WiSe 22/23: MÜ-Constr.Difference:Liter.+Cult.Hist.: Gender, Class and Race across Time and Space
Sabine Schülting
Comments
In The World, the Text and the Critic (1983) Edward Said has argued that it is not only humans that travel, but also critical theories, ideas and concepts. Theories emerge in specific cultural and historical contexts but frequently they go on ‘journeys’ in both time and space, in the course of which they are changed, adapted or reshaped. The course will focus on the implications of ‘travelling theories’ for the field of Gender and Queer Studies. We will discuss what happens if we apply modern (Western) theories to gender relations, discourses of sexuality, and constructs of masculinity and femininity in non-Western cultures and/or different historical epochs. Is it always necessary or even appropriate to study the intersections of gender, class and race? What other categories might be (more) relevant? What ‘cultural baggage’ – to continue the metaphor – are we carrying along and in what ways does this baggage affect our critical perspective, our research questions and our results? What are the gains and what the losses of such readings? How do theories travel in our globalised world? How do other voices inflect western concepts of gender, class and race? And in what ways do the institutions, discourses and practices in the Humanities enable or prevent these journeys?
We will discuss these questions on the basis of more recent theoretical debates in Gender Studies and literary and non-literary texts from a large variety of cultural and historical contexts. Students participating in the course should have a genuine interest in engaging with critical theory.
Texts will be made available on Blackboard.
Assessment: Students are expected to attend regularly and participate in classroom activities. This will include short oral presentations and/or response papers. There is no exam in this course.
Exchange students (MA level) are of course welcome; your level of English should be C1. You can gain 5 ECTS.
close16 Class schedule
Additional appointments
Fri, 2022-12-09 12:00 - 14:00Regular appointments