Basic Theoretical Concepts and Sources of Knowledge
Year
1Course Description
This Level 1 course gives students an introduction to the discipline of Women´s Studies which emerged in tertiary level educational institutions in the 1960s. This discipline aims to redress the systematic exclusion of women within and outside of the academy. It examines their lives and their contributions to society and culture. More than four decades have passed since the discipline of Women´s Studies was introduced and during this time, complex and interesting ways have been developed to understand women and femininity, men and masculinity, as well as ways in which hierarchical gender relations are constructed.
GEND1103 uses a feminist approach to examine how the categories "woman" and "man" are socially and culturally constructed; and how this construction has varied historically across culture, ethnicity and class. The course also explores the ways in which social, political, economic and legal discourses perpetuate ideas and practices which amount to sexism and intersecting oppressions. The methods by which both women and men have struggled and organized against sexist and other forms of gender discrimination are also examined.
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