LGBT 181 A-Z - Special Topics in LGBTQ+ StudiesSemester Hours: 3
Studies in LGBTQ+ topics interrelating several of but not limited to the following disciplines: anthropology, art history, classics, counseling, cultural studies, history, law, literature, media, plastic and performing arts, psychology, religion, sociology, writing studies, etc.
LGBT 181A - Queering Ancient Fiction
This course will pair readings in ancient Greek and Latin literature alongside modern fiction to explore the many ways in which writers of the 20th and 21st centuries have used antiquity to think about modern queer identities. Works by Homer, Sappho, Plato, Sophocles, and Ovid (among others) will be brought into dialogue with E. M. Forster’s Maurice, Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, Mark Merlis’ An Arrow’s Flight, Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles, Selby Wynn Schwartz’s After Sappho, and Bernardine Evaristo’s The Emperor’s Babe.
LGBT 181C - Gender and Education
Gender identity is a sensitive issue in schools. This class will address research on many intersecting issues of gender that affect schooling overall and the quality of education. Topics include access, environment, equity, justice, policies, curriculum, pedagogy, and achievement in both national and international contexts. Policies, challenges, and obstacles for girls’ education are explored, especially at the transitional middle school level in less developed countries. We will unpack issues of gender identity and sexuality, and the role schools play in the construction or hindrance of identities. How heteronormative cultures in schools affect gender development, identity, and expression, especially for LGBTQ+ students, is of timely importance. We will also review the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal # 5 on gender equality, its connections to education, and examples of how varied countries address gender and gender identities in schooling.
LGBT 181D - Investigating Queerness in Lit & Film
Lisa M. Dresner, Writing Studies and Rhetoric, and Rodney F. Hill, Radio, Television, Film
We all enjoy seeing representations of ourselves and relevant issues in the media we watch and read. But how do economic, historical, and legal factors affect the kinds of stories filmmakers and authors tell us and how they are allowed to tell us those stories?
These issues, among many more, will be explored in LGBT 181D/RTVF 180C, an interdisciplinary course combining LGBTQ+ Studies and Film Studies perspectives to examine the connections between artistic productions and outside forces.
From an LGBTQ+ Studies perspective, we’ll consider topics like these: How does a queer point of view influence how artists and audiences approach narratives of crime and investigation? How do queer representations change over time from queer coding to more overt representations?
From a Film Studies perspective, we’ll examine how queer characters and related themes have been treated in films during different historical periods in American cinema and internationally. We will consider a “queer aesthetic” in film, the relationship between queer cinema and “camp,” and historical/ economic factors at play in the film industry influencing how LGBTQ characters are depicted.
To address these questions, this course will examine a wide variety of works: classic films noirs, crime documentaries, and more recent crime films as well as queer crime fiction classics from 19th-century detective-adventure stories to the gothic novel to gay pulp fiction, along with relevant secondary literature.
This course will count towards the “film studies” requirements (or as a film-area elective) in various RTVF majors and will count towards the LGBTQ+ Studies Minor. It will also carry (IS) distribution credit and WI credit.
Course Notes/ Prerequisites: Credit cannot be earned for both this course and LGBT 180N. No prerequisites.
Crosslisted as: RTVF 180C
This course is a featured interdisciplinary course for Fall 2025. For more information, visit our Interdisciplinary Courses Webpage.
Prerequisite(s)/Course Notes:
As individual subjects are selected, each is assigned a letter (A-Z) and added to the course number. Any course may be taken a number of times so long as there is a different letter designation each time it is taken. Specific titles and course descriptions for special topics courses are available in the online class schedule.
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