Students are asked to select two one-term option courses from the list of those available each year.The menu of options is updated annually. The following are among those offered in recent years:Click on the Option of your choice for further details. Click on R to return
Feminism and Sexuality (Stevi Jackson);
Cultures of Life Writing: the Victorians (Trev Broughton);
Gendering the Exotic, Exoticising Gender (Joanna de Groot);
Women, Citizenship and Conflict (Haleh Afshar);
Gender, Violence and Justice (Carol-Ann Hooper);
Cyborg Persepectives: Women and Technology Today (Ann Kaloski);
Issues in Women's Health (Anne Akeroyd);
Sexualities, Genders and Modernities (Henrice Altink/Joanna de Groot);
From the Body Politic to the Body Beautiful (Mark Jenner)
Feminism and Sexuality
Taught by Stevi Jackson (Director, Centre for Women's Studies)Sexuality is central to feminist politics and theory, and also a site of fierce conte station. Whereas most feminists have seen the current ordering of heterosexual relations as detrimental t o women, beyond this there is little agreement. This option explores the context and substance of these differences, relating theoretical positions to political ones and drawing on empirical research which casts light on the issues at stake. The course begins by questioning heterosexuality's normative status and builds on feminist critiques of heterosexuality in approaching some of the major controversies which have been generated around sexuality - both amongst feminists and in broader arenas of public debate. The issues covered will depend on the interests of students and might include: political lesbianism; bisexuality; pornography and representations of the erotic; prostitution and other sex work; power, pleasure and sadomasochism; sexual violence; HIV and AIDS; childhood and sexuality; sexology and sex manuals; the construction of sexual identities; romantic love, monogamy and couple relationships.
Cultures of Life Writing: the Victorians
Taught by Taught by Trev Broughton, Department of English and Related Literature
Why was Life-writing so popular among Victorian writers and readers? What roles did it play in the formation of ‘literary’ and ‘popular’ cultures? How was it related to politics, class-consciousness, feminism, national identities? This module will explore the emergence of a number of recognizably ‘Victorian’ trends in auto/biography: the conversion narrative, the collective Life, the Life of Letters, the working-class autobiography, as well as the relationship between memoirs, scandal and celebrity.
Gendering the Exotic, Exoticising Gender
Taught by Joanna de Groot, History Department
The subject of this course is the interaction between ideas, images, and practices associated with gender, and those associated with imperial, racial, and colonial developments in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England and France. It will examine how the history and patterns of gender identities, differences and relationships were shaped by the imperial racialising and colonialist features of those societies, and how those features were in turn shaped by gender considerations. Our aim will be to understand more about the way in which these areas of human experience and social construction became entwined and mutually reinforcing in spheres of life ranging from artistic and literary creativity to politics, advertising and religion. The theme of 'the exotic' which is our focus has connotations of difference, attraction and incomprehensibility which linked and flavoured constructions of ethnicity and gender in England and France during that period, and so provides a useful means for investigation. Our enquiries will be pursued in three exemplary contexts. Firstly we shall consider the legacy of slavery and anti-slavery for constructions of race and gender. Then we shall look at the phenomenon of 'orientalism' and its ramifications as a European construction of people and societies in the Middle East and India, as well as its role in constructions of gender and ethnicity in Europe. Thirdly we shall examine the history of missionary activity as a gendered and racialised enterprise. In each case we shall pay attention both to how racial, exotic and gendered categories featured in European involvement with non-Europeans and to how European global and imperial concerns contributed to domestic/metropolitan constructions of gender and ethnicity. Our work on cultural histories and sources will take account of their material and political dimensions.
Women, Citizenship and Conflict
Taught by Haleh Afshar, Department of Politics
The module will focus on the definitions of citizenship and question whether they play in part in defining women's ability to participate in conflict and resolution thereof. Women have for too long had an attenuated link with citizenship, acquiring the rights to it through their dependence on a male. Although there have been considerable changes in this process there remains much to be discussed, not least in the context of conflicts and peace. This module will begin by looking at citizenship and move on to consider the position of women in conflict and war situations. The problems will be considered with a view of delineating paths towards change and towards the feminization of peace. The questions will be illustrated with case studies.See here for more details (pdf)
Gender, Violence and Justice
Taught by Carol-Ann Hooper, Department of Social Policy
Violence against women is increasingly recognised as a global problem and a central issue to be addressed in achieving gender justice. Institutional responses are developing rapidly, at local, national and transnational level. The boundaries of what constitutes violence against women remain contested, however, and at the same time, women's involvement in violence in some contexts is under scrutiny, especially in relation to violence to children, also a matter of growing global concern. This course is designed to explore the relationship between gender divisions (and cross-cutting divisions of class, 'race' and age) on the one hand, and interpersonal violence and societal responses to it on the other, and to engage with contemporary debates in the field.See here for more details (pdf)
Cyborg Perspectives: Women and Technology Today
Taught by Ann Kaloski/Julie Palmer, Centre for Women's StudiesDonna Haraway's 'Cyborg Manifesto' was written over twenty years ago, and since then has become an influential and indeed iconic essay within many areas of feminist thought. The manifesto is a call for feminists to take account of the epistemological, political and cultural effects of computer-mediated technology; it is a complex, interdisciplinary exploration of the effects of 'new technologies' for women living within a globalised monetary and cultural economy.
