Détail d'un enseignement

Gender and identity in the media, the arts and politics

ECTS : 6

Description du contenu de l'enseignement :

With the emergence of #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter, gender and ‘racial’ questions often take centre stage in the media, politics and the arts today. They have also become crucial to the communication strategies of many businesses and corporations. In this course we will examine contemporary representations of gender and gender relations and their intersections with other important aspects of identity and social relations in multicultural societies, particularly ‘race’ and ethnicity. Students will have the opportunity to explore a wide range of media and cultural content — advertising, business and corporate communications, the music industry, the film industry, TV series, the visual arts, and literature. The objective of the course is two-fold: on the one hand, to sharpen students’ powers of analysis and of observation in relation to media outlets they may already be familiar with by studying them through the prisms of gender and ‘race’, and, on the other, to enhance their cultural knowledge and ‘cultural capital’ by discovering new or less familiar media and cultural content.

SessionTopic
1Introduction to the course.
- Defining key terms: sex and gender, “intersectionality’, ‘race’ and ethnicity.
- Feminism, women’s studies and masculinity in question.
- Media studies: overview and background debates; introduction to some key concepts.
- Topics and calendar of student presentations
2Approaching media texts through semiotics and content analysis.
- Gender and gender relations in advertising media.
- Gender and ethnicity in corporate communications and storytelling.
Field-work assignment.
3Student presentations of field work.
The Music Industry: display of gender in music videos; misogyny in videos and lyrics; challenging gender norms in music videos and lyrics.
- Student presentations.
4The film industry - Gender and ‘race’ representations in contemporary films; gender representations in Disney and Pixar productions.
- Student presentations
5Gender, ‘race’ and ethnicity in cultural contexts. The politics of recognition in multicultural societies in the “West”.
1/ The “culture wars” in the news media and in TV series in the United States from the 1970s to today.
- Student presentations
61b/ The “culture wars” in the United States continued.
- Student presentations
- Mid-term class test.
72/ France
a/ Plural identities in France’s “universalist” social model: debates, tensions and challenges as played out in news and entertainment media.
b/ #MeToo in France; inter-generational conflicts in the women’s movement; high-profile cases in the cultural sphere: the Gabriel Matzneff affair; the controversy of the “Césars” film awards in 2020 and Roman Polanski’s film, J’accuse!.
Student presentations
83/ The United Kingdom. The resonance of #BlackLivesMatter in the UK.
- Representing ‘black’ Britain in film and literature; focus on the work of film director Steve McQueen, especially his Small Axe mini-film series (2020) and the work of writer Bernardine Evaristo, particularly her award-winning novel, Girl, Woman, Other (2019).
Student presentations
9Small Axe and Girl, Woman, Other.
Student presentations.
10Small Axe, and Girl, Woman, Other.
Student presentations
11Minority cultures and societies in a globalised media context: threats and opportunities.
12Final Exam

Compétence à acquérir :

acquire fundamental knowledge of key concepts in gender studies
acquire conceptual keys and analytical tools to analyse the media
acquire the fundamentals of film, TV-series and literary analyses
create and perform effective individual and small group presentations
devise research questions, conduct small research projects
work in teams successfully
lead and conduct larger group discussions in class
develop public speaking skills
enhance vocabulary, reading and writing skills in English (for non-native English speakers in particular)

Mode de contrôle des connaissances :

Research assignments, student presentations, mid-term test, and participation: 60%
Final exam: 40%.

The numerical grade distribution will dictate the final grade. The passing grade for a course is 10/20.

Class participation: Active class participation – this is what makes classes lively and instructive. Come on time and prepared. Class participation is based on quality of comments, not quantity.
Exam policy: In the exam, students will not be allowed to bring any document (except if allowed by the lecturer). Unexcused absences from exams or failure to submit cases will result in zero grades in the calculation of numerical averages. Exams are collected at the end of examination periods.

Bibliographie, lectures recommandées :

Students must each have their own print copy of Bernardine Evaristo’s novel Girl, Woman, Other, Penguin, 2019, and are expected to have read it before the course begins. A full bibliography will distributed at the beginning of term, together with a list of required reading and/or viewing for each class.