120691 PS Proseminar Cultural and Media Studies (2018S)

This class explores "friendship" as a queer way of thinking about affection, desire, belonging, kinship, sexuality, and sociality in 20th century American culture. By taking as our starting point Michel Foucault's famous interview, "Friendship as a Way of Life" (1981), we will analyze cultural representations of friendship that establish affective bonds outside of the heteronormative matrix. We will examine discourses and practices that establish, legitimize, negotiate, or disavow friendship, and we will map out the cultural environments that enable or impede articulations and enactments of friendship. This class will explore representations of friendship in 20th century U.S. American culture across various genres and media, including literary texts, films, performances, and visual arts, and will deal with issues such as race, class, gender, and sexual identities; adolescence and coming-of-age; migration, displacement, and transnationalism; as well as mourning, trauma, and death.

The class will feature an expert session with Prof. David L. Eng (University of Pennsylvania), which might take place outside of the regular schedule (time and place t.b.a., most likely June 4/5)