Sussex offers a broad portfolio of taught MA programmes and research degrees in gender-related subjects. Details of the MA in Gender Studies are given below. There are also three other MAs on offer: Gender and Media, Sexual Dissidence in Literature & Culture, and Gender and Development (owned by the Institute of Development Studies).
There are currently almost 100 students working on doctorates in gender-related topics, across the university. Scroll to the bottom of the page for details about DPhil (PhD) research and research training in Gender Studies.
This programme introduces students to core concepts and research methods in Gender Studies, and combines taught modules with academic research carried out under faculty supervision.
The MA has two core courses, both taught in the Autumn term.
The Politics of Gender aims to give students a grounding in feminist social and political theory, and a critical purchase on feminist methodological perspectives. Topics include the feminist critique of 'malestream' social and political thought, theoretical strands in the feminist canon ranging from liberal to postmodern and postcolonial, feminist epistemologies and methodologies, power and ethics in research conduct, and research design. By the end of the course students are prepared to conduct their own independent research on a gender-related topic.
Gender and Representation addresses the gendered nature of both mainstream and minority discourses and representations in history and culture. It introduces students to the conceptual and theoretical frameworks which facilitate understanding of the production and reception of powerful representations of masculinities, femininities and sexualities, and how gendered discourses operate in different spheres. The first part of the course concentrates on key issues in feminist and queer theories. The second part of the course considers these theoretical constructs within the frame of various media-centred case studies.
Students also take two options from the following:
Women and Human Rights
Race Critical Theory
Constitutionalism and Difference: Gender and Sexuality
Anthropology of Childbirth and Reproductive Health
Embodiment and Institutionalisation of Violence, Conflict and Conciliation
Feminism and Film
Queering Popular Culture
The Cinematic Body
Depending on availability, students may also take options from outside the programme, for instance:
The Renaissance Body
The Cinema of the Domestic
Sexuality and Creative Writing
Querying the Unconscious
Feminist Criticisms and Contemporary Women's Writing
Contemporary Post-Colonial Women's Writing
Writing by Women: the Politics of Gender
Options may change from year to year due to faculty availability because of the level of specialisation required. Core courses and options are all assessed by 5,000-word term papers written under faculty supervision.
In the summer term, students work on a 20,000-word dissertation on a topic of their own choice, closely supervised by an expert faculty member.
For more information on the MA in Gender Studies, contact Director Alison Phipps at a.e.phipps@sussex.ac.uk.
To apply for postgraduate study in Gender Studies, use the online form.
Research degrees in Gender Studies
DPhil (PhD) applicants in Gender Studies are advised to contact potential supervisors in the first instance, with a brief research proposal. Gender Studies provides a wide range of potential supervisors due to the fact that research and teaching is spread across the subject boundaries of Sociology, Media and Cultural Studies, Anthropology, English, History, History of Art and Politics and International Relations. Check the current faculty list for the latest information, or surf the departmental websites.
Potential topic areas we can supervise include:
Gender and sexuality
Sexual violence
Issues of gender and citizenship, nationalism and globalisation
Cultural representations of gender in art, literature and the media
19th and 20th century British women's history and literature
Gender, power and politics in Europe
Gender, culture, identity
Gender in the workplace
Gender and education
Gender and reproductive rights
Gender and social anthropology
Feminist life history work
Feminist movements/women's activism
For more details about DPhil (PhD) study in Gender, contact Professor Sally Munt at s.r.munt@sussex.ac.uk.
Apply for DPhil study in Gender using the online form.
Funding
There are a small number of university scholarships for postgraduate applicants and a number of external funders you might approach: please see the page on funding your studies for more information.