rainbow capitalism?
Chapman University
Spring 2022
honors 432: queer theory
“queerness (lo cuir) should not be a separate academic exercise; not can it exist only in the critical analyses of gender and sexuality, because otherwise it is classist, racist, and therefore colonial” (Ochy Curiel)
Instructor Contact Information:
- Ian Barnard, Ph.D.
- Office: 428 N. Glassell #104
- Live Office Hours On Mondays and Wednesdays Via Zoom (email me to schedule)
- Email Office Hours: [email protected]
Land Acknowledgement (from Chapman's Wilkinson College website):
Wilkinson College believes all students should be taught the importance of recognizing land to understand the colonizing roots of academia and the way many fields of higher education have been used in the ostracizing, marginalization and disempowering (as well as the stealing of land, forced removal, and genocide) of communities. In doing so, we hope to inspire our students to use their education to challenge institutional and structural barriers to work toward equality, respect, and the lifting of their communities. Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences collectively acknowledges that Chapman University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Acjachemen Peoples in the Juaneño Territory, adjacent to our Tongva/Kizh neighbors to the North and Payomkawichum/Luiseño and Kumeyaay neighbors to the South. In addition, we recognize, support, and advocate for the sovereignty of California’s 109 federally-recognized Indian nations, for historic Indigenous communities in California, for Indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed from their Homelands. By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty, and consistent with our values of community and diversity, acknowledge our responsibility to hold the university more accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.
Catalog Course Description:
Student Learning Outcomes for This Course:
you will
Honors Program Learning Outcomes:
Upon completing a course in the University Honors Program students will have
GE Learning Outcomes:
Required Texts (hard copy or digital versions ok):
* = on reserve in the Leatherby Libraries
& = available at the University Bookstore
Grade Distribution:
Course Requirements:
Course Policies:
Wilkinson College believes all students should be taught the importance of recognizing land to understand the colonizing roots of academia and the way many fields of higher education have been used in the ostracizing, marginalization and disempowering (as well as the stealing of land, forced removal, and genocide) of communities. In doing so, we hope to inspire our students to use their education to challenge institutional and structural barriers to work toward equality, respect, and the lifting of their communities. Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences collectively acknowledges that Chapman University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Acjachemen Peoples in the Juaneño Territory, adjacent to our Tongva/Kizh neighbors to the North and Payomkawichum/Luiseño and Kumeyaay neighbors to the South. In addition, we recognize, support, and advocate for the sovereignty of California’s 109 federally-recognized Indian nations, for historic Indigenous communities in California, for Indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed from their Homelands. By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty, and consistent with our values of community and diversity, acknowledge our responsibility to hold the university more accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.
Catalog Course Description:
- Prerequisite, acceptance to the University Honors Program, or consent of Honors Program, Director. Overview and in-depth study of selected issues in queer theory with emphasis on intersectionality, interdisciplinarity, and students’ individual critical or creative research projects. The course will engage with foundational texts in queer theory, as well as contemporary queer theory, including, for instance, work in queer animal studies, queer disability studies, transgender theory, asexuality, intersexuality, and queer postcoloniality. Central questions we will ask include the following: Is "queer" different from "GLBT"? How does "queer" intersect/collide with gender, class, and racial identifications? How has queer theory impacted a variety of academic disciplines? Why has queer theory become so fashionable? What is the relationship between queer theory and political activism? In our pursuit of these and other questions, we’ll work with texts from multiple genres and media (including films, music videos, internet memes, tweets, zines, literature, and critical theory) that articulate, enact, embody, defy, and complicate the sexy, exciting, challenging, and rapidly changing/expanding field of queer theory. Discussion-based seminar. (Offered as needed.) 3 credits.
- Except for Week 1 and part of Week 3, this is an in-person class. Click here to review Chapman's COVID-19 protocols--we will discuss these in class.
