Women’s & Gender Studies

This course examines the major influences on and developments in feminist theory and gender and sexuality studies up to the present day. Among the topics considered are: gender and sexual difference and diversity, sexual politics and sexuality, the relationships between gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity and class, and postmodernism and post-feminism. These topics are explored in a global and cross-cultural context, through close engagement with the writings of key thinkers in the field.

This course explores the main international and European legal mechanisms in place to protect from different forms of discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual orientation, disability, or race. It focuses on the principles of equality and non-discrimination,  and introduces the subject through the evolution of women’s rights and its international recognition. Activities include discussion of case studies and in-class debates.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The topics for this course differ each term. In spring 2024, the course had special emphasis on black women writers. Black Britain is a diaspora space (Avtar Brah): its literature and cultural productions are not only concerned with displaying experiences of insertion and adaptation within British society, but also with exploring and expanding the borders of a multi-layered identity that implies, even in its situatedness, transnational and transcultural routes. The course focuses on the literary and artistic production of some black British women writers from the second half of the 20th century up to the present. On one side, complicating the use of the lens of “migration” to read this production, the course deals with the question of being both black in Britain and black and British; on the other side, by taking an intersectional approach, blackness will be analysed not as singular and homogenous, but as crossed by heterogeneous, and at time opposing, movements – and especially in a constant dialogue with a series of other categories such as gender, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, education, equity, oppression, and violence (both “external” and “internal”). The course provides in-depth knowledge of English women's literature, using practical methodologies for the analysis and the interpretation of the literary text.

This course provides a theoretical-conceptual framework of the role of organized civil society, feminisms and their relationship, work and strategies in addressing the phenomenon of gendered violence with the goal of ensuring women's right to a life free from violence. 

We live in an age of multiple crisis where basic gender equality is as much under threat as the earth’s climate. Why not combine different approaches to think through the looming Armageddon in search for alternatives to humanity’s demise – or at least a better understanding of it? The course uses Cara Daggett conceptualisation of Petromasculinity (2018) as a starting point to explore the intersection of Gender Studies and Ecocriticism. We will discuss the dualism of culture and nature uncovering the importance of gender in our perception of these two organizing concepts. From there, we will turn to Energy Humanities and Ecofeminism to understand how the extraction of non-renewable energies relates to discourses of The End of Man (Joanna Zylinska 2018) and see where that path will lead us. The primary texts for the course will come predominantly from African, South Asian, and Southeast Asian creatives and where not easily accessible will be made available through a course reader.

This course examines female scientists in history from antiquity to present day. It also discusses Nobel prizes won by women, Spanish women in science, and the current roles of women in science. 

Barbie has been one of the iconic toys in US-American culture for decades. But what kinds of cultural messages do the dolls actually convey? How do they participate in debates about gender, 'race,' and class? About sexuality? Ability? Religion? Settler Colonialism? Ecological issues? How is this bound up with the process of their production and distribution – and the plastic waste they become when they are discarded? These are some of the questions we will discuss in class.

One of the key features of postmodernist thinking is the assertion of the fuzzy boundaries between reality and fiction: the realization that in everyday lives fictions, projections or hypothesis-building constantly interact with objects and facts of life (you can call this constructivist thinking); the realization that people’s identities are negotiations between social demands and imaginary projects; the realization that people’s senses of reality are heavily influenced by certain hegemonic (dominating) posits in terms of gender, labor (and consumption), media, race and ethnicity. Brian McHale has characterized the resultant tensions, as they are enacted in literature as “worlds in collision.” Cinema, as an art of montage and suturing, seems predetermined to enact these clashes. In this seminar we will explore the fuzzy boundaries discussing postmodern obsessions such as identities, surfaces, worlds, play, parody, high & low, consumer culture, media, gender performances and difference.

This course explores how sex is implicated in international politics. It is centered on showing how sex, gender, and sexuality structure understandings and practices of foreign policy, statehood, conflict, political violence, social movements, and the like. To do this, the course traces how debates over "normal" and "traditional" sexual orientation and gender expression have come into international politics and how the current "culture war" around queer rights and protections has come to play a significant role in (re)negotiating international order. Throughout the course, it asks how gender and sexuality, both of which are racialized and classed, are used to construct and maintain power; how in some cases sexuality and gender are mobilized to legitimize certain foreign and domestic policies. The course divides into two parts. The first half of the course focuses on theoretical and conceptual debates about sex(uality). The second half of the course focuses on mobilizing this theoretical and conceptual work to study queer issues in world politics.

This course offers an exploration of diverse family models, emphasizing equality, inclusivity, and the roles of gender in parenting. It delves in the complexities of surrogacy, reproductive technologies and the legal frameworks surrounding parenthood, focusing on international issues and comparative perspectives, through a blend of lectures, interactive discussions, case studies and research projects.