WGS 6B: Sexuality and Queer StudiesInstructor: V Varun Chaudhry Prerequisites: May not be taken for credit by students who took SQS 6b in prior years. Course Description: The primary aim of this course is to introduce students to the interdisciplinary fields of sexuality and queer studies. Because these fields are so expansive, no one introductory course could possibly cover their full breadth, depth, and diversity. The course takes an intersectional feminist approach to the historical, theoretical, and popular study of “sexuality” and “queer;” as such, students will read and engage a range of course materials including archival artifacts, historical texts, recent and foundational theoretical scholarship, popular texts, and the enigma once known as the Internet (including and especially social media). Wherever possible, these course materials will be authored, curated, or created primarily by traditionally underrepresented bodies and identities, including and especially QTBIPOC (queer, trans, black, Indigenous, and people of color), disabled, asexual, and femme folks. Questions we will work through over the course of the semester include: what is sexuality? What is queerness? How have these terms been socially constructed, for me personally and for the communities that I am a part of? Why (and how) should we study these topics in academic scholarship? What are the investments of sexuality studies, of queer studies? What can challenging gender and sexual norms – in scholarship and in our everyday lives – yield for our understandings not only of gender and sexuality, but also of race, ethnicity, class, culture, and nation? Session: Extended Day: Online Asynchronous 10-week Time: Asynchronous Credit Hours: 4 Credits Course Format: 10-week Asynchronous Online format Brandeis Graduation Requirement Fulfilled: DEIS-US, DL, OC, SS Enrollment Limit: 20 students Course Classification: Undergraduate Level Course Course Tuition: $3,700 Course Fees: None Open to High School Students: Yes |
