Gender Studies 328: Queer Desires

Queer Desires offers students a thorough exploration of historical and contemporary theoretical debates that have shaped the interdisciplinary field of queer studies. Accounting for transformations in the field, this course foregrounds dialogues between queer studies and critical race theory and disability studies and reveals the expansive intent of “queer,” from its constructionist version to its anti-social thesis to the dismantling of the desiring subject and its reparative dimensions. Students will be exposed to projects that use queer theories to understand and resist social inequalities and value representations, particularly at the intersections of race, ethnicity, class, embodiment, age, gender and sexuality. Topics and issues addressed include decolonizing queerness, the relationship between queerness and antinormativity, ableism and the relationship between disability and desire, visibility politics and activism, representations and regulation of sexualities and gender expressions, the consequences of those representations and what values they signify. May be taken for credit toward the Indigeneity, Race, and Ethnicity Studies major or minor.