75953 - Gender Studies (1)

Learning outcomes

The course aim at orienting students within that field of studies known as Gender Studies by selecting the most relevant debates for communication studies and their possible professional ends.

Course contents

Out of the vast interdisciplinary field of gender studies, and from a semiotic of text and a semiotic of media perspective, the course’s initial aim will be to discuss some of the most relevant theoretical positions and heuristic categories that in the last forty years have transformed and revised the very concept of gender in its links with others variables, such as sex and sexuality, the body, subjectivity and identity, “race”, color and ethnicity, exploring in depth the concept of intersectionality.

During the first week of the course, some of the most relevant feminist theoretical positions that have debated the dichotomy gender/sex, developing a theory of “intersectionality”, will be examined in depth.

During the second week, the main concepts and tools for the analysis of gender representations will be discussed, in order to define a semiotic methodology within which the categories of enunciation, body and identity are central.

After this introductory part, from the third week onward the course will concentrate on one of the most relevant topic of the contemporary debate on gender, that is on images of gender/gendered images, and on the gender of images, in order to investigate both the media representation of female bodies and the ones produced by artists and authors that try to inscribe in their work a gender-sensitive perspective.

Different examples and case studies will be provided and illustrated, with a particular attention to the subversion of gender stereotypes and the transformation of gendered identities and their media representation: from television to advertisement and social media, up to artistic works and performances.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is suggested that they get in touch as soon as possible with the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) and with the lecturer in order to seek together the most effective strategies for following the lessons and/or preparing for the examination.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Mandatory texts  (both for students who will have attended the course, and for the ones who will have not attended the course).

Capecchi, S., La comunicazione di genere. Prospettive teoriche e buone pratiche, Carocci, Roma, 2018.

Demaria, C., Teorie di genere. Femminismi e semiotica, Bompiani, Milano, 2019 (l’introduzione; i capitoli 1, 4 e 5, l’Appendice).

Harvey, A., Studi femministi dei media, Roma, Meltemi, 2023

Marchetti, S; Mascat, J.M.H; Perilli, V. (a cura di) (2012), Femministe a parole. Grovigli da districare, Ediesse, Roma, 2012 (le voci: “Differenza. E le sue aporie”; “Sesso/genere”. Le trappole della naturalizzazione”; “Femminismo postcoloniale”; “Intersezionalità”; “Neo-orientalismo”; “Bianchezza. Il colore del privilegio”).

Recommended texts

Gribaldo, A. e Zapperi, G., Lo schermo del potere. Femminismo e regime della visibilità, Ombre corte, Verona, 2012.

Demaria, C., Sassatelli R. (a cura di), “Visioni del femminile”, numero monografico di Studi culturali, vol. 3, 2015.

Research material (to be used for individual or group presentations)

Butler, J., Corpi che contano, Feltrinelli, Milano, 1997.

Butler, J., La disfatta del genere, Meltemi, Roma, 2006.

Mohanty, C.T, Femminismo senza frontiere. Teoria, differenze, conflitti, Ombre corte, Verona, 2012.

Doane, M. A., Donne fatali. Cinema, femminismo, psicoanalisi, Pratiche, Parma, 1995.

Timeto, F. (a cura di), Culture della differenza. Femminismo, visualità e studi postcoloniali, Torino-Novara, UTET, 2008.

Further reading materials will be suggested during the course.

Teaching methods

The course will be structured according to a teaching method that requires, in the second part of the course, active participation by attending students.

The content will be learned in a highly interactive way, through the formation of working groups on specific topics that will be agreed upon with the lecturer and whose results will be discussed through group presentations in the classroom.

Therefore, attendance is strongly recommended.

Assessment methods

Starting from the 2025/2026 academic year, the exam, for both attending and non-attending students, is divided into two tests:

1. A written test, in the classroom, on a computer, lasting one hour, in which students are required to answer two open questions on the theories and concepts discussed during the course, and extensively covered in the exam texts listed above.

2. A written test that students will complete at home and submit by the day of the chosen exam. The test will consist of identifying and setting up a concrete case study concerning gender representations in the media (films or TV series, advertising, video games, fashion, social media, etc.). This exercise must be carried out in a discursive text of no more than 10,000 characters (excluding bibliography).

The two tests therefore represent an assessment of both the basic knowledge discussed in the first part of the course and the ability (know-how) to analyse gender representations acquired in the second part of the course.

The final mark will be the average of the two tests (the first part will account for 50% and the second for 50%).

Students with SLDs or temporary or permanent disabilities are advised to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it) in good time: It will be their responsibility to propose any adjustments to the students concerned, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance for approval by the lecturer, who will assess their appropriateness in relation to the course objectives.

Teaching tools

 

 

The course will make use of the software and multimedia tools available in the classrooms of the Department of Arts.

Office hours

See the website of Cristina Demaria