Explore queer & trans politics, identity, and culture though an interdisciplinary study of the historical and social context of personal, cultural and political aspects of sexuality, gender, and identity. Sources from a variety of fields, such as anthropology, history, psychology, sociology, and women's studies, focusing on writings by and about LGBT people.

As a source of shared feeling, creative community, and collective action, fandom is a significant force in culture and politics. This course will explore the varied and ambiguous intersections of fandom with race, gender, and sexuality, centering on the contemporary US media landscape and how we arrived here. Students particular fandom interests will shape the course of our collective study as well as providing material for research and creative projects.

Black Queer Studies is an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach to LGBTQ+ Studies and Black Studies. In this course, we will center Blackness to meditate upon the overlapping and interwoven categories of race, gender, and sexuality with the goal of decoupling whiteness from LGBTQ+ studies and decoupling heterosexuality from Black studies. We will look at texts from the humanities and social sciences as well literature and film in order to trace topical trajectories of Black queer thought. We will explore the meaning of queerness in relation to blackness, touchupon moments in black queer history, analyze questions of black queer representation and erasure, and press upon hot button topics such as queer identity and the black church, African and global queer and trans identities, Blackness and homophobia, white LGBTQ+ racism, and Black queer pleasure. Throughout we will consider how Black queer liberation can andhas provided tools and a guide for our collective liberation.

Prerequisite: two English courses in literature or permission of departm ent. Repeatable to 9 credits if content differs. Also offered as ENGL439 D, LGBT448Y and WGSS498Y. Credit granted for ENGL439D, LGBT448Y, WGSS498 Y or WMST498Y.

Cross-listed with ENGL459C. Credit only granted for ENGL459C or LGBT459D.