InterGender course: Learning to read differently

About the course

• Participants: PhD students and advanced Master’s students.
• Dates: 4–6 October 2023
• Location: University of Vienna, Austria
• Deadline for applications: 18 June 2023
• Applications should be sent to: InterGender Consortium Coordinator Edyta Just (edyta.just@liu.se)
• Maximum number of participants: 30
• Language: English

Much academic work relies on existing texts and their interpretation. As scholars, we necessarily build on these knowledges transmitted to us by others in order to try to better understand power relations and their modes of action, to form our own arguments based on the texts, to make sense of certain social phenomena and to contribute to thinking_feeling about the world. All too often, this process of reading becomes so normalized that we hardly think about the consequences and premises of these practices of reading themselves. Therefore, we want to dedicate this PhD and MA course to the goal of “Learning to Read Differently”. Throughout the course, we will engage not only with how we read “texts” as they are commonly understood, but also with how we interpret the fabric of reality and the situations and phenomena we encounter in our research and beyond. Together, we want to explore what we choose to read or not to read, as well as the political implications that arise from these practices. Thus, the course aims to support participants in exercising reading practices and research methods that enable them to critically reflect upon the “standard” practices usually governed by white euro-anglo-centric academia, to challenge them, and to try out different approaches.

On the first day of the three-day course, there will be a round-table conversation between three scholars currently teaching, working and researching in critical Gender & Queer Studies in Vienna, followed by a discussion of participants’ research with these scholars. Sushila Mesquita, Cornelia Schadler and Oishi Sengupta will have a conversation about reading and writing differently in the context of hegemonic institutional orders. They will also discuss challenges they face(d) and strategies they develop(ed) while doing their own PhDs. The afternoon of the first day will be dedicated to discussing participants’ research in the context of the overarching course theme.

The second day will center around decolonizing reading practices, and will be chaired by Madhavi Menon, Director of the Centre for Studies in Gender & Sexuality at Ashoka University, India. The day will comprise a lecture, engagement with a film that participants will be asked to watch in preparation for the course, as well as discussion of participants’ research in the context of the day’s theme. The day will end in a communal dinner.

On the third day, we will enter into discussions around diffractive reading practices (that is, “reading insights through one another in attending to and responding to the details and specificities of relations of difference and how they matter”; Karen Barad: Meeting the Universe Halfway, p. 71), considering how these affect theory and data. The day will be facilitated by Birgit Mara Kaiser, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Utrecht University, Netherlands. It will once again comprise a lecture and seminar as well as reflections on the process and experience of the course. We will also consider how we can implement what we learned in our own research and work/life in academia.

Instructors

• Dr. Birgit Mara Kaiser, Utrecht University, Netherlands
• Prof. Madhavi Menon, Ashoka University, India
• Dr.x Sushila Mesquita, University of Vienna, Austria
• Dr. Cornelia Schadler, University of Vienna, Austria
• Oishi Sengupta, MA MA, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria

Provisional schedule

Wednesday, 4 October 2023

09:30–10:00    Arrival & registration
10:00–11:00    Welcome & getting to know each other
11:00–11:15     Coffee break
11:15–13:00     Roundtable discussion: “Reading and writing differently” (Sushila Mesquita, Cornelia Schadler, Oishi Sengupta)
13:00–14:00     Lunch break
14:00–16:30     Discussion of participants’ work (Sushila Mesquita, Cornelia Schadler, Oishi Sengupta)

Thursday, 5 October 2023

10:00–10:15    Arrival
10:15–11:15    Lecture: “The Trouble with Pronouns” (Madhavi Menon)
11:15–11:30    Coffee break
11:30–13:00    Seminar (Madhavi Menon)
13:00–14:00    Lunch break
14:00–16:30    Discussion of participants’ work (Madhavi Menon)
19:00    Dinner

Friday, 6 October 2023

10:00–10:15    Arrival
10:15–11:15    Lecture: “On the Politics of Diffractive Reading” (Birgit Mara Kaiser)
11:15–11:30    Coffee break
11:30–13:00    Seminar (Birgit Mara Kaiser)
13:00–14:00    Lunch break
14:00–16:30    Reflection on how the course themes can be implemented in participants’ own work
18:00    Public lecture: “A History of Desire in India” (Madhavi Menon)

After you have been accepted: preparation, accreditation and examination

Preparation for the course

We ask that participants who are accepted to the course do the following in preparation for the in-person meetings:

• Engage with the course readings and other preparatory materials provided by the instructors (about 500–600 pages in mandatory readings as well as a film that we ask you to watch). These will be made available online.
• Write a paper of 2–5 pages describing a research problem related to the course and your PhD or MA thesis project, to be sent to the InterGender Consortium Coordinator Edyta Just (edyta.just@liu.se) by 3 September. Please don’t forget to mark it with your name and the course name.
• Read the short papers (see above) of your fellow group members before the course and be prepared to offer constructive comments. The papers will be made available online roughly two weeks before the course.

Optional essay after the course

If you wish to earn additional credits for the course, you can hand in an essay of 6000–7000 words no later than 3 months after the course. Your essay can be graded by either Birgit Mara Kaiser or Cornelia Schadler. One copy should be sent to the instructor of your choice (see above), who is going to evaluate it (graded pass/fail). A second copy should be sent to the InterGender Consortium Coordinator Edyta Just (edyta.just@liu.se). The instructor has 3 months to evaluate the essay.

The essay should strike a balance between addressing a theme that has been part of the course (lectures, discussions, reading material) and being relevant for your own research. Additionally, it should be considered an exercise in doing a written presentation aimed at an academic readership not necessarily familiar with your research. The essay should constitute a whole and explain relevant contexts where appropriate.

Accreditation and examination

You can receive ECTS credits for participating in the course. There are two options:

• 7.5 ECTS credits are given for active participation in the 3-day course as well as your short paper, 2–5 pages (see above, graded pass/fail).
• 10 ECTS credits are given for active participation in the 3-day course with the optional essay (see above, graded pass/fail).

Course certificate

The Consortium Coordinator issues, upon request, a certificate indicating the number of ECTS credits that participation in the course is considered equal to. It is your own responsibility to ask your home institution about rules for accreditation and to obtain appropriate credit for participation in the InterGender course within your curriculum.

Please email Edyta Just (edyta.just@liu.se) to request your course certificate.