Queer Theory/Queer Lives
Fall 2003, University of New Mexico
Email: erbaugh@unm.edu, lsfugi@aol.com Erbaugh: T/Th 11-12
Course Objectives:
This course investigates queer theory and the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people as addressed in empirical studies, narratives, film and activism. We will explore how queer sexual identities intersect with race, class, gender, ethnicity, age and disability. Our areas of inquiry will include identity, family, media
representation, heterosexism and LGBTIQ movements to promote health and to end violence. We will critically analyze which texts have been considered central to "queer theory" and which have been marginalized.
As instructors,
we aim to create a learning atmosphere that fosters critical and scholarly
thinking, writing, and discussion. We
want you as students to go beyond merely digesting other people’s ideas to
actively engage with the material and to critique both commonly held
assumptions and academic theories about sexuality and LGBTIQ people.
We will do
everything we reasonably can to help you meet your goals in this course and to
maintain a respectful classroom atmosphere.
We expect you to do the same.
Please see one of us or contact us by email to talk about any questions,
revelations, problems with the material, our presentation of it, or classroom
dynamics.
Required Texts: Articles and book excerpts available on
E-Reserves or at ECS.
Website and email: You are required to
use the web and email for this class. There is a website for the class which
you should check regularly (www.unm.edu/~erbaugh). The syllabus and most assignments will be on the website. We will email you with important
announcements, changes to readings, additional assignments, etc. Questions about the course? Please check the website first, then email
us.
Attendance and Participation: This course is constructed to revolve
around discussion of the readings, small group work, student and guest
presentations, films, and other relevant information. The class is designed to encourage dialogue; therefore your
attendance, preparedness, and participation are essential. Constructive dialogue requires preparing for
class, respectfully joining in
discussions, and courteously listening to others. Students are expected to come to class regularly and on
time. Attendance will be taken at
random. You are responsible for any and
all material missed because of absences.
Get the emails and phone numbers of a few other students in the class
and if you miss a class, ask them to review what was covered and/or lend you
their notes. (Do not ask us what was covered or if we did/will do anything important
on a given day; do not email us to
say you are skipping our class to prepare for another class.) More than two unexcused absences will
negatively affect your participation grade.
Grading: 3 short papers 45%
Research presentation & creative
response 20%
Midterm Exam 20%
Participation & other assignments 15%
Accessibility Accommodations: Any student who, because of disability,
may require accommodations in order to meet course requirements should contact
us as soon as possible to make necessary arrangements. It is the responsibility of the student to
request accommodations for individual learning needs. We and UNM will make every attempt to accommodate all students
with disabilities. For further
information, contact Student Support Services at (505) 277-3506.
Policy on Academic Dishonesty: Each student is expected to maintain the
highest standards of honesty and integrity in academic and professional
matters. The University reserves the right to take disciplinary action, up to
and including dismissal, against any student who is found guilty of academic
dishonesty or who otherwise fails to meet the expected standards. Any student
judged to have engaged in academic dishonesty in course work may receive a reduced
or failing grade for the work in question and/or for the course. Academic
dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, dishonesty in quizzes, tests or
assignments; claiming credit for work not done or done by others; hindering the
academic work of other students; misrepresenting academic or professional
qualifications within or without the University; nondisclosure or
misrepresentation in filling out applications or other University records. (The
Pathfinder, 2003-2004)
Course Schedule: Given that dynamics and issues raised in
class will likely affect the pace of the course, the course schedule gives a tentative outline of the material we will
cover. Please complete the readings
indicated by class time on the dates specified.
* Indicates that
one of you will present on that person/topic.
