Gender, Art and Activism

This course addresses the capacity of art to perform and work through destabilizing encounters and to produce differentiated theories of change. Queer, trans, feminist, and critical race theory are put into conversation with cultural and political activism in such a way that academia, culture, and politics may benefit from the knowledge produced in this course.

The specific focus of the course is trans/feminist cultural production and the politics of visibility. In exploring understandings and experiences of trans and gender-diverse subjectivities, the course encourages discussions of how gender is controlled and policed by structural institutions, but also how art and activism speak back to these confining structures. While focusing on lived realities, the discussions in the course also keep in mind the intersectional nature of identity and pay attention to how race, class, ethnicity, citizenship, language, and ability structure and inform conceptualizations of gender, art, and activism. In the course, students also assess the ways in which varied media are differently able to negotiate the relationship between art, culture, representation, visibility, and gender.
In the course, emphasis is placed on independent study and collaborative engagement, including co-facilitation and co-writing. It is built on intensive discussion both inside and outside the course meeting times. Due to the collaborative nature of this course, 100% attendance and participation are required at each class meeting.