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Module details for 2017/18.

30 credits

FHEQ Level 7 (Masters)

Module Outline

Sex and Death in Global Politics is a new module available to MA students on International
Relations and related programmes. It explores the multiple connections between gender and
violence in contemporary international politics in historical and theoretical perspective. War
and other forms of collective violence seem to be everywhere in world affairs, but it has often
been commented that the many manifestations of gender are less visible. At times aspects of
gender violence (such as war rape) seem to enter into the realm of academic International
Relations, whilst other questions (such as the inclusion of homosexuals in the military) have
relevance for public policy and national culture. But many other issues (such as media
representations of gender violence, the continuum between 'peace' and 'war' violence, or the
connection between armies and prostitution) are more commonly discussed within sociology,
political theory and history. This course will examine a broad range of such questions from
an inter-disciplinary angle, with a particular stress on theoretical perspectives and academicpolitical
controversies. Topics will include: gender in war and society; the intersection of race,
class, and gender in collective violence; military masculinity; women at war and the question
of the 'feminine' in the perpetration of violence; wartime sexual violence; genocide and
'gendercide'; sex industries and violence; homosexuality and military culture (including queer
theory perspectives and recent debates about 'pink-washing' and 'homonationalism');
feminism, anti-feminism and gender studies in the academy; gender and the ethics of war;
and gender violence in popular culture.

Additional Learning Tasks

1. Enhanced research skills developed throught independent work on the long essay and on class presentations.

2. Improved communication skills, both written and verbal, as developed through the long essay and regular class discussion.

3. Improved analytical skills, developed through a focus on difficult issues in both empirical and conceptual terms.

Library

Core readings will include:
Miranda Alison, 'Women as Agents of Political Violence: Gendering Security', Security
Dialogue, 35(4), 2004: 447-463.
Aaron Belkin, Bring Me Men: Military Masculinity and the Benign Facade of American
Empire, 1898-2001. London: Hurst, 2012.
R. Charli Carpenter, '¿Women and Children First¿: Gender, Norms, and Humanitarian
Evacuation in the Balkans, 1991-95', International Organization, 57(4), 2003: 661-694.
Cynthia Cockburn, 'The Continuum of Violence: A Gender Perspective on War and
Peace', in Wenona Giles and Jennifer Hyndman (eds.) Sites of Violence: Gender and
Conflict Zones. Berkeley, CA: The University of California Press, 2004.
Cynthia Enloe, Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives.
Berkeley, CA: The University of California Press, 2000.
Joshua S. Goldstein, War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice
Versa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Valerie M. Hudson et al. Sex and World Peace. New York, NY: Columbia University
Press, 2012.
Adam Jones, `Straight as a Rule: Heteronormativity, Gendercide, and the Noncombatant
Male¿, Men and Masculinities, 8(4), 2006: 451-469.
Anne McClintock, Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest.
London: Routledge, 1995.
Katharine H. S. Moon, Sex Among Allies: Military Prostitution in U.S.-Korea Relations.
New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1996.
Alexandra Stiglmayer (ed.) Mass Rape: The War Against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.
J. Ann Tickner, Gendering World Politics: Issues and Approaches in the Post-Cold War
Era. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2001.
Jacqui True, The Political Economy of Violence Against Women. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2012.
Elisabeth Jean Wood, 'Variation in Sexual Violence During War', Politics and Society,
34(3), 2006: 307-342.

Module learning outcomes

Identify and summarise the core academic debates about gender and violence in international politics

Compare and contrast historical and conceptual material on a broad range of questions related to gender, violence and international politics.

Critically interpret recent empirical and theoretical controversies related to global patterns of gender and violence.

Appraise the connection and disconnection between issues of gender, violence and other aspects of international relations.

Develop their own analysis of a selected issue related to the module.

View timetable

Timing

Submission deadlines may vary for different types of assignment/groups of students.

Weighting

Coursework components (if listed) total 100% of the overall coursework weighting value.

How to read the week pattern

The numbers indicate the weeks of the term and how many events take place each week.

Mrs Daniella Kiernan

Assess convenor
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Mx Emilia Moscardini-Powers

Assess convenor
/profiles/214700