26014 - FEMINIST THEORY: BETWEEN DIFFERENCE AND DIVERSITY - TEORIE DEGLI STUDI DI GENERE E CRITICHE FEMMINISTE: TRA DIFFERENZE E DIVERSITA'

Anno Accademico 2021/2022

  • Docente: Rita Monticelli
  • Crediti formativi: 10
  • SSD: L-LIN/10
  • Lingua di insegnamento: Inglese

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

Gli studenti e le studentesse acquisiscono conoscenze approfondite delle teorie e metodologie degli studi di genere in diversi contesti culturali. Il corso intende favorire l'analisi delle rappresentazioni e costruzioni di genere e del rapporto identità/alterita' in diverse forme testuali (teorie critiche, narrativa, testi visuali) in una prospettiva interculturale.

Contenuti

Controversial books, ethical reading, ethical criticism: cultural representations of diversity and the survival of the outsiders

The course analyses books that were banned (such as Wide Sargasso Sea or The Color Purple) or controversial (for instance The Passion of New Eve and Disgrace) for their provocative and non-maintreaming cultural position. The first lessons will analyse critical theories on difference and diversity within an intersectional perspective. The second part will interrogate and discuss literary and visual texts where the construction of women and other subjects as ‘negative’ and functional/structural diversity are challenged and overcome by narrative strategies of resistance and trans-formations. The violence of representation is thus exposed and critically challenged. The diachronic study of theories and fiction (in different genres) aims at showing repetitive patterns in the cultural representation of difference as well as in the strategic patterns of resistance reaffirming the necessity, right and power of diversity.

The course intends:

· To enable the analysis of the representations and constructions of gender, 'race', and ‘diversity’ in varied forms of text

· To approach women's and gender studies as a critical field in its intersection with postcolonial studies.

· To re-consider women's and gender studies as an interdisciplinary area and as a methodology of deconstruction of ‘dominant' systems of knowledge. To re-think women's and gender studies (within a postcolonial and intercultural studies frame) as analysis of distribution of knowledge, politics of representation and interpretation.

· To enable students to gain critical tools to reflect upon diverse cultural debates, to elaborate on the interconnections between texts and contexts, to favour critical thinking

· To offer critical instruments enabling competence in terms of ‘diversity management’

  ‘Case studies': analysis of diverse kinds of texts on main themes in women's and gender studies, with specific reference to the interconnection of gender and diversity in cultural studies 

 

 

 

Testi/Bibliografia

In Progress

Primary sources

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (1847)

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (1966)

The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1982)

Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee (1999)

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, 2019 Novel for students' presentations in class (around December 10th, date to be confirmed) 

Further Reading

The Passion of the New Eve by Angela Carter (1977)

 

Movies (proposed in class)

The Secret Life of Words by Isabel Coixet, Spain and Ireland, 2005

 
Bibliography of critical/theoretical texts (essays, articles, volumes). Lessons will make reference to the following critical sources:

9-Braidotti, Rosi “Difference, Diversity, and Nomadic Subjectivity” online document, http://women.ped.kun.nl, 2000.

10-Braidotti, Rosi Posthuman Knowledge, Polity Press, 2019 

8-Butler, Judith, 1993, Bodies that Matter. On the Discoursive Limits of “Sex”.New York and London: Routledge, 1996, Corpi che Contano. I limiti discorsivi del “sesso”Trad. S. Capelli. Milano: Feltrinelli. (selected chapters and Italian Introduction by A. Cavarero) (available in the Library)

7-Crenshaw, K. W., “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antidiscrimination Politics”, University of Chicago Legal Forum, Issue 1, 1989, pp. 139-167 (Available online)

 1-Irigaray, Luce, 1980, "When our Lips Speak Together" (L. Irigaray; C. Burke) in Signs, vol 6, n. 1, 1980, 69-79, Chicago UP. online and on virtuale (available in French, Italian, Spanish ect.)

2-Irigaray, Luce, “Donne Divine" in Sessi e Genealogie, 1989. Trad. L. Muraro. Milano: La Tartaruga. Sexes et parentés Paris: Minuit, 1987, Divine Women, Occasional Paper, Sydney, 1986, trans. S. Muecke reperibile nel reader. “Donne divine”, in AA. VV, Melusina. Mito e leggenda di una donna serpente. Roma, Utopia, 1986, pp. 134-150 (available on virtuale)

3-Monticelli R., The Politics of the Body in Women's Literatures, Bologna, I Libri di Emil - Odoya, 2012, pp. 176. (available in the library)

11-Rivisiting Feminism: Cultural trajectoriesed. Kalpana Das and Fréderique Apffel Marglin. iim, InterCulture, Intercultural Institute of Montreal, n. 150. INTERCULTURE. vol. 150. anno 2, n. 6. Edizione italiana della rivista canadese dell'Intercultural Institute of Montreal. (selected essays) (available in the Library and soon on virtuale)

6-Spillers, Hortense J. “Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book”, in Diacritics. A Review of ContemporaryCriticism17 (2), 1987, pp. 65-81. “Figli/e di madre, del padre forse: una grammatica Americana” in Critiche femministe e teorie letterarie. A cura di Raffaella Baccolini; M. Giulia Fabi, Vita Fortunati, Rita Monticelli. Bologna: CLUEB, 1997, pp. 255-279, trad. Lucia Gunella e Rita Monticelli. (available online and virtuale)

7-Spivak, Gayatri C, 1985, “Can the Subaltern Speak? Speculations on Widow-Sacrifice.” Wedge (Winter-Spring 1985), 7-8:120-130. Issue entitled "The Imperialism of Representation/The Representation of Imperialism. (available online)

4-Spivak, Gayatri C, 1985, "Three Women's Texts and a Critique of Imperialism", Critical Inquiry, 12-1. Issue entitled: "Race", Writing and Difference. (online and virtuale)

5-Walker, A., "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens" (1972), in Id., In Search of Our Mother's Gardens: Womanist Prose. San Diego, Harcourt Brace, 1983 (Available online).

