Ateneo - UPO

The intersection of race, gender and sexuality: an introduction to black and decolonial feminisms.

* Sara Ahmed, Cultural Politics of Emotion (Routledge 2007)
* Heidi Mirzas, Black British Feminism (Routledge 1997)
* bell hooks, Non sono una donna, io (Tamu 2023)
* Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought (revised edition, Routledge 2022)

* To acquire a historical knowledge of the concepts and practices around feminism and sexualities, in particular black and decolonial feminisms, from the 1970s to the present
* To establish links between theories, everyday practices and political positions around gender, race and sexuality from a contemporary perspective.
* To be able to present and discuss different positions in the texts and visual materials examined during the workshop, both orally (in class discussions) and in writing (short reports or final essay), avoiding generalisations and clichés
* To be able to write an argumentative essay on a theme related to the workshop, observing the main rules and conventions of academic writing, and acquiring a relative autonomy in bibliographical research, at first under the teacher's supervision, then autonomously.

Preferable knowledge of English in order to have access to further critical literature.
Ability to write an argumentative text in Italian.

Introductory lectures; seminar discussions on texts and visual materials weekly assigned by the teacher or recommended by invited guests.

Given the nature of this seminar module, regular attendance is highly advisable (min. 80%). Maximum number of participants: 20.
Non-attending students are able to participate remotely during the course of the seminar through the following acitivities:
1) answering to questions on each assigned text
2) writing a 300-word abstract on each assigned text.

This program is designed to be consistent with Goals 4, 5, 16) of the UNESCO 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Quality Education, Reducing Gender Gap; Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).

Written paper on a topic relevant to the seminar and agreed upon with the teacher (in Italian, length 10 pages, plus bibliography, using at least two academic sources). The paper must comply with the rules and conventions of academic writing, as specified in the guidelines given to the students.

Evaluation: written paper 80%; active participation 20%.

The workshop presents an introductory overview of the cultural, artistic and political debates related to the development of the black and decolonial feminist movement, and the LBGTQ+ activism connected to them, from the 1970s to the present day, and their persistence and transformation in contemporary, national and international scenarios, through a selection of texts and audiovisual materials proposed by the lecturer. There may be contributions from external experts.

- Knowledge and comprehension skills: ability to read argumentative essays, identify key concepts and different points of view discussed therein; development of critical thinking around commonly held notions and their naturalization; ability to place the contemporary debates around body politics, gender and sexuality in their historical, political and cultural context, with a particular focus on complexity, non-neutrality, and the intersectionality of differences.

- Applied knowledge and comprehension skills: ability to compare and present, both orally and in a written essay, various positions by highlighting both differences and commonalities, while keeping analytically distinct the positions being discussed; ability to write an academic paper, adequately structured; knowledge of bibliographical tools and database search strategies.