FS30280 Gender Activism and the Global South

Academic Year 2024/2025

From sites like Right To Be (formerly Hollaback!) and Everyday Sexism which document instances of street harassment and misogyny, to social media-organized movements and communities like #MeToo and #BeenRapedNeverReported, feminists are using participatory digital media as activist tools to speak, network, and organize against sexism, misogyny, and rape culture. While global media has mostly amplified Western feminist activism, this module examines some of the creative, subversive, and "hidden" practices of women in Africa, Asia, South America and the middle-East. It analyses specific ways that women harness the power of digital technologies for feminist consciousness-raising, mobilisation, and promoting campaigns around sexism, misogyny, and rape culture. Students will develop an understanding of how digital platforms and affordances facilitate social justice campaigns while also sustaining pre-existing power dynamics and creating ‘new’ forms of exclusion defined by the speed, frequency, scope, and access to digital communication.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

- Demonstrate an understanding of the objectives, stakes, and tactics of media activism in digital culture

- Demonstrate a strong theoretical grasp of the political-economic and social contexts into which media activism intervenes and their relation to activist practices

- Demonstrate knowledge of the history of digital media activism and of the impact of technological change on approaches to organising

- Develop knowledge and skills of key research approaches in studying feminist digital activism

Indicative Module Content:

Introduction to activism in the information age
Historical and theoretical development of digital activism
Feminist digital activism
Critically reviewing studies on digital activism
Cultural politics and digital activism
Challenging rape, sexual violence and harassment online
Digital activism and authoritarian regimes
Transnational activism and hashtag politics
Activism, representation and inequalities
Research methods and approaches in feminist digital activism
The future of feminist digital activism

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

20
Specified Learning Activities

100
Autonomous Student Learning

80
Total

200
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Class discussion
Reflective learning
Engaged and critical reading
In-class peer/group activities
Social media use and engagement 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Individual Project: Students will be guided through practical projects, such as the creation of podcasts and videos. n/a Graded No

40
Participation in Learning Activities: Students are graded for participation and not attendance. Contributions to class discussions will be assessed based on frequency and quality. n/a Graded No

10
Assignment(Including Essay): A structured essay with questions broken into bullet points, allowing students to address each specific aspect of the question in their responses. n/a Graded No

50

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.