Interdisciplinarity in Gender and Sexuality Research 3000-PISB1-IWB
The format of the course will largely be based on workshops centered around the assigned readings, including both theoretical texts and works of fiction, as well as selected examples of art (surrealism, bio-art, avant-garde art, photography, film, performance). The course includes a visit to a museum or an art gallery. Our aim is to gain a deep understanding of the processes underlying various ways of seeing and the act of interpretive evaluation. We will examine the concept of the gaze in a multidimensional way: the scientific gaze in the biological sciences; the gaze of women painters, photographers, and visual artists; the gazes of nude women in the canon of European art; the gaze directed at Sara Baartman and the gazes of Black models whose histories are reclaimed by Saidiya Hartman; the human and non-human gaze in bio-art; the museum gaze, the exhibitionary gaze, the colonizing gaze. Drawing on an interdisciplinary framework, we will explore how productive the connections can be between feminist science and technology studies, philosophy, critical disability studies, art history, critical race studies, film studies, literary studies, and critical museum studies.
Semester plan:
Module I. Interdisciplinarity
Module II. Technologies and Practices of Looking
Module III. The Body in Art/The Body of Art
Module IV. The Privatepublic Continuum
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, the student:
In terms of knowledge:
- knows the concepts and theories related to interdisciplinarity within gender and sexuality studies
- understands the concepts and theories concerning ways of seeing and interpreting various cultural texts
- is aware of the ideological and cultural functions of the gaze in the interpretation and reception of cultural works
In terms of skills:
- is able to independently conduct an interdisciplinary analysis of a cultural text
- can read and interpret interdisciplinary theoretical texts
- can identify exclusionary and inclusionary discourses within the broadly understood world of art
In terms of social competence:
- understands the importance of diverse interpretative discourses for contemporary culture and the value of an interdisciplinary approach to culture
- is able to actively participate in discussions about a wide range of cultural works
- can organize research results in a clear written and oral form
Assessment criteria
Assessment criteria:
60% class participation
40% final project (analysis of a selected cultural work in the form of a short essay; the use of visual and creative elements is allowed)
Regular attendance is a basic requirement for passing the course. Absences must be excused by the course instructor. Students are allowed two unexcused absences per semester. A student with three to five absences in a semester must make them up in a manner specified by the instructor (e.g., by writing a short commentary on assigned readings).
Absences (even excused ones!) from more than five classes (30%) in a semester will result in not being allowed to complete the course. Only students with an approved Individual Study Organization (IOS), based on a recommendation from the Office for Persons with Disabilities (BON), may receive an increased absence limit, but not exceeding 50% per semester.
Estimated workload for the course:
Participation in classes: 30h (1 ECTS)
Ongoing preparation for classes: 60h (2 ECTS)
Preparation of the final project: 30h (1 ECTS)
Total: 4 ECTS.
The use of artificial intelligence tools in written work is stipulated by the provisions of § 3 and 4 of Resolution No. 98 of the University Education Council dated December 8, 2023. It is forbidden to use artificial intelligence systems for generating materials for a credit project and for its development (that includes linguistic or stylistic corrections).
Practical placement
No interships or practical training is planned.
Bibliography
Berger, John. Sposoby widzenia. Tłum. Mariusz Bryl. Warsaw: Fundacja Aletheia, 2008.
Bordo, Susan. (1993). “The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity”. [W:] Unbearable Weight. Feminism, Western Culture and the Body, s. 165–184. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003 [1993].
Carrington, Leonora. “Debiutantka.” W: Siódmy koń. Opowiadania zebrane. Tłum. Maryna Ochab, Michał Kłobukowski. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Filtry, 2022.
Chadwick, Whitney. Kobiety, sztuka i społeczeństwo. Poznań: Dom Wydawniczy Rebis, 2015.
Dudley, Sandra (red.). Museum Materialities: Objects, Engagements, Interpretations. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, 2013.
Gawkowski Jakub, Paweł Polit, Katarzyna Różniak-Szabelska, Franciszek Smoręda (red.). Katalog wystawy Sposoby widzenia. Łódź: Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi, 2025.
Harding, Sandra (red.). The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader. New York and London: Routledge, 2004.
Haraway, Donna. "Wiedze usytuowane i przywilej częściowej/ograniczonej perspektywy." Tłum. Agata Czarnacka. Biblioteka Online Think Tanku Feministycznego. 2009.
Haskell, Caitlin, Teresa Arcq (red.). Remedios Varo: Science Fictions. United Kingdom: Art Institute of Chicago, 2023.
Hartman, Saidiya. Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals. London: W. W. Norton, 2019.
hooks, bell. Art on My Mind: Visual Politics. New York: The New Press, 1995.
hooks, bell. Teoria feministyczna, od marginesu do centrum. Tłum. Ewa Majewska. Warsaw: Krytyka Polityczna, 2022.
Jones, Amelia (red.). The Feminist and Visual Culture Reader. London and New York: Routledge, 2010.
Jones, Amelia, Erin Silver (red.). Otherwise: Imagining Queer Feminist Art Histories. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016.
Kaplan, E. Ann. “Is the Gaze Male?” W: Powers of Desire: The Politics of Sexuality, red. Ann Snitow, Christine Stansell, Sharon Thompson, s. 309–328. New York, 1983.
Kisza, Sonia. Histeria sztuki. Kraków: Znak Koncept, 2024.
Korsmeyer, Carolyn. Gender w estetyce: wprowadzenie. Kraków: Towarzystwo Autorów i Wydawców Prac Naukowych Universitas, 2008.
Lippard, Lucy R. The Pink Glass Swan: Selected Feminist Essays on Art. New York: The New Press, 1995.
Martin, Emily. “The Egg and the Sperm: How Science has constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 16 (31), 1991: 485–501.
Mulvey, Laura. “Przyjemność wzrokowa i kino narracyjne.” W: Do utraty wzroku. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Ha!art.
Muzyczuk, Daniel, Natalia Słaboń. Antologia tekstów. Sposoby widzenia. Łódź: Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi, 2025.
Nead, Lynda. The Female Nude: Art, Obscenity and Sexuality. London, 1992.
Nochlin, Linda. Dlaczego nie było wielkich artystek? Sopot: Smak Słowa, 2023.
Popczyk, Maria (red.). Muzeum sztuki. Antologia. Kraków: Universitas, 2006.
Radomska, Marietta, Nina Lykke, Tara Mehrabi (red.). Routledge International Handbook of Queer Death Studies. London: Routledge, 2025.
Russo, Mary J. The Female Grotesque: Risk, Excess, and Modernity. United Kingdom: Routledge, 1995.
Strings, Sabrina. Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. United States: NYU Press, 2019.
Szarota, Magda. "Ławka, na której warto usiąść." 3 listopada 2025. Warsaw: Fundacja Heinricha Bölla.
Taylor, Diana. Performans. Tłum. Mateusz Borowski, Małgorzata Sugiera. Kraków: Universitas, 2018.
Select reading might be changed at a later date.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: