Gender, Violence, and Political Participation

Catalog description

"How does gender intersect with political power?" This course attempts to explore this question by examining the interaction of gender, political participation, and violence in Asia. The course has two aims. First it seeks to understand the historical and social contexts that form sexual norms and gender roles and how these are influenced by class, race, religion, culture, and power in Asia. Second, it offers theoretical and empirical insights into understanding the concepts of gender, violence, and political participation, using comparative cases at the local, national and global levels. This course investigates a variety of questions in this domain, including: How does gender impact our lived experience? How and why do people’s perceptions about gender vary? How are these perceptions related to social, cultural, and political power? How do social and cultural norms contribute to or mitigate gender-based violence? How do patriarchal values and social norms in Asian society obstruct gender and women’s political participation? And how do social movements initiate societal transformations towards or away from gender equality and justice?