Study of Women and Gender 201 - QUEER BLACK STUDIES, AN INTRO

How does queer studies, which questions the naturalization of identity, relate to black cultural studies, where identity is both subject to criticism and the foundation of a politic? What role has the black body played in the construction of gender and sexuality? How does the performativity of racial blackness (from blackface minstrelsy to hip hop) relate to ideas from queer theory? How do we understand the particular ways that homophobia has seemed to manifest in black communities? This course will highlight these four questions through theoretical, historical and sociological texts (as well as film, music and literature). Prerequisites: SWG 150, or SWG 100 or AAS 111, or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 40. (E)