BTPBR_T_3
GENDER, SUBJECTIVITY,
AND REPRESENTATION
PHD COURSE
Time and place:
Fri 10.00–13.40; Rm. 119
At irregular intervals – always check
the dates
SÉLLEI NÓRA
OFFICE: 116/4
OFFICE HOURS
Wed 18-19
Thu 13-14
e-mail: sellei.nora@arts.unideb.hu
The course is intended to be a theoretical introduction into how gender studies and
poststructuralist theories of subjectivity interact in contemporary literary theory and
criticism. The basic issue that the course will address is how the subject is
problematised by various tendencies within feminist theories/gender studies, how
these ideas have been influenced by other, non-feminist theories of subjectivity, and
how all these ideas can be applied to the readings of (literary) texts.
REQUIREMENTS:
Reader’s journal: the student is expected to keep a reader’s journal in a separate
notebook, recording opinions, impressions, raising questions. The journals are
to be in class, and to be used for facilitating discussions.
Participation in classroom discussion: the student is expected to take an active part in
classroom discussions. This activity contributes to the seminar grade. (The
reader’s journal can be of great help in this respect.)
Presentation/discussion: Each student is expected to conduct a discussion of about 20
to 30 minutes, introduced by a preliminary presentation (not exceeding 10
minutes) of the central issues to be discussed, on a chapter of the assigned
readings. The presentation/discussion is an integral part of the course
assignment, and will be duly assessed.
Research paper: for 10 more credits, registered in Neptun with the course tutor
(and NOT the student’s supervisor) the student can opt for writing a takehome research paper of 2200 to 2500 words, related to the course.
Although the course is entirely theoretical, the research papers will preferably
be not exclusively engaged with theory, but will rather be the application of
a/some theoretical approach(es) to the interpretation of literary, visual, or film
texts. Students are welcome to write their papers on topics that will facilitate
their specific research topics (proposed PhD or degree thesis, etc.).
The essay must be written in the form of a research paper. Secondary
reading and scholarly documentation, conforming to the requirements of the
MLA Style Sheet, are required (MLA style sheets and handbooks are
available in the department library). In their research papers students are
required to cite at least eight proper academic sources like books, book
chapters and/or journal articles of academic standard, that is, referenced
secondary material should either be borrowed from the library or downloaded
from an online database that meets scholarly requirements (such as JSTOR,
EBSCO or Arts and Humanities Full Text [ProQuest]). Quotes taken from
printed or online sources such as Wikipedia, Enotes, York Notes, etc. will NOT
be accepted as relevant secondary material.
Plagiarism and academic dishonesty will be penalised as described in the
Academic Handbook of the Institute (see also below). The essay is to be
submitted by the defined deadline, otherwise the grade will be lowered (see
below). The essay will only be accepted in a worprocessed (typed) format.
The cover sheet of the essay must contain th following statement: “Hereby,I
certify that the essay conforms to international copyright and plagiarism
rules and regulations,” and also the signature of the student.
Essay style-sheet:
for simple page references use brackets in the body of the text;
use notes only if you mean to add information that would seem a deviation
in the text;
sample references in brackets:
(Smith 65); if there are several works by the same author choose a key word
of the title of the book: (Smith, Good 65), or if it is an article: (Smith,
“Further” 65).
sample bibliography entry:
referring to books: Smith, John. Good Ideas. Place: Publisher, Year.
referring to articles, poems, etc.:
in volumes: Smith, John. “Further Good Ideas”. Editor of volume (if
relevant). Volume Title. Place: Publisher, Year.
in journals: Smith, John. “Further Good Ideas”. Title of Journal 2.4
(1996): pages.
Plagiarism and its consequences
Students must be aware that plagiarism is a crime which has its due consequences.
The possible forms of plagiarism:
1. word by word quotes from a source used as if they were one’s own ideas,
without quotation marks and without identifying the sources;
2. ideas taken from a source, paraphrased in the research paper writer’s own words
and used as if they were his/her own ideas, without identifying and properly
documenting the source.
