Private Lives, Public Spaces: How Gender Affects our Experience of Public Space
Private Lives, Public Spaces: How Gender Affects our Experience of Public Space
Faculty member teaching this course: Renee Pinchero
In this class, we will explore the various ways gender (as it intersects with our other identities) is constructed and experienced in different public spaces ranging from our college campus to the Internet. We will look at how we make choices about our identities and how those choices are made for us, as well as what that means. Within this context, we will discuss a variety of contemporary issues, laws and movements ranging from #Black Lives Matter and #Me Too to school dress codes and the Texas “Bathroom Bill.”
Queer Film and Pop Culture
Queer Film and Pop Culture
Faculty member teaching this course: Alex Barron
From Drag Race to Moonlight to Fun Home, LGBT stories and artists are becoming increasingly popular. But does pop culture matter? For marginalized communities who don’t often see themselves represented accurately, it can. In this seminar, we will study film, literature, and television to see what it tells us about LGBT identities and communities.
Monsters and Queer Identity in Fiction
Monsters and Queer Identity in Fiction
Faculty member teaching this course: Brian Sheerin
How have cultural norms of sexual expression and desire been challenged by writers of literature? While it may feel like literary boundary-breaking is a recent phenomenon, this class will show how a tradition of "transgressive fiction" has been going strong for hundreds of years, and can still feel surprisingly relevant. Beginning with Renaissance poets such as Shakespeare and Marlowe, we will delve into the queer sensibilities of pre-modernist English literature through works by Margaret Cavendish, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and more.
In this seminar, we will study film, literature, and television to see what it tells us about LGBT identities and communities and the power of popular culture. How does gender (along with other aspects of our identity such as race and ethnicity) shape how we experience and move through the world? How does sexuality influence how we produce and consume art and culture? Each of these seminars will explore issues of gender and sexuality through a difference lens. Also, as a Learning Community, we will engage in a variety of experiences that help us explore these questions further, including experiences that will help us learn more about our campus and Austin communities affected by these issues.
Signature events: attend events on campus like the Drag Show and Coming Out Day and go off campus to explore the Austin community.