Macquarie University

Feminism, Queer Theory and the Problem of Identity - FOAR706

This unit examines the ways in which various contestations (over postmodernism, poststructuralism and queer theory) challenged the foundational categories of feminist theory in the 1980s and 1990s. The unit will ponder whether the call for a contingent feminist theory and practice undermined or, in fact, invigorated feminist critical thought and practice. Through an engagement with the various critical frameworks that emerged in the wake of these contestations, the unit will then examine the reformulations and reframings that feminist scholars have produced in the decades since these interventions. What do these new critical frameworks seek to explain? Do they represent a return or a critical rupture? Are we living in a post-feminist moment? This unit will be framed as a cross-disciplinary unit, students are encouraged to bring their diverse disciplinary perspectives to the discussion and assessment.