PHL3050

Freud and feminism

Elizabeth Grosz

8 points
* 2 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton

Objectives To familiarise students with Freudian terminology and methods, and the debates to which they give rise within feminist theory; to develop accounts of how male and female subjects are formed through the constitution and control of infantile sexuality, pre-oedipal and oedipal desire, and the creation of the unconscious as a system of repressed wishes; to give students access to techniques of detailed reading and questioning of the set readings so they can not only understand them but develop their own critical perspectives on these readings; and to provide the critical and expressive resources to enable students to write clear, concise, accurate and independent essays on topics related to this reading.

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 relevance 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 in understanding the power relations between the sexes.

Assessment Written (6000 words): 100%

Prescribed texts

Brennam 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