Global Sexual Politics (GEN370)

How and why is the global an important lens for understanding sexual and gender politics in their contemporary and historical manifestations? This interdisciplinary course critically explores the politics of gender and sexuality in a global context, engaging with scholarship that traces both the expansion of progressive LGBTQI+ movements and the rise of transnational counter-mobilizations rooted in conservative, religious, and nationalist ideologies.

The course draws on a broad range of interdisciplinary scholarship, encouraging students to explore diverse forms of social life and perspectives in world politics.

There must be a minimum of 20 students enrolled on the course (GEN370 and GEN570 combined) by August 20 for the course to run autumn 2026. This course is not offered digitally/hybrid.

How and why is the global a crucial lens for understanding contemporary sexual and gender politics? This course engages with the rapid expansion of LGBTQI+ rights, visibility, and scholarship over recent decades, alongside intensifying transnational backlash movements that contest these developments.

We examine how sexual politics are embedded in geopolitical struggles over sovereignty, nationalism, religion, and development, and how these struggles shape not only rights regimes but also knowledge production in academia and beyond. Particular attention is given to the global circulation of “anti-gender” ideologies, the role of variegated international actors, and the emergence of epistemic conflicts over gender, sexuality, and scientific knowledge– including pandemics and climate change.

The course also addresses historical formations of sexuality and gender identity, as well as queer and trans temporalities—that is, how time, history, and futurity are differently experienced, narrated, and politicised across contexts. We will explore how the past is mobilized in both progressive and reactionary politics, how histories are erased or reclaimed, and how imaginaries of the future shape contemporary struggles.

By engaging with interdisciplinary theory, case studies, and activist scholarship, students will analyse how struggles over gender and sexuality are simultaneously struggles over history, futurity, knowledge, and the authority to define reality.

Knowledge

Upon successful completion of the course, students should have

• knowledge about key concepts, contexts, and differences.
• knowledge about theoretical perspectives on comparative, global topics related to interdisciplinary, critical sexuality studies.
• knowledge of the relationships between sexuality, gender, inequality and difference across historical periods and locations.

Skills

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:

• analyze and critically discuss how concepts such as gender and sexuality change across locations and temporalities.
• critically assess different information sources and use this skill to structure and develop an academic argument.
• apply relevant theories for analytical purposes.

Competences

Upon successful completion of the course, students should have the following competences:

• the ability to formulate your own opinion on debates about global genders and sexualities, using sources from inside and outside of this course.
• the ability to communicate research and perspectives, making oral and written presentations.
• the ability to apply relevant research knowledge critically across various contexts, inside and beyond the academy, as well as recognize and respond to them in professional and educational situations.
• contribute towards the solutions for a sustainable society by explicitly addressing central Sustainable Development Goals, including inequity, minorities, environmental and climate crises, and embedding these perspectives in the course's interdisciplinary and global scholarship on gender and sexuality.

There are three coursework requirements for this course:

• A written critical reflection on a self-selected weekly topic. Students may choose to work in pairs. The assignment will be assessed on a Complete/Incomplete basis.
• Class attendance: Students are required to attend at least 60% of scheduled sessions.
• Group work and presentation: Students will work in small groups on assignments related to a course theme and present their analyses and findings in at least one in-class presentation.

Failure to pass these compulsory assignments will disqualify the student from taking the final exam.

The course consists of weekly sessions. These sessions will include lectures, seminars, group work and individual work adapted to different modes of study. All students are expected to read the syllabus and participate in group discussions and thereby develop analytic reflections in a productive environment with fellow students. This will be done on and off campus and the course coordinator will facilitate a digital learning platform (Canvas). The working language for this course is English.

The literature for this course consists of a collection of articles and book chapters to be found in Leganto. Information about the article collection can be found on Canvas before the start of the course. Any changes to the curriculum will be announced on Canvas before the start of the course. The curriculum consists of approximately 800 pages.

All students with study rights at UiS, including international students.

This course can be taken as a part of the Minor in Gender Studies (30ECTS).