T
8/26 Review syllabus, discuss
course objectives
Assignment for Thursday
Th 8/28 Expectations for the course (yours
and ours)
Discuss assignment
T 9/2 Anzaldúa & Moraga, “Theory
in the Flesh”
Moraga*, “Loving in the
War Years”
Lorde*, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” and “Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference”
Anzaldúa, “To(o) Queer
the Writer—Loca, escritora y chicana”
Th 9/4 Home and the Hets
Anzaldúa*, “Movimientos de rebeldía y las
culturas que traicionan”
Clare*, “Losing Home”
Moraga
w/ Weatherston, “Interview with Cherrie Moraga”
Katz, “The Invention of Heterosexuality”
T 9/9 Spargo, “Foucault and Queer
Theory”
Foucault*, Excerpt from The History of Sexuality
Th 9/11 Sedgwick*, Excerpts from Epistemology of the Closet
Bowers v. Hardwick*, Lawrence v. Texas*
Goldstein, “Get Back!
The Gathering Storm Over Gay Rights”
T 9/16 Pratt*, “Gender Quiz”
Lorber, “The Socialization of Gender”
West & Zimmerman,
“Doing Gender”
Film:
Paris is Burning*
Th 9/25 Muñoz*, “Performing
Disidentifications”
T 9/30 Fausto-Sterling*, “The Five Sexes”
& “Five Sexes Revisited”
Preves, “Sexing the Intersexed”
Th 10/2 Defining
Community
Gamson*, “Must identity movements
self-destruct? A queer dilemma.”
Clausen, “My Interesting
Condition”
Hutchins, “Bisexuality:
Politics & Community”
T 10/7 Disability & Community
Samuels, “My Body, My
Closet”
Koyama*, “Interrogating the Politics of Commonality,” at www.eminism.org/readings/yale-keynote.html
Also visit http://confluere.com/store/ (especially the buttons)
Th 10/9 Heterosexism
Rich, “Compulsory Heterosexuality”
Wittig, “The Straight Mind”
T 10/14 Midterm
Exam
Th 10/16 No
class – Enjoy Fall Break!
Week 9 Transgender
T 10/21 Califia*, “Sexual Politics, FTMs and
Dykes” and “He’s a Man for All That”
Bornstein*, Excerpt from Gender Outlaw
Th 10/23 Halberstam, “Transgender Butch”
T 10/28 Transgender
Debates
Roen, “’Either/Or’ and ‘Both/Neither’”
Bornstein “Gender Terror, Gender Rage”
Minnie Bruce Pratt, “Bathroom” and
“Border”
Morris, “Young Man
Popkin: A Queer Dystopia”
Th 10/30 Phun
with Phalluses
Stoltenberg, “How Men Have (a) Sex”
Butler,
“The Lesbian Phallus and the Morphological Imaginary”
Califia,
“Trannyfags Unzipped”
Bitch
& Animal*, “Best Cock on the Block”
Kimmel & Messner, “Actual Size!”
Trahan, “Queen of the
Girls”
Th 11/6 Children
& Youth
Cochran et al, “Challenges faced
by homeless sexual minorities”
Bernstein,
“Daddy, why are you so old?”
Califia,
“A Place at the Table,” “When the Playroom Becomes a Nursery”
Th 11/13 Halberstam, “What’s That Smell?: Queer
Temporalities & Subcultural Lives”
Piepzna-Samarasinha,
“browngirlworld”
Russo, “Lesbian & Bisexual
Women’s Battering”
Waldron, “Lesbians of
Color & the DV Movement”
Letellier, “Twin
Epidemics: DV & HIV…”
Film: Tongues Untied
T 11/25 Pratt, “Blade”
Th 11/27 No class – Break for Turkey
Consumption.
T 12/2 Sánchez-Eppler, “Reinaldo Arenas…”
Film:
Night is Falling
Th 12/4 Continue film & discussion
Alexie,
“The Toughest Indian in the World”
House,
“Navajo Warrior Women”
Tafoya,
“M. Dragonfly”
Th 12/11 Fung, “Looking for my Penis”
Gordon
& Sigesmund, “Queen for a Day”
Bendersky,
“Navy discharges ‘Boy Meets Boy’ suitor”
Gross, “Up from
Invisibility”
Tuesday 12/16,
12:30-2:30pm: Turn in last paper, snacking, closure. J