Gender, Sexuality and Culture teaches students the interdisciplinary knowledge and skills required to analyse gender, sexuality and other categories of difference from a critical perspective.  It trains students in the use of a conceptual vocabulary that facilitates critical thinking about gender relations and the role of culture in maintaining social norms. It challenges students to move beyond common sense understandings of gender and sexuality by examining the way they are constructed in different historical periods, cultural arenas and global processes.

Gender, Sexuality and Culture major aims to develop students' capacity for thinking and communicating creatively and independently about society, identity and culture. It encourages a reflexive and questioning approach to knowledge. It draws on the disciplines of Gender Studies and Cultural Studies, and theoretical and methodological frameworks such as feminist theory, queer theory, postcolonial theory and post-structuralism.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Due to structural changes in the undergraduate program rules in 2012, the courses that make up the new 2012 majors may be different to the pre-2012 majors, and therefore some courses cannot be counted between majors.  Students are advised to contact the CASS Student Office if they are unsure about their Majors.

Learning outcomes

Successful completion of this major enables students to:

• Analyse, evaluate and apply contemporary theories of gender, sexuality, culture.
• Use the conceptual vocabulary of gender and cultural studies to analyse contemporary issues and problems.
• Use the methods of gender and cultural studies to analyse the way gender and sexuality are produced in culture, including written and visual texts.
• Identify and understand interdisciplinary approaches to gender, sexuality and culture.
• Communicate complex ideas in speech and writing.
• Reflect critically on the knowledge and skills developed in their study of Gender, Sexuality and Culture.