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GSS 202 Fall 2022

Course Calendar

Readings are due – meaning they should be completed – on the dates indicated. Readings marked with “(GD)” are available in our class Google drive folder. All other readings are either linked to here or they are novels or films (see “Required Course Materials”). Please bring a copy of all readings listed for each day with you to class.

The most accurate and up-to-date version of this calendar can be found on our course site. Use the online calendar to check on reading assignments, rather than this print version, since the print version of this syllabus will not be updated throughout the semester.

I reserve the right to change the course calendar as needed; adequate advance notice will always be given of any changes.

Unit 1: Introductions

Week 1

Tuesday, August 23

  • Introduction to course: What is LGTBQ Studies?

Thursday, August 25

  • Siobhan Somerville, “Queer,” from Keywords for American Cultural Studies, Second Edition (2014) (GD)
  • Donald E. Hall and Annamarie Jagose, selection from “Introduction,” from The Routledge Queer Studies Reader (2012), pgs xiv-xvii (GD)
  • “Queers Read This,” by Anonymous Queers, pamphlet distributed at NYC Pride, June 1990, http://www.qrd.org/qrd/misc/text/queers.read.this, focus on pg 9 (starting with the section, “reeuQ yhW: Queer!” and going through “NO SEX POLICE”)

Week 2

Tuesday, August 30

  • Michelle O’Brien, “Trans Oral History: Feminist Legacy,” from the Transgender Oral History Project, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gug9VQV7pwE (7:28)
  • Sharon Marcus, “Queer Theory for Everyone: A Review Essay,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol 31, 1 (2005): 191-218; read pgs 191-200 (GD)
  • Susan Stryker, “Transgender Studies: Queer Theory’s Evil Twin,” GLQ 10, no. 2 (2004): 212-215 (GD)

Thursday, September 1

  • Hanne Blank, Ch 1 “The Love That Could Not Speak Its Name,” from Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality (2012) (GD)

Friday, Sept 2

  • Grade contract due
  • Response 1 due

Week 3

Tuesday, September 6

  • Siobhan Somerville, “Scientific Racism and the Emergence of the Homosexual Body,” The Journal of the History of Sexuality 5, no. 2 (1994): 243-266 (GD)

Thursday, September 8

  • Cathy J. Cohen, “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?”, GLQ vol 3 (1997): 437-465 (GD)

Friday, Sept 9

  • Response 2 due

Unit 2: Disidentifications

Week 4

Tuesday, September 13

  • José Esteban Muñoz, Introduction “Performing Disidentifications,” from Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics (1999), pgs 1-13, 21-34 (GD)

Thursday, September 15: NO CLASS

Friday, September 16

  • Response 3 due

Week 5

Tuesday, September 20

  • Marlon Riggs, dir., Tongues Untied (1989), https://fod-infobase-com.access.library.miami.edu/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=57872 (53:52)
    • This film is available to stream for free for UM students through our library (via Films on Demand). Clicking the link above will take you to a page that requires you to sign in with your UM CaneID and password. After you enter those, you will be able to stream the film.
    • You can also access this film by going to our course Blackboard site and selecting “uReserves” from the left sidebar menu. Clicking on “Items on Course Reserves” will take you to a screen where the 3 films we are watching this semester are listed. Under “Tongues Untied,” select “Check availability,” then “View online.”
    • If the above 2 methods don’t work for you, follow these steps to watch the film:
      • Head to the UM Library homepage, and scroll down to the “Databases A-Z” section.
      • Select F, and you’ll be taken to a screen listing all of the databases that start with F.
      • Scroll down to “Films On Demand: Master Academic Package,” and click on that. If you are not on campus, you may be prompted at this point to enter your CaneID and password.
      • Once you’ve logged into the service, enter “Tongues Untied” into the search bar at the top and hit enter/return/select search.
      • When the results screen populates, scroll down to Tongues Untied (for me it’s the fifth result listed) and click on it. You should now be able to watch the film.

