127013 KO Critical Readings in Literature (2025S)

“I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent’s tongue – my woman’s voice, my sexual voice, my poet’s voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence.” (Gloria E. Anzaldúa
Borderlands 81)

What does it mean to belong? In a world shaped by borders, identities, and the persistent question, ‘where are you from?’, the politics of belonging and power become increasingly urgent, particularly for marginalised and silenced communities. This course explores literature that amplifies queer and migrant experiences, challenging our notions of home, identity, and belonging in an increasingly fragmented world.
In this critical reading course, we will examine contemporary anglophone literature that deals with migrant and queer identities, focusing on Latinx, Vietnamese-American and Black-British representations. Throughout, we will analyse fiction, auto-fiction, essays, and poems by contemporary writers, among them Ana Castillo, Ocean Vuong and Paul Mendez. We will interpret them with the help of critical cultural theories and queer theories by key thinkers such as Gloria E. Anzaldúa and Sara Ahmed. Additionally, we will examine the cultural and historical contexts of migration, engaging with contemporary political debates on (anti)racism and queerness, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. We will explore how these texts shape and react on the intersections of gender identity, sexuality, migration, race and power, shedding light on the stories of marginalised groups as they challenge structures of exclusion and Othering, striving to ‘overcome the tradition of silence.’

Course Outcomes
- Students will engage critically with contemporary anglophone literature about queer and migrant voices from different theoretical perspectives
- Students will gain an understanding of the political, social and cultural contexts of such pieces of writing
- Students will be able to analyse the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, power, class and migration in these texts
- Students will develop their practical skills in the analysis of literary texts and academic writing