This unit explores the social and cultural dimensions of gender and sexuality in non-western societies. The main focus is the body in two interrelated senses. Firstly, how the body is culturally constructed by giving aspects of gender and sexuality meanings that do not simply reflect biology. Secondly, how bodies are socially constructed, for example through ritual. The relations of the dimensions of the body to the articulation of power and social change are also considered.

Medical anthropology is a comparative and ethnographic response to the global influence of biomedicine within diverse cultural worlds. This unit will examine major theoretical approaches, their respective critiques, and the methods that underpin them. Concepts such as 'health/illness', 'disease', 'well-being', 'life-death', and 'body/mind' will be located in a variety of cultural contexts and their implications for different approaches to diagnosis and treatment considered. The unit will include culturally located case studies of major contemporary health concerns, such as AIDS.

Cultural studies explores everyday life, media and popular culture. It shows us how we can make sense of contemporary culture as producers, consumers, readers and viewers, in relation to our identities and communities. How do various cultural texts and practices convey different kinds of meaning and value? Drawing upon key approaches in the field, students will learn how to analyse cultural forms such as advertising, television, film and popular music.

How does gender organise lives, bodies, sexualities and desires? How does gender relate to sex and sexuality? Are there really only two genders? How and why is gender such an integral part of how we identify ourselves and others? This unit introduces students to foundational concepts in the study of gender and critically engages with questions of identity, sexuality, family, the body, cultural practices and gender norms in light of contemporary gender theories.

This unit traces the history of screen cultures from film to apps, focusing on how popular media is used to produce and represent masculinity and femininity. Students will consider cinema, television, videogames, the internet and mobile devices, asking how changing media forms and practices impact on our gendered identities and everyday lives.

The idea of the 'animal' infuses western knowledge about what constitutes the 'human'. From 'humanism' to 'posthumanism', this unit teases out various animal/human connections; classifying, seeing, domesticating, eating, making pets, writing, thinking about rights, rhetoric and representation. How do gender, race and class play out in the realm of the animal/human? What cultural formations support and also challenge the line between animal and human?

Violence is one of the most prevalent themes in popular culture and public discourse today. It shapes our lives in all sorts of ways, both real and imagined. Incorporating concepts and theoretical tools from gender and cultural studies, this unit will examine the construction and representation of violence in relation to sexuality, transgression, difference and power.

This unit introduces students to cultural theories about race and ethnicity and uses these theories to examine representations of racial minorities across a range of media such as film, literature and performance within multiple national contexts. By interrogating the relationship between these representations and those of other identity categories including gender, sexuality and class, it provides a complex understanding of how 'race' as an institutional force and lived experience helps shape perceptions of ourselves and others.

In this unit of study we will examine the ways in which feminist and other cultural theories have used bodies and sexualities in order to theorise difference and identity. The body and sexuality have been shown to be a major site for the operation of power in our society. We will look at how bodies and sexualities have given rise to critical understandings of identity. The unit of study will be devoted to working through some of the major theories of sexuality and embodiment, and the analysis of cultural practices.

What do men want? From a traditional focus on femininity in gender studies, it is increasingly clear that masculinity has undergone tremendous changes in the last several decades. From a perspective of gender and cultural studies, this unit examines the economic, social and cultural contexts in which masculinity is lived. We will consider different case studies focused on the changing representation of men in contemporary culture. These will include aspects of style and consumption, roles within workplaces, and in domestic practices.

This unit examines the representation and practices of intimate relations focusing especially on the intersection between intimacy and constructions of gender. Divided into three sections, the unit will examine theories of love and friendship, contemporary cultural representations of love, desire and friendship, and the ethics and politics of erotics. This unit will also examine new technologies of intimacy, and discuss their implications for gender and sexuality.

This unit examines academic, public and popular ideas about youth and practices of youth culture. It will introduce students to some of the current parameters for studying youth cultural forms and practices and the significance of various conceptions of youth. Points of focus will include popular images of youth and youth culture, discourses on (im)maturity, development, and training, and critical perspectives on youth as an identity and an experience.

Consumerism is a contradictory cultural formation. It is a source of meaning, pleasure and identity, but also a cause of environmental degradation, social injustice and, for some, individual alienation. This unit sets out some of the ethical, environmental and social problems associated with consumerism, and examines in detail some of the creative, ingenious and determined responses to these problems.

Understanding our place in a changing environment is a 21st century priority. This unit uses feminist frameworks to investigate how environmental problems are shaped by intersecting factors of gender, race, sexuality, ability, economic status, and colonialisms. Drawing on examples such as climate change, toxic contamination, water privatisation, and resource extraction, this unit examines the material and conceptual links between human and non-human natures, and cultural, political, economic and social forces.

Cultural Studies was widely discussed as one of the "New Humanities" in the 1990s, but a long history of debates about and theories of culture precede the discipline, and the processes of deciding what are the key texts and concepts of Cultural Studies is ongoing. This unit overviews foundational and emerging critical concepts and writers in the field. Students will also undertake reading and analysis exercises designed to help them come to grips with using "theory" in their own work.

Our knowledge of everyday life is often taken for granted and yet cultural studies has developed some fascinating approaches to critically and creatively exploring the ordinary and extraordinary details that make up everyday life. Through case studies of everyday practices, spaces and experiences (waste, fashion, dreaming, eating, shopping, 'selfies') the unit explores key thinkers of the everyday as well as a range of research and writing methods (observation, thick description, close reading) that have helped to illuminate everyday life.

In this unit students will apply advanced methods from gender and cultural studies to examine experiences of belonging and formations of community. Students will analyse how power produces and regulates communities, identities and belonging. They will question the assumption that community is based on the unity and similarity of citizens and their location in specific cultures and places, and critically examine alternatives such as difference, diaspora, and other forms of sociality. Students will evaluate different theories of community in local, national and international contexts, and in relation to feminism, democracy, cosmopolitanism and hospitality.

Honours is an intensive year-long program of advanced study based around research. Honours is undertaken after successful completion of a Bachelor degree and where the overall mark is a minimum credit average (70%). Entry into Honours is selective and work at this level is challenging. Honours is available in most subjects areas taught in the Faculty, and which are listed under Tables A and B in the Handbook. Students will complete a thesis and coursework seminars throughout the year. For further information contact the Honours Coordinator in the department or consult the Handbook entry for the relevant subject area.

Refer to GCST4015

Refer to GCST4015

Refer to GCST4015

This course addresses philosophical issues concerning sex. From the perspective of metaphysics, we will ask what sexual differences and relations are. From the perspective of moral and political philosophy, we will ask which sexual relationships and identities are ethically justifiable. Sample questions include: What is it to have a sexual identity? Is sexual difference innate or socially constructed? Is intoxicated sexual consent valid? Is there anything wrong with being a sex object? Is pornography problematic? Is bestiality ever ok?

This unit of study focuses on understanding 'deviance' and 'difference' from a sociological perspective. The unit covers a range of theories, from classic sociological theories of deviance to more recent critical theories of difference, and explores the key issues involved in this change of term. These theories are employed to explore a series of areas of contemporary debate in society, including youth subcultures, the construction of outsiders, rebellion, the body, and mental health.

This unit examines a range of sociological theories and debates concerning science and technology. Students will investigate the two-way relationship between science/technology and society (ie. the social shaping of science and technology, and the impact of science and technology on society). Issues to be examined include the social production of science and technology, the science-technology relationship, the politics and economics of science and technology, science and technology in medicine, in reproduction, in the workplace, and the role of science and technology in environmentalism and the environmental movement.