Feminist Studies

Code:

MEAAM008

Acronym:

EF

Instance: 2010/2011 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Anglo-American Studies
Course/CS Responsible:	Masters in Anglo-American Studies

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
EAAM	1	Course Programme	1	-	8	-
MEAA	1	Study Plan since 2007/2008	1	-	8	-

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

The aim of this seminar is to debate the question of sexual difference as a social construction, showing the way it influences literary production and, in that sense, to study the importance of Feminist Studies and of Queer Theory for an understanding of the poetic phenomenon (in its broader sense). Along the course specific competences will be given to the students so that they may end up the course with a full understanding of the importance of Feminist Studies in the academia and in society.

Program

Entering the academy in the Anglo-American space in the end of the 1970’s, Feminist Studies provided new approaches to the literary text and a new understanding of the aesthetic phenomenon. Its constitution as a discipline emerged from the feminist movements of the so called Second Wave, which, on their turn, carried on the social and political action of the feminist movements of the First Wave. However, if the feminists of the First Wave insisted on the need for equality, the feminists of the Second Wave insisted on the issue of difference. From the 90’s on, the Third Wave will propose the deconstruction of differences, and even of the very notion of identity. In order to show the pertinence of these perspectives, we shall focus on the reading and discussion of the most significant feminist theoretical texts (First, Second and Third Waves) and of Queer Theory, and on the analysis of poems and short stories.

Mandatory literature

Braidotti, Rosi; Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory, Columbia University Press, 1994
Braidotti, Rosi; Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory , New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.
Woolf, Virginia; A Room of One's Own, London: Penguin , 1945 [1928]
Weed, Elizabeth e Naomi Schor, eds; Feminism Meets Queer Theory, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2002.
Macedo, Ana Gabriela, org; Género, identidade e desejo: antologia crítica do feminismo contemporâneo., Cotovia, 2002
Davidson, Arnold; The Emergence of Sexuality: Historical Epistemology and the Formation of Concepts, Harvard University Press, 2001

Teaching methods and learning activities

Classes theoretical and practical

keywords

Humanities

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Description	Type	Time (hours)	Weight (%)	End date
Attendance (estimated)	Participação presencial	45,00
	Total:	-	0,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Description	Type	Time (hours)	End date
Research work	Estudo autónomo	171
	Total:	171,00

Eligibility for exams

a) active participation in the seminars : 50 %
b) an oral presentation on a predefined subject: 50 %

Calculation formula of final grade

Weighted avarage of the results of the components mentioned above.

Examinations or Special Assignments

N/A

Classification improvement

N/A

Observations

N/A