CLS4965

Contemporary issues in feminist theory

Claire Colebrook

12 points
* 2 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton
* Prohibitions: CRT4960

Objectives On successful completion of the subject students should be able to provide careful and detailed readings of key relevant materials; provide incisive analysis and criticism of these reading materials; be able to use these and other reading materials to develop his or her own clear and concise arguments; provide reasons why these arguments, positions or views should be regarded as plausible or accepted as true, or rejected as problematic; be able to read all sorts of material not raised directly in the course but of relevance to it; be familiar with and able to competently assess published feminist material related to the interests of the course. Students will also be expected to show they have reflected upon the implications of their readings for research in the humanities.

Synopsis This is an advanced level subject on the broad confrontation between feminist and `postmodern' theory and politics. In the light of the postmodern decentring of the subject, the problematisation of the status of the author, and the critique of the humanist and rationalist subject, feminist theory has had to adjust and even transform its concerns. This subject will focus on a number of sites of tension and controversy in this confrontation, a series of key debates and sites of insecurity in feminism and between feminists. Here, among other things, we will explore the impact of deconstruction, queer theory, and the debates betweeen generations of feminists on the ways in which feminist theory sees itself.

Assessment One or two research essays (9000 words): 100%

Prescribed texts

A collection of readings is available from the Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies.

Recommended texts

Benhabib and others Feminist contentions. A philosophical exchange
Keller E and Hirsch M (eds) Conflicts in feminism
Nicholson L (ed.) Feminism/postmodernism
Scott and Butler (eds) Feminists theorize the political
Spivak G C In other worlds