69583 - Gender Studies (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

This course introduces students to the theoretical and methodological foundations of the interdisciplinary field of Gender Studies. The course maps the genealogy and main contemporary debates in feminist, LGBT and queer studies, with particular attention to the study of queer sexual cultures.

Course contents

The course aims to explore key developments that have shaped the broad and interdisciplinary field of Gender Studies.

In the first part, from a decolonial and anti-racist feminist perspective, we will retrace the historical, social, and cultural construction of several conceptual categories central to theoretical debates in Gender Studies. These include: sex, gender, sexuality, woman, identity, body, “race,” and citizenship.

In the second phase, particular attention will be devoted to the genealogies and claims of feminist, trans*, LGBTQIA+, and postcolonial movements which, since the 1970s, have animated this field of study, broadening it and enriching it with new perspectives and methodologies.

In the final part of the course, classes will take the form of seminars, focusing on themes and case studies central to past and present transfeminist movements and debates, drawing both from the assigned readings and from additional materials and insights that may emerge during the course.

At this stage, students will deliver individual or group presentations, which will then be collectively discussed in class.

Presentations and participation in class discussions will form part of the assessment (30% and 10% of the final grade, respectively). This format is designed to strengthen critical and methodological skills for analyzing the cultural and embodied construction of genders and sexualities, the creation/representation/subversion of gender stereotypes, and for recognizing the hegemonic (and therefore power-related) dimension of cisheteronormativity.

Readings/Bibliography

The list of texts and articles is being updated: students are advised to check the course page regularly.

 

MANDATORY readings for both attending and non-attending students:

Connel, R. (2009), Gender. In World Perspective, Polity Press (more recent editions are also acceptable)

Elective readings (ONE for attending students – TWO for non-attending students):

Ahmed, S. (2017), Living a Feminist Life, Duke University Press, 2017

Butler J. (1990), Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Routledge

*Cossutta C., Greco V., Mainardi A., Voli S. (2022) Digital Fissures: Bodies, Genders, Technologies, Brill

Davis, A. Y. (1981), Women, Race and Class, Random House

De Lauretis T. (1987), Technologies of Gender: Essays on Theory, Film, and Fiction, Indiana University Press, Bloomington

Dorlin E. (2022), Self-Defense: A Philosophy of Violence, Verso, London-New York

Feinberg L. (1993), Stone Butch Blues, Firebrand Books, Ithaca and New York.

Giomi, E., Magaraggia, S. (2022), Male and Female Violence in Popular Media, Bloomsbury

Halberstam, J. J. (2011), The queer art of failure, Duke University Press, 2011

hooks b. (1981), Ain’t I a women. Black women and feminism, South End Press

Likke N. (2010), Feminist Studies, A Guide to Intersectional Theory, Methodology and Writing, Taylor&Francis

Lorde A. (1982), Zami: A new spelling of my name

Lorde A. (1984), Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches, Crossing Press

Marcasciano, P. (2023), AntoloGaia: Queering the Seventies, A Radical Trans Memoir, Rutgers University Press

Mohanty, C. T. (2003), Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity, Duke University Press

Monro, S. (2005), Gender politics: citizenship, activism and sexual diversity, Pluto Press, London

Passerini, L. (1996) Autobiography of a Generation: Italy, 1968, Wesleyan University Press

Preciado, B. P. (2013), Testo Junkie: Sex, Drugs, and Biopolitics in the Pharmacopornographic Era, The Feminist Press at CUNY

Serano, J. (2013), Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive, Seal Press

*Stryker S., Aizura A. Z. (2014), a cura di, The Transgender Studies Reader 2, Routledge, New York

*Stryker S., Whittle S. (2006), a cura di, The Transgender Studies Reader, Routledge, New York.

Stryker, S. (2017), Transgender History: The Roots of Today's Revolution, Seal Press

Articles (ONE for attending students – THREE for non-attending students):

Casaglia, A. (2022), "Pornography at the Border: Ethnosexual Borderscapes, Gendered Violence, and Embodied Control" in GEOPOLITICS, v. 2022, 27, n. 1, p. 185-205

Collins P. H., & Bilge S. (2016) Chapter 1 “What is intersectionality” in Collins, Bilge (2016) Intersectionality. Polity Press (Any edition is fine)

Crenshaw, K. (1995), “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politic, and Violence against Women of Color”, in After Identity: A Reader in Law and Culture. Eds. Dan Danielson and Karen Engle, New York: Routledge, 1995.

