300839 Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality: A Focus on the Middle East (30-M26) (S) (SoSe 2025)

This course aims to explore the key issues and topics in gender and sexuality research by focusing on Middle Eastern societies with a specific focus on the Turkish context. The course is structured around three main strands:

First, the course will establish a general framework for gender and sexuality studies, covering the historical background and fundamental characteristics of these research fields.
Second, postcolonial critiques within the field will be discussed, as they allow for a more complex, relational, and intersectional understanding of gender and sexuality.
Third, we will read and analyze texts focusing on gender and sexuality in Middle Eastern societies. Thus, the course will emphasize topics such as how gender is constructed in Middle Eastern societies, how heteronormativity and patriarchy function within these contexts, and the dynamics of feminist movements in the region.

At the end of the course, students will be able to:
· Develop a general framework on how gender and sexuality orders have emerged and function in Middle Eastern societies.
· Adopt a critical standpoint toward dominant representations of the region.

Hence, students will be able to point out the complex social relations at play regarding gender and sexuality and highlight the interaction between the global and the local that shapes these relations.