Course Details in 2025/26 Session

Module Title	LH Kinship, Gender and Sexuality
School	History and Cultures
Department	African Studies & Anthropology
Module Code	09 29604
Module Lead	Dr Jessica Johnson
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	Students cannot take this module at level H if they have taken it at level I.
Contact Hours	Lecture-10 hours Seminar-10 hours Guided independent study-180 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	Students will engage with classic concerns in the anthropology of kinship, developing a chronological understanding of developments in the field since the mid-twentieth century. They will study the parallel development of the anthropology of women in the 1970s and 1980s, and the subsequent emergence of the anthropology of gender and sexuality. Topics covered will include: marriage and family forms, the reputed ‘crisis’ of masculinity, attitudes towards romantic love, and discourses of human, women’s and LGBTQ+ rights. Emphasis will be placed on the theoretical contributions of feminist anthropologists as well as debates about the suitability of feminism as a framework for anthropological studies of non-Western societies. Students will be encouraged to engage with the work of African and Asian scholars alongside texts produced by European and North American anthropologists. Case studies will be taken from across the world in an effort to make ‘the familiar strange and the strange familiar’, encouraging students to examine their own assumptions about family forms, gender relations and human sexuality.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Demonstrate understanding of the historical development of anthropological interests in kinship, gender and sexuality. Critically assess the relationship between anthropology and feminism. Critically examine common Euro-American assumptions about gender relations. Engage in informed discussions about global human-, women’s- and LGBTQ+ rights campaigns.
Assessment	29604-01 : 1500 word written assignment - Essay 1 : Coursework (40%) 29604-02 : 2000 word written assignment - Essay 2 : Coursework (60%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: 1 x 1500 word written assignment (40%)
Other
Reading List