Women,Gender,Sexuality Studies 597F - ST-S. Asian Gender & Sexuality

This course will review major developments in feminist and sexuality-based social movements in South Asia since the turn of the twentieth century. We will also explore the intersections of the politics of gender and sexuality in South Asia within the context of economic globalization policies that have been undertaken in the region since the early 1990s. The course readings will draw upon ethnographic studies, NGO reports, and theoretical critiques which examine economic globalization as an important structuring context for understanding changes in the ways in which the politics of gender and sexuality are constituted in the region. The course will explore these intersections by drawing from critiques of globalization, writings from South Asian feminist and LGBTQ movements, and contemporary social theory. While these critiques largely delineate global processes, the course will focus on the South Asian region to discern unique ways in which these processes find purchase with local histories and political formations. Specific case studies will include work on LGBT movements in the region, migration, feminism, communalism, legal reform, and the geopolitics of the region.