AJ22090 Language and Gender

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2010
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Michaela Pňačeková (lecturer)
prof. PhDr. Ludmila Urbanová, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Timetable
Thu 13:20–14:55 G22
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 12 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This course considers the relationships between language, as both system of categorization and mode of social practice, and the differential and inhabitable subject positions and categorical systems of socio-sexual difference we call gender. We will discuss the ways gender is constructed in various discourses and how it is objectified in specific genres and relationships between linguistic structure, usage and ideology in various political projects. We will further look into ways language is a primary modality in the performance and production of gendered subjectivities and identities. The course will focus on theory as well as on practice: we will discuss language and gender theories chronologically (sexist language, difference and dominance approaches, deconstructionist approaches) and subsequently we will analyze the ways gender is (de/re)constructed in various discourses (conversation, newspaper, women magazines, film, drama).At the end of the course students should be able to discover hegemonic heteronormative and sexist discourses and ideologies that surround us on different texts and by different methods.
Syllabus
  • Constructing gender
  • Sexist language and sexist discourse
  • Social construction of meaning
  • Dominance and difference
  • Performance and performativity
  • Discourse, gender, sexuality
  • Heteronormativity
Literature
    required literature
  • ECKERT, Penelope and Sally MCCONNELL-GINET. Language and gender. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, xii, 366. ISBN 9780521654265. URL info
  • BAXTER, Judith. Positioning gender in discourse : a feminist methodology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, v, 215. ISBN 0333986350. URL info
  • The feminist critique of language : a reader. Edited by Deborah Cameron. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1998, xviii, 368. ISBN 0415164001. info
    recommended literature
  • BUTLER, Judith. Gender trouble : feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge, 1999, xxxiii, 22. ISBN 0415924995. info
  • FOUCAULT, Michel. The history of sexuality. Translated by Robert J. Hurley. 1st Vintage Books ed. New York: Vintage Books, 1988, vi, 279. ISBN 0394741552. info
Teaching methods
Seminar, class discussion, presentations
Assessment methods
Classroom participation (20%), seminar presentations (30%), final essay(50%)
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Předmět si nemohou zapsat studenti Bc. studia AJ
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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