MA Gender Studies

• Introduction
• Modules
• Features
• Careers
• Fees

Introduction

The MA Gender Studies offers the opportunity to explore ideas of gender and gain knowledge of contemporary issues on gender in a global context, at an advanced level.

This Master’s degree is inspired by a curiosity about gender, how gender operates, what difference gender makes and how gender might be imagined in ways that could facilitate resistance and change.

Students will be encouraged to critically examine their own assumptions, and, most importantly, to question popular and common sense notions of gender.

How You Study

The learning and teaching strategy adopted within the MA in Gender Studies reflects a commitment to self-directed, student-centred learning, with an emphasis on applied analytical skills.

This degree offers a distinctive range of modules, drawing upon the existing research and teaching expertise in gender studies in the School of Social and Political Sciences and wider university in order to continually develop, and deliver, an academically rigorous and contemporary programme.

This programme is not only designed to develop a student’s specialist subject knowledge, but aims to equip students with a set of transferable skills relevant to further academic study and employment. The incorporation of a strong research methods element within the MA is designed to enhance employability and development of transferable skills.

Students will be taught using a range of methods including lectures, seminars/workshops and tutorials.

• Lectures are designed to introduce students to key themes and perspectives, generate enthusiasm for further enquiry, provide illustrative examples and to signpost substantive issues.
  
• Seminars and workshops provide students with an environment for more interactive learning and reflection, aimed at deepening critical understanding of the subject matter. These sessions are organised in a variety of ways, including tutor or student-led discussions, presentations, and problem-solving exercises, normally centred on a particular theme.
  
• Tutorials are available to students on an individual or small-group basis as a means of supporting the preparation of individual or group assignments, offering feedback on progress, dealing with any particular learning difficulties, and offering advice on specific choices within the module programme.
  
• E-learning will be supported through use of the University’s virtual learning environment.

Contact Hours and Independent Study

Full-time students on this programme can expect to receive approximately 8 hours of contact time per week. However, this may vary depending on which optional modules are selected by students.

The research methods modules on this programme are taught in weekly four-hour sessions and the remaining modules are mostly taught through two-hour weekly lecture and seminar sessions. In addition, students attend personal tutor groups, Independent Study/dissertation workshops, and have meetings with their Independent Study/dissertation supervisor.

We expect that a full-time student on this course would engage in four hours of self-study for every one hour of lecture and seminar time. This equates to 32 hours of self-study per week.

These figures are halved for part-time study

How You Are Assessed

The programme is designed to expose students to a range of different forms of assessment and to develop a range of academic, professional and work-relevant skills such as public speaking.

Students will have the chance to develop written communication skills through essays, report writing and the Independent Study all of which are designed to expand students skills in professional and academic writing. Oral communication skills are also assessed, for example, through a video podcast on one of the core modules, providing students with the opportunity to enhance their public presentation and public speaking abilities.

Students will be expected to develop their research skills, which will be assessed through core research methods modules and on the Independent Study. Further research skills are also embedded in assessments throughout other core and option modules.

Critical, analytical and reflexive thinking are central to all assessments. IT skills are embedded in many modules and include word processing, digital data management and presentation, statistical data handling, the use of electronic search engines and other resources.

Assessment Feedback

The University of Lincoln's policy on assessment feedback aims to ensure that academics will return in-course assessments to you promptly – usually within 15 working days after the submission date.

Entry Requirements

2:2 degree or above (or an equivalent-level qualification, or relevant work experience), plus a Mathematics qualification, equivalent to a C at GCSE level.

Key Contacts

Academic:
Dr Ana Jordan
anajordan@lincoln.ac.uk
+44 (0)1522 886119

Master's Level

Critical Reading in the Social and Political Sciences

This social science module explores the ways in which knowledge is created, communicated, consumed and debated in the social and political sciences. It exposes students to key issues of methodological choice, issue framing, research ethics and author subject-position through interrogation of contemporary and classical texts of relevance to the social and political sciences and the disciplinary concerns of the MA programmes on which it appears. The module seeks to develop students’ skills in critical reading and in both oral and written academic debate.