Student Learning Outcomes for This Course:
you will
- understand the stakes and issues in queer theory, as well as queer theory’s interdisciplinarity and place in a variety of academic disciplines (see Honors Program Learning Outcome 1 below), through reading/watching and written and oral engagement with texts in and about queer theory, as well as independent research
- understand the broader significance of queer theory through integration of extra-curricular cultural and political texts with class materials, thus fulfilling Honors Program Learning Outcome 2 below
- be better able to evaluate your own critical and creative texts as a result of frequent writing practice and work in other media, revision of work, feedback on work, and engagement with the work of other seminar participants, thus fulfilling Honors Program Learning Outcome 4 below
Honors Program Learning Outcomes:
Upon completing a course in the University Honors Program students will have
- 1) Obtained a starting point for integrative exploration of the development of cultures and intellectual achievements through a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives;
- 2) Sharpened their ability to critically analyze and synthesize a broad range of knowledge through the study of primary texts and through engagement in active learning with fellow students, faculty, and texts (broadly understood);
- 3) Understood how to apply more integrative and interdisciplinary forms of understanding in the advancement of knowledge and in addressing complex challenges shaping the world;
- 4) Developed effective communication skills, specifically in the areas of written and oral exposition and analysis.
GE Learning Outcomes:
- Values and Ethical Inquiry: Articulates how values and ethics inform human understanding, structures, and behavior
- Artistic Inquiry: Students compose critical or creative works that embody or analyze conceptually an artistic form at a baccalaureate/pre-professional level
Required Texts (hard copy or digital versions ok):
* = on reserve in the Leatherby Libraries
& = available at the University Bookstore
- Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Volume I: An Introduction.* &
- "Issue of Blackness." Transgender Studies Quarterly, vol. 4, no. 2, 2017. *& (you can access a digital version of this text for free through the Leatherby Libraries website; if you would like a hard copy, you may purchase one from the University Bookstore or order one at a 30% discount from dukeupress.edu by entering the coupon code COURSE30 during checkout)
- McCann, Hannah, and Whitney Monaghan. Queer Theory Now: From Foundations to Futures.&
- I will post additional articles on Canvas for you to read, and we'll watch two films that you can stream for free. You'll also conduct outside research for seminar assignments.
Grade Distribution:
- Collaborative Discussion Facilitation................................................25%
- Individual Oral Presentation...............................................................25%
- Final Project........................................................................................35%
- Other Assignments...............................................................................15%
- Due to the highly interactive nature of this course and the emphasis on seminar-style discussions, I expect you to attend all class meetings (and to be on time). Note that, according to the university catalog, Chapman University "recommends as a minimal policy that students who are absent 20 percent of the course should be failed" (i.e., if you miss more than five class meetings). However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, my attendance policy will be flexible in the case of seminar members who are required to observe COVID-related isolation or quarantine.
Course Requirements:
- Collaborative Discussion Facilitation: You and a colleague will facilitate a 20-30 minute seminar discussion of one article from the "Issue of Blackness" issue of Transgender Studies Quarterly. Class members will read your article ahead of time, so you should not summarize the reading or give a lecture on it, but generate discussion that includes as many class members as possible. It's up to you how you want to do this: you can have class members write something, you can ask questions, etc. You will need to read your article carefully multiple times and look up unfamiliar references in order to prepare for the discussion. You don't have to understand everything in your article--it's ok to ask questions about points you find difficult to follow. You and your collaborator need to meet (virtually or in person) to discuss the article and decide on how you want to facilitate the class discussion. I will evaluate you based on your preparation to lead the discussion, the quality of the discussion you generate, your ability to involve many class members, your leadership in ensuring that we address the issues in your chapter that are most pertinent to the concerns of the course, how well you and your co-facilitator work together, and your adherence to the time limit. You and your co-facilitator will earn the same grade for this assignment. You are welcome to discuss your plans with me ahead of time if you like.
