Women’s and Gender Studies M. Phil./Ph. D. programme is conducted jointly by Ambedkar University, Delhi and Centre for Women’s Development Studies (Delhi) as part of collaboration between the two institutions. The program will assimilate analytical understandings of the significance of gender (relations) and foster study of conduits and configurations of power, causes, contexts and consequences of women’s subordination.
The M.Phil. Programme also creates a space for questioning silences around gender that steer the workings of caste, class and community in contemporary and historical societies, and in the social sciences.
Teaching Methodology:
The pedagogies of teaching and learning employed at Women’s and Gender Studies research programmes, are intended to inculcate a feminist sensibility in our students in ways that balance academic rigour with intellectual freedom.
Students are encouraged to experience the personal as political by bringing into the classroom spaces critical reflection on their own and others’ life histories and activism in conjunction with feminist texts and theorisation.
At Ambedkar University Delhi, the programme is offered by the School of Human Studies, an explorative, interdisciplinary space for thinking and reflecting on the myriad meanings of being human. Academic programmes housed in the School focus on the promise and potential of the human along with the actual historical exclusions and marginalisations that humans have led to. This unique collaboration with Centre for Women’s Development Studies supplements the development approach to gender with the interdisciplinary resources at AUD, in particular literature, film, psychology, sociology, history and expressive cultures.
Research Opportunity:
The M.Phil. dissertation in the second year of the Programme allows students to do independent research under supervision. This is an opportunity to not only contribute to knowledge production in the field of Women’s and Gender Studies but also to interpret and challenge existing knowledge systems with a gender-sensitive lens. The research thus conducted is also expected to help students in identifying the potential areas of research and work to be taken up after the completion of their Programme.
The Proposed Course Structure* for 2017-19:
The AUD-CWDS collaborative MPhil/PhD programme in Women and Gender Studies was launched in 2012-13 and has just completed five years of this successful collaboration. In the light of this experience as well as the newly proposed AUD Research Guidelines 2017 for the MPhil/PhD programme, some revisions in the existing course structure have been proposed. These revisions will provide the necessary grounding for MPhil students who must complete both the course work and the thesis within the two year period stipulated by the new guidelines. It also caters to PhD students from outside AUD who may not have the requisite background in the field of women and gender studies, and who can avail of these courses being offered in the first year of the proposed 5 year period available for completing the PhD.
The proposed course structure is given below:
| Semester 2 Name of the course and credits assigned |
Semester 1 Name of the course and credits assigned |
S.No |
| Guided Study (2 Credits) compulsory | Feminist Theories (4 credits)- core compulsory | 1 |
| Elective (4 credits) Open elective | Research Methods with Exemplary Works ( 4 credits) – core compulsory | 2. |
| *Core Elective (2 credits) | 3. | |
| Semester 3 and 4 – Dissertation/Thesis – 16 credits | ||
* The collaboration and the course structure are under review and changes as proposed are subject to approval by relevant authorities
The first semester of the programme provides the necessary orientation to students at the theoretical level and in terms of research methodology. The first semester has two course compulsory courses, Feminist Theories (4 credits) and Research Methods with Exemplary Works (4 credits). Another Core Elective (2 credits) will be opted for by the students from among the electives offered within the programme. The second semester gives the option of choosing an elective (4 credits) from other programmes across the University. This is to fully avail the range of expertise among faculty and also to cater to the different interests of students. A compulsory Guided Study course (2 credits) will also be offered in the second semester based on the specific research interests of the students so as to effectively guide them towards a fully worked out research proposal before the end of the second semester. The proposed weightage of dissertation/thesis in the revised programme structure is 16 credits.
Duration: 2 years
Total Credits: 32
Medium of Instruction: English
Nature of Programme: Interdisciplinary
Number of Seats: 10 (MPhil)
Eligibility: Masters with 55% in the Social Sciences, Natural Sciences or in professional degrees like engineering, law and medicine or equivalent grade and a relaxation of 5% of marks, from 55% to 50%, or an equivalent relaxation of grade, may be allowed for those belonging to SC/ST/OBC(non-creamy layer)/Differently-Abled .
Reservation of Seats: In accordance with Government of NCT Delhi rules
COURSE PREAMBLES:
The list of electives given for both the semesters is indicative and will vary depending upon the composition of a batch, availability of faculty and optimum class size among others. More electives are being planned for both the semesters.
Semester I
Feminist Theories (Semester I, 4 Credits)
This course designed to provide students with a genealogy of feminist theories and concepts. Eschewing the dominant narrative mode of representing the history of feminist theory as a series of ‘waves,’ we will examine the history of ideas on and different theoretical and disciplinary approaches to the study of women and gender. How has women’s oppression been theorised by deploying new concepts or theoretical frames?
