Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2024 - CMNS 315 D100

Topics in Media, Difference, and Intersectional Identities (4)

Technologies of Gender & Sexuality

Class Number: 3010

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 8 – Apr 12, 2024: Wed, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
    Vancouver

  • Prerequisites:

    17 CMNS units with a minimum grade of C- or 45 units with a minimum CGPA of 2.00.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Focus on how media play a role in the representation, construction, and circulation of difference and identities by drawing from feminist theories, cultural studies and/or political economy to critique dominant conceptions. Topics may include how difference and identities intersect with: gaming, film, and technology. This course can be repeated once for credit (up to a maximum of two times).

COURSE DETAILS:

The end of ‘normal’ gender and sexualities has been upon us for some time, with identity politics and intersectional analyses at the forefront of public conversations about gender. But, still, gender inequalities persist. What role do media play in constructing our shifting notions of gender and sexuality, of femininities and masculinities? How do technologies enable us to embody, police and even hack genders and sexualities? How can we think of gender itself as a technology that we operate and perform in everyday life. This course provides a foundation, in the context of critical communication studies, for an analysis of the different ways that “gender” and “technology” are understood and applied within the study of media and technology. The course will take an intersectional feminist perspective on exploring, critiquing and developing alternatives to technologies of gender, at the same time tracking shifting notions of femininities and masculinities. Topics for the course include: feminist methodologies in cultural studies; cyberfeminism debates; theories of performativity, the body and subjectivity; gender and surveillance; post-feminism; gendered historiographies of technology; experiences of work in the media and tech industries; sexuality and spatial relations.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

  • To develop a theoretical foundation for understanding gender and sexuality as intrinsic to the introduction and social operation of media and technologies.
  • To consider feminism as a radical epistemology for understanding social constructions, including political and economic structures, media and technology.
  • To apply conceptual knowledge to a topic of personal interest that either critiques or proposes ways of designing technology with an equitable, anti-patriarchial, liberatory framework in mind.

Grading

  • Class Participation 10%
  • 4 Reading Responses (5% each) 20%
  • Major Project Proposal 10%
  • Major Project 30%
  • Take-Home Mid-Term Exam 30%

NOTES:

Students with credit for CMNS 355 should not take this course for further credit.

The school expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School will follow Policy S10.01 with respect to Academic Integrity, and Policies S10.02, S10.03 and S10.04 as regards Student Discipline (note: as of May 1, 2009 the previous T10 series of policies covering Intellectual Honesty (T10.02) and Academic Discipline (T10.03) have been replaced with the new S10 series of policies). For further information see: www.sfu.ca/policies/Students/index.html.

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

hooks, bell (2015). Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics (2nd ed.). Routledge, NY: New York. Available full-text via SFU Library

Additional readings will be available as pdfs on the course canvas.

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity website 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