Intergender, Consortium and Research School in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies
www.Intergender.net
For this course PhD students, but also Master’s students are eligible to apply. 20 places are
reserved for PhD students (please consult the Information of Admission at the end of this
document) and 7 places are open to Master’s students.
Title of the Course:
Gender and Critical Animal Studies
7,5 + 7,5 credits
Time:
11/25/2015 09:00 – 11/27/2015 16:00
Location:
Stockholm University, Sweden
Deadline for applications:
September 20, 2015
Applications should be sent to:
Intergender Consortium Coordinator, Dr Edyta Just (edyta.just[at]liu.se), AND cc’d to the local
Intergender Course Coordinator, Dr Helena Pedersen (helena.pedersen[at]buv.su.se).
Maximum number of participants: 27
Organized by:
Intergender, Consortium and Research School in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies
Stockholm University, Sweden
Course coordinators:
Helena Pedersen, Local Intergender Course Coordinator.
Edyta Just, Intergender Consortium Coordinator.
Nina Lykke, Intergender Consortium Director.
Teachers:
Helena Pedersen, Associate Professor, Child and Youth Studies, Stockholm University
Tobias Linné, Senior Lecturer, Department of Communication and Media, Lund University
Per-Anders Svärd, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University
Course description:
Historically, the subordination and oppression of animals and women has been facilitated and
legitimated by the discursive and material linking of these two groups. The articulation of
masculinity with “animality,” on the other hand, has carried very different connotations. This
conceptual and political cleavage is organized by structures of power that traverse gender as well
as species. For these reasons, gender studies served as a “model” for human-animal studies
already when the latter was first established in the 1990s. This connection between the disciplines
was further consolidated a decade later when critical animal studies were established in
opposition to what was seen as a growing apolitical and academic “mainstreaming” tendency
within human-animal studies. Critical animal studies are intellectually rooted in critical theory
and its analyses of, and opposition to, different forms of oppression and marginalization. The
analysis of power relations are central to critical animal studies: the interplay between
androcentrism and anthropocentrism (as well as between sexism and speciesism); the gender
coding of animal-exploiting practices such as hunting, butchering, milk and meat production (and
consumption); and the sexist and speciesist effects of different linguistic and discursive strategies
have all been in focus for gender-oriented researchers working in the field of critical animal
studies. The interest in the relation between science and politics, the contestation of the border
between research and activism, as well as a belief in the potential of theoretical work to effect
social change are also common denominators between the fields. The encounter between gender
studies and critical animal studies have also spawned its own repertoire of analytical concepts,
such as the “absent referent” (Carol J. Adams), “carno-phallogocentrism” (Jacques Derrida), and
“anthroparchy” (Erica Cudworth).
The course explores the intellectual content, theoretical strategies, and methodological tools that
cut across and unite gender studies and critical animal studies as two overlapping dimensions of
the same critical project for social change. Participants will analyze how the “animal issue” is
articulated in gender theory and how theories of gender illuminate critical animal studies in turn.
What modes of knowledge, subject positions, power relations, and practices of resistance are
generated by this scientific cross-pollination? The students are encouraged to integrate the
concepts, theories, and methods discussed during the course in their own research questions and
projects.
Course readings:
Acampora, R. (1998). Extinction by Exhibition: Looking at and in the Zoo. Human Ecology
Review 5(1), 1–4.
Adams, C.J. (1990). The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory. New
York: Continuum. 243 p.
Alaimo, S. & Hekman, S. (2008). Introduction: Emerging models of materiality in feminist
theory. In S. Alaimo & S. Hekman (Eds.), Material Feminisms pp. 1–19. Bloomington &
Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Birke, L. (2007). Into the Laboratory. In L. Kalof & A. Fitzgerald (Eds.), The Animals Reader:
The Essential Classical and Contemporary Writings pp. 323–335. Oxford & New York: BERG.
Calarco, M. (2004). Deconstruction is not vegetarianism: Humanism, Subjectivity, and Animal
Ethics. Continental Philosophical Review 34, 175–201.
Cudworth, E. (2008). “Most farmers prefer Blondes”: The Dynamics of Anthroparchy in
Animals’ Becoming Meat. Journal for Critical Animal Studies VI(1), 32–45.
Cudworth, E. (2011). Social Lives with Other Animals. Tales of Sex, Death and Love.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (Chapter 3–4; pp. 55–104)
Derrida, J. (1995). “Eating Well”, or the Calculation of the Subject.’ In E. Weber (Ed.) Points
Interviews 1974-1994, pp. 255-287. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Emberley, J. (1996). The Libidinal Politics of Fur. University of Toronto Quarterly 65(2), 437–
443.
Franklin, S. (2007): Dolly’s body: gender, genetics and the new genetic capital, in L. Kalof & A.