Plagiarism, depending on its seriousness and frequency, will be penalised in the
following ways:
1. The percentage of the submitted paper will be reduced.
2. The research paper will have to be rewritten and resubmitted.
3. In a serious case, this kind of academic dishonesty will result in a failure.
4. In a recurring, and serious case, the student will be expelled from the English
major programme.
Late submission policy
1. Deadlines must be observed and taken seriously;
2. The research paper submitted more than thirty days later than the deadline cannot
be considered for course work;
3. The research paper submitted in thirty one days after the deadline will be
penalised by a reduction in the percentage (the extent of the reduction is defined
below: see “Grading Policy”);
4. In exceptional and well-documented cases, the extension of deadlines can be
requested of (negotiated with) the course tutor well in advance (definitely not
after, or on the day of, the deadline).
5. If you submit your essay after the first (and before the final) deadline, proceed in
the following way:
a. either submit it in person to your course tutor
b. or give it to any member of staff of IEAS, asking him/her to write the precise
time of submission on the cover page; to sign the submission time; and to put
the essay either in my postbox in Rm 111/1 or on my desk in 116/4. NEVER
put essays in the box in the corridor, and certainly not without a colleague’s
signature and indication of submission time!
6. if you finish your paper at the weekend, end Monday submission would matter
from the point of view of how many points you would lose due to late submission,
you are allowed to submit your research paper electronically, but even in that case,
you have to submit your hard copy on the first working day; in this case, the cover
of your paper must contain yet another declaration: “Hereby I declare that the
electronically submitted version and the hard copy fully match each other.”
Assessment of the Research Papers
The research papers must have a clear statement of theme, preferably in the form of a
thesis paragraph, and all the further statements must be related to this central topic or
question. The text (arguments, agreements and disagreements) must be organised
coherently so that the point you make and your flow of thoughts must be clear for the
reader. The research papers must, naturally, be finished with a well articulated
conclusion which is supposed to be the culmination of your proposed arguments.
The research papers will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:
 the articulateness of the thesis of the paper;
 the clarity of the position you take;
 the quality of the arguments;
 the use and integration of your secondary sources into the research paper;
 the coherence of the structure;
 scholarly documentation;
 the level of your language.
The research papers will not be evaluated on the basis of what your tutor’s position is
in a certain (and often controversial) issue, so feel free to elaborate your own ideas—
but do it in a sophisticated way.
Grading Policy:
Course components
classroom discussion
presentation/discussion
total
Percentage
0-60%
61-70%
71-80%
81-90%
91-100%
Assessment
1
2
3
4
5
60%
40%
100%
Research paper: can be (but need
not be ) written for the course. In
case you do write one:
Research paper evaluation
Statement of thesis
5
Quality of argument
12
Coherence of structure
12
Scholarly
5
documentation
Level of language
6
Total
40
Essay late submission reduction
Delay (days)
1–2
3–5
6–9
10–14
Reduction
2
5
10
15
AVAILABILITY OF TEXTS:
Gender, Subjectivity, and Representation: A Reader for PhD Students
Day/ Class Topic
Occas
ion
1.
1
Orientation
(time: TBA, either before or in the main break of Hatvani workshop)
04.03.
2.
INTRODUCTION: OPENING (UP) VISTAS
2–3
Barthes, Roland. “The Death of the Author.”
18.03.
Barthes, Roland. “From Work to Text.”
Barthes, Roland. “Soap Powders and Detergents,” “The Brain of
Einstein,” “Photography and Electoral Appeal”
Belsey, Catherine. “Constructing the Subject, Deconstructing the Text.”
Jameson, Fredric. “Postmodernism and Consumer Society.”
Belsey, Catherine. Critical Practice.
3.
4–5
THE SUBJECT AND/OF POWER (DISCOURSE)
15.04.
Foucault, Michel. “The Subject and Power.”
Butler, Judith. “Introduction” (from: The Psychic Life of Power).
Althusser, Louis. “From Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.”
Foucault, Michel. “The Deployment of Sexuality.” The History of
Sexuality I: 77–131.
THE SUBJECT OF SEMIOTICS
Silverman, Kaja. “Suture.”
Silverman, Kaja. “Re-Writing the Classic Text.”