What sorts of debates and contestations have characterised such theories, whether in India or elsewhere? How have various strands of social thought (liberal, materialist, Marxist, psychoanalytic, poststructuralist, postcolonial, etc.) influenced conceptualizations of women and gender and how have feminists responded to key social thinkers from these perspectives? Course readings will include approaches to theorizing patriarchy, women, sex and gender as analytical constructs; the relationship of women and gender to other relations of difference/hierarchy/power, such as class, race, caste, nation, disability, among others; questions of universality, community/culture and so on; masculinity and femininity as social constructions; theorizing on sexualities and sexual identities; and feminism itself as a contested political term. One of the key aims of the course is to understand the linkages between core theoretical movements that have influenced feminist scholarship over the past several decades, and the challenges that they pose for the practice of feminist inquiry and modes of theorizing across the disciplines and in the Indian context.
- Research Methodologies and Epistemologies & Exemplary works (4 credits, Semester I)
The course will highlight highlight the marginalization of gender in knowledge and knowledge production in different disciplines like the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. Conventional knowledge systems revolve around notions of truth, rationality, universality, objectivity and the scientific method. In this framework, the researcher is envisaged as a detached, unbiased and objective observer. Given the historical dominance of patriarchy, feminism regards such knowledge as inherently androcentric (male-centred), since men have occupied positions of power and authority in all domains of social life, including the academy. Feminist theory and methodology contest this approach to knowledge and proposes alternate more gender-sensitive perspectives. It is the purpose of this course to both describe the feminist critique of conventional knowledge and the alternate paradigms of approaching knowledge and doing research that are less sexist and more sensitive to both the location of the researcher and the object/subject of study. Exemplary feminist research articles shall be taken in this course to demonstrate the research methods used in these works and their connections with epistemologies.
Some key themes shall be taken up to illustrate not only how myriad research techniques maybe used for a single issue, but also how different facets or dimensions of the apparently same phenomenon get highlighted from different methodological perspectives. Heterosexual marriage and family, labour, health and violence are some themes that shall be taken up to discuss key approaches in feminist research methodologies that actively engage with concepts like subjectivity of the researcher, individual experience, questioning the qualitative-quantities distinctions, power relations in research etc and most importantly how to arrive at a research problem. For instance, taking the example of gender and labour, one may look at women’s participation in the work force from macro-level data sets like the census and NSSO data sets and arrive at quantitative findings. From another perspective, one may look at how housework and reproduction conceptually constitute distinctive forms of work that are not necessarily labour in the market sense of the term. Then, one may look at the sexual division of labour at the household level and examine the concept of double burden of work through qualitative studies. Looking at women and work in the formal sphere, one may look at issues of status and profession through organisation-based ethnographies. There is enough published material in the form of research papers and articles to provide this theme based methodological perspective to students. Some of the material can in fact be culled out from the attached list of suggested readings.
Applying a gendered lens to different kinds of primary and secondary data will help students operationalise key feminist concepts and theoretical constructs with a view to developing their dissertation project.
III. Any one Core Elective
- Feminist Movements in South Asia (2 credits, Semester 1, Core elective)
Our understanding of social, economic, cultural, ecological and political conflicts on the one hand and the possibility of change and transformation on the other hand are impacted by our vantage point. The nation-state more often than not has been a favored vantage point to understand feminist movements. What would feminist movements look like if these boundaries were to be disregarded? Is there a possibility of doing so? These along with many related questions would be discussed in this course.
This course would firmly advocate that a perspective that moves beyond the boundaries of the cartographic certainties imposed by the nation-state would yield a different and probably a more textured understanding of our times. This course would argue that such boundaries are more likely to be accompanied by power, surveillance, control, regulation and violence. How does the idea of the nation-state impact feminist politics, and how does feminist politics destabilize and sidestep the idea of the nation-state, while being mindful of the differences that abound?
South Asia is an interesting ground for the study of feminist movements because of its complexities, similarities and differences. Studying this region from a gendered perspective would yield very fascinating insights. It is a region that has on the one hand produced important women politicians and heads of states, while also being witness to some very brutal and harsh attacks on women based on caste, ethnicity, language and religion. The course seeks to demonstrate patterns of feminist struggles and triumphs both at the local as well as the national and regional levels and in doing so it seeks to study the patterns of feminist politics and mobilization in this region.
