(Subject to change. Check course website and Moodle for most updated schedule.)
This is a hybrid class. This means that Tuesday classes will be held in person, while Thursday classes will be held online asynchronously.
*Please Note: Due to Covid safety precautions, we will be meeting via Teams on 1/10 and 1/18. I will email everyone with a calendar invite and meeting link.*
Week One – What is Theory? / What is Queer Theory?
Tues. 1/11: Introduce syllabus and course overview. Provide alternate contact info. In class writing – what are your personal definitions of “theory” and “queering”? Discussion of Neil McCaw, “Reading Philosophically; or, Critical Theory.”
Thurs. 1/13: HOMEWORK DUE: Create an account on Perusall. (Course code is ANDERSEN-HRHTC) Please read and annotate the following readings on Perusall: McCann and Monaghan, “Defining Queer Theory” and Berlant and Warner, “What does Queer Theory Teach Us about X?” (Directions on how to use Perusall can be found on our course website and Moodle.)
TO BE COMPLETED ASYNCHRONOUSLY: Reflective writing: Revisit your in-class writing from Tuesday. After completing the reading for today, how have your definitions of “queering” and “theory” changed? Further guidelines for your reflections can be found on our course website and Moodle. Sign up for presentation dates.
Week Two – Queer Theory’s History of Activism / Theorizing the Closet
Tues. 1/18: HOMEWORK DUE: Read and annotate Foucault, selection from History of Sexuality.
IN CLASS: Discuss reading. Interpreting and applying difficult texts. Power structures in Foucault and sexuality today. Analysis exercises with selections from Ridinger, Speaking for Our Lives.
Thurs. 1/20: HOMEWORK DUE: Read and annotate Sedgwick, “Epistemology of the Closet.”
TO BE COMPLETED ASYNCHRONOUSLY: Post one question about the reading on our Moodle discussion board for today. This can be a question you have regarding something you’re confused about, a connection you’ve made between the Sedgwick reading and a current event, a common theme you’re noticing in the course so far, a conflicting idea you’ve picked up on between Sedgwick and another theorist we’ve read, etc. Then, respond to one of your classmate’s questions. Further guidelines can be found on Moodle.
Week Three
Tues. 1/25: HOMEWORK DUE: Read Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room, pp. 1-80 (about).
IN CLASS: Applying theory exercises and contextualizing Giovanni. Watch Baldwin interviews and discuss.
Thurs. 1/27: HOMEWORK DUE: Read Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room, pp. 80 (about) – end.
TO BE COMPLETED ASYNCHRONOUSLY: Respond to the to the reflective writing questions posted for today.
Week Four – Bodies and Embodiment / Gender Identity / Performativity, Part 1
Tues. 2/1: HOMEWORK DUE: Read and annotate Butler, selections from Gender Trouble, in Perusall.
IN CLASS: Presentation #1. Discuss reading and watch/discuss scenes from Pose and Paris is Burning.
Thurs. 2/3: HOMEWORK DUE: Read and annotate Butler, selections from Bodies That Matter, in Perusall.
TO BE COMPLETED ASYNCHRONOUSLY: Respond to the discussion board questions on Moodle about Butler, gender performance, and music videos.
Week Five
Tues. 2/8: HOMEWORK DUE: Read and annotate Rubin, “Of Catamites and Kings: Reflections on Butch, Gender, and Boundaries,” in Perusall. Read Winterson, Sexing the Cherry, up to p.44 (stop before reading The Story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses.)
IN CLASS: Presentation #2. Discuss reading.
Thurs. 2/10: HOMEWORK DUE: Read the rest of Winterson, Sexing the Cherry.
TO BE COMPLETED ASYNCHRONOUSLY: Respond to prompt.
Week Six – Camp! / Queering Heteronormative Ideas of Success / Playfulness and Humor in Queer Narrative
Tues. 2/15: HOMEWORK DUE: Read and annotate Halberstam, selections from The Queer Art of Failure in Perusall.
IN CLASS: Presentation #3. Finish Winterson discussion. Discuss Halberstam reading. Activity with Susan Sontag’s “notes on Camp” and RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Thurs. 2/17: HOMEWORK DUE: Watch Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) – available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, and on DVD through Taylor Memorial Library and Warren County Library.
TO BE COMPLETED ASYNCHRONOUSLY: TBD.
Week Seven – Camp! / Queering Heteronormative Ideas of Success / Playfulness and Humor in Queer Narrative
Tues. 2/22: NO CLASS!
Thurs. 2/24: HOMEWORK DUE: Read and annotate Sontag, “Notes on Camp” in Perusall. Watch Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975 film) – available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, and on DVD through Taylor Memorial Library and Warren County Library. **I will host an optional in-person watch party on campus on 2/24 at 4pm, location TBD. If you’d like to join me, send me an email! 🙂 **
TO BE COMPLETED ASYNCHRONOUSLY: Respond to prompt.
