Queer Theory

The line between “gay and lesbian studies” and “queer theory,” not to mention the line between queer “theory” and queer “studies,” can seem a little murky. And there is no hard and fast definition of “queer theory” except maybe the too glib: it is theory about vexing definition. However, there are some fundamental concerns that might be said to be at the heart of the enterprise called “queer theory.” These fundamental questions come from a wide array of disciplines, social movements, political organizations, and public health interventions (to name a few). In order to begin to map what has become a well-trafficked artery in the academy, this course will begin concentrating on the early texts of queer theory and follow the developments of early queer theory to the present.

Texts:
Judith Butler, Gender Trouble & Undoing Gender
Bruhm & Hurley, Curiouser
Lee Edelman, No Future
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, part 1
Judith Halberstam, Female Masculinity
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet & Touching Feeling

Requirements:
Four 4 – 6 page papers.