Gender and Sexuality in the Lusophone World

This seminar will introduce students to a diverse range of literary figures and cultural producers from the Portuguese-speaking world, ranging from the nineteenth century to the present day, from Machado de Assis to Pabllo Vittar, with a specific focus on gender and sexuality, and their intersections with race and class. Covering a wide selection of genres from novels and novellas to short stories, television, film, and music, we will examine the role of literature and art in reinforcing and challenging norms of gender and sexuality. Students will engage with some key ideas from Gender Studies and Queer Theory and consider concepts from the Global South with regards to expressions of gender and sexuality in the Lusophone world. Topics will include conceptions of nuclear families, sexual deviance, homosociality, militant masculinity, queer representation, trans visibility, intersectionality, and colonial legacies. Taught in Portuguese.