University of Sydney Handbooks - 2020 Archive

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Gender Studies Descriptions

Semester 2 2020 unit of study availability

Some Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences units of study originally intended to run in Semester 2, 2020 are no longer available.

A full and up-to-date list of units of study available in Semester 2, 2020 from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, can be found on this webpage.
 

Gender Studies

Major

A major in Gender Studies requires 48 credit points from this table including:
(i) 6 credit points of 1000-level core unit
(ii) 6 credit points of 1000-level selective unit
(iii) 12 credit points of 2000-level units
(iv) 18 credit points of 3000-level units
(v) 6 credit points of 3000-level Interdisciplinary Project units

Minor

A minor in Gender Studies requires 36 credit points from this table including:
(i) 6 credit points of 1000-level core unit
(ii) 6 credit point of 1000-level selective units
(iii) 12 credit points of 2000-level selective units
(v) 12 credit points of 3000-level selective units

1000-level units of study

Core
GCST1602 Introduction to Gender Studies

Credit points: 6 Session: Intensive July,Semester 1 Classes: 2x1hr lecture, 1x1hr tutorial Assessment: Tutorial participation (10%), 1x1300wd Tutorial presentation task (15%), 1x1200wd short Essay (35%), 1x1500wd long Essay (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
How does gender organise lives, bodies, sexualities and desires? How does gender relate to sex and sexuality? Are there really only two genders? How and why is gender such an integral part of how we identify ourselves and others? This unit introduces students to foundational concepts in the study of gender and critically engages with questions of identity, sexuality, family, the body, cultural practices and gender norms in light of contemporary gender theories.
Selective
GCST1601 Introduction to Cultural Studies

Credit points: 6 Session: Intensive January,Semester 1 Classes: 1x1.5hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Assessment: 2x2000wd equivalent blogs (30%), 1x500wd equivalent group presentation (15%), 1x500wd textual analysis (20%), 1x2000wd essay (35%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
Cultural studies explores everyday life, media and popular culture. It shows us how we can make sense of contemporary culture as producers, consumers, readers and viewers, in relation to our identities and communities. How do cultural texts and practices convey different kinds of meaning and value? Students
will be introduced to some key thinkers and approaches in cultural studies and will learn how to analyse cultural forms such as advertising, television, film and popular music.
GCST1603 Screen Cultures and Gender: Film to Apps

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Assessment: 1x2500wd Media analysis journal (online) (50%), 1x2000wd Take-home exercise (40%), tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
This unit traces the history of screen cultures from film to apps, focusing on how popular media is used to produce and represent masculinity and femininity. Students will consider cinema, television, videogames, the internet and mobile devices, asking how changing media forms and practices impact on our gendered identities and everyday lives.
GCST1604 Introduction to Diversity

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2x1hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Assessment: 1x 1000 Close Reading of Real World eg. (25%), 1x 1000 Close Reading of academic text (25%), 1x 2500 Final Case Study (40%), nax na Participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
Diversity has become one of the most important issues in contemporary society. Increasingly communities and workplaces encourage us to support diversity. This unit introduces students to a range of diversity issues informed by race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality and dis/ability and the importance of cultivating understanding and respect for difference. It will appeal to students interested in social, economic and cultural marginalisation.

2000-level units of study

GCST2605 Representing Race and Gender

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 1000 level in Cultural Studies or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Gender Studies or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Diversity Studies Assessment: Tutorial participation (10%), 1x500wd group presentation (15%), 1x400wd journal (15%), 1x1000wd midterm Essay (25%), 1x2200wd final Research essay (35%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
This unit introduces students to cultural theories about race and ethnicity and uses these theories to examine representations of racial minorities across a range of media such as film, literature and performance within multiple national contexts. In particular, it interrogates the relationship between these representations and those of gender and sexuality. In so doing, it provides a complex understanding of how 'race' and 'gender' as institutional forces and lived experiences help shape perceptions of ourselves and others.
GCST2607 Bodies, Sexualities, Identities

Credit points: 6 Session: Intensive July,Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at1000level in Gender Studies or 12 credit points at1000level in Diversity Studies. Prohibitions: WMST2007 Assessment: Tutorial participation and exercises (10%), 1x1500wd Essay (40%), 1x2500wd Essay (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
In this unit of study we will examine the ways in which feminist and other cultural theories have used bodies and sexualities in order to theorise difference and identity. The body and sexuality have been shown to be a major site for the operation of power in our society. We will look at how bodies and sexualities have given rise to critical understandings of identity. The unit of study will be devoted to working through some of the major theories of sexuality and embodiment, and the analysis of cultural practices.
GCST2610 Intimacy, Love and Friendship

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 1000 level in Gender Studies Prohibitions: WMST2010 Assessment: Tutorial participation (10%), 1x500wd tutorial paper (10%), 1x1500wd Essay (30%) and 1x2000wd final Essay (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
This unit examines the representation and practices of intimate relations focusing especially on the intersection between intimacy and constructions of gender. Divided into three sections, the unit will examine theories of love and friendship, contemporary cultural representations of love, desire and friendship, and the ethics and politics of erotics. This unit will also examine new technologies of intimacy, and discuss their implications for gender and sexuality.
GCST2612 Youth and Youth Culture