Evolvi G. (2022), “The Theory of Hypermediation: Anti-Gender Christian Groups and Digital Religion”, Journal of Media and Religion, 21(2), pp. 69-88

Fausto-Sterling, A. (2019), "Gender/Sex, Sexual Orientation, and Identity Are in the Body: How Did They Get There?", The Journal of Sex Research, 56(4-5), 529–555

Ferrante, A. A. (2019), “Biopower Is The New Black: Gender Refractions And Reflections Between Panopticon And Television”, Iperstoria, 14

Finn E. (2018), “Collective Memory and the Transfeminist 1970s: Toward a Less Plausible History”, TSQ, 5(1), 1 February 2018, pp. 9-29

Koyama, E. (2001), The Transfeminist Manifesto

Mainardi, A. (2020) Gendered Identity, in Ross et al (eds.) The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication, John Wiley & Sons

Lugones, M. (2020), Gender and Universality in Colonial Methodology, in «Critical philosophy of race», vol. 8, nos. 1–2, 2020, pp. 25-47

Stone, S. (2006), “The “Empire” Strikes Back: a Posttranssexual Manifesto” (1987), in Susan Stryker – Stephen Whittle (eds-), The Transgender Studies Reader, Routledge, 2006, pp, 221-235

Scott, JW (1986) “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis”, in American Historical Review 5(91), pp. 1053-75

Stryker, S (1994) “My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage”, in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 1(3),pp. 237-254.

Stryker S., Currah P. et al. (2008), “Introduction: Trans-, Trans, or Transgender?”, WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, 36, 3-4, pp. 11-22.

Tafakori, S. (2020). Postcolonialism. in Ross et al (eds.) The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication. John Wiley & Sons.

TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, Special Issue ‘‘Postposttranssexual: Key Concepts for a Twenty-First-Century Transgender Studies” vol. 1, 1–2, 2014 (min. 8 chapters)

Voli, S. (2015), “Broadening the Gendered Polis. Italian Feminist and Transsexual Movements, 1979-1982”, Transgender Studies Quarterly, 3.1, Special issue: Trans/feminism, Duke University Press, p. 235-245

Voli, S. (2018), “(Trans)gender citizenship in Italy: a contradiction in terms? From the parliamentary debate about Law 164/1982 to the present”, Modern Italy, 23, p. 201-214

Voli, S. (2023), “Feminist and trans movements in Italy: on the trails of a(n) (im)possible relationship”, Contemporanea, 4, p. 684-689

[For the final paper: as an alternative to articles, chapters may be selected from the texts marked with an asterisk (*); see below, section “Assessment methods.”]

Teaching methods

The course will be structured in a blended teaching format, combining lectures with thematic seminars. In the seminars, active participation by attending students will be required, including collective in-class presentations on topics agreed upon with the instructor.

Lectures will also include the screening of documentaries, films, historical documents, and photographs.

Assessment methods

Exam Sessions for the Academic Year 2025/2026:

• 1 session in September 2025 (22 September 2025) – for students with outstanding exams

• 1 session in November 2025 (14 November 2025) – for students with outstanding exams

• 1 session in January 2026 – for students with outstanding exams

• 1 session in February 2026 – for students with outstanding exams

• 1 session in May 2026 – for all students

• 1 session in June 2026 – for all students

 

Assessment methods

For attending students:

• Participation and discussion during lectures – 10% of the final grade

• In-class presentation (group or individual, depending on the number of attending students) – 30% of the final grade

• Final paper (individual) – 60% of the final grade

For attending students (who have completed the in-class presentation), the final paper must be based on:

• Lecture notes / material provided by the instructor

• Mandatory readings

• 1 elective text

• 1 article/chapter

The final paper should be approximately 8,000 characters (1,200–1,400 words) in length (excluding bibliography).

The topic of the final paper and the in-class presentation may coincide.

For non-attending students:

The final paper must be based on:

• Material provided by the instructor

• Mandatory readings

• 2 elective texts

• 3 articles/chapters

The final paper should be approximately 10,000 characters (1,500–1,700 words) in length (excluding bibliography).

Teaching tools

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders are entitled to special adjustments according to their condition, subject to assessment by the University Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact teachers or Department staff, but make an appointment with the Service. The Service will then determine what adjustments are specifically appropriate, and get in touch with the teacher.

For more information, please visit the page: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students 

Office hours

See the website of Stefania Voli