In this module we take a detailed look at the Manifesto and its legacy. Alongside close textual analysis of Haraway's essay, we investigate some of the varied and often contradictory ways in which this piece has made sense to people, both within the academic environment and beyond. Our investigation will involve using critical articles, novels, digital fiction, video games and image-based material. In addition, students own experiences and understandings of communication technologies will form an integral part of this process and in the spirit of the eclectic style of the manifesto we will make use of a number of innovative methodologies, both text-based and visual. For instance, we will test the usefulness of auto/photography, web page design and online discussion, as well as more traditional approaches, in order to develop our awareness of the issues raised by Haraway and her critics.
Alongside reading texts we will also write texts, perhaps via the production of simple web pages or through collaborative, simultaneous online writing. We shall do this to examine the process of web writing, rather than as an end in itself, so 'bad writing' is fine! Our critical tools will be varied, drawing on existing cultural and literary criticism as well as, of necessity, developing our own - perhaps tentative - perspectives and theories. We will ask questions of the emerging 'canon' of electronic fiction and criticism, and assess the effectiveness of mapping out a feminist digital terrain.
A willingness to collaborate in the group and to think creatively are more important than any prior knowledge, although existing literary, cultural or technological expertise is very welcome. Within the remit of the module there is scope for participants to develop particular trains of thought, and there is some choice over the material we look at. Students are encouraged to devise their own assignments in consultation with the convenors, and this can be presented in traditional form or, if more appropriate, as a digital essay. Module learning resources will be available on the Wired Women's Studies web site. http://www.york.ac.uk/teaching/cws/wws
Issues in Women's Health
Taught by Anne Akeroyd, Sociology
The module will be concerned with a variety of issues relating to the health of women and the significance of gender in biomedicine. The module will discuss general issues relating to women's studies, feminist theories and women's health, and then look in detail at a selection of substantive topics such as: the medicalization of women's bodily processes; gender and medical consultations; reproductive technologies; cosmetic surgery and bodily alterations; surveillance and screening technologies; health consequences of domestic violence; disability; medicalization of female sexual dysfunction; women in the health care industry; gender issues in biomedical research; health of women in developing countries
Sexualities, Genders and Modernities
Taught by Henrice Altink/Joanna de Groot, History
This course examines the role and relevance of notions of "sexuality" and "gender" in the investigation and interpretation of modern history. It will look at the main conceptual and methodological contributions which these ideas can make to the work of historians through discussion of key themes, specific cases, and current historiography. From the role of gender divisions of labour in production and consumption to the sexed/gendered politics of racial difference, citizenship, and empire or the gendering of religious, medical, and cultural thinking and practice it will be seen that "sex" and "gender" are arguably among the most significant and useful categories which we might use to study important areas of the past in recent centuries. By exploring a number of particular topics [eg. "NewWorld" slavery; religious change; protest politics; constructions of ethnic, class, and "national" identity] alongside some of the key contributions to historical debate, those taking the course will be able to gain a fuller understanding of what is to be gained by placing "sexuality", "masculinity" and "femininity" at the centre of historical analysis.
From the Body Politic to the Body Beautiful
Taught by Mark Jenner, Centre for 18th Century Studies
Over the last couple of decades the body and ideas of embodiment have become central themes insocial and cultural history. Moreover, the religious, political and intellectual shifts of sixteeth and seventeeth centuries are often argued to have produced far-reaching shifts in the meanings and significance of the body. The gradual discrediting of Galenic physiology fundamentally altered understandings of Sexual difference; the execuation of Charles 1 helped to transform understandings of the body politic and sacrality of kingship.This course will explore the somatic within various aspects of early modern English Culture. It aims not simply to survey or catalogue seventeenth-century understanding of the body, but to use "the body" as a way to open up early modern understandings of gender, power and social distinction. It will also introduce students to a wide range of sources and the ways in which they can be read and interpreted. For each seminar we will discuss a selection of short texts (often in the form of extracts) dealing with this week's theme. these passages - drawn from medical, natural philosophical,religious, didactic, satirical and literary texts, as well as diaries, court despositions and other manuscript sources - will be discussed alongside the wider historiography of early modern England and on occassions works of social theory which may assist us in interpreting their meanings. As one aim of the course is to familiarize students with the use of primary material, students will be expected to use early printed books in Special Collections in the JBM library and in York Minster library
