Diploma in Feminist Writings

Course description

This diploma course takes you through key feminist texts that engage with important gender-related issues. Through a careful study of selected fiction and non-fiction, we explore issues such as Patriarchy, violence, ‘embodiment’, agency and identity. We also provide a complex understanding of gender and representation, drawing on literary as well as cultural studies. This diploma course can help you understand the role of gender and feminism.

This diploma course goes through famous examples of feminist writing that probe issues such as Patriarchy, gender-based violence, the role of physical bodies, agency and shifting identities. We introduce you to Patriarchy and examine its contemporary role in perpetuating sexism and creating gender-based inequalities and hardships.

We delve into the literary symbolism of the essay 'A Cyborg Manifesto' by Donna Haraway. The course then studies the feminist subtext of Katherine Mansfield’s poem 'The Fly' and D.H. Lawrence’s story 'Tickets, Please!'. We examine contemporary themes through feminist texts that acknowledge female sexuality and desire, including Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’, Simone de Beauvoir’s seminal 'The Second Sex' and Sylvia Plath’s 'Tulips'. The course then moves on to ‘Yellow Wallpaper’ and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s powerful feminist indictment of society's subjugation of women. We then investigate the complex symbolism and thematic depth of Dunya Mikhail’s 'The Iraqi Nights'.

The course critiques the central feminist assumptions of Judith Butler’s iconic 'Gender Trouble' and deconstructs the symbolism of Githa Hariharan’s 'The Remains of the Feast', Jhumpa Lahiri’s 'A Temporary Matter' and Angela Carter’s 'The Mother's Ghost'. Finally, we examine fairytales as sexual allegory and break down various myths. This course suits anyone who is interested in feminism and explores the profound commentary offered by various famous works of literature. Sign up to earn a diploma that signals your deep understanding of the socio-political nuances of our ongoing global conversation about gender.