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Introduction to Lesbian & Gay / Queer Studies Dr. Matt Brim City University of New York Graduate Center brim@mail.csi.cuny.edu Spring 2009 619-665-1484 ____________________________________________Hours by appt.
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Course Description
IDS 70100 will introduce students to the interdisciplinary field of LGBTQ studies. It will provide an overview of the foundational texts and theories that have both defined and challenged modern constructions of sexual identity, from 19* -century sexological research, through the psychoanalytic tradition, to gay and lesbian assimilationist/ separationist identity politics, and especially the recent scholarly interventions made possible by queer theory. The course will emphasize contemporary issues that have helped to define the meaning/understanding of sex and desire: gay and lesbian activist movements, the relationship of queer theory to feminist theory, the AIDS crisis, transgender liberation, queer of color critique, and the transnational flow of non-normative desire. Ultimately the course will help students examine the ways sexuality and desire exist within and through broader frameworks of cultural and social power.
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Goals
1. To introduce the interdisciplinary study of queer scholarship
2. To trace the historical emergence of the concept of sexuality
3. To become familiar with various sexual and gender identities and practices that exist
4. To understand the ways sexuality, sex, gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, nationality, and ability intersect in regard to LGBTQ people and issues
5. To investigate how individuals and institutions help to maintain and/or dismantle normalizing systems of homophobia and heterosexism
6. To engage in focused, lively, gracious academic conversation
7. To practice pointed, idea-driven written response
8. To become adept at presenting ideas, stimulating interesting conversation, and receiving feedback from peers.
9. To produce a "Stage 1" writing project
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Texts (in the order you'll need them; available at Barnes and Noble on 18 and 5 Ave):
Annamarie Jagose, Queer Theory: An Introduction
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1
Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet
Leo Bersani, Homos
Sarah Schulman, Stagestruck
Samuel Delany, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue
* All articles listed in the syllabus are available on ERes, password idsbrim
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Your Grade
1. You will be responsible for sharing two response papers (500-1000 words each) with the class. The better, more interesting responses will work with (test, adapt, expand, critique) ideas from our daily readings rather than merely summarize them or agree/disagree. You will submit your response via email by 8:00am on the day of class so that the rest of us can print it out, read it, and prepare feedback. You will have 10 minutes to read your response and/or frame it for us, before guiding a discussion of the text under consideration. Your responses will each be worth 20% of your final grade.
2. You will submit, at the end of the semester if not before, a "Stage 1" writing project of 15 pages. I think of a Stage 1 writing project as, in the big picture, a serious draft written for a particular audience (our class) that can at a later date be substantially reworked for a different audience (perhaps readers of a scholarly journal). This project will allow you to take advantage of writing shortcuts made possible by the familiarity/immediacy of your initial readership (us) while at the same time forcing you to clarify a single, powerful idea of your own without a lot of throat clearing or summary. I will want to see you in conference as you begin this essay. This project will count for 60% of your grade.
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Disability Statement
Special arrangements have been made for every student in this course. If I haven't yet made the arrangements you require, it is my responsibility to do so. Please consult with me in the first week of class. Further arrangements can be made through the Vice President for Student Affairs, Room 7301; Telephone: 1-212-817-7400.
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Weekly Schedule
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Weekl Wednesday 1/28
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Introductions
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Week 2 Wednesday 2/4
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The Big Picture
—Jagose, Queer Theory: An Introduction
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Week 3 Wednesday 2/11
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Queer History, Part 1
—Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1
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t^J*
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Week 4 Wednesday 2/18
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Queer History, Part 2
—Halperin, "Is There a History of Sexuality?"
