AN288      Half Unit
Gender, Sexuality and Kinship

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Dr Jo Hemlatha

Availability

This course is available on the BA in Anthropology and Law, BA in Social Anthropology, BSc in Social Anthropology, Erasmus Reciprocal Programme of Study, Exchange Programme for Students from University of California, Berkeley, Exchange Programme for Students in Anthropology (Cape Town), Exchange Programme for Students in Anthropology (Fudan) and Exchange Programme for Students in Anthropology (Tokyo). This course is freely available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. It does not require permission. This course is freely available to General Course students. It does not require permission.

Requisites

Mutually exclusive courses:

This course cannot be taken with AN200 or AN389 at any time on the same degree programme.

Course content

This course provides an examination of the cultural frameworks and social aspects of gender roles, personhood, human sexuality, and kinship systems, analysed through ethnographic examples from a diverse range of settings. It aims to equip students with the analytical tools to engage in theoretical debates concerning core concepts such as ‘gender’, ‘sexuality’, 'kinship', 'marriage',, and the relationship between 'nature' and 'culture', as well as exploring how the experiences of gender, sexuality, and kinship vary according to the regimes of politics, law and materiality in which they are embedded. The course charts the history of anthropological debates on sex and gender, sexuality, kinship, and relatedness, , and familiarises students with a range of contemporary approaches to these themes, placing ethnographic materials into a critical dialogue with recent developments in theoretical fields such as feminist theory, queer theory, the anthropology of colonialism, cognitive science, and psychoanalysis.

Teaching

10 hours of workshops and 10 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

Formative assessment

Essay (1500 words)

Students will have the opportunity to submit one formative essay of up to 1500 words during the course.

Students will be informed of their formative submission deadline by email by the end of Week 3 of term.

Indicative reading

  • Carsten, J. After Kinship (2003)
  • Chodorow, N. (1999) The Power of Feelings: Personal Meaning in Psychoanalysis, Gender and Culture. 
  • Donnan, H. and Magowan, F. (2010) The Anthropology of Sex.
  • Esteban Munoz, J (2009). Cruising Utopia
  • Foucault, M. (1975). Discipline and Power.
  • Levi-Strauss, C. (1969) The Elementary Structures of Kinship 
  • Lewin, E and Leap, W. (2009) Out in public: reinventing lesbian/gay anthropology in a globalizing world
  • Moore, H. L. A (1994) Passion for Difference: Essays in Anthropology and Gender
  • Murray, J. B (2025). Queer Anthropology
  • Raha, N., & Van Der Drift, M. (2024). Trans Femme Futures.
  • Smith, M. & Mac, J. (2020). Revolting Prostitutes
  • Stone, L. (1996) Kinship and Gender: An Introduction

 

Assessment

Exam (100%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period


Key facts

Department: Anthropology

Course Study Period: Winter Term

Unit value: Half unit

FHEQ Level: Level 5

CEFR Level: Null

Total students 2024/25: Unavailable

Average class size 2024/25: Unavailable

Capped 2024/25: No
Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Course selection videos

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.

Personal development skills

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