ANY2130

Race and sexual politics

Helen Johnson

8 points - 3 hours per week - First semester - Clayton - Prerequisites: First-year sequence in ANY or permission of head - Prohibitions: COS2230/WMN2130

Objectives Students successfully completing this subject should develop anthropological theories to evaluate concepts, categories, and stereotypes that shape contemporary discourses; examine contemporary phenomena such as sex tourism programs to combat HIV/AIDs, and concepts of 'the primitive' which shape the lived realities of colonised peoples; question the social construction of knowledge through the introduction of feminist, postcolonial and anthropological theories which examine the intersections of racialised, sexualised and cultural discrimination; identify new and unfamiliar 'real world' problems; improve their ability to make cognitive connections, enhance their critical thinking and enrich their self-confidence.

Synopsis Using a range of theoretical and ethnographic material, the subject guides students through an intellectual and cognitive encounter with the unfamiliar, and a questioning of the 'exotic' and 'alien'. Video and textual material illustrate to students the differences and diversities which are encompassed by 'other' cultures, as well as the gendered, racialised, and sexualised concepts which work to construct peoples' lived realities. The subject proposes and examines sometimes tragic yet often astonishing visions of the tidal forces of globalisation and how it is refashioning the cultural and social map not only of our own diverse and changing society but those of our Asian and Pacific Rim neighbours. The subject works towards a deeper appreciation of what may be gained by understanding other ways of life.

Assessment Written (5000 words): 80% - Class test (1 hour): 20%

Recommended texts

Hooks B Ain't I a woman: Black women and feminism South End, 1981
Hooks B Feminist theory: From margin to center South End, 1984
Pettman J Worlding women: A feminist international politics Allen and Unwin, 1996
Ramazanoglu C Feminism and the contradictions of oppression Routledge, 1989
Said E Culture and imperialism Vintage, 1994

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