BIBLIOGRAPHY is IN PROGRESS: Please do check this web page and VIRTUALE for bibliographical references, further notice, information and online availability.  

Metodi didattici

Important Notice:

Due to the current situation caused by the pandemic, the modality of the lessons will be announced at the beginning of the courses. Please do check this page for further notice and updated news

Lessons, seminars, discussion in class, students' presentations. Languages: English (some lessons can be in Italian)

Bibliography and other information will be provided also during the lessons (and then published in the online reading list and program). The course includes both lessons and seminars with the active participation of the students. Students who cannot attend lessons must contact the lecturer during her office hours, or via e-mail before the end of the course. Students are requested to check the online program also during the course for further notice and information.

B.A students are not admitted. Erasmus students are requested to contact the lecturer and the tutor BEFORE enrolling in the course as they will be admitted only if they fulfill the requirements. 

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Gli studenti e le studentesse di Letteratura Inglese/Letteratura dei Paesi di lingua inglese 2 LM dovranno analizzare 4 testi primari (da scegliersi tra quelli in elenco)saggi/ capitoli di volumi/articoli da scegliere tra le fonti critiche in elenco per un numero di 200/220 pagine (non da un unico volume). E' inoltre richiesta l'analisi di uno dei film in programma. 

Students of the course Letteratura Inglese/Letteratura dei paesi di lingua inglese 2 LM are requested to analyse 4 texts (to be chosen amongst the volumes in the Reading list of the primary sources);  articles/essays/chapters (about 200/220 pages, not from a single volume) from the Reading list of the Secondary sources; the analysis of one of the movies proposed.

Le studentesse e gli studenti di Feminist Theory between Difference and Diversity dovranno analizzare 4 testi primari (da scegliersi tra quelli in elenco); saggi/ capitoli di volumi/articoli da scegliere tra le fonti critiche in elenco per un numero di 250 pagine (non da un unico volume). E' inoltre richiesto lo studio di uno dei film in programma

Students of Feminist Theory between Difference and Diversity are requested to analyse 4 primary texts (to be chosen amongst the volumes in the Reading list of the primary sources); articles/essays/chapters (about 250 pages, not from a single volume) from the Reading list of the Secondary sources; the analysis of one of the other movies proposed 

Le studentesse e gli studenti di Gender Studies/Studi di genere dovranno analizzare 3 testi primari (da scegliersi tra quelli in elenco); saggi/ capitoli di volumi/articoli da scegliere tra le fonti critiche in elenco per un numero di 150 pagine (non da un unico volume). E' inoltre richiesto lo studio di uno dei film proposti

Students of Gender Studies/Studi di genere are requested to analyse 3 primary texts (to be chosen amongst the volumes in the Reading list of the primary sources); articles/essays/chapters (about 150 pages, not from a single volume) from the Reading list of the Secondary sources; the analysis of one of the movies proposed.

Please do check this web page for further notice and information

Active participation in class discussions: 30%. By participation in class we mean the ability of the student to enter the debates, contributing with questions and/or elaborations of the topics proposed by the lecturer. This participation does not aim at testing students' specific preparation in the field, rather, they want to favour their ability to take part in discussions and their capability to discuss in group.

 

Final oral exam: 70%

The final oral exam will test the student's critical capability, his/her knowledge of the methodologies employed, her/his ability to combine theories with the analyses of the case studies chosen. The close reading of the texts aims at showing the student's critical ability, their knowledge not only of the texts but also of their context of creation together with the cultural politics that inform them. Students are requested to use an appropriate language, to be able to articulate their thought in English and Italian (high level) and to have an accurate knowledge of the bibliography chosen for the exam.

Grades:

Excellent: Students' high capability to elaborate on the exiting debates on the topics chosen, originality of thought and excellent knowledge of the theories and of the texts chosen for the exam, their ability to read them within a gender perspective, using also the theories employed during the course and showing comprehension of the bibliography chosen, accurate and appropriate language.

Very good level: Students' capability to elaborate on the exiting debates on the topics chosen, originality of thought and very good knowledge of the theories and of the texts chosen for the exam, their ability to read them within a gender perspective, using also the theories employed during the course and showing comprehension of the bibliography chosen, and appropriate, accurate language.

Good level: Students' capability to elaborate on the exiting debates on the topics chosen, knowledge of the theories and of the texts chosen for the exam, their ability to read them within a gender perspective, using also the theories employed during the course and showing comprehension of the bibliography chosen, and appropriate language.

Pass: Students' capability to enter the exiting debates on the topics chosen, knowledge of the theories and of the texts chosen for the exam, their ability to read them within a gender perspective, using also the theories employed during the course and showing comprehension of the bibliography chosen, and appropriate language.

Fail: Student's lack of knowledge of the theories employed during the course, incapability to critical reading of the novels, inappropriate and inaccurate language.

Please do check this web page for further notice and information

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Power point, slides, movies, visual texts.

The course includes a: 

 SEMINAR (in progress)

 

 

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Rita Monticelli

SDGs

Parità di genere Ridurre le disuguaglianze Città e comunità sostenibili Lotta contro il cambiamento climatico

L'insegnamento contribuisce al perseguimento degli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile dell'Agenda 2030 dell'ONU.