Introduction to Feminist Genealogies
Code: 106989 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Sociocultural Gender Studies | FB | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Joanna Genevieve Empain
- Email:
- joannagenevieve.empain@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
This subject has no prerequisites, but students are advised to make use of the complementary bibliography found in the bibliography section.
The student must have the necessary linguistic knowledge to be able to express themself correctly both in writing and orally.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The subject proposes to trace the basic conceptual frameworks from which feminism has been understood in the Western tradition, as well as the paradigm changes that justify the different conceptualizations of gender, and its fundamental relationship with the body and identity . The conceptual and contextual connections are raised, as well as the mechanisms and critical instruments, which allow establishing genealogical accounts in the chronology of feminisms, from which specific analytical frameworks are inferred.
Learning Outcomes
- KM29 (Knowledge) Recognise key periods in the history of feminism.
- KM30 (Knowledge) Identify the fundamental establishing narratives of different feminist approaches, taking intersectional considerations and context into account.
- KM31 (Knowledge) Critically analyse popular discourses, particularly those related to ideology and ethnocentric and sexist biases.
- KM33 (Knowledge) Explain the historical links between feminism and other movements against inequality (Black Lives Matter, LGBTIQ+, etc.).
- SM27 (Skill) Use genealogical accounts to contextualise different socio-cultural manifestations of gender from different periods.
- SM29 (Skill) Interpret artistic and cultural objects from a feminist theoretical and critical perspective by placing them in social and historical context.
- SM30 (Skill) Identify the conceptual, historical and social frameworks operating explicitly and implicitly in artistic and cultural phenomena from a given context, and from a gender perspective.
- SM31 (Skill) Use organised and correct discourse both in writing and to be performed aloud, in the corresponding language, which relies on inclusive language and is suitable for all kinds of situations.
- SM32 (Skill) Analyse social, artistic and cultural manifestations from a feminist, theoretical and practical perspective.
Content
BLOCK I. Feminist genealogies: actions, positions and points of view.
- Concept of genealogy.
- Situated knowledge versus universal knowledge.
- Deconstructing the hegemonic, Eurocentric, white and binary gaze.
- Feminist tools: intersectionality, preposterous history.
BLOCK II: Re-shaping of feminist knowledge in history.
- Beginnings of Western feminist thought: feminism of equality and difference.
- Critical feminisms: materialist feminisms and lesbian feminisms; black feminisms, anticolonial feminisms (post-colonial and decolonial), queer, post-humanist and new materialisms.
- Difference within difference: intersectionalities.
- Art, body and politics: the political subjects of feminism and their variation in history and socio-cultural context.
- Corporealities, relationality and affects.
- Going beyond anthropocentric and ethnocentric categories of sex and gender.
BLOCK III: Intersectional genealogical narratives (Fanzine)
- Feminist assemblages with different conceptual, social, cultural and historical positionings.
- Critical visualities as tools of resistance.
- Narrative and counter-narrative: dismantling hegemonic narratives.
- The fanzine as a pedagogical and research tool.
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Presentation of the course. Theoretical expositions of the main concepts. Text comments. Group activities in the classroom and presentations in class by the students. | 45 | 1.8 | |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutorials and monitoring of activities | 20 | 0.8 | |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Individual work on the proposed activities: readings, preparation of exhibitions and materials. Group work: documentary research, interview, creation of the fanzine. | 35 | 1.4 |
In this subject, theoretical and practical sessions will be based on feminist art based methodologies, to create a collective, intersectional and transdisciplinary mapping of feminist genealogies.
This will be done by:
- Readings and reflections from texts
- Search for information on the topics discussed in class
- Oral presentations of the works by the students
- Creative activities
- Tutorials and monitoring of activities
Note: 15 minutes of a class will be set aside, within the calendar established by the center/degree, for students to fill in the teacher performance and subject evaluation surveys.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Co-assessment activity: Feminist critical etymologies | 20% | 10 | 0.4 | KM30, KM31, KM33, SM29, SM30, SM32 |
| Exam | 35 % | 20 | 0.8 | KM29, KM30, KM33, SM29, SM30, SM31, SM32 |
| Group activity | 45 % | 20 | 0.8 | KM29, KM30, KM31, SM27, SM29, SM30, SM31, SM32 |
Continuous assessment
Individual activities (55%)
Individual evaluation activities (2 assignments), in which students will reflect on problems related to the concepts developed in class (blocks I and II).
-
Co-assessment activity: Critical feminist Etymologies (20%)
- Written test (35%)
Group activity (45%)
Elaboration of a fanzine (Block III): In groups of between 2 and 5 people will have to choose a topic related to feminisms in order to complete the genealogy worked in class to create a fanzine in group.
