Gender Studies
The Gender Studies minor aims to provide students with a critical lens through which they can analyze and understand the intricate power dynamics structuring the social, cultural, and political domains. The courses in this minor challenge the naturalization and essentialization of differences based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and sexuality. This is achieved by equipping students with fundamental feminist concepts, theories and methodologies from the Humanities. Furthermore, the courses from the minor take an intersectional framework by specifically addressing how power dynamics and identity are shaped at the intersection of gender, sexuality, race, class and other categories of difference. Students who take this minor will be able to critically analyze social phenomena, cultural representations, and (political) discourses, among others, through which social norms are reinstated, negotiated and transformed.
This minor includes courses with priority rules. For these courses the registration period is limited.
Summary
| Number of EC | 30 EC |
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| Number of courses | 4 compulsory courses |
| Start | It is highly recommended to start in block 1, but it is also possible to start in block 2, 3 or 4. |
| Coordinator | |
| Course overview | |
| Minor code | GEN-MINOR-14 |
| Entry requirements | You may prepare for this minor by following one of these courses*:
* obligatory for TCS/LAS students in preparation of their Hoofdrichting Gender/Postcolonial Studies Students who do not have any previous knowledge in the field of postcolonial studies can consult the edited volume Doing Gender in Media, Art and Culture: A Comprehensive Guide to Gender Studies (2018), edited by Rosemarie Buikema, Liedeke Plate and Kathrin Thiele. |
| Associated MA-programmes |
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| Registration | Start block 1 or 2: register between 3 June and 10 June 2024 13.00
Make sure to register for the minor as well as all its courses |
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“I think of feminism as poetry; we hear histories in words; we reassemble histories by putting them into words.”
- Sara Ahmed, Living a Feminist Life (2017)
Come and join one of the largest gender studies groups in Europe!
Content
Gender studies, a contemporary interdisciplinary field that draws and expands on feminist theory, critically examines ways in which gender, ethnicity/race, sexuality, religion, ability, and class intersect and are constructed within cultural artefacts, political discourse, popular culture, art, literature and digital media. This important minor offers the chance to learn about historical and contemporary feminist movements and about the forces both gender and ethnicity/race currently exert in society.
The minor Gender Studies is also a kernpakket for students TCS and LAS.
Goal
The minor aims to:
- familiarize students with traditions of modern feminist thought and point out issues that are central to feminist theory;
- train students to practice a new, critical way of looking at cultural practices that contest and reconstruct new and old representations and cultural formations;
- provide students with a map of contemporary feminist approaches to issues of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, race and religious practices;
- teach students to mobilize gender and intersectionality as key concepts while looking at various cultural practices in the visual and technological field: film, photography, the Internet, mass media, art, as well as social performances of memory, citizenship and nationalism.
Knowledge and theoretical skills gained equip students with valuable tools for future professions in – for example, yet not limited to – education, campaigning and activism, journalism, NGO’s, policy-making, and the creative & cultural sectors.
Curriculum
The minor Gender Studies consists of 4 compulsory courses (30 EC). The courses include lectures, seminars readings, film and documentary screenings, museum visits, individual and group presentations and assignments include essays. The courses aim to be interactive and students are encouraged to raise questions, promote debate, offer criticisms and contribute to the course contents, particularly given that we cater to students from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds.
Students in the Bachelor Media and Culture and TCS/LAS students following Hoofdrichting Gender and Postcolonial Studies
If you are a student in the BA Media en cultuur/Media and Culture, or TCS/LAS student following the Hoofdrichting Gender and Postcolonial Studies and you would like to write your thesis in Gender Studies or Postcolonial Studies, you are expected to take the following courses:
- Onderzoeksseminar Gender en Postcolonial Studies VR3V16001 (instead of Onderzoeksseminar Media en Cultuur MC3V14001 / Research Seminar Media and Culture MC3V20001)
- Eindwerkstuk Gender & Postcolonial VR3V16002 (instead of Eindwerkstuk Media en Cultuur ME3V15026 / Bachelor Thesis Media and Culture ME3V20001)
More information
If you wish to know more, or have questions about this minor, please contact the Student Desk Humanities.