Gender, Sexuality, Science and Power

The course examines the complex and contested relationships between gender, sexuality, science and power through a decolonial, intersectional, trans-intersex-queer-feminist approach. Through titles such as «Open Some Female Corpses», «Patriarchy and Forensics», «Patriarchy and Criminal Anthropology» and «Patriarchy, Eugenics and Genetics», we will analyze how scientific practices, forensics, criminology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis and genetics have shaped the construction and interpretation of gender and sexuality, reinforcing patriarchal structures and the colonial framework of a Western white normality. The historical connections between psychoanalysis, psychobiology and eugenics, as well as genetic practices, will be highlighted, and the way in which these are contested or reproduced through contemporary theoretical and social movements, such as queer genetics. Through this genealogy, we will understand how the scientific, social and cultural construction of gender and sexuality functions as an axis of power and resistance, demonstrating the need for decolonization and critical revision of scientific narratives around the body, psyche and identity.