SO5519: SEX, GENDER, VIOLENCE: CRITICAL APPROACHES (2020-2021)

This course investigates the ways people think about, understand, and respond to violence. How do we know what counts as violence or a violence act? Why does legislation against violence often seem inadequate, perhaps especially in the case of gendered and sexual violence? As the links between sex, gender and violence appear intimate and often lethal, a central but not exclusive focus of this course will be on theories and practices of sex/gender. We will focus on specific texts, for example Zizek’s 'Violence: Six Sideways Reflections' (2009, Profile Books) throughout the course. We will consider how violence is represented, for example in media representations of conflicts, or in popular culture such as films. We will also analyze legislative attempts to deal with violence for example in the arena of human rights and gender mainstreaming. Furthermore, we will pay close attention to the brutal fecundity of violence through the banality of every‐day ordinary violence. This will be a seminar class with the emphasis on student led participation and discussion rather than lectures.

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

More Information about Week Numbers

Two essays at 2,000 words, each worth 30% (ergo: 60% total)

An end of term audio/visual assignment worth 20%

Four Discussion Board contributions at 300 words total: two in the first half of the semester, two in the second. (Each will be worth 5%, totalling 20% overall)

There are no assessments for this course.