Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2021 - GSWS 824 G100

Gender and Social Policy (5)

Gender Violence Resistance

Class Number: 6528

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 8 – Dec 7, 2021: Thu, 4:30–8:20 p.m.
    Surrey

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Focuses on one or more social issues and policies in such fields as law, health, economics, social welfare, and science and technology. It uses an intersectional or Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) lens on social and/or public policies. Students will apply course content to an evaluation of policy in their own areas of concentration.

COURSE DETAILS:

This seminar-based course provides a gendered analysis of violence and resistance to violence.  It ranges from a gendered understanding of political states through to individual experiences, institutional situations and militarized aspects.  We will address violence and resistance through feminist perspectives and use theories from critical studies of masculinity to come to an interdisciplinary understanding of the course themes.  We will examine violence and resistance in the home, in the streets, in communities, in discourses and during conflict and war. Some cases will be historical other contemporary. Throughout we will explore the constructions of gender, women, men, transgender and the interplay of ethnicity and sexuality.  In doing so we will question assumptions, such as women are more peaceful, and problematize essentialist paradigms. The material in this course is difficult and sometimes upsetting.

 

This course comprises of several themes, including:

  • Gender and states of conflict
  • Engendering states and nation
  • Gender and nationalism
  • Inter and intra state conflict
  • Post conflict
  • Interpersonal violence
  • Sexual violence
  • Peace and resistance

Throughout we will explore gender in combination with other social differences, such as ethnicity, sexuality, dis/ability, gender expression, age, class, citizenship and others.

 

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

For more detailed information please see the GSWS website: http://www.sfu.ca/gsws/graduate/courses/Educational_Goals.html

Grading

  • Artefact Responses: I will offer a number of materials to stimulate discussion. For 4 of these you will provide a response for the next class, it may be written, poetry, creative, visual. Maximum length is 500 words. 20%
  • Research Essay: An essay on a topic selected by you (and agreed with me in advance) incorporating both course material and your own research. In addition to course readings you should aim to include at least two further academic sources and one other external source (could be a policy document, media source, website, e.g. UN site). Length should be around 3,000 words. 30%
  • Group Facilitation: Each graduate student will be required teach a particular reading to the undergraduates for 15 minutes, followed by a further 15 minutes for class discussion and/or exercises. The ability to teach is a very good indication of the level of mastery of the subject. There will be a discussion of pedagogy in the Graduate Workshop 20%
  • Reading Analysis: You are required to select one of the articles or chapters listed in Required Reading (cannot be the reading you present on for Group Facilitation) and write a Reading Analysis that not only summarises the piece but provides a critique of its strengths and weaknesses. Approximately 1000 words, submitted at any time that is convenient for you before Week 10 (November 18). 10%
  • Graduate Workshop: This graduate only section of the course is where we will tackle real world projects related to course themes, working in partnership with local agencies and services to create deliverable outcomes for current projects. The project this year is for the Network to Eliminate Violence in Relationships and will consist of analysing data collected from the NEVR 2021 conference on Family and Criminal Courts related to interpersonal violence and divorce in BC. A jointly written report will be prepared for NEVR which may be published on their website www.kpu.ca/nevr . This workshop will meet before class at 3.30 on Thursdays. 20%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

  • Jacobs, S., Jacobson, R. & Marchbank, J. (2000), (eds), States of Conflict: Gender, Violence and Resistance, London, Zed Books.
  • Gurm, B., Salgado, G., Marchbank, J., & Early, S. D. (2020). Making Sense of a Global Pandemic: Relationship Violence & Working Together Towards a Violence Free Society. Kwantlen Polytechnic University: Surrey, BC. Free Ebook. https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/nevr/
  • Readings on Canvas
  • Electronic journal articles and online reports – available through your SFU library account.

*A note on readings: States of Conflict is 21 years old – it hails from the beginnings of feminist exploration of the role women play in conflicts – most of the work on this area exists in journal articles not books - so this book is a useful insight not only to different case studies but to the beginnings of the discipline. I am currently working on creating a new book on Gender, Conflict & Catastrophe to update this area.


Graduate Studies Notes:

Important dates and deadlines for graduate students are found here: http://www.sfu.ca/dean-gradstudies/current/important_dates/guidelines.html. The deadline to drop a course with a 100% refund is the end of week 2. The deadline to drop with no notation on your transcript is the end of week 3.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

TEACHING AT SFU IN FALL 2021

Teaching at SFU in fall 2021 will involve primarily in-person instruction, with approximately 70 to 80 per cent of classes in person/on campus, with safety plans in place.  Whether your course will be in-person or through remote methods will be clearly identified in the schedule of classes.  You will also know at enrollment whether remote course components will be “live” (synchronous) or at your own pace (asynchronous).

Enrolling in a course acknowledges that you are able to attend in whatever format is required.  You should not enroll in a course that is in-person if you are not able to return to campus, and should be aware that remote study may entail different modes of learning, interaction with your instructor, and ways of getting feedback on your work than may be the case for in-person classes.

Students with hidden or visible disabilities who may need class or exam accommodations, including in the context of remote learning, are advised to register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (caladmin@sfu.ca or 778-782-3112) as early as possible in order to prepare for the fall 2021 term.