Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Synopsis The subject aims to provide an introduction to the basic terms and concepts necessary to an understanding of the current state of contemporary feminist theory. The subject aims to provide a grounding from which to work productively within other graduate subject options offered by the Centre for Women's Studies. In the seminars we explore what power is (or how it has been understood); what oppression and subordination entails; the notion of social structures constituting individual positions, if not subjects; how `patriarchy' produces a systematic effect on men and women independent of their awareness; a theoretical understanding of the kinds and pervasiveness of power which subordinates women's value to men's; and a view which accounts for the denigration of women's value but which does not simply assume that women are the passive victims of patriarchy.
Assessment (8 points) Written (6000 words): 100%
Assessment (12 points) Written (9000 words): 100%