Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Summer 2021 - POL 316 E100

Sex, Love, and Politics (4)

Class Number: 3327

Delivery Method: Remote

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    May 12 – Aug 9, 2021: Mon, 5:30–9:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    POL 210 or permission of the department.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Explores the political dimensions of sex, sexuality, and love. Students will read academic materials on eros and philia, repressive hypothesis, compulsory heterosexuality, and power and patriarchy, and focus on contemporary policy debates, including same sex marriages, gender expression, polygamy, pornography, prostitution, and sexual violence (especially on university campuses). Students with credit for POL 419 Selected Topics in Political Theory II under the title Sex, Love, and Politics may not take this course for further credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

Course Description:

This course will explore the role of sex and love in political life and how sex and love are shaped by politics. We will pay particular attention to how love is influenced by policy, politics, and political life and whether there’s hope for love influencing politics. Students will examine and discuss a selection of materials developing themes related to, for example, sex, love, knowledge, and citizenship, the possibility of love in contexts of dispossession and colonialism, the moral and political control of sexual practices, sexuality, and gender, and love as a key to ending all forms of oppression.

Course Organization:

Students are expected to participate in four hours a week of class activities, in addition to course readings and assignments. For seminar participation, students will be organized into three groups of about 10. Each group will meet for one 75-minute seminar each week, on Mondays during the time period of 5:30-9:20. These live (synchronous) seminars, which will be via Zoom, are to be complemented by class activities organized in Canvas modules (e.g., podcasts, videos, and music) with which students are expected to engage in their own time (e.g., during the remaining hours scheduled for this course). In addition, there will be two optional drop-in study sessions and office hours.

Grading

  • Participation (in seminars and in check-ins) 20%
  • Short Narration I (audio recorded) 25%
  • Mid-Term Assignment (written) 25%
  • Short Essay (written) 30%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff, trans., Plato: Symposium (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1989).

PRINT ISBN-13: 9780872200777
PRINT ISBN-10: 0872200779


Leanne Simpson, Islands of Decolonial Love (Winnipeg: ARP Books, 2015).

PRINT ISBN-13: 9781894037884
PRINT ISBN-10: 189403788X


G, Mady and Zuckerberg, J.R. A Quick & Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities (Limerence Press, 2019).


bell hooks, All About Love (New York: Harper Collins, 2018).

PRINT ISBN-13: 9780060959470
PRINT ISBN-10: 0060959479
E-ISBN: 9780062862174


David Chariandy, I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You (Penguin Random House McClelland & Stewart, 2018).

PRINT ISBN-13: 9780771018077
PRINT ISBN-10: 077101807X


Department Undergraduate Notes:

The Department of Political Science strictly enforces a policy on plagiarism.

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 SUMMER 2021

Teaching at SFU in summer 2021 will be conducted primarily through remote methods, but we will continue to have in-person experiential activities for a selection of courses.  Such course components will be clearly identified at registration, as will course components that will be “live” (synchronous) vs. at your own pace (asynchronous). Enrollment acknowledges 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. To ensure you can access all course materials, we recommend you have access to a computer with a microphone and camera, and the internet. In some cases your instructor may use Zoom or other means requiring a camera and microphone to invigilate exams. If proctoring software will be used, this will be confirmed in the first week of class.

Students with hidden or visible disabilities who believe they may need class or exam accommodations, including in the current context of remote learning, are encouraged to register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (caladmin@sfu.ca or 778-782-3112).