- Masculinities (2 credits, Semester 1, Core elective)
Masculinity as a field of enquiry is important to theorise gender as a category of analysis. The course looks at masculinity as socially produced but embodied ways of being male. Its manifestations include manners of speech, behaviour, gestures, social interaction, a division of tasks proper to men and women (men work in offices, women do housework), and an overall narrative that positions it as superior to The discourse of masculinity as a dominant and superior gender position is produced at a number of sites and has specific consequences for ‘other’ genders especially its perceived antithesis, femininity. These sites include: customary laws and regulations, the state and its mechanisms, the family, religious norms and sanctions, popular culture, and, the media. The mass media is one of the most important means for the transmission, circulation and reception of local and global masculine identities. With the rise of new technologies of media and communication, representations of masculinities find both local and global anchoring. In this sense, the media becomes a transformative force field with a capacity to change structures of belief. This course will explore various historical, cultural, political and social contexts through which ideas of masculinity / masculinities circulate and take shape. A review of masculinity studies in India will also be undertaken. The significance of detaching Masculinity from men’s bodies is emphasized to comprehend the difference in context of different identity locations.
OR
- Violence: Feminist Critiques and Resistances (VFCR) – (2 credits, Semester 1, Core elective)
The specific phenomenon of gender based violence is contained within the large and complex rubric of violence itself. The course will thus begin by conceptually locating the question of gender based violence within the idea of violence itself. In specific, an analysis of the violence perpetuated by the state and its various structures will form an underlying theme of the course. As such a larger emphasis will be on understanding structural and indirect violences, of phenomenon such as disability, land and property rights, sexual rights and the violence emanating out of the everyday. Since the different forms of violence originate from and are produced by systems and discourses of societal, political and economic power, the discussions in the course would include an examination of philosophical questions as to how processes such as law, democracy, (neo)colonialism, practice of caste and religion, as well as their corresponding institutions such as families, courts, schools and religious structures are invested with regimes of power. Also under discussion would be the gendered ideas of violence and non-violence itself. The course thus aims to expand our understanding of violence and its feminist critiques and responses, to locate both these categories in the quotidian and the banal.
- Women’s Movements (2 credits, Semester 1, Core elective)
An Elective 2 credit course on Women’s Movements for MPhil research scholars is aimed at making students read, think and interpret the movement(s) rather than being very information-heavy, in the chronological sense. The course will keep the contexts of movements in mind, the broader political and economic processes that impact protests, resistances and transformations. The attempt is thereby to comprehend that the movement is a process rather than cumulative stages of certain ‘moments’. Emphasis will be on the use of original texts and documents (permanent as well as ephemeral) produced as a part of the movement. To support these original texts, contexts will be provided by other theoretical and conceptual readings. The main objective of the course will be to understand how to study movement(s) and the challenges in documenting movements.
Semester II
I Guided Study (2 credits)
The Guided Study course is an individually tailored course being offered to students of both the MPhil and PhD in their second semester. The course will be structured around the thematic subject focus of the student as well as questions relating to how they wish to conduct the proposed research. Thus, depending on the interest and preparedness of the student regular meetings will be held with the concerned faculty to discuss a) readings specific to the area of interest of the student’s research and b) conducting pilot studies to test the research questions of the student in the field of choice (whether involving field work, archival research, textual or conceptual explorations). This is a 2 credit course and will have structured meetings with the faculty member assigned to the student. The student will be evaluated in terms of a presentation of the work undertaken, a piece of writing that is close to providing a fully worked out research proposal, and the process involved.
II Electives: (4 credits)
- Global Feminism – Rachna Chaudhary
The course asks the question, is there global feminism? The multiple images that form at the invocation of the word include, among others, seeing it as an idea for the purpose of representation, a movement, with representational logic as well as embodied practices. The possibility of it being both is also not unimaginable. What does it represent and to whom and to what effect? It will attempt to understand the unintended/intended effects of the global on the local/national/regional feminisms and the relationship between these strands.
The course traces some of the important moments in the making of “global feminism” as a category – the radical feminist moment of the 70s USA, where a feminist like Robin Morgan came up with the slogan, “sisterhood is global” and the U.N. development decades of the 60s and 70s which “added” women globally into development goals for the globe. The “global” of the former moment emerges from a theorization of patriarchy as universal. The developmental moment, on the other hand, imagines individual nation states as responsible for the “improvement” of their respective subjects and therefore, the logic of adding up national state driven initiatives for women adding up to form the entity called global feminism.
