Queer Necropolitics
CHUM 356
Fall 2017
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
AMST 356 |
| Certificates: Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory |
| Course Cluster: Queer Studies |
Since the 1980s AIDS epidemic, the politics of death have been central to queer conceptualizations of identity, selfhood, and community. Queer writers reflecting upon the early AIDS years often express a sense of ambivalence about their own survival in the midst of their friends and family dying with impunity. At the same time, queer studies scholars have argued that the AIDS epidemic literalized long-existing forms of symbolic death experienced by queer people. Indeed, the idea that "social death" is a precondition for queer identity has been taken up by many scholars across fields, especially at sites of intersectionality between sexuality, race, and class.
In this course, we will explore the concept of necropolitics as it pertains to queer communities and ideologies. We will examine sites of literal queer death, through the history of the AIDS epidemic, the emergence of hate crime statutes, incidences of transphobic/homophobic violence, and the disproportionate incarceration of queer people of color. We will also examine sites of symbolic queer death, through the discourses of citizenship and belonging, criminalization, civil rights and exclusions. Concepts covered will include: Michel Foucault's work on biopolitics, Sarah Schulman's idea of homophobia as a pleasure system, Jose Esteban Munoz's work on queer futurity, Lee Edelman's work on queerness as the Freudian death drive, Judith Butler's work on the value of queer lives, Jasbir Puar's work on homonationalism and debility, and the burgeoning field of queer (in)humanism. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA CHUM |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Assigned texts will include:
Ed. Jin Haritaworn, Adi Kuntsman, and Silvia Posocco, QUEER NECROPOLITICS
Leo Bersani, IS THE RECTUM A GRAVE?
Larry Kramer, REPORTS FROM THE HOLOCAUST
Jose Esteban Munoz, CRUISING UTOPIA: THE THEN AND THERE OF QUEER FUTURITY
Lee Edelman, NO FUTURE: QUEER THEORY AND THE DEATH DRIVE
Judith Butler, PRECARIOUS LIFE: THE POWERS OF MOURNING AND VIOLENCE
Jasbir Puar, TERRORIST ASSEMBLAGES: HOMONATIONALISM IN QUEER TIMES
C. Riley Snorton and Jin Haritaworn, TRANS NECROPOLITICS: A TRANSNATIONAL REFLECTION ON VIOLENCE, DEATH, AND THE TRANS OF COLOR AFTERLIFE
Heather Love, FEELING BACKWARD: LOSS AND THE POLITICS OF QUEER HISTORY
Ann Cvetkovich, AN ARCHIVE OF FEELINGS: TRAUMA SEXUALITY, AND LESBIAN PUBLIC CULTURES
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Examinations and Assignments:
This course will require weekly reading reflections, a midterm essay, and a final research paper. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
POI requirements: a short form that will distributed to interested students in which they will describe their iterest in the course and the qualifications they possess to do high level queer studies scholarly work, |
| Instructor(s): Grappo,Laura Times: ...W... 01:20PM-04:10PM; Location: CFH106; |
Permission of Instructor Required
Enrollment capacity: 15 | Permission of instructor approval will be granted by the instructor during pre-registration through the Electronic Portfolio. Click "Add to My Courses" and "To request a POI electronically, click here" to submit your request. |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 1 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 1 |
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