Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Seminar | 11 x 2 Hour Seminars |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | 1 x 1,000 Blog/op ed piece | 20% |
| Semester Assessment | Essay 1 (1 x 2,500 words) | 40% |
| Semester Assessment | Essay 2 (1 x 2,500 words) | 40% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 x 1,000 word Blog/op ed piece | 20% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 1 (1 x 2,500 words) | 40% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 2 (1 x 2,500 words) | 40% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of feminist critiques of traditional and critical approaches to security
2. Critically evaluate the methodologies that feminist researchers use to investigate security issues.
3. Apply a feminist perspective to provide an in-depth, critical analysis of a security issue.
4. Explain a feminist approach to a topical security issue in a style and format that is suitable for a non-academic audience.
Brief description
This module will combine theoretical and empirical elements to examine feminist approaches to the study of security. Students will explore the aspects of these approaches that make them distinctive from both traditional and other critical approaches to security, including feminist research methodologies. Students will consider feminist perspectives on traditional questions of security (such as war, militaries and the state's use of violence in pursuit of high level policy aims) as well as security questions that have been identified specifically by feminists, such as the continuum between sexualised violence in times of war and peace.
Content
• the challenges that feminists pose to traditional and other critical approaches to security
• the role of methodologies in shaping feminist research in security
• the Women, Peace and Security agenda
• gendered aspects of political violence/terrorism
• political economy as a way of exploring security
• sexualised violence in war and peace
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | N/A |
| Communication | Students will learn how to present their ideas both verbally and in writing and how to present their arguments most effectively. They will learn the importance of information and clear communication and how to exploit these. They will know how to use the many sources of information available and how to use the most appropriate form of communication to the best advantage. They will learn to be clear in their writing and speaking and to be direct about aims and objectives. They will learn to focus on material relevant to the objectives of their argument or discussion. Seminars may involve dividing students into smaller groups where oral discussion will form the main medium of teaching and there will be a strong emphasis throughout the module on student participation and communication. Students will be expected to demonstrate effective expression of ideas and good use of language skills in their written work. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | The module aims to promote self-management but within a context in which support and assistance is available from both the convenor and fellow students alike. Students will be expected to improve their own learning and performance by undertaking their own research and exercising their initiative. The need to prepare for seminar discussions and to meet coursework deadlines will focus students' attention on the need to manage their time. |
| Information Technology | Students will be expected to use Blackboard to access materials for the module, use relevant websites, use Turnitin to submit written assignments and access their feedback and provisional marks. Students will be encouraged to use Twitter, including the hashtag #FemSecSt which is widely used by feminist scholars of security, to share ideas and participate in discussions about feminist approaches to security. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | The module is designed to help students develop key employability skills, such as speaking to small and large groups, listening, thinking and responding to the statements of others, as well as expressing themselves clearly in writing, including writing for non-academic audiences unfamiliar with feminist approaches to security. |
| Problem solving | Independent project work and problem solving will be one central goal of the module; the submission of the written assignments and preparation for seminar discussions will require students to develop independent research skills as well as problem solving skills. Students' ability to solve problems will be developed and assessed by asking them to: adopt different points of view; organize data and estimate an answer to problems posed; reason logically; apply theoretical approaches; consider similar cases; look for patterns; divide issues into smaller problems. |
| Research skills | Students will be required to undertake independent research for all elements of the assessed work. This will involve utilizing media and web sources, as well as more conventional academic texts. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Students will have the opportunity to develop, practice and test a wide range of subject specific skills that will help them to understand, conceptualize and evaluate examples and ideas relevant to the module. Subject specific skills include: • Collect and understand a wide range of data relating to the module; • Evaluate competing perspectives; • Demonstrate subject-specific research techniques; • Apply relevant methodologies to security issues. |
| Team work | Students will work together in small and large groups in the seminars to consider different aspects of the topic and specific reading assignments. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 7