The Body as a Cultural Archive
Code: 105816 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2503878 Sociocultural Gender Studies | OT | 3 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Meri Torras Francés
- Email:
- Meri.Torras@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- catalan (cat)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Prerequisites
None.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The body features as a key element in proposed objects of analysis from a gender perspective (and its intersectionalities), and, as such, has played a central role in some of the most radical inflections in Western feminist genealogies. The aim of this course is to examine the body as a cultural text-archive in threefold sense of the term ‘archive’: a) as that which regulates what can be said/understood (Foucault); b) ‘somateca’, i.e. the place where biolopolitical regimes are inscribed. (Preciado); and c) more generally, archive as a storage room where one can track and document a memory from the past made present and, in the case of the body, presence.
Competences
- Demonstrate ability to work autonomously, self-analysis and self-criticism.
- Express correctly and in a non-sexist or homophobic manner both orally and in writing.
- Identify and question gender representations in the history of ideas, arts and culture, as well as in the construction of scientific knowledge.
- Interpreting and interrelating the conceptual bases of feminist theories.
- Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyze the representations of sexualities in cultural productions.
- Apply the concepts of gender theory to the analysis of cultural texts.
- Distinguish the transformations of gender relations in the history of culture.
- Make an inclusive use of language.
- Make valuations and corrections of your own work.
- Search, select and manage information autonomously, both in structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized journals) and in information distributed on the network.
- Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
Content
UNIT I: BODY, TEXT, AND ARCHIVE
Body and textuality
Textual corpuses
The embodied archive
UNIT II: FEMINIST CORPOREAL GENEALOGIES
Corporeal inflections and subjections in Western feminisms
The challenges of other bodies
Latest proposals
UNIT III: CORPOREAL ARCHIVES. CASE STUDIES.
Methodology
The learning for this course is distributed as follows:
- Instructor-directed activities (30%). Lecture with ICT support and in-class participation & discussion.
- Instructor-supervised activities (25%). Oral presentations, reviews, or papers (individual or in group) will be made following a specific set of guidelines given by the instructor.
- Indepedent activities (45%). Comprehensive and critical reading of literary and theoretical texts. Making outlines and concept maps, and writing summaries.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lecture with ICT support and in-class participation and discussion. | 25 | 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Oral presentations, papers, reviews or course work (individual or in group) will be carried out based on a guideline. Tutorships. | 48 | 1.92 | 1, 2, 6, 3, 4, 5, 8, 7 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Comprehensive and critical reading of literary and theoretical texts. Making outlines, conceptual maps and summaries. | 60 | 2.4 | 1, 2, 6, 3, 4, 5, 8, 7 |
Assessment
The student’s assessment will be made as follows:
a) Each student will be responsible for one case study. The student is required to turn in an outline (10%), give an oral presentation (20%), and lead discussion following the presentation (20%). This will be a group presentation, which, as per the percentage breakdown just indicated, will be 50% of the student’s final grade. Retakes for this activity are not allowed.
b) At the end of unit I & II -- in accordance with the schedule indicated by the professor -- each student will individually turn in a critical review in which the student is required to address and critically engage with the assigned readings. The student will be expected to comment on, complete, highlight, or further develop some idea/s from the relevant texts, including those mentioned during class discussion. Each of these reviews (2x) will be 20% worth the final grade. (This will be 40% of the final grade) Students who fail to submit these reviews by their due date will be required to take a make-up a exam.
c) The remaining 10% of the student’s final grade will be given on the basis of of attendance & participation (in class or online), as well the student’s involvement and progress throughout the course. No make-up opportunities will be provided for this portion of the grade.
In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (the original weighing will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Instructors will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities, the student will receive a zero as the final grade for the class.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASSISTANCE, ATTITUDE AND PARTICIPATION IN THE CLASSROOM | 10% | 0 | 0 | 1, 2, 6, 3, 4, 5, 8, 7 |
| CRITICAL REVIEW 1 | 20% | 6 | 0.24 | 2, 6, 3, 4, 5, 8, 7 |
| CRITICAL REVIEW 2 | 20% | 6 | 0.24 | 2, 6, 3, 4, 5, 8, 7 |
| ORAL PRESENTATION AND CLASS DISCUSSION | 40% | 1 | 0.04 | 1, 2, 6, 3, 4, 5, 8, 7 |
| PRELIMINARY ORAL PRESENTATION OUTLINE | 10% | 4 | 0.16 | 2, 6, 5, 8, 7 |
Bibliography
Supportive bibliography
Pérez, Aina y Meri Torras (eds.) (2013) “Saberes e poderes do corpo” (dossier monográfico), Revista Interfaces, 19/II [ISSN: 1516-0033]
Torras, Meri (2020) “Fragilidades del queer-po. Ese torcido amor, de Txus García”, a eHumanista / IVITRA, 17, 42-61 [https://www.ehumanista.ucsb.edu/ivitra/volume/17]
___________(2019) “Cuando el cuerpo de la autora traza la poética emocional del corpus. Un ojo de cristal, de Miren Agur Meabe”, Extremas. Figuras de la felicidad y la furia en la producción cultural ibérica y ibericoamericana del siglo XXI (Roland Spiller, Aránzazu Calderón Puerta, Katarzyna Moszczyńska-Dürst, eds., Berlin: Peter Lang, 27-46[ISBN: 978-3-631-80621-0]
___________ (2017). “Embodiment (Embodimén)”, a Barbarismos queer y otras esdrújulas R. Lucas Platero, María Rosón y Esther Ortega (eds.), Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra, 161-167[ISBN: 978-84-7290-829-1]
Torras, Meri, ed. (2009). El poder del cuerpo. Antología de poesía femenina contemporánea, Madrid: Castalia [ISBN 978-84-9740-294-1]
Torras, Meri i Noemí Acedo, eds. (2008). Encarna(c)ciones. Teoría(s) de los cuerpos, Barcelona: EdiUOC [ISBN 978-84-9788-727-4]
Torras, Meri, ed. (2007) Cuerpo e identidad. Estudios de género y sexualidad I, Bellaterra, Edicions UAB.
_______ (2006) Corporizar el pensamiento. Escrituras y lecturas del cuerpo en la cultura occidental. Vilagarcía de Aroúsa, Mirabel [ISBN-10: 84-934841-4-8 y ISBN-13: 978-84-934841-4-9]
_______ (2004) Monográfico “Cuerpos, géneros y tecnologías”Lectora. Revista de mujeres y textualidad [https://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/lectora/issue/view/625]
Specific bibliography will be given for each subject of the course.