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We have become a 'sexual story telling culture'. The sociologist Kenneth Plummer wrote this in 1995 to describe a change in late twentieth century western cultures: a shift in sexual storytelling, which had been private, to a proliferation of increasingly public sexual narratives. This trend has only intensified in the past two decades. This course will explore the cultural landscape of contemporary sexual 'story telling' with attention to how this intersects with gender, ethnicity and age.
The course focus on ‘sexual storytelling’ will include persistent stories of, for example, heteronormativity and sexual violence, as well as emerging and potentially transformative stories such as polyamory and ‘slut walk’. The focus on sexual stories will enable students to explore the construction of sexual identities and practices across a number of sites (e.g. popular culture, social media, health promotion and violence prevention campaigns). In order to gain a theoretical understanding of the social construction of sexuality, we’ll look at Michel Foucault’s The History of Sexuality and how this has informed feminist poststructuralist and queer approaches to sexuality and gender (which underpin the course). Students will learn how to do a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis, enhance their individual and group presentation skills, and be able explore a topic of their interest in a research essay.
Subject to approval of the Head of Department.
CULT415
Tiina Vares
Domestic fee $1,884.00
International Postgraduate fees
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
This course will not be offered if fewer than 5 people apply to enrol.
For further information see Language, Social and Political Sciences .