Study of Women and Gender 220 - Introduction to Queer Studies

This course is designed to provide students with an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of queer studies, including its historical formations and recent innovations. We will explore the roots of queer theory in feminist theories of subjectivity and desire, queer of color critique, and queer critiques of traditional domains of knowledge production, including psychoanalysis and visual culture. Students will examine a wide range of media and forms of documentation ranging from archival material and oral histories, to critical theory. Throughout the course we will attend carefully to race, class, gender, sexuality, and disability, and will put these and other topics/identifications in conversation with course material and discussions.