Module description
This module offers foundational knowledge and key debates within Feminist International Relations (IR) and feminist Security Studies (FSS) through an engagement with pioneering and internationally recognised books. By exploring feminist topics of war and security through books, students will become familiar with feminist thinking on issues that may include imperialism, sexism, militarism, and racism as they relate to concerns of global security. Methodological, students will trace core arguments presented in books, as they are carried out over several chapters, and learn how classic and contemporary books have influenced feminist scholarship.
The module will cover 5 books in total. Key chapters in each book will be brought into conversation with contemporary debates and academic artefacts to show the history and legacies of feminist thinking in contemporary studies of international relations and war. Individual books will be discussed over two weeks, with lectures giving context to the individual books and seminars as a space for students to engage more deeply in the various discussions.
Assessment details
| Essay |
2000 words |
60% |
| Individual critical reflections |
3 x 300 words |
40% |
Educational aims & objectives
- To provide students with detailed knowledge of feminist international relations and studies of war through a critical review of key texts and their contemporary applications.
- To synthesise, compare, and discuss key academic approaches to concepts, theories and methods for the analysis of the interaction between feminism, international security and international politics.
- To engage critically with the significance of the history of feminism as an intellectual project and to foster reflection on questions of gender, international politics, justice, and global inequality.
- To encourage critical thinking on the implications of gender, as it intersects with other identity and structural markers of race and class for how we understand war and global (in)security.
- Improve communication (oral and written), analytical, problem-solving and presentation skills to a level commensurate with progression to postgraduate study, through engagement with selected readings in whole class discussions, critical reflection portfolios, and academic research assignments.
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete the module will:
- Have developed detailed knowledge of and the capacity to engage in debate about feminism, war, and international relations.
- Be able to synthesise, compare, and discuss key academic approaches to concepts, theories and methods for the analysis of the interaction between gender, international security, and international politics.
- Be able to reflect critically on the history of today's environmental security challenges, and to explore questions of gender justice and ethics in light of this knowledge.
- Be able to think critically about the future implications of gender for how we understand and practice international relations and international security.
- To have developed communication, analytical, problem-solving and presentation skills to a level commensurate with progression to postgraduate study.
- Enhance analytical capacities and creative thinking skills, presentation skills, research and writing skills, and the ability to critically interpret real-world events.
- The ability to understand how the operation of gender in a social and political context opens a range of policy and research career pathways.
Teaching pattern
There will be 6 2-hour interactive lectures and 5 2-hour peer-led seminars as well as self-directed readings. Lectures will provide context setting and position books within broader feminist debates/discussions. The seminars will be student ran and focus on a detailed reading and engagement with specific monographs.