Gender Studies

Gender studies is a scientific subject that critically examines different types of socio-cultural power structures.

Gender studies is a scientific subject that critically examines different types of socio-cultural power structures (such as, but not limited to: gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, age, religion, gender expression, disability, body constitution, geopolitical location) and how they intersect with each other in, for example, society, politics, culture, technology and interpersonal relationships.

The focus of the knowledge production in gender studies is to analyse, problematise and change these structures on a broad front, and to shed light on how they manifest themselves as power, privileges, discrimination and oppression in different contexts.

The teaching of Gender Studies at Gaskeuniversiteete/Mid Sweden University is based on our situation as a university in the middle of the South Sámi area in Saepmie and rests on an activist, intersectional and norm-critical understanding framework. This means, among other things, that we pay particular attention to the importance of place and privilege in our analyses of power, that we show agency in relation to the areas we work with, and that we strive to work and teach in a decolonial and climate-conscious way.

Gender Studies at Gaskeuniversiteete/Mid Sweden University offers undergraduate, advanced and bachelor's courses in gender studies as well as freestanding courses in indigenous feminisms, norm criticism and climate feminism. Courses in Gender Studies are also included in the Risk and Crisis Management Programme. All of us who work in the field of gender studies are in various ways engaged in activist issues that are close to our research/teaching.

In addition to gender studies being a separate subject, there is also the Forum for Gender Studies (FGV), which is an interdisciplinary and campus-wide platform for initiating and coordinating gender research at the university. This includes researchers who use or are curious about a gender perspective in their own subject and FGV organizes activities in Sjädtavallie/Sundsvall and Staare/Östersund to draw attention to the importance of critical gender analyses.