Transgender Theory
AMST 344
Spring 2019 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
FGSS 344 |
| Certificates: Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory |
| Course Cluster: Queer Studies |
This seminar will consider theoretical, political, and social understandings of what has been broadly defined as "transgender" identities. We will begin by interrogating the concept of gender itself, probing the centrality of Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity and questioning modes of gender compulsoriness and inevitability. We will consider the relationship between the study of gender and scholarly disciplines including queer theory and feminist theory as well as American studies. The course will then focus more centrally on transnarratives of self and fights within queer and feminist communities over emerging trans articulations of personhood. Finally, the class will consider the diverse ways in which trans subjects struggle over the meaning(s) of trans narratives and the ways in which political rights and cultural legibility may be accessible or at times nonexistent for transpeople.
In understanding transgender theory as a scholarly field, this course will focus on the following questions: What does it mean to be transgender? How can we (or can we?) delineate different modes of trans being (e.g., transsexual identity, genderqueer) in a meaningful way? What does it mean to transform a central tenet of one's core self? Or, does the process of transgender existence consist more of a concretion of the real rather than a transformation of the self? How can trans narratives become legible to social and political articulations of personhood? |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS AMST |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST)(CSCT) |
Major Readings:
Required Text:
Julia Serrano, WHIPPING GIRL: A TRANSSEXUAL WOMAN ON SEXISM AND THE SCAPEGOATING OF FEMININITY
A selection of articles and excerpts from the following list will be posted on Moodle:
Susan Stryker, THE TRANSGENDER STUDIES READER
Judith Butler, UNDOING GENDER
Riki Anne Wilchins, READ MY LIPS: SEXUAL SUBVERSION AND THE END OF GENDER
Judith Halberstam, "F2M: THE MAKING OF FEMALE MASCULINITY"
Jack Halberstam, FEMALE MASCULINITY
Jay Prosser, SECOND SKINS
Gayle Salamon, ASSUMING A BODY: TRANSGENDER AND RHETORICS OF MATERIALITY
Judith Butler, BODIES THAT MATTER: ON THE DISCURSIVE LIMITS OF SEX
Joanne Meyerowitz, HOW SEX CHANGED: A HISTORY OF TRANSSEXUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES
Sandy Stone: "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: A POSTTRANSSEXUAL MANIFESTO"
Janice Raymond, THE TRANSSEXUAL EMPIRE: THE MAKING OF THE SHE-MALE
Gayle Rubin, "OF CATAMITES AND KINGS: REFLECTIONS ON BUTCH, GENDER, AND BOUNDARIES"
Dean Spade, NORMAL LIFE: ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLENCE, CRITICAL TRANS POLITICS, AND THE LIMITS OF THE LAW
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Examinations and Assignments:
Each student will introduce and lead one class discussion. Written assignments include a midterm paper and a 15-20 pp. final paper. |
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