Queer of Color Theory Draft Syllabus
Title: Queer of Color Theorizing and Perspectives Short Title for Banner: Queer of Color Theorizing
Course Prefix and Number: WS 381
Prerequisites and Co-Requisites: Pre-req WS 360U Intro to Queer Studies
Course Description Queer of color critique, along with trans of color and queer indigenous/Two-Spirit approaches, are modes of queer theory that have emerged primarily from scholars in the United States working at the critical intersections of queer studies, women of color feminisms, immigration and diaspora scholarship, and ethnic studies. Queer of color critique, a term often credited to Rod Ferguson, centers the intellectual traditions of queer thinkers of color such as James Baldwin and (often queer) women of color feminists such as Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldua, and Cherrie Moraga. A central goal of this course will be to understand how the categories of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and nation are mutually constitutive through critical race, feminist, queer, decolonial, and materialist analyses and epistemologies that have been deployed by queer of color theorists. This course will provide an overview of the development and foundational approaches to queer of color theorizing as well as an opportunity to apply these theories to contemporary issues and experiences.
Catalog Course description (50 words max) Utilizing critical race, feminist, queer, decolonial, and materialist analyses, queer of color theories highlight the intersections of race, sexuality, and nations. This course provides an overview of the development and foundational approaches to queer of color critiques, as well as an opportunity to apply these theories to contemporary issues.
Course Objectives ● Provide an overview of the genealogies and foundational texts of queer of color critique and theories, including queer indigenous/Two-Spirit and transgender approaches. ● Foreground the relationship between race, sexuality, and gender along with nation, citizenship, ability, class, ethnicity, and other aspects of difference. ● Highlight the relationships between racism, homophobia and heteronormativity, colonialism, transphobia, and other related power relations. ● Show how queer of color theories serve as analytic lenses to better understand contemporary political and social issues such as migration, performance, citizenship, and diaspora.
Student Learning Outcomes ● Articulate an understanding of the development of queer of color theories, particularly in the United States, including how these critiques have served as necessary interventions in queer studies. ● Define key analytic concepts used in queer of color critiques and theorizing ● Develop skills in interpreting theoretical arguments based on close reading and textual analysis. ● Employ queer of color theories to analyze contemporary political and social issues. ● Improve critical reading and writing skills.
Required Readings All readings (unless otherwise noted) are available as links or PDFs on the course D2L website.
Assignments ● Attendance and Participation 15% ● Discussion Goals and Reflection 5% ● Reading Memos 20% ● Critical Essays 60%
Attendance and Participation 15% Attendance and participation will be judged based both on improvement on stated discussion goals, preparation, attendance, behavior, and participation.
Discussion Goals 5% Each student will set goals at the beginning of the term and self-evaluate their progress at the end. Additional instructions will be provided. This assignment will be graded on a Pass/Fail basis.
Reading Memos (10) 20% Reading memos will consist of two points and a question from the readings assigned for that class day. Students will submit a total of 10 memos over the term. They may choose any day with assigned readings to submit a memo, but the memo must cover all the readings for that day.
Critical Essays 60% Students are expected to complete three critical reading essays, about 4-5 full pages each. These papers will be based on a set of questions that will be provided for the relevant section of the course and should reflect your critical observations and ideas about the topics. The final essay will ask the students to apply a queer of color theoretical lens to a contemporary issue of their choice. Each essay should each include discussion and analysis of at least four course readings each. Please remember to fully cite the readings and films. Additional information and a grading rubric will be provided.
Outline of Course Content and Reading Schedule
Week 1 Introducing Queer of Color Critique ● Roderick Ferguson, “Introduction: Queer of Color Critique, Historical Materialism, and Canonical Sociology.” In Aberrations in Black: Toward a Queer of Color Critique” ● Michael Hames-García, “Queer Theory Revisited,” in Gay Latino Studies: A Critical Reader ● Driskill, Qwo-Li, et al., “Introduction,” from Queer Indigenous Studies: Critical Interventions in Theory, Politics, and Literature ● Recommended Background Texts: o Michael Warner, “Introduction” to Fear of a Queer Planet o Eve Sedgwick, “Queer and Now” in Tendencies o Judith Butler, “Critically Queer” in Bodies that Matter (up to p. 230 closely) o Gayle Rubin, “Thinking Sex” in LGBT Reader (to p. 16 ) o Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, vol. 1 (excerpts)
Week 2 Women of Color Feminist Foundations ● Gloria Anzaldúa, “To(o) Queer the Writer: Loca, Escritora, y Chicana” Living Chicana Theory ● Combahee River Collective, “A Black Feminist Statement” from Home Girls ● Audre Lorde, “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power” in Sister Outsider ● Lisa Lowe. "Heterogeneity, Hybridity, Multiplicity: Marking Asian American Differences." Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies 1, no. 1 (1991): 24-44.
