SEMINAR DESCRIPTION

This course will surface the ways in which LGBTQ+ people and communities have impacted the ways in which mainstream American culture has been shaped by cultural production derived from thinking that challenges heteronormativity in post-World War II America until the validation of same sex marriage in 2014 Through the lenses of queer theory, evolving queer history, Since the emergence of “homosexuality” and “transsexuality” as identities in the late 19th century, queer culture has been presumed to develop in the margins of American life, ancillary to and shaped by heterosexual norms. Yet, the vast majority of queer people in the last hundred years have lived (to at least some degree) in the closet, allowing them to exist in the mainstream while maintaining a distinctly non-normative identity. Thus, to quote bell hooks, allowing them "to bring the margin into the center." In 15 meetings over the course of the semester, through lectures, discussions, texts, slides, films and video, we will explore the ways in which transformative integration of queer designs for living have occurred. Highlighting pivotal events and shifts in American cultural, political, and creative history this course will provide food for thought about the ways in queerness is integral to American notions of progress and freedom.

Monday, January 29, 2024

Wed, Jan 24 Orientation Session

Wed, Jan 24 Orientation Session Introduction to participants and work of the seminar. In class screening of the 1967 CBS documentrary, “The Homosexuals,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu1r6igCODw In class discussion of the documentary and the context in which it was made. The context: The Civil Rights movement and legislation, the Vietnam War, The Pill and Griswold v. Connecticut; Sunday Bloody Sunday, Hair, Dusty Springfield, Little Richard, Leslie Gore, The Killing of Sister George, Reflections in a Golden Eye, Pop Art, Andy Warhol, James Baldwin, The Summer of Love, Woodstock, Bayard Rustin, N.O.W., Pauli Murray, The Feminine Mystique and Betty Friedan, physique magazines, Kenneth Anger, One Magazine, Mattachine Society, The Black Cat, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, Pickets for Gay Rights, San Francisco’s first Drag Ball, Drum Magazine, Oscar Wilde Bookstore opens, Students Homophile League at Columbia University, JFK, Malcolm X, MLK, RFK assassinated, Loving v. Virginia, The Advocate begins publication… Assignment: In Eaklor’s Queer America… Read chapter 5 Pgs. 107-129 ; watch the documentary, Before Stonewall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYddtKw3NlY; and read the June 26,1964 Life Magazine Article, “Homosexuality in America, http://time.com/3891557/gay-life-in-america/

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Erika Bauer - Final Project

 Link to my final project https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10M3X31MtgSnCAicMzf6pDhINFAjSNRaGX8BJnh3_9Eg/edit