Gender Studies MRes

This module introduces students to the entire research process from initial literature reviewing through to presentation of findings. It critically examines the role and use of research in producing knowledge on gender and society through academic, political and public domains. It will do this first by locating the ontological and epistemological positions associated with gender studies paradigms and their significance. Second, a broad range of methodology and methods will be explored which might include sociological, textual, or literary approaches. Research design issues concerned with each of these will be examined. The module offers students the opportunity to engage with generic and specific theories and methods relating to postgraduate study with an emphasis on feminist practices in the research process (such as reflexivity and subjectivity). Finally, the role of power and ethics in research will be evaluated. The module explores the impact power in research has upon the role of the researcher and of the researched in relation to, for example, rapport, claims to expertise, and knowledge production. The content of this module is also designed to prepare students on the MRes in Gender Studies for their dissertation.

• To highlight the role of research in producing knowledge within Gender Studies and to consider technical arguments alongside epistemological concerns when deciding on research designs.
• To develop students’ critical awareness of the potential uses and limitations of a range of research methods.
• To encourage a critical awareness of the role of feminism and gender in research paradigms and to consider the impact this has had in relation to research relations and knowledge construction.
• To facilitate the construction of a realistic, well designed and ethical postgraduate research project.

This module has been designed to introduce MRes Gender Studies students to the theoretical, conceptual, and practical debates that have characterised, and continue to inform, feminist, women's, and gender studies. The module examines how 'gender' both constructs, and is constructed by, socio-cultural forces in significant areas of the lives of individuals and communities. The module will include consideration of some of these issues: notions of women’s experiences ('use of experience' approaches), and essentialism; 'generational' feminism; black and critical race theory; sexuality; queer theory; technologies; postcolonial theory; psychoanalytical approaches; affect and embodiment; intersectionality.

• To highlight the theoretical, conceptual, and practical debates that have characterised, and continue to inform, feminist, women's, and gender studies.
• To develop students’ critical awareness of contemporary debates in gender studies.
• To encourage a critical awareness of the role of feminism and gender in significant areas of the lives of individuals and communities .
• To enable students to position their own critical voices in the broader field of gender studies and debates.

Each student researches and writes a 28,000-word dissertation or equivalent. The topic and title are negotiated between the student and the supervising tutor; the tutor's approval of these is an essential requirement. The research dissertation in gender studies is based on guided, but largely independent, research. It can be a practice-led project – a piece of creative writing, or a performance piece, for example – theorised in a reflective critical commentary of no fewer than 10,000 words.

• To enable students enrolled on the MRes in Gender Studies to pursue selected topics in depth via independent research;
• To familiarise these students with the range of texts available for the study of their selected dissertation topic;
• To facilitate students' exploration and critical examination of the nature and characteristics of their chosen topic;
• To develop students' specialist knowledge in one or more areas of the broader field of interdisciplinary gender studies.