—Rubin, "Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the
Politics of Sexuality"
—Sommerville, "Scientific Racism and the Invention of the
Homosexual Body"
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2
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Week 5 Wednesday 2/25
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Sex/Gender/Sexuality
—Freud, "The Sexual Aberrations"
—Warner, "Homonarcissism"
—Butler, "Imitation and Gender Insubordination"
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Week 6 Wednesday 3/4
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Lesbian Feminism
—Lorde, Sister Outsider
—Rich, "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian
Existence"
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Week 7 Wednesday 3/11
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Queer Race Studies
—Ferguson, "Race-ing Homonormativity: Citizenship,
Sociology, and Gay Identity"
—Eng, from Racial Castration: Managing Masculinity in
Asian America
—Brim, "Papas' Baby: Impossible Paternity in Going to
Meet the Man"
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Week 8 Wednesday 3/18
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Transgender Analyses
—Halberstam, "Transgender Butch"
—Stryker, "Transgender Studies: Queer Theory's Evil
Twin"
—Hale, "Suggested Rules for Non-Transsexuals Writing
about Transsexuals, Transsexuality, Transsexualism, or
Trans
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Week 9 Wednesday 3/25
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Queer Diasporas
—Grewal and Kaplan, "Global Identities: Theorizing
Transnational Studies of Sexuality"
—Selections from Queer Diasporas or elsewhere (TBA)
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Week 10 Wednesday 4/1
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Queer Diasporas cont'd
—Selections from Queer Diasporas or elsewhere (TBA)
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Week 11
Wednesday 4/8 NO CLASS (SPRING BREAK)
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Week 12
Wednesday 4/15 NO CLASS (SPRING BREAK)
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Week 13 Wednesday 4/22
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Sedgwick
—Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet
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Week 14 Wednesday 4/29
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The Antisocial Thesis in Queer Theory
-Edelman, from No Future: Queer Theory and the Death
Drive
—Halberstam, from In a Queer Time and Place
—Bersani, Homos
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Week 15 Wednesday 5/6
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AIDS and the Politics of Heteronormativity -Schulman, Stagestruck -actuporalhistory.org
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Week 16 Wednesday 5/13
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Class, Sex, and Capitalism
—Delany, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue
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Final Exam: —Five Minute Teaser Presentations
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—Worland, "Sign-Posts Up Ahead" [PDF]
* The Twilight Zone ("The Monsters Are Due Maple Street"); The Outer Limits ("Nightmare")
*View on your own: The Day the Earth Stood Still (Wise, 1951)
^Recommended: Space Children (Arnold, 1958; VHS only); It Came from Outer Space
(Arnold, 1951)
Feb. 10 "Watch the Skies!": The Cold War Other and Other Others
—Jancovich, "Re-examining the 1950s Invasion Narratives" [LM]
—Sontag, "The Imagination of Disaster" [LM]
—Neale, "You've Got to Be Fucking Kidding!" [LM]
*The Thing from Another World (Hawks and Nyby, 1951)
*View on your own: The Thing (Carpenter, 1982)
* Recommended: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel, 1956); This Island Earth (Newman, 1954)
***Grad Center classes follow Thursday schedule today***
Feb. 12 Lincoln's Birthday; Grad Center is closed
Feb. 19 The Alien Within
—Doane, "Technophilia" [LM]
—Creed, "Alien and the Monstrous Feminine" [PDF]
—Creed, "Gynesis, Postmodernism and the Science Fiction Horror Film" [PDF]
—Doherty, "Genre, Gender, and the Aliens Trilogy" [PDF]
*Planet of the Vampires (Bava, 1965)
*View on your own: Alien (Scott, 1979)
* Recommended: Forbidden Planet (Wilcox, 1956); Alien 3 (Fincher, 1992); Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1983); Demon Seed (Cammell,1977)
Feb. 26 Time Travel: Sci-Fi vs. Melodrama
—Penley, "Time Travel, The Primal Scene and the Critical Dystopia" [LM]
—Bignell, "Another Time, Another Space" [LM]
*Deep Space 9 ("Far Beyond the Stars"; "The Visitor")
*View on your own: The Terminator (Cameron, 1984)
*Recommended: The Time Machine (Pal, 1960); Primer (Carruth, 2004); Star Trek: Deep
Space 9 ("Hard Time" and "Visionary")
Mar. 5 Technophilia on the edge of Watergate
—Fry, "From Technology to Transcendence" [PDF] —Clark, "The Myth of 2001" [PDF]
* Andromeda Strain (Wise, 1971)
*View on your own: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
^Recommended: Star Trek: The Next Generations* season 1, "Home Soil"; UFO, season 1,
"Computer AfTair" L . ,
far* iW-ar-**1*-
Mar. 12 1970s Dystopia: Progressive? (Or...Chuck amuck!) W^<^ I $W
—Ryan and Kellner, "Technophobia/Dystopia" [LM] *Sovlent Green (Fleischer* 1973)
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Science Fiction in Film and Television
Heather Hendershot
Fall 2008, Thurs. 4:15-8:15
Office Hours: Fridays 3-5PM and Thursdays by appointment
This class follows the historical evolution of science fiction, with a primary focus on American film and television. We will consider issues of aesthetics, authorship, and genre (in particular the complicated interrelationship between sci-fi and horror), while also contextualizing discussion within the broader framework of the political issues raised by the films under discussion. In particular, we will examine the genre's historical push-pull between a conservative fear of "the other" and a more progressive allegorical use of the genre to explore issues such as racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and McCarthyism. We will start by examining the explosion of science fiction during the Cold War years. Next, we will turn to the 1960s, a transitional period aesthetically, technologically, and politically; then we will turn to key dystopic films of the 1970s. The (mostly) film component of the class culminates with Blade Runner. Television programs discussed will include: The Twilight Zone, X Files, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. the new Battlestar Gallactica. and the Star Trek franchise. Our discussion of Star Trek will lead us into examination of the important roll that fandom (and "cult") has played in the history of American science fiction. We will focus in particular on the work of writer/producer Ronald D. Moore, who got his start on Star Trek: The Next Generation, hit his stride with Deep Space 9. and boldly went where no man had gone before with Battlestar Galactica.