Feminisms: Theories and Debates

This module explores feminist theories of gender, applying feminist perspectives to contemporary issues. As there is no single ‘feminist’ perspective, the module will introduce students to different strands of feminist thought including liberal, radical, black, postcolonial and postmodern feminisms. Feminist debates around the nature of gender/sex, the causes of gender inequality, the intersection of gender with other important social and political identities (such as race, class and sexuality) and disagreements over strategies for how best to address continuing gender inequalities will all be addressed. In addition, we will examine the extent to which a postfeminist perspective which takes feminism for granted but at the same time dismisses its continuing relevance is currently dominant in society. We will also engage with questions around the relevance of feminism to men and masculinity. Finally, we will consider what light feminist theoretical perspectives can shed on a range of gendered issues. Sample topics might include: the family, pornography, popular culture, the workplace, the family, everyday sexism and objectification. Students will be encouraged to develop their own critical and informed answers to key questions such as how far gender is a performance (as opposed to biologically determined), which feminist perspectives offer the most promising tools for challenging the contemporary gender order and how we can apply feminist thought to re-imagining gender relations. In accordance with a feminist pedagogical ethos, students will also be required to demonstrate a reflexive approach to the theory, analysing the links and disjunctures between their own experiences and feminist theoretical debates. Overall, the module will aim to ‘make the familiar strange’ and enable students to question their own assumptions, as well as popular and common sense notions of gender.

Gender, Culture and Media in a Global Context (Option)

This module examines the multi-directional and variable relationship between gender, media and culture. We will interrogate the category of gender as a tool of cultural analyses and its relation to media and popular culture. Gender will be presented as central to media and cultural formations; while media, mediation and culture will be presented as central to gender formations. Key concepts to be examined in relation to gender will include body, class, power, sexual difference, masculinity/femininity race/ethnicity, identity/non-identity, subjectivity. These concepts will be introduced and examined in relation to case studies, media practices and texts from a variety of historical and geo-political contexts.

Gender, Deviance, Crime and Society (Option)

This Module deconstructs the interrelationships between gender, crime, deviance and society. It will explore gender through a criminological lens and introduce students to ‘gendered’ explanations of crime and deviance. The significance of gender in the various agencies of the criminal justice system will also be explored, as will its presence a range of discourses around victimhood and offending. The ways in which ‘justice’ can be gendered will be identified and critiqued. The Module will also aim to critically engage with notions of harm, dangerousness and risk, and unpick the arguments found within feminist criminologies.

Global Issues in Gender and Sexuality

This module aims to provide the opportunity to develop an in-depth understanding of some central concepts and theoretical debates on gender and sexuality including feminist theory and masculinities. These can be examined in greater depth in the context of key issues relating to power and economy in contemporary global politics.

These theories can then be applied to a range of case studies/issues. These case studies may change to reflect contemporary issues and academic developments but sample topics include decision-making processes in national and international political systems, the construction of gender and sexual identities in a globalised world and militarised masculinities.

Independent Study in Gender Studies

The independent study module allows students to explore their own interests relevant to gender studies in accordance with the University’s Student as Producer policy. It provides students with an opportunity to undertake and produce an independent piece of in-depth research. Students will develop their research ideas in collaboration with teaching staff and will be supported to design and implement a coherent, robust research project and to write up their findings/analysis in the form of a dissertation. The format of the study will vary from primarily library-based or theoretical research to the production of empirical research through qualitative or quantitative fieldwork. Students will need to: examine an issue related to gender studies; demonstrate the ability to critically review the relevant academic literature; address a clear research question or hypothesis; address ethical issues in conducting social research ; and give a clear explanation and defence of the methods they have chosen as most appropriate to their study.

Masculinities, Power and Society (Option)

This module explores masculinities and the operation of power through masculinities in society. It aims to engage with key theoretical perspectives on gender and masculinity, taking an in-depth look at these concepts, along with related ideas such as ‘hegemonic masculinity,’ ‘heteronormativity’ and ‘intersectionality.’ Important contemporary debates in masculinities scholarship will be addressed, such as around hegemonic masculinity, whether this is a useful concept and how far it can explain (global) gendered power relations. Masculinities and masculinity will also be explored in different empirical settings.

