Much of this course is thinking across texts from the 90s to the present. I have curated a genealogy of queer and trans studies and in your final assignment you will create your own genealogy. Throughout the course you will be introduced to a number of broad areas within queer and trans studies (diaspora, performance studies, futurity, queer/trans of color, geographies & geopolitics, normativity, violence & necropolitics). Students should select one of these topics and consider what scholars have contributed to this topic and how they have contributed to that topic. Your assignment should include sources that have a wide range of dates, meaning you have done enough research to get a sense of some of the earliest texts that were published on your topic.
We will engage in a workshop to think about genealogies so don’t worry if you have never done an assignment like this before. You can begin thinking about this assignment by scanning journals and special issues and make note of specific topics and ideas that interest you (GLQ, QED, Lesbian studies, TSQ, Social Text). In addition, one great to way to think about genealogy is to turn to the bibliography from the assigned readings.
List of journals in gender, sexuality, and feminist studies:
https://www.mcgill.ca/igsf/graduate/resources/journals-gender-sexuality-and-feminist-studies Links to an external site.
Option #1: Essay Style Genealogy (topic: queer/trans of colour)
This final assignment will be 2500-3000 words. The assignment should include 6 academic sources and 1-2 of your 6 academic sources should be course readings. This means you will research and find 4-5 academic sources that will be a part of your genealogy depending on whether you use 1 or 2 course readings. The assignment will involve you having to summarize each of your selected texts but also reflecting on how they have contributed to your topic. The genealogy is intended to highlight major shifts within your topic.
Two course readings:
-Title: Times to Come: Materializing Trans Times
Author: Chen, Jian Neo ; cárdenas, micha
-Title: BLACK/QUEER/DIASPORA AT THE CURRENT CONJUNCTURE Introduction
Author: Allen, Jafari S.
Here are some questions that your genealogy may respond to:
What was the orientation and attachment of scholars within this topic?
What subjects and spaces are central to this topic?
Who do these scholars draw from and who do these scholars critique?
How do these scholars feel about the potential of their fields and their subfields?
What are some of the objects (Films, books, plays, performances) that have shaped this topic?
Are there notable figures, activists, historical moments that are central to this topic