Week 3 Queer of Color Foundations ● Cathy Cohen, “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?” GLQ ● David L Eng and Alice Y. Hom, “Introduction,” Q & A : Queer in Asian America ● E. Patrick Johnson, “‘Quare’ Studies, or (Almost) Everything I Know About Queer Studies I Learned from My Grandmother,” Text and Performance Quarterly ● Somerville, Siobhan B. Queering the Color Line: Race and the Invention of Homosexuality in America (selections)
Week 4 Queer Indigenous and Two-Spirit Perspectives ● Andrea Smith, “Queer Theory and Native Studies: The Heteronormativity of Settler Colonialism” in GLQ ● Chris Finley, “Decolonizing the Queer Native Body (and Recovering the Native Bull- Dyke): Bringing "Sexy Back" and Out of Native Studies' Closet” in Queer Indigenous Studies ● Scott L. Morgensen. “Queer Settler Colonialism in Canada and Israel: Articulating Two- Spirit and Palestinian Queer Critiques.” Settler Colonial Studies
Week 5 Trans of Color Perspectives ● C. Riley Snorton and Jin Haritaworn, “Trans Necropolitics: A Transnational Reflection on Violence, Death, and the Trans of Color Afterlife” in Transgender Studies Reader ● Roen, K. “Transgender Theory and Embodiment: The Risk of Racial Marginalisation.” Journal of Gender Studies ● Deborah A. Miranda. "Extermination of the Joyas: Gendercide in Spanish California." In GLQ
Week 6 Performance ● Juana Maria Rodriguez, Sexual Futures, Queer Gestures, and Other Latina Longings (selections) ● Martinez, Ernesto. On Making Sense: Queer Race Narratives of Intelligibility (selections)
Week 7 Queer (Neo)Liberalism ● Eng, David, “Queer Liberalism and the Racialization of Intimacy” and “The Law of Kinship: Lawrence v. Texas and the Emergence of Queer Liberalism,” from The Feeling of Kinship: Queer Liberalism and the Racialization of Intimacy ● Reddy, Chandan, “Time for Rights? Loving, Gay Marriage, and the Limits of Comparative Legal Justice,” from Strange Affinities: The Gender and Sexual Politics of Comparative Racialization
Week 8 Racialized and Queered Citizens ● Jasbir K. Puar and Amit Rai. "Monster, Terrorist, Fag: The War on Terrorism and the Production of Docile Patriots." In Social Text ● Nayan Shah. “Between Oriental depravity and Natural degenerates: Spatial Borderlands and the Making of Ordinary Americans.” American Quarterly
Week 9 Diasporas ● Gayatri Gopinath,. Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures (selections) ● Martin F.Manalansan, IV. Global Divas: Filipiino Gay Men in the Diaspora (selections)
Week 10 Migrations and Coalitions ● Chávez, Karma R. Queer Migration Politics: Activist Rhetoric and Coalitional Possibilities. (selections) ● Lionel Cantu Jr. with Eithne Luibheid and Alexandra Minna Stern “Well-Founded Fear: Political Asylum and the Boundaries of Sexual Identity in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands” in Queer Migrations ● Sima Shakhsari, “The queer time of death: Temporality, geopolitics, and refugee rights” Sexualities ● Julio Salgado, “I am Undocuqueer” art project.
Additional Recommended Readings: Johnson, E. Patrick, and Henderson, Mae. Black Queer Studies : A Critical Anthology. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005. Eng, David L., and Hom, Alice Y. Q & A : Queer in Asian America. Asian American History and Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998. Hames-Garcia, Michael Roy., and Martínez, Ernesto Javier. Gay Latino Studies : A Critical Reader. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2011. Qwo-Li Driskill; Chris Finley; Brian Joseph Gilley; Scott Lauria Morgensen (editors). Queer Indigenous Studies : Critical Interventions in Theory, Politics, and Literature. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2011. Sharon Holland, The Erotic Life of Racism (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2012). Hong, Grace Kyungwon and Roderick A. Ferguson. Eds. Strange Affinities: The Gender and Sexuality Politics of Comparative Racialization. Roderick Ferguson, Aberrations in Black: Toward a Queer of Color Critique (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2004). Chandan Reddy, Freedom with Violence: Race, Sexuality, and the US State (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2011). Justice, Daniel Health. Mark Rifkin and Bethany Schneider. Eds. Sexuality, Nationality, Indigeneity. (Special Issue of GLQ: A Journal of Gay and Lesbian Studies). Available online Somerville, Siobhan B. Queering the Color Line: Race and the Invention of Homosexuality in America