De Lauretis, Teresa. “The Violence of Rhetoric: Considerations on
Representation and Gender.”
Baudrillard, Jean. “The Precession of Simulacra,” “The Beaubourg Effect:
Implosion and Deterrence,” “Hypermarket and Hypercommodity,”
“The Implosion of Meaning in the Media,” “Absolute Advertising,
Zero Advertising”
4.
6–7
THE SUBJECT AND THE ABJECT
22.04.
Kristeva, Julia. “From Filth to Defilement,” “Powers of Horror”
Kristeva, Julia. “Approaching Abjection,” “Something To Be Scared Of”
GENDER AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SUBJECT
Butler, Judith. “Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire.”
Butler, Judith. “Prohibition, Psychoanalysis, and the Production of the
Heterosexual Matrix,” “Subversive Bodily Acts.”
5.
8–9. GENDER, THE SUBJECT AND POWER
13.05.
Benjamin, Jessica. “Gender and Domination.”
Benjamin, Jessica. “Master and Slave.”
FEMINIST FIGURATIONS OF THE SUBJECT
Braidotti, Rosi. “Introduction: by Way of Nomadism.”
Anzaldúa, Gloria. “From Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza.”
Haraway, Donna. “A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and
Socialist Feminism in the 1980s.”
6.
10–
GENDER, SEXUAL DIFFERENCE, AND THE SUBJECT OF
20.05. 11.
FEMINISM
De Lauretis, Teresa. “The Technology of Gender.”
Braidotti, Rosi. “Sexual Difference as a Nomadic Political Project,” “On
the Female Feminist Subject.”
Stone, Alison. “On the Geneology of Women: A Defence of AntiEssentialism”
Marcus, Sharon. “Queer Theory for Everyone: A Review Essay”
MASCULINITY, THE BODY AND THIRD-WAVE FEMINISM
Connell, R.W. “The Social Organization of Masculinity,” “The History of
Masculinity,” “Masculinity Politics”
Bronfen, Elisabeth. “The Body and its Discontents”
Howie, Gillian, Ashley Tauchert, “Feminist Dissonance: The Logic of
Late Feminism”
Lotz, Amanda D. “Theorising the Intermezzo: The Contributions of
Postfeminism and Third Wave Feminism”
Essay deadline (in case relevant): TBA
ALPHABETICAL ORDER OF ASSIGNED TEXTS
(ORIGINAL BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA PROVIDED):
Althusser, Louis. “From Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.” Trans. Ben
Brewster. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch.
New York: Norton, 2001. 1483–1509.
Anzaldúa, Gloria. “From Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza.” The Norton
Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton,
2001. 2211–23.
Barthes, Roland. “From Work to Text.” Trans. Stephen Heath. The Norton Anthology
of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 1470–
5.
---. “Soap Powders and Detergents,” “The Brain of Einstein,” “Photography and
Electoral Appeal” (all from: Mythologies). Trans. Anette Lavers. The Norton
Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton,
2001. 1461–5.
---. “The Death of the Author.” Trans. Stephen Heath. The Norton Anthology of
Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 1466–
70.
Baudrillard, Jean. “The Beaubourg Effect: Implosion and Deterrence,” “Hypermarket
and Hypercommodity,” “The Implosion of Meaning in the Media,” “Absolute
Advertising, Zero Advertising.” Simulacra and Simulation. Trans. Sheila Faria
Glaser. Ann Arbor: Michigan UP, 2000. 61–94.
---. “The Precession of Simulacra.” Simulacra and Simulation. Trans. Sheila Faria
Glaser. Ann Arbor: Michigan UP, 2000. 1–42.
Belsey, Catherine. “Constructing the Subject, Deconstructing the Text.” Feminisms:
An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism. Ed. Robyn R. Warhol, Diane
Price Herndl. New Brunswick: Rutgers, 1993. 593–609.
---. Critical Practice. New Accents. London: Methuen, 1980. pp. 168.
Benjamin, Jessica. “Gender and Domination.” The Bonds of Love: Psychoanalyis,
Feminism, and the Problem of Domination. New York: Pantheon, 1988. 183–
218.
