GI422     
Sexuality, Gender and Globalisation

This information is for the 2019/20 session.

Teacher responsible

Mr Jacob Breslow PAN 11.01N

Availability

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Gender (Sexuality). This course is available on the LLM (extended part-time), LLM (full-time), MSc in Culture and Conflict in a Global Europe, MSc in Culture and Conflict in a Global Europe (LSE & Sciences Po), MSc in Gender, MSc in Gender (Research), MSc in Gender, Development and Globalisation, MSc in Gender, Policy and Inequalities, MSc in Global Media and Communications (LSE and Fudan), MSc in Global Media and Communications (LSE and UCT), MSc in Global Media and Communications (LSE and USC), MSc in Global Politics, MSc in Human Rights, MSc in Human Rights and Politics, MSc in International Migration and Public Policy, MSc in Women, Peace and Security and University of Pennsylvania Law School LLM Visiting Students. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Course content

‘Sexuality, Gender and Globalisation’ takes a case-study approach to questions of sexuality, gender and culture (in the first term) and to sexuality in the contexts of globalization (in the second). The full unit considers a variety of ways in which sexuality is central to any understanding of the social world. It is an interdisciplinary course within which intersectional, black feminist, postcolonial, queer, crip, trans, and critical race perspectives are used to interpret particular sexual phenomena and contexts – rights, citizenship, fertility, representation, kinship, asylum and technology, for example. The course will allow a thorough grounding in sexuality and gender studies and includes a high element of student participation. Although it is interdisciplinary, it does not have a pre-requisite.

Teaching

15 hours of lectures and 15 hours of classes in the MT. 27 hours of seminars and 8 hours of workshops in the LT.

In MT, 422 seminars are held jointly with 421. They come before the lectures. In LT, lectures and seminars are combined into weekly three-hour classes, inclusive of a skills-building session. The LT classes are restricted to 422 students. The LT 'workshop' is the course's student conference, and is part of the assessment.

Formative coursework

One 2500 word critical analysis to be submitted at the beginning of week 8 (MT); submission of draft abstract for conference presentation by the beginning of week 6 (LT).

Indicative reading

  • Jacqui Alexander (2006) Gay Tourism: Culture and Context (Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press).
  • Clare Hemmings, ed. (2014) 'Sexuality Section', Mary Evans et al, eds, Handbook of Feminist Theory (London: Sage).
  • Kamala Kempadoo (2004) Sexing the Caribbean: Gender, Race and Sexual Labour (New York: Routledge).
  • Susanne YP Choi and Ming Luo (2016) 'Performative Family: Homosexuality, Marriage and Intergenerational Dynamics in China', British Journal of Sociology 67(2): 260-280. 
  • Jasbir Puar (2007) Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times (Durham: Duke UP).
  • Mitra Rastegar (2013) ‘Emotional Attachments and Secular Imaginings: Western LGBTQ Activism on Iran’, GLQ 19(1): 1-29.
  • Diane Richardson (2000) ‘Constructing Sexual Citizenship, Theorising Sexual Rights’, Critical Social Policy 20(1): 105-135.
  • Laura Ann Stoler (1995) Race and the Education of Desire (Durham: Duke University Press).
  • Susan Stryker and Talia M. Bettcher (eds.), (2016) “Trans/Feminisms” [Special Issue] Transgender Studies Quarterly 3(1-2).
  • H. Sharif 'Herukhuti' Williams (2016) 'Introduction to Afrocentric Decolonizing Kweer Theory and Epistemology of the Erotic', Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships 2(4): 1-31. 

Assessment

Essay (50%, 3000 words) in the ST.
Paper (30%) in the LT.
Critical evaluation (20%) in the MT.

The paper will be given at a student conference at the end of LT, and will include the previous submission of a 300-500-word abstract.

The critical evaluation will be of a cultural event (public lecture; exhibition; performance; conference) in London, and submitted at the end of MT. (2000 words).

Student performance results

(2015/16 - 2017/18 combined)

Classification % of students
Distinction 30.6
Merit 53.2
Pass 16.1
Fail 0

Key facts

Department: Gender Studies

Total students 2018/19: 28

Average class size 2018/19: 9

Controlled access 2018/19: No

Value: One Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Personal development skills

  • Leadership
  • Self-management
  • Team working
  • Problem solving
  • Application of information skills
  • Communication