- Phase 1: Research on the chosen topic and presentation of the pre-project (10%).
- Phase 2: Realization of the fanzine (35%)
The assessment of the subject is continuous and presupposes attendance and participation in class and constant follow-up of the course. In order to be eligible for recovery of the subject, students must have completed two thirds of the activities of the assessment of the subject. If the student obtains a mark between 3.5 and 5, he/she will be entitled to a recovery exam. The teacher will inform the students of the procedure and the date for the revision of the marks. Group activity is not recoverable due to the methodology used. Late submission of an assignment will result in a penalty of 2 points. Students will receive a grade of ‘Not Evaluated’ when they do not hand in any of the individual and group evaluation activities or when they do not take the written test.
In this subject, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)technologies is allowed exclusively in support tasks, such as bibliographic or information search, text correction or translations, and image creation. The student will have to clearly identify which parts have been generated with this technology, specify the tools used and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final result of the activity. Non-transparency of the use of AI in this assessable activity will be considered academic dishonesty and may result in a partial or total penalty in the mark for the activity, or higher penalties in serious cases.
Single assessment
This course does not include a single evaluation system.
Bibliography
Ahmed, S. (1998). Differences that Matter: Feminist Theory and Postmodernism. Cambridge University Press.
Amorós, C. y de Miguel, A. (eds.) (2014). Teoría feminista: de la ilustración a la globalización. De la ilustración al segundo sexo. Minerva ediciones.
Anzaldúa, G. 2016. Borderlands / La frontera. La nueva mestiza. Capitán Swing.
Bal, M. (1999). Quoting Caravaggio, contemporary art, preposternous history. University of Chicago Press.
Braidotti, R. (2004). Feminismo, diferencia sexual y sexualidad nómada. Gedisa.
Butler, J. (2002). Cuerpos que importan: sobre los límites materiales y discursivos. Paidós.
Butler, J. (2006). Deshacer el género. Trad. de Patricia Soley-Beltran. Paidós.
Butler, J. (2007). El género en disputa: el feminismo y la subversión de la identidad. Paidós.
Ciriza, A. (2020). Tramar/Urdir/Anudar genealogías feministas situadas. Los desafíos del espacio y el tiempo. LaAljaba, Vol. XXIV: pp. 145-157.
Curiel, O. & Falconí, D. (2021). Feminismos decoloniales y transformación social. Icaria.
Davis, A. (1981/ 2022). Mujeres, raza y clase. Akal.
Federici, S. (2013). Revolución en punto cero. Trabajo doméstico, reproducción y luchas feministas. Traficantes de Sueños.
Foucault, M. (1979). La arqueología del saber. Ed. Siglo XXI.
Foucault, M. (2022). Nietzsche, la genealogía, la historia. Pre-textos Editores.
Gotby, Alva (2023). Ellos lo llaman amor. Verso Libros.
Haraway, D. (1995). Ciencia, cyborgs y mujeres. La invención de la naturaleza. Cátedra.
Haraway, D. (2019). Seguir con el problema, Generar parentesco en el Chthuluceno. Edición Consonni.
Haraway, D. (2023). Mujeres, simios y cíborgs. Alianza Ensayo.
Harding, S. (1987). Introduction: Is There a Feminist Methodology?. In S. Harding (Ed.), Feminism and Methodology (pp. 1-14). Indiana University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1520/STP20024S
hooks, b. (2020). ¿Acaso no soy una mujer?: mujeres negras y feminismo. Consonni.
hooks, b., et al. (2004). Otras Inapropiables: feminismos desde las fronteras. Traficantes de sueños.
Irigaray, L. (1995). La diferencia sexual como fundamento de la democracia. Duoda, Revista d’Estudis Feministes, núm. 8.
Irigaray, L. (2002). Between East and West: from singularity to community. Columbia University Press.
Lorde, A. (2022). Hermana otra. Editorial Horas y horas.
Mohanty, C.T. (2008). Bajo los ojos de occidente. Academia Feminista y discurso colonial. En Liliana Suárez Navaz y Aida Hernández (eds.), Descolonizando el Feminismo: Teorías y Prácticas desde los Márgenes. Cátedra.
Preciado, P. (2008). Testo Yonqui. Sexo, drogas y biopolítica. Anagrama.
Vergès, Françoise (2022). Feminismo descolonial. Traficantes de sueños.
Wittig, M. (2006). El pensamiento heterosexual. Egales.
Wittig, M. (2021 1973). El cuerpo lesbiano. Pre-Textos.
Software
No software is used in this subject.
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan/Spanish | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan/Spanish | second semester | morning-mixed |