---. “Master and Slave.” The Bonds of Love: Psychoanalyis, Feminism, and the
Problem of Domination. New York: Pantheon, 1988. 51–84.
Braidotti, Rosi. “Introduction: by Way of Nomadism.” Nomadic Subjects:
Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory. New
York: Columbia UP, 1994. 1–40.
---. “Sexual Difference as a Nomadic Political Project,” “On the Female Feminist
Subject.” Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in
Contemporary Feminist Theory. New York: Columbia UP, 1994. 146–72, 191–
204.
Bronfen, Elisabeth. “The Body and its Discontents.” Body Matters: Feminism,
Textuality, Corporeality. Ed. Avril Horner, Angela Keane. Manchester:
Manchester UP., 2000. 106–23.
Butler, Judith. “Introduction.” The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in Subjection.
Stanford, Cal.: Stanford UP, 1995. 1–31.
---. “Prohibition, Psychoanalysis, and the Production of the Heterosexual Matrix,”
“Subversive Bodily Acts.” Gender Trouble. London: Routledge, 1990. 35–149.
---. “Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire.” Gender Trouble. London: Routledge, 1990. 1–
34.
Connell, R.W., “The Social Organization of Masculinity.” Masculinities. Berkeley,
Los Angeles: U of California P., 1995. 67–86.
---. “The History of Masculinity.” Masculinities. Berkeley, Los Angeles: U of
California P., 1995. 185–203.
---. “Masculinity Politics.” Masculinities. Berkeley, Los Angeles: U of California P.,
1995. 204–224.
De Lauretis, Teresa. “The Technology of Gender.” Technologies of Gender: Essays
on Theory, Film, and Fiction. Houndmills: Macmillan, 1987. 1–30.
---. “The Violence of Rhetoric: Considerations on Representation and Gender.”
Technologies of Gender: Essays on Theory, Film, and Fiction. Houndmills:
Macmillan, 1987. 31–50.
Foucault, Michel. “The Deployment of Sexuality.” The History of Sexuality I: An
Introduction. Trans. Robert Hurley. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1990. 77–131.
---. “The Subject and Power.” Hubert L. Dreyfus, Paul Rabinov. Michel Foucault:
Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics (With an Afterword by and Interview
with Michel Foucault). Chicago: Chicago UP, 1983. 208-26.
Haraway, Donna. “A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist
Feminism in the 1980s.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed.
Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 2269–2298.
Howie, Gillian, Ashley Tauchert, “Feminist Dissonance: The Logic of Late
Feminism.” Third Wave Feminism: A Critical Exploration. Ed. Stacey Gillis,
Gillian Howie, Rebecca Munford. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2007. 46–48.
Jameson, Fredric. “Postmodernism and Consumer Society.” The Norton Anthology of
Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 1960–
74.
Kristeva, Julia. “Approaching Abjection,” “Something To Be Scared Of.” Powers of
Horror: An Essay On Abjection. Trans. Leon S. Roudiez. New York: Columbia,
1982. 1–55.
---. “From Filth to Defilement,” “Powers of Horror.” Powers of Horror: An Essay On
Abjection. Trans. Leon S. Roudiez. New York: Columbia, 1982. 56–89., 207–
10.
Lotz, Amanda D. “Theorising the Intermezzo: The Contributions of Postfeminism and
Third Wave Feminism.” Third Wave Feminism: A Critical Exploration. Ed.
Stacey Gillis, Gillian Howie, Rebecca Munford. Houndmills, Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. 71–85.
Marcus, Sharon. “Queer Theory for Everyone: A Review Essay.” Signs 31.1 (Autumn
2005): 191–218.
Silverman, Kaja. “Re-Writing the Classic Text.” The Subject of Semiotics. New York:
Oxford UP, 1983. 236–283.
---. “Suture.” The Subject of Semiotics. New York: Oxford UP, 1983. 194–236.
Stone, Alison. “On the Geneology of Women: A Defence of Anti-Essentialism.”
Third Wave Feminism: A Critical Exploration. Ed. Stacey Gillis, Gillian Howie,
Rebecca Munford. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. 16–29.