THEORIZING SEXUALITY AND GENDER

Credit Hours: 3 · Undergraduate Lower-Level

This class builds on SWGS 100 to take a closer look at how sexualities and genders come to be known. Students will become familiar with queer, trans, and feminist theory and will see that key issues and debates appear in both scholarship and political activism globally and in the United States. The course addresses intersectional frameworks for understanding race, class, and other social relations; normative sexualities and genders; and non-normative and marginalized sexualities and genders (e.g. queer, two-spirit, trans, nonbinary, asexual and more). Theorizing is an activity but also a writing genre. We explore classic and current works in that genre. Finally, we examine the interaction between theory and research practice, via the concept of engaged research, showing that theoretical debates inform more accurate and just research practices. SWGS 100 is recommended but not required. Recommended Prerequisite(s): SWGS 100