Thursday, September 22

  • Jordy Rosenberg, Confessions of the Fox (2018), Editor’s Foreword – Part I, Ch. 6 (through pg 46). Always read the footnotes!

Friday, September 23

  • Response 4 due

Week 6

Tuesday, September 27

  • Jordy Rosenberg, Confessions of the Fox (2018), Part I, Ch 7 – Part II, Ch 7 (pgs 47-169)

Thursday, September 29

  • Jordy Rosenberg, Confessions of the Fox (2018), Part II, Ch 8 – Ch 14 (pgs 170-227)

Friday, September 30

  • Response 5 due

Week 7

Tuesday, October 4

  • Jordy Rosenberg, Confessions of the Fox (2018), Part III, Ch 1 – Ch 13 (pgs 231-316)

Thursday, October 6: Class taught by Professor Jessica Rosenberg

  • Jordy Rosenberg, Confessions of the Fox (2018), wrap-up
  • Keyword analysis paper workshop
    • You should know which keyword and which texts you are planning to write about by class on this day. Bring a laptop or a tablet and at least one of the texts you are planning to write about with you to class.

Sunday, October 9

  • Keyword Analysis due (this keyword analysis paper is required)

Unit 3: The Personal and the Political

Week 8

Tuesday, October 11

  • Cheryl Dunye, dir., The Watermelon Woman (1996), https://miami.kanopy.com/video/watermelon-woman (1 hour, 24 minutes)
    • This film is available to stream for free for UM students through our library (via Kanopy). Clicking the link above will take you to a page that requires you to sign in with your UM CaneID and password. After you enter those, you will be able to stream the film.
    • You can also access this film by going to our course Blackboard site and selecting “uReserves” from the left sidebar menu. Clicking on “Items on Course Reserves” will take you to a screen where the 3 films we are watching this semester are listed. Under “The Watermelon Woman,” select “Check availability,” then “View online.”
    • If the above 2 methods don’t work for you, follow these steps to watch the film:
      • Head to the UM Library homepage, and scroll down to the “Databases A-Z” section.
      • Select K, and you’ll be taken to a screen listing all of the databases that start with K.
      • Select “Kanopy”. If you are not on campus, you may be prompted at this point to enter your CaneID and password and/or create an individual Kanopy account using your UM credentials.
      • Once you’ve logged into the service, enter “The Watermelon Woman” into the search bar at the top. Once you start typing, the film should come up automatically (it’s got a bright pink image). Select the film.
      • You should now be taken to a screen where you are able to watch the film.
    • The Watermelon Woman is also available to stream via Amazon Prime, Showtime, Paramount+, and Hulu Premium if you subscribe to any of those services and would rather watch it that way.

Thursday, October 13: Fall break – NO CLASS

Week 9

Tuesday, October 18

  • James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room (1956), Part I - Part II, Ch 2 (pgs 3-102)

Thursday, October 20

  • James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room (1956), Part II, Ch 3-5 (pgs 103-169)

Friday, October 21

  • Response 6 due

Week 10

Tuesday, October 25

Thursday, October 27

  • Audre Lorde, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982), Ch 23 (pgs 176-183) (GD)
  • Gloria Anzaldúa, Ch 2 “Movimientos de rebeldia y las culturas que traicionan,” from Borderlands/La Frontera (1987) (GD)
  • Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts (2015), pgs 7-21, 58-64 (GD)

Friday, October 28

  • Response 7 due

Week 11

Tuesday, November 1

  • Judith Butler, Gender Trouble (1990), pgs 174-180 (GD)
  • C. Riley Snorton, “‘A New Hope’: The Psychic Life of Passing,” Hypatia 24, no. 3 (2009): 77-92 (GD)

Thursday, November 3

  • Butler and Snorton, con’t
  • Keyword analysis paper workshop
    • You should come to class knowing which keyword and which texts you want to write about. Bring a laptop or a tablet and at least one of the texts you are planning to write about with you to class.

