This module will provide students with the underlying theoretical framework for exploring a range of perspectives on the concepts of race, religion, gender and sexuality, and their intersections, including with other social relations. In doing so, the module will serve as a forum for discussion, debate, asking questions, and considering diverse perspectives on the concepts being studied, including relating them to specific case studies. The module will encourage students to choose an essay question or research project, and will help prepare them for it by; introducing and guiding students through key legal and interdisciplinary texts, stimulating debate on and engagement with these texts; developing students' skills in the areas of analysis and argumentation, and considering a range of sometimes conflicting perspectives on issues. Students will formulate a plan for their independent research project. The plan will provide an opportunity for students to critically engage with, and reflect upon, substantive feedback. This will be further supported by an oral assessment, in the form of an in-class presentation on a contemporary case study.
Contact hours: 40
Private study hours: 260
Total study hours: 300
Optional module available for students on all undergraduate stage 3 (final year) single and joint honours law courses.
Main assessment methods
100% coursework, comprising:
1. Coursework - group oral presentation,(approximately 15 minutes depending on group size), individual mark awarded - 25%
2. Coursework - policy report (3000 words) - 75%
Reassessment methods
Reassessment instrument: 100% coursework
• Auchmuty (ed), (2018) Great Debates in Gender and Law, Red Globe Press.
• Bakshi, Jivraj and Posocco, (2016) Decolonising Sexualities: Transnational Perspectives, Critical Interventions, Counter Press.
• Crenshaw "Marginalising the Intersection of Race and Sex" (1989) University of Chicago Legal Forum 139.
• Davies "Feminism and Gender in Legal Theory" in Asking the Law Question, (Lawbook Co., 2008)
• Harris "Race and Essentialism in Feminist Legal Theory" (1990) 42 Stanford Law Review 581.
• Mananzala and Spade “The Non-profit Industrial Complex and Trans Resistance” (2008) 5(1) Sexuality Research and Social Policy 53.
• Rahman and Jackson (2010) Gender and Sexuality: Sociological Approaches, Polity Press
• Sharpe 'Transgender Marriage and the Legal Obligation to Disclose Gender History' (2012) Modern Law Review, 75(1) 33-53
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a detailed understanding of the complex relationship between law and dominant concepts of race and religion, gender and sexuality;
2. Evaluate the significance of critical race, postcolonial, feminist, LGBT+/queer, and critical religion theories for understanding contemporary social and legal issues to do with race, religion, gender and sexuality;
3. Critically reflect upon the significance of a grounding in social and legal histories of race, religion, gender and sexuality in order to understand contemporary formations;
4. Identify and analyse the wide range of influences on legal discourse, policy, and law-making in relation to race, religion, gender and sexuality including concepts from feminist and LGBT+/queer perspectives within political theory, postcolonial theory, and the humanities and social sciences more broadly;
5. Demonstrate detailed knowledge of the intersections between concepts of race, religion, gender, sexuality, class, and disability;
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate interdisciplinary approaches;
2. Deploy critical and self-reflexive modes of analysis;
3. Construct well-reasoned and well-structured arguments about theoretical and practical issues;
4. Demonstrate argumentation skills that relate to both legal and non-legal texts;
5. Demonstrate skills in critical reading and analysis;
6. Undertake independent research on a defined topic;
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