Gendered Worlds

Catalog description

Gendered Worlds examines how systems of dominance manifest in everyday life. Through an intersectional approach to social differences, such as gender, race, class, ethnicity, age, ability, and sexuality, the course highlights the significance of difference in shaping experiences of space and place in a global context. The course incorporates approaches from cultural, postcolonial, subaltern, queer, gender, and critical race studies, all of which have influenced current debates across the field of geography. Feminist scholars have long been concerned with the spatial politics of cultural difference. As a point of entry to discussions of gender and geography, this course will explore the diverse ways in which geographers have conceived of, analyzed, and redefined gender as a contested spatial practice that intersects with other facets of identity such as race, class, and sexuality. Using contemporary geographic texts, we will explore the gendered dynamics of geographic research, citizenship, violence, security, nationalism, nature,and globalization. The purpose of this course is to examine how gender is understood and utilized in the field of geography. This course also aims to enhance students' ability to engage in first-hand critical research, as well as collaborative learning, through a reflective and on-going process of research and writing over the course of the semester. At the end of the course, the successful student will be able to: 1. Deploy contemporary debates around gender theory, gendered spatial practices, and cultural difference. 2. Critique the cultural and social construction of gender across time and cultures. 3. Analyze representations of gender in social institutions such as the media. 4. Apply theories of gender and cultural difference in the context of critical written analysis.