Environmental Humanities in Queer and Trans Perspective

This course surveys queer and trans cultural production as well as theory to glean how experiences of queer and trans embodiment speak to broader ecological histories, relations and conditions. What is distinctive about queer and trans experiences of time, space, place and “the environment”? What do queer and trans perspectives reveal about shared and shifting worlds? How might the environmental humanities account for queer and trans life, and be changed by it? Course content includes narrative and theoretical work from Queer and Transgender Studies and adjacent fields, including feminist philosophy, Disability Studies, and American Studies. Readings also draw from phenomenological, Deleuzian, and new materialist schools of thought around questions of embodiment, relationality, place, and the planetary present. All interested students, regardless of concentration, are encouraged to enroll. Writing-Designated (WRIT) course, no prerequisites.