Undergraduate - UnitAZA3504 - Culture, gender and sexuality

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Offered	South Africa Second semester 2014 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Aretha Asakitikpi

Synopsis

This unit examines how mainstream constructions of gender and sexuality are reconceptualised in a range of socio-historical and cultural contexts from the early modern period to the present. It also introduces students to the complex relationship between language, gender and sexuality, exploring how this relationship has been affirmed or deconstructed by various literary and cultural texts.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should:

have acquired the theoretical lexicon and conceptual framework necessary to make sense of and articulate how gender and sexuality are represented in different cultural texts;
appreciate the uses of literature and other cultural texts in revising and opposing dominant discourses about gender and sexuality;
be able to interpret a literary text or a movie demonstrating a sensitivity to the narrative devices and strategies employed;
demonstrate a development of the skills of analytic and critical discussion introduced at first year level.

Assessment

Tutorial attendance and portfolio: 10%
Short essay (1250 words): 20%
Long essay (2000 words): 30%
Examination: 40%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Pier Frassinelli

Workload requirements

Two 1-hour lectures and one 1-hour tutorial per week

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Communications
Literary and cultural studies
Sociology

Prerequisites

First year sequence in Literary and Cultural Studies, or Communications, or Sociology

Prohibitions

AZA2504, ATS2504, ATS3504