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From Oppression to Resistance: Exploring the Intersections of Race, Class and Gender

Module description

There has been much talk in recent years about the spread of racism across Britain in the context of Brexit as well as about the entrenched nature of sexism (think gender pay gap) and classism (think about the accusation that our ‘political class’ is out of touch with ‘ordinary people’) in our cultural, economic and political institutions. And yet it is not always clear what media commentators, politicians and even academics mean when they talk about these forms of exclusion and, indeed, it sometimes feels as if these charges are being mobilised for political purposes either to demonise particulars constituencies as ‘Other’ or conversely, to deny the existence of one or all of these  injustices. All we have to do is recall the constant cry that ‘all Brexiteers are racist’ or that the Tory Party is ‘Islamophobic’ or that the Labour Party is ‘institutionally racist’.  And we don’t have to search hard before we find claims about the divisive role of ‘identity politics’ (read feminism, Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ politics) given that we are now supposedly living in a post-class, post-race, post-feminist world, liberal world.

This module seeks to identify and develop conceptual resources to assess and respond (whether it be to defend, refute or complicate) these kinds of claims. More concretely, it aims to critically examine the overlapping workings of gender, race and class as both a site of oppression and resistance. To this end, we will investigate prevailing academic understandings of both concepts and subject them to critical scrutiny by listening to and learning from the self-understandings and experiences of those who are caught up in this nexus of power and social action. We will ask: how is gender, race and class defined and conceptualised as sites of unequal power in the academic literature? How do women, people of colour and people who identify as working class articulate their experiences of subjugation? What are these experiences? How do they resist them? And what can be learnt from these practices of resistance with respect to the nature and operation of subjugation and oppression?

In terms of the structure of the module, it is divided into two parts mapping onto the ‘politics of oppression’, on the one hand, and the ‘politics of resistance’, on the other. In each case we will explore the meaning and practice of this kind of politics; critically evaluate the strengths and limits of these two broad characterisations; and examine to what extent they are intertwined around salient theoretical, practical and ethical issues. Methodologically, this is an inter-disciplinary module which will draw on the insights of sociology, anthropology, literature, art and film. No pre-requisites or specialist knowledge required. 

Module aims - intentions of the module

• To understand how oppression is defined in the academic literature
• To explore to what extent conceptualisations of oppression chime with the self-understandings and experiences of those subjected to it.
• To understand how resistance is defined in the academic literature
• To explore how these conceptualisations fit or not with the self-understandings and experiences of those who enact it.
• To identify and draw on a range of source material which goes beyond political science and IR and includes sociology, literature, film, art, journalism and interviews with activists.

This module is research led to the extent that it will draw on the lecturer’s primary research into the working of gender/race and class in the context of various left-wing movements. It is student-led to the extent that it will allow you to choose which case studies you want to pursue and therefore to develop your own research agenda and research skills. It will also ask you to take leadership in the classroom and present your work to your fellow students.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the theories and concepts that are deployed at the intersections of race, class and gender.
• 2. engage in in-depth empirical analysis of specific cases of oppression and resistance.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. demonstrate effective critical and analytical skills in relation to a complex and varied inter-disciplinary body of literature and to construct arguments in a coherent and reflexive way.
• 4. select and analyse particular instances of oppressive politics and/or resistance politics.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. present complex arguments with clarity and concision.
• 6. design, organise and run seminars.
• 7. work independently and in groups under tight time constraints.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Conceptualising the Anatomy of Oppression
• Mapping sexism from the inside
• Mapping racism from the inside
• Mapping classism from the inside
• Thinking Across Power Relations: Conceptualising Intersectionality (student run workshop)
• Conceptualising the Anatomy of Resistance
• Exploring the politics of feminism
• Exploring the politics of anti-racism
• Exploring the politics of class
• Practising Intersectional Resistance (student run workshop)

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

On Gender and Feminism:

• I. M. Young. 1989. ‘Polity and group difference: A critique of the ideal of universal citizenship’ Ethics 9, 250-74.
• G. Omvedt. 1986. ‘Patriarchy: the analysis of women’s oppression’, Critical Sociology
• J. Medina. 2013. The Epistemology of Resistance, OUP.
• C. Redfern and K. Aune. 2013. Reclaiming the F Word!, Zed Publishers.
• Made in Dagenham a film by Nigel Cole or On the Basis of Sex film by Leder.
• Feminist Poetry Slam - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/27/verse-goes-viral-how-young-feminist-writers-are-reclaiming-poetry-for-the-digital-age
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ‘We Should All Be Feminists’ TEDx Talk or booklet version 2012. Anchor Books.
• A. Gumbs, C. Martens and M. Williams. 2016. Mothering: Love on the Front Lines, PM Press.
• Roma, Film by Alfonso Cuarón

On Race and Anti-racist politics:

• L. M. Alcoff. 2015. The Future of Whiteness, Polity.
• R. Diangelo. 2018. White Fragility, Penguin Random House.
• K-Y. Talyor. 2016. From Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation, Haymarket Books.
• R. Eddo-Lodge. 2017. Why I’M No Longer Talking to White People, Bloomsbury Publishing.
• J. Baldwin. 1955. Notes of a Native Son.
• TN. Coates. 2015. Between the World and Me, Text publishing.
• Toni Morrison. 1970. The Bluest Eye. Holt publishers.
• Get Out! Film by Jordan Peele.
• I am Not Your Negro, documentary by  Raoul Peck

On Class and Working Class Politics:

• Evans and Tilly. 2017. The New Politics of Class, OUP.
• A. Sillitoe. 1962. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, W.H Allen.
• S. Todd. 2014. The People: The Rise and Fall of the Working Class, John Murray.
• L. Hanley. 2016. Crossing the Class Divide, Penguin.
• J. D. Vance. 2016. Hillbilly Elegy, Harper Collins Publishers - and his critics
• I, Daniel Blake a film by Ken Loach

Key words search

Oppression, Resistance, the Politics of Race, Class and Gender