GENDER STUDIES

6 CFU - 1° Semester

Teaching Staff

MARIA GRAZIA NICOLOSI - Module THE INVENTION OF GENDER: MASCULINITY, FEMININITY AND OTHER - L-LIN/10 - 3 CFU
STEFANIA ARCARA - Module Gender Studies - L-LIN/10 - 3 CFU

Learning Objectives

THE INVENTION OF GENDER: MASCULINITY, FEMININITY AND OTHER
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.
Gender Studies
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.

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.
Gender Studies
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)
- A. Cranny-Francis and W. Waring, Gender Studies: Terms and Debates, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2003 (capitoli 1, 2, 3 e 4, pp. 1-177).
  
  J. Pilcher, I. Whelehan, eds, 50 Key Concepts in Gender Studies, London: Sage 2004 (selected parts, 15 entries, approx. 18 pages) (available at the University Library).
- T. W. Reeser, Masculinities in Theory, Wiley-Blackwell 2010, pp. 55-115 (available at the University Library).
  
  N.B.: Non-attending students are required to study the afore-mentioned text in full: A. Cranny-Francis and W. Waring, Gender Studies: Terms and Debates, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2003.
Gender Studies
MODULE B: (Prof. Stefania ARCARA)

The Politics of Gender (3 CFU)

The following Reader (available in photocopy) containing short extracts and critical essays will be discussed during classes:
- S. de Beauvoir, ‘Introduction’ to The Second Sex.
- P. Bourdieu, Il dominio maschile, Feltrinelli 2014, pp. 15-65.
- 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).
- J. Butler, Gender Trouble, Chapter One.
- 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; L. Ellena e V. Perilli, ‘Sesso/Genere’, pp. 258-64; R. Borghi, ‘Spazio: corpi fuori luogo e fuori forma’, pp. 265-69).
- P.B. Preciado, ‘Chi protegge il bambino queer?’, Libération, 14 gen. 2013 (http://www.mariomieli.net/chi-protegge-il-bambino-queer.html).
- P.B. Preciado, ‘Testo Junkie’ (estratto), in e-flux journal, n.44, April 2013, pp. 13-15.
- 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 (extracts).
  
  Multimedia texts and sources will be downloadable from Studium and will be part of the syllabus for the exam.

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