17398

SoSe 15: HS-Negotiating Gender: Constructions, Representations, Theories: Gender on Stage

Sabine Schülting

Comments

Poststructuralist gender studies, most prominently Judith Butler in Gender Trouble and Bodies that Matter, have challenged the belief in a 'natural' or biological basis of gender and sexual identities. Butler has stressed that masculinities and femininities are performatively constructed through the enforced iteration of norms. The seminar will take this as its theoretical point of departure and discuss what happens if this performativity of gender is duplicated, as it were, through deliberate (stage) performance or role-acting. How are gender identities on stage or screen denaturalized, how are they perhaps also re-essentialized? How do they intersect with other social categories such as race and class? And how do the respective genres and media inform or even shape the performance of gender? We will read and watch a variety of examples, including novels, plays, and films: Caryl Churchill, Cloud Nine (1979), Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus (1984), Paris Is Burning (1990, dir. Jennie Livingston), The Crying Game (1992, dir. Neil Jordan), Jackie Kay, Trumpet (1998), and Boys Don't Cry (1999, dir. Kimberly Peirce). Students should purchase the following texts: Caryl Churchill, Cloud Nine(Nick Hern Books, 1989, c. 12 EUR), Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus (Random House 1994, c. 12 EUR), Jackie Kay, Trumpet (Picador 2011, c. 11 EUR), and should have read Carter's Nights at the Circus by the beginning of the semester. It is recommended that students participating in this course also attend the Tutorial 17399 on "Performance and Performativity". Assessment will be on the basis of regular attendance, active participation in classroom activities, and an essay of about 7500 words. close

14 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Tue, 10:00 - 12:00 14 Class schedule

Tue, 2015-04-14 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sabine Schülting