Postgraduate Module Descriptor

POLM168: From Oppression to Resistance: Exploring the Intersections of Race, Class and Gender

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

  • To understand how oppression is defined in the academic literature
  • To explore to what extent conceptualisations of oppression chime with the self-understandings and experiences of those subjected to it.
  • To understand how resistance is defined in the academic literature
  • To explore how these conceptualisations fit or not with the self-understandings and experiences of those who enact it.
  • To identify and draw on a range of source material which goes beyond political science and IR and includes sociology, literature, film, art, journalism and interviews with activists.

This module is research led to the extent that it will draw on the lecturer’s primary research into the working of gender/race and class in the context of various left-wing movements. It is student-led to the extent that it will allow you to choose which case studies you want to pursue and therefore to develop your own research agenda and research skills. It will also ask you to take leadership in the classroom and present your work to your fellow students.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the theories and concepts that are deployed at the intersections of race, class and gender.
2. engage in in-depth empirical analysis of specific cases of oppression and resistance.
Discipline-Specific Skills3. demonstrate effective critical and analytical skills in relation to a complex and varied inter-disciplinary body of literature and to construct arguments in a coherent and reflexive way.
4. select and analyse particular instances of oppressive politics and/or resistance politics.
Personal and Key Skills5. present complex arguments with clarity and concision.
6. design, organise and run seminars.
7. work independently and in groups under tight time constraints.

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

On Gender and Feminism:

  • I. M. Young. 1989. ‘Polity and group difference: A critique of the ideal of universal citizenship’ Ethics 9, 250-74.
  • G. Omvedt. 1986. ‘Patriarchy: the analysis of women’s oppression’, Critical Sociology
  • J. Medina. 2013. The Epistemology of Resistance, OUP.
  • C. Redfern and K. Aune. 2013. Reclaiming the F Word!, Zed Publishers.
  • Made in Dagenham a film by Nigel Cole or On the Basis of Sex film by Leder.
  • Feminist Poetry Slam - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/27/verse-goes-viral-how-young-feminist-writers-are-reclaiming-poetry-for-the-digital-age
  • Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ‘We Should All Be Feminists’ TEDx Talk or booklet version 2012. Anchor Books.
  • A. Gumbs, C. Martens and M. Williams. 2016. Mothering: Love on the Front Lines, PM Press.
  • Roma, Film by Alfonso Cuarón

On Race and Anti-racist politics:

  • L. M. Alcoff. 2015. The Future of Whiteness, Polity.
  • R. Diangelo. 2018. White Fragility, Penguin Random House.
  • K-Y. Talyor. 2016. From Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation, Haymarket Books.
  • R. Eddo-Lodge. 2017. Why I’M No Longer Talking to White People, Bloomsbury Publishing.
  • J. Baldwin. 1955. Notes of a Native Son.
  • TN. Coates. 2015. Between the World and Me, Text publishing.
  • Toni Morrison. 1970. The Bluest Eye. Holt publishers.
  • Get Out! Film by Jordan Peele.
  • I am Not Your Negro, documentary by  Raoul Peck

On Class and Working Class Politics:

  • Evans and Tilly. 2017. The New Politics of Class, OUP.
  • A. Sillitoe. 1962. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, W.H Allen.
  • S. Todd. 2014. The People: The Rise and Fall of the Working Class, John Murray.
  • L. Hanley. 2016. Crossing the Class Divide, Penguin.
  • J. D. Vance. 2016. Hillbilly Elegy, Harper Collins Publishers - and his critics
  • I, Daniel Blake a film by Ken Loach