UCSSCANT227.5 ECTSEnglishBachelor
Gender and Sexuality
Faculteit—
NiveauBachelor
Studiejaar2026-2027
Beschrijving
Course goals
- demonstrate knowledge of key theorists and key debates in gender & queer theory and sexuality studies;
- identify, summarize, and analyze issues pertinent to conceptual debates in gender & queer theory and sexuality studies;
- explain the constructed nature of gender and sexuality;
- demonstrate knowledge of multicultural case study material;
- appreciate the creative tension between cultural systems and individual agency;
- describe the history of women’s emancipation, feminism, and feminist theory in different cultural contexts;
- design, conduct and analyse an oral history project;
- devise cogent verbal presentation with appropriate visual support;
- apply rhetorical skills (communication, argumentation, directing a group discussion);
- present written work consistent with established standards of academic integrity and scholarship.
- class participation & reading accounts (20%), corresponding with course aim 1-6, 9-10
- group project/presentation (20%), corresponding with course aim 1,4,8,9
- life history project (25%), corresponding with course aim 1-3,5,7,10
- review paper (35%), corresponding with course aim 1-6, 9-10
Content
Gender is a relatively new concept coinciding with the development of anthropological scholarship. In this course we addresses some of the central questions that concern anthropologists’ interested in the nature, determinants and dynamics of gender, gender roles and gender relations. The course traces how anthropologists have used different theoretical orientations to examine such issues. Ranging from early work to contemporary anthropological studies, this course analyzes evolutionary, materialist, structuralist, sociolinguistic, and reflexive approaches to understanding gender behavior and gender stratification.
The course demonstrates how anthropological data from around the world are crucial for the questioning of unproven but widely held assumptions about gender and sexuality in contemporary societies. Therefore it examines the processes and the practices of the construction of notions such as ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’ in different cultural and historical contexts and demonstrates how gender and sexuality always intersect with other dimensions of identity and power relations that are shaped by economic and political forces and cultural discourses. By presenting ethnographic and historical accounts of gender variations and how they are currently understood and displayed, the course reveals the social and cultural phenomena that have created changes in sex/gender systems. It pays a particular attention to the ways in which categories of gender/sexuality are deployed in various discursive regimes such as nationalism, modernism, colonialism, and globalization.
FORMAT
There is one lecture session per week supplemented by a second session dedicated to documentaries, group discussion and presentations.
Students are required to read one ethnographic monograph, prepare additional weekly readings and a discussion session in teamwork with colleagues.
Schedule Fall 2026: The Wednesday session of the D1 timeslot may be moved to the evening (17:45-19:30). See Brightspace for details.
The course demonstrates how anthropological data from around the world are crucial for the questioning of unproven but widely held assumptions about gender and sexuality in contemporary societies. Therefore it examines the processes and the practices of the construction of notions such as ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’ in different cultural and historical contexts and demonstrates how gender and sexuality always intersect with other dimensions of identity and power relations that are shaped by economic and political forces and cultural discourses. By presenting ethnographic and historical accounts of gender variations and how they are currently understood and displayed, the course reveals the social and cultural phenomena that have created changes in sex/gender systems. It pays a particular attention to the ways in which categories of gender/sexuality are deployed in various discursive regimes such as nationalism, modernism, colonialism, and globalization.
FORMAT
There is one lecture session per week supplemented by a second session dedicated to documentaries, group discussion and presentations.
Students are required to read one ethnographic monograph, prepare additional weekly readings and a discussion session in teamwork with colleagues.
Schedule Fall 2026: The Wednesday session of the D1 timeslot may be moved to the evening (17:45-19:30). See Brightspace for details.
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