- Individual Oral Presentation: You will give a 10 minute presentation on one recent issue of Transgender Studies Quarterly or GLQ, the two most prominent scholarly journals in the fields of queer theory and transgender studies. You will be assigned a specific journal issue to cover. It's not necessary to read every article in your assigned issue, but you should get a sense of what the various articles are about and read a few that interest you. Your presentation shouldn't just summarize the contents of the journal, but should also tell us what you find particularly interesting or significant or troubling about your journal issue, how it connects or doesn't connect to issues we have been discussing in class, and how it might or might not be useful to seminar participants for their final projects. Each presentation will be followed by questions from class members. I will evaluate your presentation based on your ability to summarize your issue and point out significant points it addresses, your adherence to the time limit, and your ability to answer class members' questions. The cumulative purpose of these presentation is to give class members a sense of what is happening in recent scholarship in queer theory and transgender studies, and to offer resources for class members to engage with for their final project.
- Final Project: This is your opportunity to revise and expand one of the five Canvas discussion posts you have composed this semester into an essay (I have a capacious definition of "essay"). Perhaps you have deepened or changed your understanding of a topic or reading as a result of class members' responses to your post, class discussions or readings, or the passage of time? Perhaps you are particularly interested in one of the topics or readings and have more to say on it? Or perhaps the journal presentations and later readings have given you new insight into your discussion of one of the earlier readings? Choose one of your five discussion posts and revise/expand it. You must engage with at least five scholarly sources in your discussion, and at least one of these should not be a class reading. I can help you find scholarly sources! Since you’ll be posting your essay on Canvas, you’re welcome to include links, images, video clips, and other digital elements. Cite all sources following MLA (or another scholarly) format in the body of your essay, and don’t forget to include a bibliography at the end—it should follow MLA (or another scholarly) format and include all primary and secondary sources you cite. You should also include appropriate citations for any images you use. Your target audience is other scholars who are interested in and know something about queer theory but are not necessarily members of our class and have not necessarily read all our class texts. If you are discussing well-known texts (e.g., Foucault, Butler, Cohen), you don’t need to summarize them. In the case of less well-known texts, you might need to give your target readers some information about them. You'll post a draft of your final project on Canvas and get feedback from me during an individual conference before posting your final revised project on Canvas. 1250-2500 words (excluding bibliography).
- Other Assignments: These include Canvas discussion posts and responses, a draft of your Final Project, your conference, and other class activities. I grade these assignments on a credit/no credit basis. In class we will discuss the criteria for earning credit on these assignments. Since these assignments are designed to help you prepare for seminar discussions and to serve as scaffolding for your final project, you lose points for late assignments unless you discuss with me your need for an extension before the assignment is due.
Course Policies:
- Citation of Sources: Plagiarism is a contested and context-specific topic. We will discuss effective ways of using sources and issues around plagiarism in class. Click here to read Chapman University's policy on academic integrity.
- Email Protocol: I acknowledge all email messages within 48 hours. If you email me but don’t get a response, I haven’t received your email. Feel free to email me concerning any questions you have about the course or about your work. It’s important to practice composing professional emails: be sure that your emails to me include appropriate subject lines, salutations, and closes.
- Classroom Dynamics: Honors seminar are discussion-oriented. I do not spend much time lecturing and expect you to participate vigorously in the many discussions around which the course is organized. We all teach and learn in this course--I do not believe in a one-way transmission of “knowledge” from instructor to students. I don’t have all the answers, and I look forward to learning as much as teaching in this course. You should direct your questions and comments in class to your colleagues as much as to me. I encourage you to talk in class and to encourage your colleagues to do the same.
- Diversity: Chapman University is committed to ensuring equality and valuing diversity. Students and professors are reminded to show respect at all times as outlined in Chapman's Harassment and Discrimination Policy. Any violations of this policy should be discussed with the professor, the Dean of Students, and/or otherwise reported in accordance with this policy. Click here to read Chapman University's Statement on Diversity.
- Students With Disabilities: Please contact me early in the semester if you have a documented disability, so that we can discuss what accommodations, if any, I might make to help you to succeed in this class. Click here to read Chapman University's Policy Statement for Assisting Students with Disabilities.