Credit points: 6 Session: Intensive January,Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 1000 level in Cultural Studies or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Gender Studies or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Diversity Studies Prohibitions: WMST2012 Assessment: 1x500wd close reading exercise (10%), 1x1500wd Short Essay (30%), 1x2500wd Take-home Exercise (50%), Tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
This unit examines academic, public and popular ideas about youth and practices of youth culture. It will introduce students to some of the current parameters for studying the experience of youth and youth cultural forms and practices. We will pay particular attention to the ways young lives are gendered and the role gender plays in the institutions and other contexts in which young people live. Other points of focus include changing conceptions of youth, relationships between policy and youth, images of youth and youth culture, and discourses on (im)maturity, training, and identity.
GCST2631 Gender and Environment

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 1000 level in Gender Studies Assessment: 1x1500wd reflective essay (30%), 1x500wd final project outine (15%), 1x2500wd final essay/project (45%), tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
Understanding our place in a changing environment is a 21st century priority. This unit uses feminist frameworks to investigate how environmental problems are shaped by intersecting factors of gender, race, sexuality, ability, economic status, and colonialisms. Drawing on examples such as climate change, toxic contamination, water privatisation, and resource extraction, this unit examines the material and conceptual links between human and non-human natures, and cultural, political, economic and social forces.

3000-level units of study

GCST3604 Using Cultural Theory

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: (12 credit points at 2000 level Gender and Cultural Studies) or (12 credit points at 2000 level Digital Cultures) Assessment: 2x 750 Critical Exercise (50%), 1x3000 Essay or Take-home Exercise (40%), Tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
Cultural Studies was widely discussed as one of the "New Humanities" in the 1990s, but a long history of debates about and theories of culture precede the discipline, and the processes of deciding what are the key texts and concepts of Cultural Studies is ongoing. This unit overviews foundational and emerging critical concepts and writers in the field. Students will also undertake reading and analysis exercises designed to help them come to grips with using "theory" in their own work.
GCST3631 Gender, Communities and Belonging

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 2000 level in Gender Studies or 12 credit points at 2000 level in Cultural Studies or 12 credit points at 2000 level in Diversity Studies Prohibitions: GCST2613 or GCST2611 Assessment: 1x1000wd critical close reading task (20%), 1x2000wd research project (40%), 1x1000wd Take-home exercise (30%) and Tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
In this unit students will apply advanced methods from gender and cultural studies to examine experiences of belonging and formations of community. Students will analyse how power produces and regulates communities, identities and belonging. They will question the assumption that community is based on the unity and similarity of citizens and their location in specific cultures and places, and critically examine alternatives such as difference, diaspora, and other forms of sociality. Students will evaluate different theories of community in local, national and international contexts, and in relation to feminism, democracy, cosmopolitanism and hospitality.
GCST3635 Bodies and Social Worlds

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
GCST3636 Sex, Violence and Transgression

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 2000 level in Gender Studies or Cultural Studies Prohibitions: GCST2604 Assessment: 1x 1000 Close Reading of Media Example (25%), 1x 1000 Close Reading of Formal Text (25%), 1x 2500 Case Study (40%), Participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
Violence is one of the most prevalent themes in popular culture and public discourse today. It shapes our lives in all sorts of ways, both real and imagined. This unit examines the different ways we construct knowledge of violence and how representations of violence may be both compelling and confronting. It focuses on the interconnections between categories of sex and violence within culture.

Interdisciplinary Project units of study

Where this major is being completed as a first major towards a degree, students should ensure that the Interdisciplinary Impact unit of study is undertaken.
Where this major is being completed as a second major from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences towards a degree, the Industry and Community Project unit of study is the appropriate unit to select.
GCST3999 Interdisciplinary Impact

Credit points: 6 Session: Intensive December,Intensive July,Semester 1,Semester 2 Prerequisites: Completion of at least 90 credit points Prohibitions: Interdisciplinary Impact in another major Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
Interdisciplinarity is a key skill in fostering agility in life and work. This unit provides learning experiences that build students' skills, knowledge and understanding of the application of their disciplinary background to interdisciplinary contexts. In this unit, students will work in teams and develop interdisciplinarity skills through problem-based learning projects responding to 'real world problems'.
GCST3998 Industry and Community Project

Credit points: 6 Session: Intensive February,Intensive July,Semester 1,Semester 2 Corequisites: Interdisciplinary Impact in any major. Mode of delivery: Block mode Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
This unit is designed for third year students to undertake a project that allows them to work with one of the University's industry and community partners. Students will work in teams on a real-world problem provided by the partner. This experience will allow students to apply their academic skills and disciplinary knowledge to a real-world issue in an authentic and meaningful way.