Sunday, November 6

  • Contract Reassessment due
  • Keyword Analysis due

Unit 4: Archive of a Pandemic: AIDS activism and resistance

Week 12

Tuesday, November 8

Thursday, November 10

  • Sarah Schulman, “Introduction: How Change Is Made,” from Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 (2021) (GD)
    • If you are interested in looking at an ACT UP New York timeline that details the group’s activities and important moments in the history of LGBTQ and AIDS activism in the US, see the file titled “Schulman – ACT UP Timeline” in our course readings folder. It provides a chronological backdrop to the historical overview Schulman gives in the introduction to her book. (GD)

Friday, November 11

  • Response 8 canceled: It will count for everyone as if you have turned it in.

Week 13

Tuesday, November 15

  • Jim Hubbard, dir., United in Anger: A History of ACT UP (2012), https://miami.kanopy.com/product/united-anger-history-act-0 (1 hour, 33 minutes)
    • This film is available to stream for free for UM students through our library (via Kanopy). Clicking the link above will take you to a page that requires you to sign in with your UM CaneID and password. After you enter those, you will be able to stream the film.
    • You can also access this film by going to our course Blackboard site and selecting “uReserves” from the left sidebar menu. Clicking on “Items on Course Reserves” will take you to a screen where the 3 films we are watching this semester are listed. Under “United in Anger: A History of ACT UP,” select “Check availability,” then “View online.”
    • If the link isn’t working for you, follow these steps to watch the film:
      • Head to the UM Library homepage, and scroll down to the “Databases A-Z” section.
      • Select K, and you’ll be taken to a screen listing all of the databases that start with K.
      • Select “Kanopy”. If you are not on campus, you may be prompted at this point to enter your CaneID and password and/or create an individual Kanopy account using your UM credentials.
      • Once you’ve logged into the service, enter “United In Anger” into the search bar at the top. Once you start typing, the film should come up automatically. Select the film.
      • You should now be taken to a screen where you are able to watch the film.
    • You can also watch this film on YouTube for free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrAzU79PBVM.
  • ACT UP Oral History Project: https://actuporalhistory.org/numerical-interviews. Please select one interview transcript to read/skim. Here’s how to access the interview transcripts:
    • You can use the link above (https://actuporalhistory.org/numerical-interviews) to browse through the interviews and select one to skim by clicking on that interview’s image.
    • You will then be taken to that interview’s page. On this page, you can watch a full, unedited version of the interview, watch an excerpt, or read the transcript. Select “Transcript” to skim the transcript.

Thursday, November 17

  • Jim Hubbard, dir., United in Anger: A History of ACT UP (2012), con’t
  • Marika Cifor, selections from Ch. 1 “‘Your Nostalgia is Killing Me!’: ACT UP Nostalgia and the Meaning of HIV/AIDS,” from Viral Cultures: Activist Archiving in the Age of AIDS (2022), pgs 40-51 (GD)
  • Recommended:
    • Sarah Schulman, “The Denial of AIDS and the Construction of a Fake Life,” talk presented at Outwrite: National Lesbian and Gay Writers’ Conference (1992) (GD)

Friday, November 18

  • Response 9 due (this response is required)

Week 14

Tuesday, November 22: NO CLASS

  • Office hours during class (on Zoom)

Thursday, November 25: Thanksgiving break – NO CLASS

Week 15

Tuesday, November 29

  • Schulman et al, “The Lesbian Avengers,” Parts 1-4, from My American History: Lesbian and Gay Life During the Reagan/Bush Years (1994) (GD)

Thursday, December 1

  • A discussion about archives and archiving with UM Special Collections Head, Cristina Favretto (meet in Kislak Center)

Week 16

Tuesday, December 6

  • Final project workshop
  • Course evaluations

Fri, Dec 9

  • Final Project due