Critical Social Inquiry 0302 - Sex in the Archive

A quick survey of trans writing from the midcentury to today reveals an absurd pattern: trans is, again and again, referred to as "new." Yet many of these texts also point out that "gender discordance" exists across cultures and, in fact, has existed for time immemorial. How to square this ostensible contradiction? "Sex in the Archive" will aim to explore this question-why is trans framed, perennially, as new?-in order to consider not just the deep histories of sex in the archival record, but to challenge conservative policy. In so doing we will reflect on how the archive can be a resource against dire real-world policy and a lodestar in re-envisioning the narratives we tell about ourselves and about others. In this course we will consider both local physical and digital archives and explore themes around representation, racialization, archival ethics, kink, pornography, and sexual panics. Keywords:archives, materiality, sexuality, racialized sex/gender, pornography

Art and Politics Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time