- Electronic Devices: Please bring your laptop to seminar meetings, but do not use electronic devices for non course-related work during class time.
tentative schedule
Readings marked * are on Canvas
Week 1
Monday 1/31/2022 (Zoom class meeting)
Wednesday 2/2/2022 (Zoom class meeting)
Week 2
Monday 2/7/2022 (In-person class meeting)
Week 3
Monday 2/14/2022 (In-person class meeting)
Week 4
Monday 2/21/2022 (In-person class meeting)
Week 5
Monday 2/28/2022
Week 6
Monday 3/7/2022
Week 7
Monday 3/14/2022
Week 8
Monday 3/28/2022
Week 9
Monday 4/4/2022
Week 10
Monday 4/11/2022
Week 11
Monday 4/18/2022
Week 12
Monday 4/25/2022
Week 13
Monday 5/2/2022
Week 14
Monday 5/9/2022
Week 1
Monday 1/31/2022 (Zoom class meeting)
- In-Class Activities: introduction to the course; in-class reading and discussion: Sozaev, "The Construction of Russian Homophobia"* and "Queer Theory" from The Bloomsbury Handbook of Literary and Cultural Theory*; introduction to upcoming reading and reading strategies
- Homework Assignments for 2/2/2022: read Queer Theory Now Chapters 1-2
Wednesday 2/2/2022 (Zoom class meeting)
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading and criteria for Canvas discussion posts; introduction to De Lauretis; class member introductions
- Homework Assignments for 2/7/2022: read De Lauretis, "Queer Theory: Lesbian and Gay Sexualities: An Introduction"* and reread Queer Theory Now Chapter 1; Canvas discussion post #1 due by 12 p.m. on 2/7/2022
Week 2
Monday 2/7/2022 (In-person class meeting)
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading, Canvas discussion posts, and criteria for responding to discussion posts
- Homework Assignments for 2/9/2022: read Queer Theory Now Chapter 7 and Cohen, "Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens"*; respond to at least two colleagues' Canvas discussion post #1 (each response should be at least a paragraph long)
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading and Canvas discussion responses; introduction to E. Patrick Johnson
- Homework Assignments for 2/14/2022: read E. Patrick Johnson, "'Quare' Studies, or (Almost) Everything I Know About Queer Studies I Learned from My Grandmother"*
Week 3
Monday 2/14/2022 (In-person class meeting)
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading and prepare for E. Patrick Johnson's Zoom discussion; introduction to Foucault
- Homework Assignments for: 2/16/2022: prepare questions for E. Patrick Johnson's Zoom discussion; start reading Foucault
- In-Class Activities: special guest: E. Patrick Johnson (you can earn an extra credit point for the course if you ask a question!)
- Homework Assignments for 2/21/2022: read Foucault Part One; Canvas discussion post #2 due by 12 p.m. on 2/21/2022
Week 4
Monday 2/21/2022 (In-person class meeting)
- In-Class Activities: debrief E. Patrick Johnson Zoom discussion; discuss reading and Canvas discussion posts
- Homework Assignments for 2/23/2022: read Foucault Parts Two and Three; respond to at least two colleagues' Canvas discussion post #2 (each response should be at least a paragraph long; respond to different colleagues from those you responded to last time)
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading and Canvas discussion responses
- Homework Assignments for 2/28/2022: read Foucault Parts Four and Five; reread Queer Theory Now Chapter 2
Week 5
Monday 2/28/2022
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading; introduction to upcoming reading
- Homework Assignments for 3/2/2022: read Queer Theory Now Chapters 3-5 and "Queers Read This"*
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading; introduction to Sedgwick
- Homework Assignments for 3/7/2022: read Sedgwick, Introduction to Epistemology of the Closet*; Canvas discussion post #3 due by 12 p.m. on 3/7/2022
Week 6
Monday 3/7/2022
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading and Canvas discussion posts; introduction to Butler
- Homework Assignments for 3/9/2022: read Butler, Gender Trouble, pages 163-190*; respond to at least two colleagues' Canvas discussion post #3 (each response should be at least a paragraph long; respond to different colleagues from those you responded to before)
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading and discussion responses
