Study of Women and Gender 300 - Special Topics in the Study of Women and Gender: Queer Visual Studies

Topics course: As representations of queer subjectivities has left the largely coded citations of the closet, they have come to rely on discursively complex and intersectional forms of representation that at once exceed, and rely on, queer cultures, communities, and even subjects. Queer visual culture has long offered a way for queer subjects to both represent, and come to understand, who they are and how meaning is inscribed onto and through [their] bodies. We will leverage history and theory to explore a range of media from fine art to popular culture, and develop a queer lens with which to interrogate visual culture. This class will map the trajectory from the early twentieth century to our present moment, and ultimately seek to describe what queer visual representation is—and perhaps is not—today.

Instructor Permission. Not open to first-years, sophomores