- Gender and Education – Manish Jain
This course aims to understand and examine how education and schooling are deeply ‘gendered’ constructs and experiences. It uses education and schooling as an entry point to examine questions related to state formation, international institutions, public policies, inequality and labour in colonial and contemporary contexts from the lens of gender. It draws on feminist engagement and critiques of education, schooling and state policies to probe how gendered constructions of knowledge and learner shape educational transaction as expressed in curriculum, textbooks and pedagogy. It engages with the historic denial and unequal access of education to girls and women and challenges to this inequality in colonial and independent India. Different national and international policy documents and discourses are examined in the course to take note of how state policies, international institutions, different sections of civil society and the intersecting vectors of gender, class, race, caste and ethnicity shape the policies, initiatives, and programmes for education of girls. This course also analyses formation and experience of schools as gendered spaces that in interaction with other social forces and processes produce masculine and feminine selves with different affective ties with the nation. Different kinds of employment of women in the formal and informal sectors of education are also probed to understand the gendered linkages of education with labour and community mobilization.
This course will be taught through a combination of class lectures, individual and group exercises. It would use a set of selected readings, audio-visual and textual sources (curriculum and textbooks) for transaction of this course.
- Transnational Feminisms – Niharika Banerjea
This course will introduce students to the theories, practices and research around
Transnational feminisms. How do feminists understand difference and build solidarity and alliance across differences of class, race, nationality, caste, gender, sexuality, religion and language? How do feminists critically write and dialogue about processes of colonialism, global capitalism, nationalism, human rights, and the politics of gender, sexuality, race, caste, and nation? In what ways does collaboration as a concept and practice define transnational feminisms? These are some key questions that we will engage with in this course with particular attention to organizing and coalition building across north–‐south divides. Along the way, we will also attempt to understand the intersections of transnational feminisms, the politics of knowledge production, and social justice concerns.
- Global Childhoods – Anandini Dar
In this course students will be introduced to the idea of childhood as a global phenomenon. To do so, the course will set up two key positions to understanding global childhoods. First, that there exist multiple childhood(s) across the globe. And second, that these childhoods are affected and informed by global processes – such as, colonization, imperialism, and globalization — offering an interrogation of how global flows (of people, ideas, commodities, and institutions) transport and export some normative western, modern, and universal notions of childhoods to different parts of the world – both historically and in contemporary contexts. These exported and “universal” conceptions of childhood are manifest in sites, such as, educational institutions, early child care and development policies, children’s media, fiction, and children’s rights. Class readings, films, and discussions will engage with various figurations of local childhoods across the globe, particularly, child migrants, child labourers, and children of sex workers to better understand the complexities of children’s lives and educational realities in India and across the globe. Finally, this course aims to help students situate children’s lives, childhoods, and education in India in relation with global politics of childhood.
- Gendered World: Politics and Memory in Northeast India (GWNEI)- Lovitoli Jimo
The course will introduce students to India’s Northeast region through a gendered lens; the making of Northeast India during colonial period and, the making of Indian nation state in the post-colonial context where India’s Northeast region became one of the ‘other’. The course intends to deconstruct the idea of one homogeneous Northeast in the popular imagination within the Indian nation state. This will be done by foregrounding the contentious relationship between memory and history, culture and politics, and understanding how deeply gendered this history of homogenisation of Northeast has been. The role of political economy and the forces of market and developmental discourse of post-colonial India in the construction of the region will also be looked at.
The aim of the course is to understand the region through a critical feminist lens to interrogate how memories, both individual and collective, become cultural artifacts put into the service of nation building or identity formation. It thus attempts to unpack ‘Northeast’ as a ‘cultural category’ and at the same time critically engages with State policies and State making in the creation of the ‘Other’. One of the ways in which Northeast is looked at is through colonial texts and records and in the language of state in post-colonial India as the region of conflict. Hence, the idea is to read the text against the grain where people’s memory is used and evoked through different kinds of texts. Peoples memories are used both in the creation of the hegemony as well as in interrogating the state and its agencies. Memory here is then used more as a methodological and pedagogical tool rather than a conceptual category.
There is a need to theorise the framing of India’s Northeast region by looking at the complex histories and trajectories of the region through the concept of space, time and history in history making. One of the central questions that emerge is the absence of gendered history in the region. The challenge thus is to use gender as an analytical category in understating the region and therefore to theorise the political. The assumption that women here enjoy equal position in the so called egalitarian society, or that Northeast India is matrilineal and hence women are liberated is problematic. The division of labour, rights and privilege enjoyed based on age, gender, location, race, tribe etc. will be interrogated along with the societal norms of governance and its translation into customary practices and laws which is based on oral history and culture; the trope of motherhood assigned to women through customary lens and the role played by women in identity politics. Placed between tradition, customs, and conflict situation, women negotiate between tradition and state power through fractured everyday experience and reality. Hence the need to engage, contextualize and theories different agents and functionaries of patriarchies and the emerging voices of women in the politics of India’s Northeast region which this course will consciously make an effort to address.