Queer/Anthropology: Ethnographic Approaches to Queer Studies
ANTH 398
Fall 2013
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
FGSS 398, AMST 398 |
| Certificates: Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory |
This advanced seminar brings together queer theory with cultural anthropology to ask: Can there be a queer anthropology? Cultural anthropology and queer theory are sometimes opposed--some anthropologists find queer studies excessively theoretical, narrowly interested in Western forms of knowledge and power, and given to abstracted critique rather than social explication. Yet even as anthropologists problematize queer theory's assumptions, methods, and boundaries, queer theoretical insights and frameworks have generated new questions and approaches in the anthropology of sexuality--just as anthropology's interest in the global, the comparative, and the ethnographic have enriched new work in transnational queer studies.
This course explores the possibilities of productively juxtaposing, combining, and even opposing anthropology and queer theory. This semester, we will have a special focus on activism. We will read several recent ethnographies of queer (and LGBT) activist organizations alongside theoretical critiques and political calls-to-arms to ask: What counts as queer activism or radical politics? How are political visions produced by social landscapes, and how do they transform them? What are the ethics of queer ethnography, or queer critique? |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS ANTH |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST)(ANTH)(CSCT)(FGSS) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Potential titles include:
Naisargi Dave, QUEER ACTIVISM IN INDIA: A STORY IN THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF ETHICS
Deborah Gould, MOVING POLITICS: EMOTION AND ACT UP'S FIGHT AGAINST AIDS
Cymene Howe, INTIMATE ACTIVISM: THE STRUGGLE FOR SEXUAL RIGHTS IN POSTREVOLUTIONARY NICARAGUA
Sarah Schulman, ISRAEL/PALESTINE AND THE QUEER INTERNATIONAL
Jane Ward, RESPECTABLY QUEER: DIVERSITY CULTURE IN LGBT ACTIVIST ORGANIZATIONS
Elahe Haschemi Yekani, Eveline Kilian, and Beatrice Michaelis, QUEER FUTURES: RECONSIDERING ETHICS, ACTIVISM, AND THE POLITICAL
Essays by Mattilda Berstein Sycamore, Tom Boellstorff, Karma Chávez, Cathy Cohen, Douglas Crimp, John D'Emilio, Lisa Duggan, Nancy Fraser, Elizabeth Freeman, J. Jack Halberstam, Christina B. Hanhardt, Amber Hollibaugh, Martin Manalansan, Jasbir Puar, Dean Spade, and Urvashi Vaid.
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Examinations and Assignments:
class participation; weekly memos; final research paper |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Because of the advanced nature of this course, prior preparation in queer studies and/or cultural anthropology is strongly recommended. E-mail me if you are unsure about your previous coursework/preparation. |
| Instructor(s): Weiss,Margot Times: ..T.... 01:10PM-04:00PM; Location: ANTH6; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 16 | | SR major: 5 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: 5 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 4 | SO: 0 | FR: X |
| Web Resources: Syllabus |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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