- Homework Assignments for 3/14/2022: watch Paris is Burning; Canvas discussion post #4 due by 12 p.m. on 3/14/2022; bring your discussion facilitation preferences to class
Week 7
Monday 3/14/2022
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading, Paris is Burning, and Canvas discussion post
- Homework Assignments for 3/16/2022: reread Queer Theory Now Chapters 3-5; respond to at least two colleagues' Canvas discussion post #4 (each response should be at least a paragraph long; respond to different colleagues from those you responded to before)
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading; watch and discuss The Attendant; draw dates for discussion facilitation; mid-semester course feedback
- Homework Assignments for 3/28/2022: read Queer Theory Now Chapter 6 and Keegan,"Against Queer Theory"*; Canvas discussion post #5 due by 12 p.m. on 3/28/2022
Week 8
Monday 3/28/2022
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading, Canvas discussion posts, strategies for facilitating discussion, and mid-semester feedback
- Homework Assignments for 3/30/2022: read General Editors’ Introduction, “We Got Issues: Toward a Black Trans*/Studies,” “Transitionings and Returnings: Experiments with the Poetics of Transatlantic Water,” and “The Crowns of Stuzo Clothing: Design, Representation, and Self-Craft” from The Issue of Blackness; prepare your discussion facilitation; bring your oral presentation preferences to class
- In-Class Activities: discuss introduction to The Issue of Blackness; student-facilitated discussions from The Issue of Blackness
- Homework Assignments for 4/4/2022: read “The Trans*-ness of Blackness, the Blackness of Trans*-ness” and “Is Transmisogyny Killing Trans Women of Color?: Black Trans Feminisms and the Exigencies of White Femininity” from The Issue of Blackness; prepare your discussion facilitation
Week 9
Monday 4/4/2022
- In-Class Activities: student-facilitated discussions from The Issue of Blackness; draw dates for oral presentations; discuss presentation requirements
- Homework Assignments for 4/6/2022: read “To Visualize the Queen Diva!: Toward Black Feminist Trans Inclusivity in Beyoncé's 'Formation'” and “Postcolonial Disablement and/as Transition: Trans* Haitian Narratives of Breaking Open and Stitching Together” from The Issue of Blackness; prepare your discussion facilitation
- In-Class Activities: student-facilitated discussions from The Issue of Blackness; assign final project
- Homework Assignments for 4/11/2022: read “Go Beyond Our Natural Selves: The Prison Lessons of CeCe McDonald” and “Don’t Exist” from The Issue of Blackness; prepare your discussion facilitation
Week 10
Monday 4/11/2022
- In-Class Activities: student-facilitated discussions from The Issue of Blackness
- Homework Assignments for 4/13/2022: work on your oral presentation
- In-Class Activities: oral presentations
- Homework Assignments for 4/18/2022: work on your oral presentation
Week 11
Monday 4/18/2022
- In-Class Activities: oral presentations
- Homework Assignments for 4/20/2022: work on your oral presentation
- In-Class Activities: oral presentations
- Homework Assignments for 4/25/2022: work on your oral presentation
Week 12
Monday 4/25/2022
- In-Class Activities: oral presentations
- Homework Assignments for 4/27/2022: read Queer Theory Now Chapter 8 and Morgensen, "Settler Homonationalism: Theorizing Settler Colonialism within Queer Modernities"*
- In-Class Activities: discuss reading
- Homework Assignments for 4/27/2022: work on your final project
Week 13
Monday 5/2/2022
- In-Class Activities: work on final project; sign up for conferences; discuss conference protocol
- Homework Assignments for 5/4/2022: work on your final project
- In-Class Activities: work on final project; student evaluations of the course
- Homework Assignments for 5/9/2022: post your final project draft on Canvas at least two days before your conference
Week 14
Monday 5/9/2022
- In-Class Activities: no class meeting--conferences on final projects
- Homework Assignments for 5/1/2022: post your final project draft on Canvas at least two days before your conference
- In-Class Activities: no class meeting--conferences on final projects
- Homework Assignments: post your revised final project on Canvas by 12 p.m. on 5/18/2022