Gendering Global Politics

The course is a single subject core course in the first cycle.

The course can be part of the following programmes: 1) BA-program in Global Studies (S1GLS)

Approved courses of 15 credits in global gender studies or equivalent.

This course focuses on how a range of issues in global politics are gendered. It explores the complexity and connectivity of those issues, locally and globally, and in everyday life. More specifically, the course explores how different actors make sense of particular issues in global politics through gender, including how they outline possible solutions to the problems identified. It renders visible key controversies and debates within feminist and gender studies scholarship and/or activism on global political issues. These can include war and peace, migration, development, religion, populism and authoritarianism, technology, violence, law, environment, sports, coloniality, and inequality etc. The course pays particular attention to silence, voice and agency in global politics, as well as the everyday as a source and site for how global politics is gendered. The overall purpose of the course is to provide students with the tools to think about and disrupt familiar understandings of global politics through gender and vice versa. It will invite them to think about different approaches to understanding problems in global politics and their solutions.

After successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding 

• Account for different feminist approaches to key themes in global politics 
• Describe how gender help unpack multidimensional aspects of political problems 

Competence and skills 

• apply relevant concepts and theories to describe and analyze key themes in global politics; 
• Identify and examine key problems, questions, and solutions in the study of global gender politics 
• Analyze the ways in which different gendered approaches identify and address problems and challenges in global politics 

Judgement and approach 

• Evaluate and discuss strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to key themes in global politics 
• Reflect on exclusions and inclusions, controversies, and silences in dominant ways of thinking in global politics

The main forms of teaching are lectures, flipped classroom activities, and seminars.

Language of instruction: English 

The examination will be conducted through a variety of assignments. It will consist of:

• Two individual short answer written assignments (2+2hp);
• Group assignment (3hp);
• An individual final take-home exam (8hp) 

If a student who has been failed twice for the same examination element wishes to change examiner before the next examination session, such a request is to be granted unless there are specific reasons to the contrary (Chapter 6 Section 22 HF).

If a student has received a certificate of disability study support from the University of Gothenburg with a recommendation of adapted examination and/or adapted forms of assessment, an examiner may decide, if this is consistent with the course’s intended learning outcomes and provided that no unreasonable resources would be needed, to grant the student adapted examination and/or adapted forms of assessment.

If a course has been discontinued or undergone major changes, the student must be offered at least two examination sessions in addition to ordinary examination sessions. These sessions are to be spread over a period of at least one year but no more than two years after the course has been discontinued/changed. The same applies to placement and internship (VFU) except that this is restricted to only one further examination session.

If a student has been notified that they fulfil the requirements for being a student at Riksidrottsuniversitetet (RIU student), to combine elite sports activities with studies, the examiner is entitled to decide on adaptation of examinations if this is done in accordance with the Local rules regarding RIU students at the University of Gothenburg.

The grading scale comprises: Pass with Distinction (VG), Pass (G) and Fail (U).

In order to get a Pass for the course, a Pass is required on all assignments. The group assignment and the two individual short-answer assignments are graded with Pass or Fail only. The individual final take-home exam is graded with VG, G, and U.

In order to be awarded a Pass with Distinction for the course, a Pass with Distinction on the individual final take-home exam is required, in addition to fulfilling therequirements for a Pass grade.

The course coordinator is responsible for systematically and regularly collecting the students' views of the course, and for making sure that the results of the evaluations in different forms are taken into consideration when developing the course. The results of and possible changes to the course will be shared with students who participated in the evaluation and students who are starting the course.