CLS2950

Freud and feminism

Proposed to be offered next in 2000

Claire Colebrook

8 points - 3 hours per week - Clayton - Prohibitions: CRT2050/CRT3050

Objectives On completion of this subject students should be able to show some familiarity with Freudian terminology and methods and the debates to which they give rise within feminist theory; they should be able to give accounts of how male and female subjects are formed through the constitution and control of infantile sexuality, pre-oedipal and oedipal desire, and of the unconscious as a system of repressed wishes; they should have acquired techniques to show their detailed understanding and critical questioning of the set readings; and they should have developed their critical and expressive resources to write clear, concise, accurate and independent essays on topics related to these readings.

Synopsis This subject aims to provide an introduction to the reading of a number of central texts of Sigmund Freud. It will focus primarily on Freud's understanding of the concepts of the ego, the unconscious and infantile sexuality. His work will be examined from the viewpoint of his relevant to understanding the social construction of subjectivity, and, primarily, the differences between the sexes in this construction. His work will be framed and contextualised by the writings of a number of contemporary feminist theorists who have both criticised and utilised psychoanalysis to understanding the power relations between the sexes.

Assessment Essays (6000 words): 100%

Prescribed texts

Brennan T Between feminism and psychoanalysis Routledge
Freud S Case studies Penguin
Freud S On sexuality Penguin
Gallop J Feminism and psychoanalysis: The daughter's seduction Macmillan
Grosz E Jacques Lacan: A feminist introduction Routledge
Irigaray L This sex which is not one Cornell U P
Lacan J Ecrits: A selection Tavistock
Mitchell J Psychoanalysis and feminism Penguin

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