Week Eight
Tues. 3/1: HOMEWORK DUE: Read and annotate Halberstam, selections from The Queer Art of Failure in Perusall. (If you originally read this for 2/15, please refresh your memory in preparation for class discussion.)
IN CLASS: Discuss reading. Presentation #3.
Thurs. 3/3: HOMEWORK DUE: Read Thom, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars. (Please note: There are scenes of violence throughout this text.)
TO BE COMPLETED ASYNCHRONOUSLY: Respond to prompt.
Week Nine
Tues. 3/8: SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS
Thurs. 3/10: SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS
Week TEN – Queer Theory and Feminist Theory
Tues. 3/15: HOMEWORK DUE: Read and annotate Anzaldua, selections from This Bridge Called my Back in Perusall. Read and annotate Rich essay in Perusall.
IN CLASS: Discuss reading. Presentation #4 and #5.
Thurs. 3/17: HOMEWORK DUE: Read and annotate Ahmed, selections from Living a Feminist Life in Perusall. Read and annotate Gay, selections from Bad Feminist in Perusall.
TO BE COMPLETED ASYNCHRONOUSLY: Respond to discussion board questions and comment on peers’ posts on Moodle.
Week ELEVEN
Tues. 3/22: HOMEWORK DUE: Read Lorde, Zami: A New Spelling of my Name, up to Chapter 18, p. 124.
IN CLASS: Introduction to final project. Discuss reading. Presentation #6.
Thurs. 3/24: HOMEWORK DUE: Finish reading Lorde, Zami: A New Spelling of my Name.
TO BE COMPLETED ASYNCHRONOUSLY: Respond to reading response prompt here.
Week TWELVE – Queer Theory and Intersections of Race
Tues. 3/29: HOMEWORK DUE: Read and annotate Puar, “Queer Times, Queer Assemblages” and “Rethinking Homonationalism” in Perusall.
IN CLASS: Discuss reading. Presentation #7.
Thurs. 3/31: HOMEWORK DUE: Read and annotate Munoz, introduction to Dis/Identifications.
TO BE COMPLETED ASYNCHRONOUSLY: Respond to reading response prompt here.
Week THIRTEEN
Tues. 4/5: HOMEWORK DUE: Watch Moonlight (2016 film) – available on Amazon Prime, Hulu, Apple TV, Google Play, Sling, Roku, YouTubeTV, and on DVD through Taylor Memorial Library and Warren County Library. Watch Mosquita y Mari (2012 film) – available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Apple TV. (Please note: The films we’re watching over the next few weeks, just like the novels we’ve read so far this semester, deal with adult themes and are obviously focused on sexuality. Just a heads-up that they are not G-rated.)
IN CLASS: Discuss Munoz reading from Thurs. 3/31 and films. Q&A session and writing time for proposals.
Thurs. 4/7: HOMEWORK DUE: Final project proposals due in Google Drive folder by 11:59pm.
TO BE COMPLETED ASYNCHRONOUSLY: Peer review of proposals (partners TBD). Please schedule a conference with me to review your draft if you would like. (Conference calendar link to be posted soon.)
Week FOURTEEN – Queer Crip Theory
Tues. 4/12: HOMEWORK DUE: Read and annotate McRuer, “Compulsory Able-Bodiedness and Queer-Disabled Existence” in Perusall.
IN CLASS: Presentation #8. Discuss reading alongside influencers like Jessica Kellgren-Fozard (@jessicaoutofthecloset), Aaron Phillip (@aaron___philip), and Annie Segarra (@annieelainey). Discuss peer review questions and next stage of final project. Using secondary research with theory-based analysis papers.
Thurs. 4/14: HOMEWORK DUE: Watch Margarita with a Straw (2014 film) – available on Tubi, Amazon Prime, Roku, and Apple TV.
TO BE COMPLETED ASYNCHRONOUSLY: No extra work. Continue working on final project.
Week FIFTEEN – Queering the Future: Queer Temporality, Queer Phenomenology, Queer Utopia
Tues. 4/19: HOMEWORK DUE: Read and annotate Ahmed, short selection from Queer Phenomenology in Perusall. Read and annotate Halberstam, short selection from A Queer Time and Place in Perusall.
IN CLASS: Presentation #9.Discuss films from Thurs. 4/14. Discuss readings. Discuss first draft questions.
Thurs. 4/21: HOMEWORK DUE: First draft of final project due.
TO BE COMPLETED ASYNCHRONOUSLY: No extra work. Please schedule a conference with me to review your draft as needed. (Conference calendar link to be posted soon.)
Week SIXTEEN
Tues. 4/26: HOMEWORK DUE: Continuing working on final project.
IN CLASS: Discuss Munoz, selection from Cruising Utopia and queer futurity. Course wrap up.
Thurs. 4/28: HOMEWORK DUE: Final draft of final project due.
