Much of this course is thinking across texts from the 90s to the present. I have curated a genealogy of queer and trans studies and in your final assignment you will create your own genealogy. Throughout the course you will be introduced to a number of broad areas within queer and trans studies (diaspora, performance studies, futurity, queer/trans of color, geographies & geopolitics, normativity, violence & necropolitics). Students should select one of these topics and consider what scholars have contributed to this topic and how they have contributed to that topic. Your assignment should include sources that have a wide range of dates, meaning you have done enough research to get a sense of some of the earliest texts that were published on your topic.
You can begin thinking about this assignment by scanning journals and special issues and make note of specific topics and ideas that interest you (GLQ, QED, Lesbian studies, TSQ, Social Text). In addition, one great to way to think about genealogy is to turn to the bibliography from the assigned readings.
List of journals in gender, sexuality, and feminist studies:
https://www.mcgill.ca/igsf/graduate/resources/journals-gender-sexuality-and-feminist-studies
Option #1: Essay Style Genealogy
This final assignment will be 2500-3000 words. The assignment should include 6 academic sources and 1-2 of your 6 academic sources should be course readings. This means you will research and find 4-5 academic sources that will be a part of your genealogy depending on whether you use 1 or 2 course readings. The assignment will involve you having to summarize each of your selected texts but also reflecting on how they have contributed to your topic. The genealogy is intended to highlight major shifts within your topic.
Regarding the teacher’s request to use 2 readings from course reading list. I have attached the syllabus. Please take a look at the themes and titles first to see which ones interest you. I will download and send you those. Otherwise, uploading all the files would be too much.
