The course will have the folowing indicative basic readings and selections from others:Devereux’s. Baubo, la vulve mythique, Irigaray’s “When Our Lips Speak Together,” Irigaray’s Speculum of the Other Woman, Malabou’s Pleasure Erased: The Clitoris Unthought, and Brückner’s "On Carla Lonzi: The victory of the clitoris over the vagina as an act of women’s liberation".We usually speak of the phallus in psychoanalysis, gender studies, anatomies, medical discourses, and elsewhere. In this course we will try to bring to the focus the clitoris and examine it through different feminist and other theoretical devices, even through a philosophical approach given by Catherine Malabou. Devereux was a psychoanalyst who is among the exceptions who wrote on the feminine, together with some women psychoanalysts, such as Marie Bonaparte, and Erich Neumann. British Anthropologists, Camilla Power and Chris Knight, have also tried to find evidence and argument upon the power that the vulva and the menstrual blood had in primitive societies and in some contemporary indigenous ones.We will go through all that and see that apart from a discourse on the phallus, there is an existing, less known, or still developing one on the clitoris, the vulva, the menstrual blood, etc.In brief, we will see that the clitoris, menstruation, and in general the female anatomy, can be theorized not only as a counter-part of the penis or the phallus, but in its own symbolic multidisciplinary means, towards a Clitoridean-Vaginal Discourse.

Lecture, Presentations, Discussions, Writing Activities, Reading Materials, Films

The course will have the following indicative basic readings and selections from others:Devereux’s. Baubo, la vulve mythique, Irigaray’s “When Our Lips Speak Together,” Irigaray’s Speculum of the Other Woman, Malabou’s Pleasure Erased: The Clitoris Unthought, and Brückner’s "On Carla Lonzi: The victory of the clitoris over the vagina as an act of women’s liberation".We usually speak of the phallus in psychoanalysis, gender studies, anatomies, medical discourses, and elsewhere. In this course we will try to bring to the focus the clitoris and examine it through different feminist and other theoretical devices, even through a philosophical approach given by Catherine Malabou. Devereux was a psychoanalyst who is among the exceptions who wrote on the feminine, together with some women psychoanalysts, such as Marie Bonaparte, and Erich Neumann. British Anthropologists, Camilla Power and Chris Knight, have also tried to find evidence and argument upon the power that the vulva and the menstrual blood had in primitive societies and in some contemporary indigenous ones.We will go through all that and see that apart from a discourse on the phallus, there is an existing, less known, or still developing one on the clitoris, the vulva, the menstrual blood, etc.In brief, we will see that the clitoris, menstruation, and in general the female anatomy, can be theorized not only as a counter-part of the penis or the phallus, but in its own symbolic multidisciplinary means, towards a Clitoridean-Vaginal Discourse.

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Students who are enrolled in the Gender Studies extension programme or whose curriculum includes the respective course as a mandatory subject will be given preferential admission.ATTENTION: For a preferential admission, it is imperative that you register for the course using the study programme Gender Studies Extension or the respective degree programme for which the course is mandatory. Otherwise, preferential admission cannot be considered.

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Presentation, Written Assessments, Final Essay

Presentation, Written Assessments, Final EssayIn order to encourage engagement and active learning, the grading will be assessed based on different percentages as follows, which includes also some choice in which assignments to hand in (modification might apply to comply with the grading system that the Centre might prefer):1. Participation: (20 points)Students have to attend the vast majority of the course. This does not mean that they need to be active in all discussions taking place in class, since each person has their own character and levels of introversion or not, thus I would not like to pressure anyone speaking in class in case they do not feel comfortable. But they have to be present.2. Presentation of a text/reading material from the course and submission of a short reflection on it afterwards. (20 points)Each student will be called to choose one of the reading materials from one of the modules, so that each module has at least one student-presenter, which they will present in class for around 15-20 minutes, following discussion. After that, and based on the discussion, they will be called to submit a review/report/reflection.

3. Learning journal/notes from the course (20 points)Few lines describing what they have learned in each module, either as a narrative summary, bullet-points, reflection, questions, or other. This will not be graded, but as long as student hand in their notes they will receive the full points. This is incorporated in order to reassure that students come to the course and actively listen. In case a student does not want to hand in their notes/journal, they will not be penalized and they can compensate through the 2 bonus exercises.4. Final Project/Essay (40 points)Open to either the standard academic essay, or a discussion paper on one or two texts, with at least one extra material not discussed in the course (included in the optional readings or other), or to a more creative essay or phenomenographical essay, where one writes based on their own experience in relation to and applying theoretical topics from the course. However, respecting inclusion, diversity, gender, race, disability and other related issues, as well as keeping the standard ethics and methods of research is pivotal, referencing, basic structure of argumentation, description of methodology: that is, no plagiarism will be accepted.This (as well as the presentation/assignment of point 2, and material for other discussions in class) shall include reading of primary material (and contemporary articles newspapers, documentaries, etc.) and a critical feedback on them, (in combination with secondary academic literature).More formal criteria apply both in the case the essay handed is an academic one or a discussion paper (these criteria apply, as well, to the assessment point 2), as well as to a certain degree to the creative essay that has to incorporate the following criteria, too: have a minimal structure, critical and argumentative style: More details on structure: Presentation of a text/reading material: Research question(s), methodology, central statements, structure of the argument and context of the text/essay; and own, well-founded opinion on the text/topic:
arguments for and against, questions arising from the text/topic/thematic area, connections with other texts discussed or topics from the course, and employment of terms, concepts, and other material from the reading materials, lecture and discussions.5. Optional Bonus 1 (10 points) Feedback on the final essay of another student; it can be anonymised if there are sensitive information, or any student can choose not to open their essay/project to feedback. They will not be penalized for that. This will be an optional feedback in case students want to take a bonus of 10 points.6. Optional Bonus 2 (10 points)Very short group presentation on any topic of the course: the presentation can consist of the regular presentation/exposition, or a critique/counter-argumentation.In other words, as long as students are present, and take notes, already they will receive 40 points. If they also take the optional feedback (1 of them or both), too, they will already receive 50-60 points. Anything more than that will elevate their grade easily.Thus, the overall percentage will be 120 points (100 points plus 2x10 bonus exercises). These might be subject to change depending on recommendations for the Centre.If students receive95-120 points the grade will be: 180-94 points the grade will be: 265-79 points the grade will be: 350-64 points the grade will be: 4 49 points or less the grade will be: 5