Fitzgerald (red.), The animals reader: The essential classic and contemporary writings pp. 349–
361. Oxford & New York: BERG.
Fudge, E. (2002). A Left-Handed Blow: Writing the History of Animals. In N. Rothfels (Ed.),
Representing Animals pp. 3–18. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.
Gaard, G. (2013). Toward a Feminist Postcolonial Milk Studies. American Quarterly 65(3), 595618.
Ganetz, H. (2004): Familiar beasts: Nature, culture and gender in wildlife films on television,
Nordicom Review 25(1-2), 197–213.
Harper, A.B. (2010). Introduction: The Birth of the Sistah Vegan Project. In A.B.
Harper (Ed.), Sistah Vegan: Black Female Vegans Speak on Food, Identity, Health, and
Society pp. xiii-xix. New York: Lantern Books.
Holloway, L. (2007). Subjecting cows to robots: Farming technologies and the making of animal
subjects. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 25, 1041–1060.
Jenkins, S. (2012). Returning the Ethical and Political to Animal Studies. Hypatia 27(3), 504–
510.
Jones, p. (2010). Afterword: Liberation as Connection and the Decolonization of Desire.
In A.B. Harper (Ed.), Sistah Vegan: Black Female Vegans Speak on Food, Identity,
Health, and Society pp. 187–201. New York: Lantern Books.
Kalof, L., Fitzgerald, A. & Baralt, L. (2004). Animals, Women, and Weapons: Blurred Sexual
Boundaries in the Discourse of Sport Hunting. Society & Animals 12(3), 237–251.
Kete, K. (2002). Animals and Ideology. The Politics of Animal Protection in Europe. In N.
Rothfels (Ed.), Representing Animals pp. 19–34. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.
Kheel, M. (1995). License to Kill: An Ecofeminist Critique of Hunters’ Discourse. In
C.J. Adams & J. Donovan (Eds.), Animals & Women: Feminist Theoretical Explorations pp. 85–
125. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Levy, D. (1997). Diary of a steak. London: Book Works. 49 pp.
McKay, R. (2006): BSE, hysteria, and the representation of animal death: Deborah Levy’s Diary
of a Steak, in The Animal Studies Group, Killing Animals pp. 145–169. Urbana and Chicago:
University of Illinois Press.
McCance, D. (2013). Feminist Contributions to Critical Animal Studies. In D. McCance, Critical
Animal Studies: An Introduction pp. 87–104. Albany: SUNY Press.
Nocella, A.J., II., Sorenson, J., Socha, K. & Matsuoka, A. (2014). Introduction: The Emergence
of Critical Animal Studies. The Rise of Intersectional Animal Liberation. In A.J. Nocella II, J.
Sorenson, K. Socha & A. Matsuoka (Eds.), Defining Critical Animal Studies pp. xix-xxxvi. New
York: Peter Lang.
Palmer, C. (2001). “Taming the Wild Profusion of Existing Things”? A Study of Foucault,
Power, and Human/Animal Relationships. Environmental Ethics 23(4), 339–358.
Parry, J. (2010). Gender and Slaughter in Popular Gastronomy. Feminism and Psychology 20(3),
381–396.
Pedersen, H. (2015). Parasitic pedagogies and materialities of affect in veterinary education.
Emotion, Space and Society 14, 50–56.
Socha, K. (2012). Women, Destruction, and the Avant-Garde: A Paradigm for Animal Liberation.
Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi. 240 p.
Stevens L., Kearney M. and Maclaran P. (2013). Uddering the Other, Androcentrism,
Ecofeminism, and the Dark Side of Anthropomorphic Marketing. Journal of Marketing
Management 29(1-2), 158-174.
Wood, D. (1999). Comment ne pas manger – Deconstruction and Humanism. In H.P. Steeves
(Ed.), Animal Others: On Ethics, Onthology, and Animal Life pp. 15-35. Albany: SUNY Press.
Wyckoff, J. (2014). Linking Sexism and Speciesism. Hypatia 29(4), 721-737.
Preparation:
 Course readings:
Some course readings will be available via the organisers’ intra net. Books must be
bought or borrowed. More info will be given to the registered participants.
 Paper (2–5 pages outlining a research problem related to the participant’s PhD thesis
project) to be sent to the local Intergender Course Coordinator, Helena Pedersen
(helena.pedersen[at]buv.su.se), AND the Intergender Consortium Coordinator, Edyta Just
(edyta.just[at]liu.se) AT THE LATEST TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE COURSE
STARTS. Remember to mark it with your name and the course name.
 All participants are expected to read the paper of their fellow group members before the
course and be prepared to offer constructive comments in the group sessions and
workshops. The papers will be made available online.
Essay:
 Max 15 pages to be handed in no later than 3 months after the course. One copy should
be sent to the teacher, who is going to evaluate it, and one to Intergender Consortium
Coordinator Edyta Just (edyta.just[at]liu.se). The teacher has 3 months to evaluate the
essay.
