Women’s & Gender Studies

This course provides an exploratory analysis of gender and inequality studies through the disciplines of political science, economics, and history. The first part is dedicated to the description of socioeconomic inequalities between men and women in a variety of dimensions. Evaluations of public policies which focus on family life and professional life are presented. The second part focuses on the wealth and complexity of expressions and words used to talk about inequality. The course then looks at the manner in which inequality between the sexes is political. Lastly, a historical approach of the feminist movements rounds out the analysis.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program in Modern, Post-Colonial and Comparative Literatures. The course is intended for advanced levels students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. Students acquire knowledge of gender studies (theories and methodologies) in diverse cultural contexts whereby the notions of identity and otherness, difference, and diversity are analyzed within an intercultural perspective. The course intends to favor the capability to deconstruct these notions in diverse texts (theoretical, literary, and visual). The course focuses on the following topics: controversial books, ethical reading, and ethical criticism: cultural representations of diversity and the survival of the outsiders. The course analyses books that were banned (such as WIDE SARGASSO SEA or THE COLOR PURPLE) or controversial (for instance THE PASSION OF NEW EVE and DISGRACE) for their provocative and non-mainstreaming cultural position. The first lessons analyze critical theories on difference and diversity within an intersectional perspective. The second part interrogates and discusses literary and visual texts where the construction of women and other subjects as "negative" and functional/structural diversity are challenged and overcome through narrative strategies of resistance and trans-formations. The violence of representation is thus exposed and critically challenged. The diachronic study of theories and fiction (in different genres) aims at showing repetitive patterns in the cultural representation of difference as well as in the strategic patterns of resistance, reaffirming the necessity, right, and power of diversity.

This interdisciplinary course, which draws on social psychology, political and social theory, and sociology, explores what it is to live in a multicultural world where identities are in flux. The first part of the course introduces the main debates of one of the most dynamic areas of contemporary inquiry: multiculturalism, diversity, and gender. It explores how categories of difference (race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, and sexuality) are complex and interrelated. It considers the theoretical underpinnings of multiculturalism to explore the normative as well as pragmatic arguments for and against it. The concept of culture is explored in depth by drawing on sociological studies that try to help better understand cultural differences. The course then considers the question of intercultural dialogue and how it can be used as a resource to facilitate communication between different cultural groups. The second part of the course considers actual cross-cultural case studies to explore how states have developed diverse policies related to cultural pluralism. It also explores how gender and other categories of difference interact with modern institutions in contemporary society. Throughout, the course analyzes various ways of looking at power and political culture in modern societies with the objective of developing the ability to think critically about mechanisms for change. Students read relevant texts from a wide diversity of literature. Each session focuses on a particular theme and includes a student presentation that communicates and argues persuasively one's viewpoint on a topic.

This course introduces students to some of the main questions addressed by both the sociology of health and the sociology of gender. It applies a gender perspective to the sociology of health and uses health as an interesting topic to analyze gender inequalities and social norms. The first part of the course focuses on gender and health as sociological objects. The second part analyzes how health care systems interact with the very definition of gender by illustrating the case of intersexuality and transgenderism. The third part of the course focuses on two main topics: gender inequalities in health (examining both health outcomes and health as an occupation) and the study of specific health conditions that have a gendered dimension (like reproductive health, violence, infant feeding practices, or covid-19).

This course examines key concepts that underlie gender analysis, and how they are expressed in politics, culture and society. It examines the meaning of gender across a range of subjects and issues on the global stage and in our everyday lives.

In what ways does gender play a role in our daily lives and in our societies? How are understandings and performances of gender and sexuality shaped by discourses and how do they inflect discourses in turn? How have perceptions of gender been changing and how do they vary across cultures and places? How do material factors and emotions interact with discourses in shaping gender? And, finally, how can gender be approached in a variety of manifestations and connect theory to practice?

The course addresses these and related questions by providing an overview of ‘classical’ and contemporary theorizations of gender as well as looking at some differences in defining gender issues and shaping gender politics. Students look into the history of debate about gender and sexuality, and the key definitions developed by feminist critics. This includes engaging with ways of ‘doing’ femininity and masculinity and constructing gendered identity at the interface of race and sex. Students focus on some contributions of gender theory to the larger field of critical humanities and social sciences. Students are introduced to a variety of materials from texts and film, mass and new media, everyday practices, and international policies, as well as interdisciplinary approaches to working with different types of data.

This course introduces the history of concepts of gender and sexuality, and covers topics such as heterosexuality, homosexuality, sex education, women’s emancipation, masculinity, prostitution, pornography, sexual nationalism, and transgenderism. It uses a diverse range of teaching methods including group work, movie screenings, and lectures. The course focuses on Denmark, but also studies how Denmark relates and compares to the rest of the world. The course does not require previous knowledge of theories of gender and sexuality and provides the opportunity to share knowledge of students' respective home countries in an academic setting.

The sex/gender system, like many social systems of categorization, serves to group individuals. It represents an act of dividing, i.e. categorizing individuals as male or female; yet it also, paradoxically and simultaneously, connects individuals through shared membership in a category. This course on gender and women's studies in a European context focuses on the boundary—that which both divides and unites. Sexed and gendered boundaries are investigated between bodies, communities, cultures, classes, races, ethnicities, religions, sexualities, and nations. The course begins by examining the way sex/gender boundaries are mapped onto the body; this includes the history of sex differences within scientific discourses, transsexual and transgender definitions, and attempts to control women's health and reproduction. The second unit analyzes conceptualizations of citizenship as practices of drawing boundaries, and how these boundaries intersect, connect, and prohibit. Students look at the gendered ideals of citizenship, the history of women's rights, and intersectionality between different types of marginalization. In considering definitions of nationhood and belonging, students consider how boundaries can connect individuals in solidarity, as well separate out others. The final unit investigates the boundary between the public and the private in an investigation of women, migration, and work, as well as so-called women's work, including sex work and domestic work. This course uses statistics, history, political and social sciences, filmic representations, news reports, essays, medical texts, and biographies to conduct the interdisciplinary investigation. The guiding approach is one of transnational feminism, which seeks to find solidarity between women by understanding and embracing their differences. Ultimately, the analysis of a multiplicity of subject positions and histories reveals the overall instability of the sex/gender system. For example, something that one culture views as inherently masculine may be viewed as inherently feminine in another. Therefore, this transcultural examination helps to understand the socially constructed nature of a system that is often viewed as natural, unchanging, and stable.

This course examines the lives of women in the Roman period. Topics include: traditional roles of women in Roman culture; representations of Roman women in archaeological and iconographic sources; historical roots of conceptions and perceptions of the feminine in the contemporary world.

The course examines key aspects of popular religious culture during the early modern period in Europe which witnessed the transformation of religious life associated with the Protestant and Catholic Reformations. It deals specifically with religious ideas and devotional practices at a popular level and the changes introduced by both Protestant and Catholic reformers. As part of the spectrum of belief it examines ideas concerning magic and witchcraft and it includes a study of the witch hunting which swept through Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Attention is given to the role of women in churches and society, and how they were affected by the religious upheavals of the period.