In addition to weekly readings, to prepare for class students will also be required to see additional films on their own ahead of time. We will also view a film, or several television episodes, in class each week. Students will complete one major assignment for the class, a 20 page research paper on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor. Each student will meet individually with me to discuss his/her final project, and 5 page proposals for the final papers will be due several weeks before the papers themselves. Papers should involve substantial original research and should display both mastery of issues covered in the class and the ability to apply course concepts to the paper topic.
Books to purchase:
Scott Bukatman, Blade Runner (British Film Institute, 2008)
Sean Redmond, ed. Liquid Metal: The Science Fiction Reader (Wallflower, 2004) [LM]
Additional readings available as PDFs on electronic reserve
* indicates viewing — indicates reading
Jan. 29 Introduction
* Battlestar Galactica ("Flesh and Bone")
* Star Trek: The Next Generation ("The Measure of a Man")
*clips: Metropolis (Lang, 1927); Things to Come (Menzies, 1936); Battlestar Galactica
("Occupation")
*Recommended: Metropolis (Lang, 1927)
Feb. 5 The Cold War Liberal Impulse
—Lucas, "U-I Sci-Fi: Studio Aesthetics and the 1950s Metaphysics" [PDF] —Weaver, "The Day the Earth Stood Still: Interview with Robert Wise" PDF] —Telotte, "A Trajectory of the American Science Fiction Film" [PDF]
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May 7 Star Trek, Authorship, and Paramount
—Jenkins, "Out of the Closet and into the Universe: Queers and Star Trek" [PDF]
—Alexander, Chapter 19, Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene
Roddenberry [PPFI
—Alexander, Chapter 10, Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene
Roddenberry [PDF]
*Star Trek: The Next Generation (episode TBA); Star Trek: Deep Space 9 ("Rejoined")
*View on your own: Trekkies (1997)
May 10 Field trip to see Star Trek (Abrams, 2009)
May 14 Toasters and Other Female Machines
—Landsberg, "Prosthetic Memory" [LM]
—Larson, "Machine as Messiah" [LM]
—Optional: Haraway, "A Manifesto for Cyborgs" [LM]
* Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ("Allison from Palmdale")
*clips: Battlestar Galactica ("The Captain's Hand"; "The Farm")
*View on your own: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, season 1, "The Demon
Hand"; "Vick's Chip"
*Recommended: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (season 2, "Self Made Man")
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Mavl7
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FINAL PAPERS DUE BY NOON
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3
*View on your own: Planet of the Apes (Fleischer, 1968) and Conquest of the Planet of the
Apes (Thompson, 1972)
*Recommended: Omega Man (Sagal, 1971)
*Clips: The Last Man on Earth (Ragona, 1964); Omega Man (Sagal, 1971); I Am Legend
(Lawrence, 2007)
Mar. 19 1970s Dystopia: Reactionary?
—Franklin, "Visions of the Future in Science Fiction Films from 1970 to 1982" [PDF]
—Wagner and Lundeen, "This Side of Paradise: Utopian Visions" [PDF]
*A Boy and His Dog (Jones. 1975)
*View on your own: Logan's Run (Anderson, 1976)
*Recommended: Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970); Space 1999, season 1, "The Guardian
ofPiri"
*clip: THX1138 (Lucas, 1971)
Mar. 26 Postmodern Sci-Fi
—Bukatman, Bladerunner
—Optional: Napier, "Ghosts and Machines" [LM]; Wong Kin Yuen, "On the Edge of
Spaces" [LM]
*Blade Runner (Scott, 1982)
*View on your own: Ghost in the Shell (Oshii, 1995)
April 2 UK TV SF
—excerpt from O'Brien, SF/UK: How British Science Fiction Changed the World [PDF] *clips and whole episodes: UFO, Space: 1999. Doctor Who. The Prisoner. Captain Scarlet
HAVE YOU MET WITH ME YET TO DISCUSS YOUR FINAL PAPER TOPIC?
SPRING BREAK
April 23 Fandom, or.. ."Please, Captain, not in front of the Klingons!"
—Bacon-Smith, "Second Stage Initiation: Learning About Videotape" (PDF)
—Jenkins, "Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten" [LM]
—Jenkins, et. al. "Normal Female Interest in Men Bonking" (PDF)
—Excerpts from "Matt Hills Interviews Henry Jenkins" (PDF)
*Star Trek ("Amok Time"; "The Enemy Within")
*View on your own: slash (misc. websites TBA)
^Recommended: Star Trek: The Next Generation (season 1, "The Naked Now")
April 26 FIVE PAGE FINAL PAPER PROPOSALS DUE BY NOON
April 30 Sci-Fi as Cult
—Reeves, et. al., "Re-Writing Popularity: The Cult Files" [PDF]
—Jancovich and Hunt, "The Mainstream, Distinction, and Cult TV" [PDF]
—Sconce, "Trashing the Academy" [PDF]
—Miller, "Trainspotting the Avengers" [PDF]
*View on your own Robot Monster (Tucker, 1953)
*clip: Parts: The Clonus Horror (Fiveson. 1979)
^Recommended: X-Files (season 3, "Jose Chung's from Outer Space")
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