MODULE SPECIFICATION

Code: UPGPEG-30-3 Title: Gender, Sexuality and Writing Version: 5

Level: 3 UWE credit rating: 30 ECTS credit rating: 15

Module type: Standard

Owning Faculty: Social Sciences and Humanities Field: English

Faculty Committee approval: QSC Date: 16 June 2010

Approved for Delivery by:

Valid from: September 2010 Discontinued from:

Contributes towards: Awards up to B.A (Hons)

Pre-requisites: UPGPDC-60-1 – Approaches to Literature and Criticism or

UPGPDD-30-1 - Narrative Literature: Prose and Verse

Co-requisites: None

Entry requirements:

Excluded combinations: None

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this module, students should be able to:

1. demonstrate awareness of the significance of debates in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries on the construction of gender (assessed through Components A and B);

2. engage critically with a range of literary texts in relation to theories of sexuality (assessed through Components A and B);

3. apply critical and theoretical approaches, with confidence, to literary texts (assessed through Component A and B);

4. show an understanding of the historical and social contexts of texts and theories (assessed through Components A and B)

5. identify potential areas for research within the specified parameters of the module (assessed through Component B);

6. display research skills appropriate to a level 3 module (assessed through Component B).

Syllabus outline:

The preoccupation of this module will be with the variety of late nineteenth and twentieth century debates on the social ordering of gender and sexuality which will be investigated by reading fiction and drama by both male and female writers, complemented by one of Freud’s case studies and theoretical writing by Foucault on the history of sexuality. The starting point will be the construction of gender and heterosexuality through romance. A close study will then be made of material relating to: fin de siècle representations of gender and sexuality; the work of sexologists, particularly in the early part of the twentieth century; more recent theories on gender performativity, identity politics and alternative sexualities.

Teaching and learning methods:

The module will be taught through weekly lectures and seminars. In the first semester seminars will focus on close textual analysis. In the second semester this will be supplemented by occasional workshop sessions to prepare students for the extended study which is developed, with guidance from tutors, from ideas initiated by the students.

Reading Strategy

Indicative Reading List:

The following list is offered to provide validation panels/accrediting bodies with an indication of the type and level of information students may be expected to consult. As such, its currency may wane during the life span of the module specification. However, as indicated above, CURRENT advice on readings will be available via other more frequently updated mechanisms.

Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality vol 1 (Penguin 1990)

Sigmund Freud, ‘Dora’s Case’, Freud Library vol. 8: Case Histories 1 (Penguin 1990)

Elaine Showalter, The Female Malady (Virago 1987)

Lucy Bland and Laura Doan, Sexology in Culture: Labelling Bodies and Desires (Polity 1998)

Janice Radway, Reading the Romance (Verso 1987)

Diana Fuss, Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories (Routledge 1991)

Judith Butler, Gender Trouble (Routledge 1990)

Claire Colebrook, Gender (Palgrave Macmillan 2004)

Elaine Showalter, Sexual Anarchy (Virago 1992)

Lyn Pykett (ed), Reading Fin de Siècle Fictions (Longman 1996)

Assessment

Weighting between components A and B (standard modules only) A: 40% B: 60%

ATTEMPT 1

First Assessment Opportunity (Sit)

Component A

Description of each element Element weighting

1 Exam (2 hours) 40%

Component B

Description of each element Element weighting

1 Annotated Bibliography (1,500 words) 10%

2 Extended Study (4,500 words) FINAL 50%

Second Assessment Opportunity (Resit) (further attendance at taught classes is not required)

Component A

Description of each element Element weighting

1 Exam (2 hours) 40%

Component B

Description of each element Element weighting

1 Annotated Bibliography (1,500 words) 10%

2 Extended Study (4,500 words) 50%

EXCEPTIONAL SECOND ATTEMPT (Retake): Attendance at taught classes is required.

Specification confirmed by …………………………………………………Date ……………………………

(Associate Dean/Programme Director)