26027 - The Revision Of The Body In Women's Literature

Learning outcomes

Students acquire knowledge of gender studies (theories and methodologies) in diverse cultural contexts whereby the notions of identity and otherness, difference and diversity are analysed with specific reference to the politics of the body. The course intends to favour the capability to deconstruct these notions in diverse texts (theoretical, literary, visual).

Course contents

The Politics of the body and the human/non-human relation in fiction and critical theories

The body as a source of subjectivity is one of the central political, critical, and poetical spaces that women’s and ‘minority’ groups have reclaimed against patriarchal and metaphysical traditions.

The course will discuss diverse politics of the body in critical theories and fiction.

Introduction: Genealogies (feminist figurations as embodied subjectivities) and the Posthuman

Texts: we will discuss literary, critical, and visual texts with specific reference to utopian/dystopian/science fiction, and postcolonial novels that expose the body as a crucial issue in the redefinition of the (post)human.

The program is in progress. Please do check this webpage for further notice

Readings/Bibliography

Bibliography:

Irigaray, Luce, 1980, "When our Lips Speak Together" (L. Irigaray; C. Burke) in Signs, vol 6, n. 1, 1980, 69-79, Chicago UP. online http://eyegiene.sdsu.edu/2006/spring/imperialbedroom/luceirigaryLIPS.pdf https://www.didaweb.net/risorse/visita.php?url=http://www.women.it/les/testi/labbra.htm (available in French, Italian, Spanish ect.)

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 in the Reader)

Braidotti, Rosi "Becoming Woman: or Sexual Difference Revisited" in Theory, Culture & Society 2003, (Sage, London) Vol. 20(3): 43-64.

Braidotti, Rosi Per una politica affermativa. Traduzione e cura di Angela Balzano. Milano: Mimesis, 2017 (selected chapters from Braidotti, Rosi, Nomadic Theory: The Portable. Columbia UP, 2012)

Braidotti, Rosi, The Posthuman, Polity Press, 2013

Butler, Judith, Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2015

Haraway, Donna J., 1991, Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge., 1995, Manifesto Cyborg. Donne, tecnologie e biopolitiche del corpo.Trad. e cura L. Borghi. Milano: Feltrinelli Interzone. (selected chapters)

Monticelli, Rita The Politics of the Body in Women’s Literature.

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 in the Library and in the Reader)

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)Bologna: Odoya, 2012

 

Texts:

Michael Faber, Under the Skin, Canongate 2004, f.p 2000

Carter, Angela, The Passion of New Eve, London: Virago, 1992, f.p 1977

Atwood, Margaret, The Handmaid's Tale, Toronto: McLelland and Stewart, 1985

Coetzee, J.M, Disgrace, Secker and Warburg, 1999

Movies:

The Secret Life Of Words. Director Isabel Coixet, Spain, 2006 

Under the Skin. Director Jonathan Glazer, UK, 2013

tv series to be chosen together wth the students at the beginning of the course (e.g Stranger Things, The Handmaid's Tale, True Blood ect.)

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 before enrolling in the course.

Teaching methods

Lessons, seminars, discussion in class, students' presentations. Languages: English AND Italian

Assessment methods

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

Students are requested to analyse 3 primary texts (to be chosen amongst the volumes in the Reading list of the primary sources) and articles/essays/chapters (about 150 pages) from the Reading list of the Secondary sources; the analysis of one of the movies and one of the TV series proposed.

All students (divided in groups) are requested to present in class one text (to be chosen in accordance with the lecturers) within diverse critical perspectives, in a date to be confirmed.

Please do check this web page for further notice and information

Active participation in class discussions: 25%. 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 favor their ability to take part in discussions and their capability to discuss in group.

Students' Presentation: 25%. Students are requested to do a group presentation of one text to be chosen from the reading list in accordance with the lecturer.

Final oral exams: 50%

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

Teaching tools

slides, videos

Office hours

See the website of Rita Monticelli