Major Trends and Debates in Gender Studies

One of the challenges and pleasures of Gender Studies is interdisciplinarity. The concept and practice of interdisciplinarity has been discussed, debated and theorized with in Gender Studies since it developed as a research area in the 1970s and new terms have been used including transdisciplinarity, post- disciplinarity and multidisciplinarity. In this course, we treat some of the major trends and theoretical debates in Gender Studies and work together as a team of teachers and students from difference backgrounds to explore common intellectual interests and feminist questions. The different backgrounds of the course participants provide a basis for cooperation and also for looking at issues from variety of social science different perspectives.

Gender and Other Categories of Power

As a student you will be work with the core elements in current feminist theories in dialogue with established academic disciplines. A particular focus will be placed on understanding how gender interrelates to other categories of differences and power such as class, ethnicity and sexuality. You will also explore the historical development of gender theories in relation to the social sciences. You will be introduced to and/ or deepen your knowledge of theories ranging from poststructuralist, material feminist, postcolonial and queer theory, to theories in the field of masculinity. The question of how gender, sexuality, class, race/ethnicity intersect will be addressed. The course will focus on areas of feminist debate such as:

• theorising gender, feminism and social theory
• gender differences and representations of "otherness"
• sexualities, masculinity, reproduction and new family forms
• citizenship, welfare and globalisation

Further information: master [at] sam [dot] lu [dot] se