ALL256 - Gender, Sex and Literature
Unit details
| Year | 2025 unit information |
|---|---|
| Enrolment modes: | Trimester 1: Burwood (Melbourne), Waurn Ponds (Geelong), Online |
| Credit point(s): | 1 |
| EFTSL value: | 0.125 |
| Unit Chair: | Trimester 1: Lenise Prater |
| Prerequisite: | One unit from: AGS101, AGS102, ALL101, ALL102, ALL153, ALL154 |
| Corequisite: | Nil |
| Incompatible with: | Nil |
| Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - on-campus unit enrolment: | 1 x 1-hour online lecture per week 1 x 2-hour on-campus seminar per week |
| Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - online unit enrolment: | 1 x 1-hour online lecture per week 1 x 2-hour online seminar per week or approximately 2-hours of online learning tasks and discussions per week |
| Typical study commitment: | Students will on average spend 150-hours over the teaching period undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities for this unit. This will include educator guided online learning activities within the unit site. |
Content
This unit will examine the role of literature in transforming understandings of gender and sexuality. Students will critically reflect on a wide variety of literary engagements with gender and sexuality, including representations of masculinity, heterosexuality, families and love. Beginning with a focus on historical representations of gender and sexuality in Anglophone writing from the nineteenth century, this unit will study key figures and texts in feminist and queer literature. The unit will engage with the textual politics of representation, focusing particularly on aspects of space, voice, community, intersectionality, and publishing context. The unit is taught and assessed through an interdisciplinary approach to studying literature, drawing on archival, historical and cultural resources. Texts studied include: The Yellow Wallpaper, The Picture of Dorian Gray, A Room of One's Own, Zami, Loaded, and The Argonauts.
Learning Outcomes
| ULO | These are the Unit Learning Outcomes (ULOs) for this unit. At the completion of this unit, successful students can: | Alignment to Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLOs) |
|---|---|---|
| ULO1 | Apply knowledge of literary history, literary language, literary techniques, and theories of gender and sexuality to interpreting literary texts | GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities |
| ULO2 | Utilize digital technologies to access research materials on literature as well as to draw on these technologies when constructing critical and/or creative research outputs | GLO3: Digital literacy |
| ULO3 | Undertake close reading of literary texts in terms of their formal properties and historical context. Apply critical methodologies in the thematic and formal analysis of literary texts | GLO4: Critical thinking |
| ULO4 | Investigate and analyse literature in order to understand how literary texts can represent sexuality, gender, identity, and emergent subjectivities | GLO5: Problem solving |
| ULO5 | Demonstrate self management capacities in selection of relevant theoretical and interdisciplinary contexts in which to understand and create informed interpretations and responses to literary texts and be responsible and accountable for continued learning | GLO6: Self-management |
| ULO6 | Engage ethically with diverse communities and cultures in a national and global context | GLO8: Global citizenship |
Assessment
| Assessment Description | Student output | Grading and weighting (% total mark for unit) | Indicative due week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment 1: Exercise | 1000 words | 25% | Week 4 |
| Assessment 2: Exercise | 1000 words | 25% | Week 8 |
| Assessment 3: Essay | 2000 words | 50% | Week 12 |
The assessment due weeks provided may change. The Unit Chair will clarify the exact assessment requirements, including the due date, at the start of the teaching period.
Learning resource
The texts and reading list for ALL256 can be found via the University Library.
Note: Select the relevant trimester reading list. Please note that a future teaching period's reading list may not be available until a month prior to the start of that teaching period so you may wish to use the relevant trimester's prior year reading list as a guide only.
Unit Fee Information
Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study and their study discipline, and your study load.
Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.
For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current Students website.