Researching Social and Political Sciences

This module is designed to introduce students to researching in social and political sciences. The aim of the module is to provide a crucial foundation for all students (regardless of disciplinary background) to understand debates around research methods/methodologies in social science; to enable familiarity with a variety of research methods and to equip students to be able to critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of applying specific methodologies/methods to different research projects in social and political sciences.

Overall, the module will aim to prepare students for independent studies later in their degree and equip them with transferable research skills.

Sex, Sexuality and Gender in Asia (Option)

This module explores the analytical approaches to gender and sexuality in the context of a range of Asian societies. It will examine the theoretical assumptions underlying the idea that the body is a primary site of cultural practice. Its central themes will include representations of gender, gender and power, sexuality and gender identity, the racialization of the body, gender and religion, and the intersection of race and gender.

This module will provide students with the opportunity to develop an understanding of the historical development of gender identities in Asia, and the contingent nature of representations of sexuality.

The History of Women’s History (Option)

This module examines the way in which women have uncovered and used their own history for varying ends from the late Medieval period up to the present. Rather than present a narrative of women’s history, it will ask students to engage in critical thought on the uses of feminist scholarship within the discipline of history. It explores the variety of ways in which women’s history has been put to use over a 600 year period in ways which have been conditioned by the historical conditions prevailing at the time for both men and women. It utilises a variety of texts, from mass market biography to writings aimed more specifically at policy makers, other historians, and campaign groups. It will end with a consideration of the ways in which contemporary feminist women’s historians envisage the future of women’s history.

Women Writing the 21st Century (Option)

This module aims to explore some of the extraordinarily exciting, diverse and abundant range of short stories, novels, life writing, drama, performance and poetry produced by women in the 21st Century.

The module begins firstly with the consideration of the contemporary revival of feminist theory and politics and attempt to think through the variety of ways in which feminism is meaningful in a post-millennial context. Secondly, the module will attempt to trace and examine ways in which women writers engage with and represent the 21st Century, and specifically their negotiation of personal identity, motherhood, ageing, sex and sexuality, as well as local/ global politics, war, race, class, religion, region and nation. Thirdly, you can study ways in which contemporary women’s writing utilises, negotiates and challenges traditions of literary and dramatic form to find new and radical ways of writing the 21st Century.

You will also be invited to consider the validity of approaching women’s writing as a distinct category and can explore the relationship between women’s writing and feminist theory and politics.

Women, Sport & Physical Cultures (Option)

This module explores from a sociological perspective a range of women’s embodiment issues in relation to a range of sporting physical culture(s). The module commences by considering some of the key theoretical perspectives on women’s lived experience of sport and physical cultures, such as feminist theories, symbolic interactionism and phenomenological approaches. The module aims, overall, to challenge students’ thinking and raise questions about tacit, taken-for-granted assumptions and presuppositions regarding women in sporting and physical cultural contexts, via a range of learning and teaching approaches.

Career and Personal Development

The programme is designed to develop specialist subject knowledge relevant to careers in a wide range of areas, such as the voluntary and public sectors. Students have the opportunity to develop a set of transferable skills relevant to roles in social research and that are vital for further academic study at doctoral level.

Careers Services

The University Careers and Employability Team offer qualified advisors who can work with you to provide tailored, individual support and careers advice during your time at the University. As a member of our alumni we also offer one-to-one support in the first year after completing your course, including access to events, vacancy information and website resources; with access to online vacancies and virtual and website resources for the following two years.

This service can include one-to-one coaching, CV advice and interview preparation to help you maximise your future opportunities.
The service works closely with local, national and international employers, acting as a gateway to the business world.

Visit our Careers Service pages here http://bit.ly/1lAS1Iz.

Other Costs

For each course you may find that there are additional costs. These may be with regard to the specific clothing, materials or equipment required. Some courses provide opportunities for you to undertake field work or field trips. Where these are compulsory, the cost for travel and accommodation will be covered by the University and so is included in your fee. Where these are optional, you will normally be required to pay your own transport, accommodation and general living costs.

With regards to text books, the University provides students who enrol with a comprehensive reading list and you will find that our extensive library holds either material or virtual versions of the core texts that you are required to read. However, you may prefer to purchase some of these for yourself and you will be responsible for this cost.