Women, Gender, Sexuality 392K - S-Brdrs&Bdies:Radic/MigrUS&Eur

In this course, we will take a close look at the ways in which notions of sexuality, citizenship, and belonging are being reconfigured in nationalist and postnationalist discourses in the US and Europe. The course will begin with an introduction to comparative studies in processes of identification and racialization, paying close attention to the various ways in which feminist theory has informed engagements with the politics of race in the US and Europe. For example: How have histories of racial hygiene, ethnic wars and ethnic cleansing, colonialism, displacement and immigration shaped how we understand, talk and write about race and ethnicity in local contexts? How have feminist engagements with migration, border-crossing and citizenship contributed to our understandings of the construction of nationhood and nation-states? Then, drawing on texts, films, and policy statements, we will look at key examples of gendered, sexualized and racialized "othering" through discourses of the US nation, an integrated Europe, human values, and common goals. Throughout the course, we will seek to gain a broader understanding of the role that state policies, media representations and individual and collective actions play in shaping experiences of belonging, exclusion and resistance.