SWGI and School of Humanities and Social Sciences Introduces a Minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies
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Saida Waheed Gender Initiative along with the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences (MGSHSS) at LUMS is moving forward to introduce a new minor in gender and sexuality studies (GSS) that will be open to students across the University.
The minor will include a combination of foundational courses and electives with an interdisciplinary academic programme focusing on gender and sexuality. The programme's core curriculum will build upon feminist scholarship, incorporating interdisciplinary agendas, intellectual debates, changing methodological practices, and major scholarly shifts that inform the field.
As a programme committed to critical thinking and social analysis, the GSS minor will introduce students not only to the complex histories, cultures, political activities, and expressions of gender and sexuality, but will also raise questions about larger social and institutional formations. Informed by the insights of critical race feminism, feminist critiques of conventional domains of knowledge, and queer inquiries challenging traditional understandings and assumptions about sexuality, this minor is designed to move students beyond simple binary descriptions and contemporary, popularised accounts of gender. Instead, gender is analysed in the full complexity of its construction over time and using a variety of disciplinary lenses.
Given the cores of the minor as well as the cross-disciplinary nature of the electives that will be offered, the LUMS Gender and Sexuality Studies minor will equip students with the tools to bring critical feminist perspectives across a number of disciplines. This skill-set will be invaluable with the increased focus on the inclusivity of growth, gender inequalities, and a renewed emphasis on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Moreover, students enrolled in this minor will have the added advantage of tapping into the vibrant research emphasis on gender that LUMS has built in the last few years. This, in turn, will add tremendous value to their portfolio as they enter the job market.
