chapter X of Undoing Gender, Routledge, 2004, pp. 204-231.
- S. Garbagnoli, V. Perilli, a cura di, Non si nasce donna, Alegre 2013 (available also in ebook): Parte quinta: ‘M. Wittig, Non si nasce donna’ pp. 143-158
- C. Lonzi, Sputiamo su Hegel, et al./Edizioni 2010, pp. 5-11;
- A. Lorde, ‘The Master’s tools will never dismantle the Master’s house’ in Sister Outsider, 2007, pp. 110-14
- S. Marchetti et al., a cura di, Femministe a parole, Ediesse 2012 (selected passages: M. Pietrangeli, ‘Queer’, pp. 229-36; R. Borghi, ‘Spazio: corpi fuori luogo e fuori forma’, pp. 265-69)
- P.B. Preciado, ‘Testo Junkie’ (estratto), in e-flux journal, n.44, April 2013, pp. 13-15
- V. Ribeiro Corossacz, “Sesso e genere, oltre natura e cultura”, in Tempo, persona e valore, a cura di A. Cutolo, S. Grilli, F. Viti, Lecce, Argo, 2015, pp. 127-139
- V. Woolf, Una stanza tutta per sé/A Room of One’s Own (testo a fronte) Einaudi 1995, pp. 53-75; 95-99; 167-73
- V. Woolf, Three Guineas, Penguin, 1979, pp. 19-26; 53-66.
Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.
For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).
All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.
Open in PDF format Versione in italiano