 The essay should strike a balance between addressing a theme that has been part of
course (lectures, discussions, reading material), and be relevant for participant's own
research.
 The essay should, moreover, be considered as an exercise in doing a written presentation
aimed at an academic readership not familiar with the author’s PhD research. The essay
should constitute a whole and explain relevant contexts.
Accreditation and examination:
1. 7,5 ECTS credits are given for active participation and a short paper, 2–5 pages (graded
pass/fail) sent in as part of the preparatory process.
2. 15 ECTS credits are given for active participation plus an essay (graded pass/fail), The
essay should be 10–15 pages. The selected topic shall be related to the course content and
readings, and relate to the student's own research area. The essay is to be sent to the
teacher as well as to the Consortium Coordinator no later than 3 months after the final
day of the course.
InterGender course participants, upon request, receive a certificate of their participation, in which
a recommendation is provided regarding the amount of ECTS participants should be accredited by
their respective home institution; PhD students are awarded ECTS credits for participation in
InterGender certified courses in accordance with each partner higher education establishment’s
rules and regulation for accreditation.
Applications should be written in English and include:
 name, affiliation, full address, e-mail, phone, fax
 name and affiliation of PhD supervisor
 brief CV
 description of PhD project (1-2 pages)
 motivation: why do you want to participate in the course (1-2 pages)
 please, indicate if you are in the first/middle/last phase of your PhD research
Information on Admission:
1. Participants have to be registered as PhD students.
2. PhD students from all disciplines and countries are eligible.
3. Participants will be selected on the basis of an evaluation of their CV, project description and
a letter of motivation.
4. If there are more applicants who qualify for participation, than there are places, the places will
be distributed along the following criteria:
a) Students registered as PhD students at Partner Units will be prioritized for a maximum 80 per
cent of the places. When the places are distributed among the Partner Units, a good spread
between these units will also be ensured.
b) Students registered as PhD students in other units at the Partner Higher Education
Establishments will be prioritized for 20 per cent of the places. When the places are distributed
among the Partner Higher Education Establishments, a good spread between these
establishments will also be ensured. If places remain of the 80 per cent prioritized for PhD
students registered at the Partner Units, these places will instead be prioritized for PhD students
registered at the Partner Higher Education Establishments.
c) If the students according to a) and b) do not fill all the places, remaining places will be open
for competition between all eligible and qualifying applicants from any higher education
establishment.
5. If there are more eligible and qualified applicants for the a selection process will take place,
which, in addition to academic quality and motivation/relevance, will use non-discriminatory
selection criteria, which will ensure a spread of nationalities, regions, institutions and disciplines.
6. An additional lot drawing procedure will be used, if several eligible and in all respects equally
qualified applicants are competing for the limited number of places in the different categories
7. In case of too many eligible and qualifying applicants, a waiting list will also be organized, and
places will be offered to applicants on this list, should some of the selected participants have to
cancel.
The detailed program of the course:
The detailed schedule will be distributed after selection of participants.
Intergender Partners:
1. Higher Education Establishment: Linköping University, Partner Units: Unit of Gender
Studies, Department of Thematic Studies, and Division of Gender & Medicine,
Coordinating Partner
2. Higher Education Establishment: Blekinge Institute of Techhnology, Partner Unit: Division
of Technoscience Studies, Full Partner,
3. Higher Education Establishment: Göteborg University, Partner Unit: Gender Studies, Full
Partner,
4. Higher Education Establishment: University of Helsinki. Partner Unit: Gender Studies,
Faculty of Arts. Doctoral Programme in Gender, Culture and Society (SKY) and the
national Gender Studies Doctoral Programme (GSDP), Full Partner
5. Higher Education Establishment: Humboldt University, Partner Unit: Centre of
Transdisciplinary Gender Studies, Full Partner,
6. Higher Education Establishment: Karlstad University, Partner Unit: Centre for Gender
Studies, Full Partner,
7. Higher Education Establishment: Luleå University of Technology, Partner Unit: Gender &
Technology, Full Partner,
8. Higher Education Establishment: Lund University, Partner Unit: Centre for Gender Studies,
Full Partner,
9. The Norwegian National Research School in Gender Studies, Full Partner,
10. Higher Education Establishment: Södertörn University, Partner Unit: Gender Studies, Full
Partner,
11. Higher Education Establishment: Umeå University, Partner Unit: Umeå Centre for Gender
Studies, Full Partner,
12. Higher Education Establishment: Uppsala University, Partner Unit: Centre for Gender
Research, Full Partner,
13. Higher Education Establishment: Utrecht University, Partner Unit: Gender Studies /
Netherlands’ research school of Gender Studies, Full Partner,
14. Higher Education Establishment: Örebro University, Partner Unit: Centre of Feminist
Social Studies, Full Partner
15. Higher Education Establishment: Stockholm University, Partner Unit: Gender Studies, Full
Partner
16. Higher Education Establishment: Paris 8 University, Full Partner