128303 AR Theory (MA) (2016W)

According to (our) society’s heteronormative ideology, culture is structured by two dichotomies: the radical opposition of male vs. female and of heterosexual vs. homosexual. It is the task of queer studies, as an approach of analysis, to point out where these two dichotomies are and (perhaps always) have been unstable and, in some cases, to keep destabilising them.
Queer studies question the ‘naturalness’ of gender roles and implicitly gendered forms of desire by exploring how they have been discursively produced under the influence of historical, social, political and linguistic contingencies. As an interdisciplinary approach, they have their roots in sexology, gender studies, lesbian and gay studies and politics, as well as in deconstruction. In the first part of this course called 'Before Queer' we will therefore trace which concepts, figures of thought and questions were taken from these divers fields of interest. In the second block we shall look at 'Queer Classics', that is, theory texts (by Foucault, Butler, Sedgwick), which have become extremely influential because they helped to forge a new analytic tool. Part III of the course will look at three fields of study, which are located between the traditional genders (intersexuality; transsexuality) and modes of desire (bisexuality). In the course’s final part we shall look at one model queer reading of Shakespeare’s sonnets and one of Hitchcock’s The Birds to show you what it looks like and which insights might be gained when queer theory comes into contact with products of culture.
We will, however, be practicing ‘doing’ queer readings during most of the term, so you can flex your intellectual muscles in active training throughout. For this purpose I would ask you to trawl the Internet for a ‘queer clip’ no longer than 3 minutes. This can be an advertisement or a scene from a film or a TV series or a music video. Its queer element can be manifestly lesbian, gay, trans, inter or bisexual or otherwise subversive of heteronormative ideology, but it can also be hidden in the clip’s subtext. Please send me the link to this clip when you enrol for the course by 24th September. From the links I receive I shall select some to discuss at the beginning of our lessons for warm-up.