Crime and gender violence

Recommended Prerequisites

Basic skills in the field of social sciences are recommended. Considering that the seminars are lectured in English, it is a fundamental prerequisite that students have a knowledge of the English language that allows them an adequate comprehension and oral expression, as well as reading and interpreting academic texts. With regards to writing, students must have the appropriate skills to write in English, or Portuguese or Spanish.

Teaching Methods

The seminars of this curricular unit will switch between moments of oral presentations by professors or students (presentation of texts or topics related to the programme) and moments of collective reflection and debate. These will include active teaching activities, such as group work and simulations. In order for the model to fully work, students must read the recommended readings before each class.

Learning Outcomes

The general obj. is to critically reflect on crime and violence and analyse the limits to access to law and justice and the emancipatory possibilities of law

Specific obj. :1. analysis of the political economy of the 3 contemporary systems generating violence: heteropatriarchy, capitalism and colonialism;2. Reflection on the social construction of crime in the light of contemporary systems generating gender and sexual violence;3. Reflection on continuities and differences of cause and effect of gender and sexual violence in the South and the North;4. Analysis of the use of law(s) as national and transnational instrument(s) of integral reparation, justice and emancipation;5. Critical analysis of the processes of resistance and of developing of alternatives to violence that will inspire innovations in the field of access to law and justice;6. Discussing the use of tools from the Epistemologies of the South and intersectional and post-colonial feminisms in innovation of sociology of law.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1) Epistemological and methodological cartographies of crime and gender violence

1.1. Feminist hermeneutics

1.2. Narratives and experiences of resistance to gender violence in transitional justice

1.3. Beyond violence and crime: feminist perspectives of non-violence and peace

2) Violence against women, feminist mobilisation and (in)justices:

2.1. Transnational, decolonial and intersectional approaches

2.2. Feminist and antiracist mobilisation of women's human rights

2.3. Subjectivities, knowledges and resistances of women in situations of violence

2.4. Dialogues of knowledges and activist research in sociology of violences against women

3) Crime, sexual violences and violences against women

3.1. The legal subject “woman”

3.2. Social and legal construction of victim, criminal and crime

3.3. Towards feminist understanding of violence in intimacy relations

4) Globalisation of Crime and Control

4.1. Capitalism, violence and gender

4.2. Decoloniality, counter-power and gender.

Head Lecturer(s)

Maria Madalena Santos Duarte

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Assessment will be dynamic and bipartite: written work in English, Portuguese or Spanish (70%) and oral participation in class (30%): 100.0%

Bibliography

Cunha, T. (2014), Never Trust Sindarela. Feminismos, Pós-colonialismos, Moçambique e Timor-Leste. Coimbra: Edições Almedina.
Collins, P.; Bilge, S. (2016). Intersectionality. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Duarte, M. (2012), "Prostitution and Trafficking in Portugal: Legislation, Policy, and Claims", Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 9, 3, 258-268
Lugones, M. (2008). The Coloniality of Gender, Worlds & Knowledges Otherwise, p. 1-17.
Santos, B.S. (2018), The End of the Cognitive Empire. The Coming of Age of Epistemologies of the South. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Santos, C. M. (2005). Women’s Police Stations: Gender, Violence, and Justice in São Paulo, Brazil. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Segato, R.L. (2003), Las Estruturas Elementales de la Violencia. Bernal: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes.
Sokoloff, N.J.; Dupont, I. (2005), “Domestic Violence at the Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender,” Violence against Women, 11(1):38-64.