Type of course

Admission requirements

Admission to a PhD programme (and UiTs 'førstelektorprogramme') is obligatory. Recommended previous knowledge is Masters degree (or an equivalent background)

Application deadline: 15 May 2012

Course content

(Please also see the course webpage - link in right column of this webpage)

Mobility is a global phenomenon growing in scope. It takes several forms and concerns and includes local and national as well as transnational processes. Research on gender and spatial mobility therefore provides an important contribution to current debates on culture, social relations, technology and politics.

The PhD course aims to reveal the knowledge status of research on gender and mobility through a critical lens in order to clarify and illuminate some of the different perspectives used in various disciplines such as sociology, geography, anthropology, gender studies etc.

We will seek to assess the various forms of mobility and their connections to cultural, economic, political and social processes manifested on many levels and involving women and men in partly similar and partly different ways. Evidence suggests that such diversity and such variation must be analyzed beyond the current dominant academic positions.

We will particularly emphasize the consequences on the growing neoliberal trends and tendencies in the present globalised economy, such as the development of new distinctions between people and the formations of new classes. The neoliberal trends will function both as a context for and as active agents in the mobile practices of individuals and groups.

There will also be a particular emphasis on existing white spots, especially with reference to theoretical and methodological issues. The focus may be on various issues, for example researchers values, situatedness, choice and development of theories, on qualitative and quantitative methods, and on how they may be combined or possibly improved.

 These and other methodological issues are particularly interesting in that we are dealing with societies in constant change and with actors who, through their mobile practices, are related to different local contexts.

Objectives of the course

Through the course the students will develop a reflective outlook to gender perspectives in the research field of spatial or geographic mobility represented in the humanities and social sciences.

The course will contribute to the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge and understanding: Insight into and understanding of gender research contributions in mobility research, its challenges, and dilemmas;

Skills: Be able to distinguish between different approaches and methodological challenges in gender research and their impact on research on geographic mobility;

Competence: Be able to place greater emphasis on gender perspectives in the humanities and social studies with a focus on geographic mobility.

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods

The PhD course Gender and Mobility will run concurrently with an international symposium 18-20 June 2012. There will be key-note speakers from Norway and other countries, as well as paper presentations with comments - especially directed towards PhD-students.

Coursework requirements: 80 % obligatory attendance and an oral presentation (compulsory) which will be commented and discussed.

Assessment

The course yields 5 credits when participation and paper have been approved.

The exam is to produce a paper (10 pages) which will be presented at the symposium/PhD-course and commented by a senior researcher in the field, as well as by the other participants. The final version of the paper, for example included comments given at the symposium, should be submitted within a month after the end of the seminar. The paper can be written in English or Norwegian (or another Scandinavian language)

The terms of assessment for examination: Pass/fail.

Recommended reading/syllabus

700 pages. A reading list will be made with compulsory and self-chosen literature The student chooses from a list of books/articles according to their perspectives applied in the paper.

For reading list, see the course webpage (link in lower right corner of this webpage)