Handbook

Subject Area: Women's and Gender Studies.

This course can also be studied in the following specialisation: History

This course is an introduction to the study of women, gender and sexualities through the frameworks of world history and cross-cultural analysis. We begin with questions that are fundamental to gender studies – such as ‘what is gender?’ – and trace them across time and place to demonstrate how gender intersects with race, class, sexuality and other markers in different historical and cultural contexts. You will consider how religion, colonialism, nationalism and cross-cultural contacts have shaped and influenced gender roles and relations. The course also introduces you to key debates and developments in gender studies and gender history, from the question of the role of gender in early modern witch-hunts, through Judith Butler’s influential theorising of gender and embodiment, and the emergence of trans studies and intersectional theory.