LARTS 374 — History of Gender and Sexuality

3 credits
Spring
Alex Gatten and Dan Ewert

Prerequisite: LARTS 112 . This course will provide an introduction to histories and theories of gender and sexuality from the Early Modern period to the twenty-first century. We will explore how ideas about gender and sexual identity transformed throughout a long history of expression, repression, and resistance, giving rise to perspectives that were often very different from those familiar to us in the 21st century. Our readings and discussions will allow us to consider historical contexts that gave rise to new experiences of gender and sexual identity, such as the medicalization of the body, imperialism, the Industrial Revolution, policing, war, and the HIV/AIDS crisis. Along the way, we will consider how gender and sexual identity shaped - and were shaped by - political, scientific, and economic institutions and other kinds of social identity such as class and race. Additionally, we will research queer movements and political activism that have shaped public policy and the fraught relationships between some of these movements. By the end of the course, students will have researched an aspect of queer history and/or theory and will have created their own “queer archive” to present to their peers.