ES 5980 - Queer Theory, Youth, and Education

“Queer” is a contested and contesting term. Some remember hearing the term on the playgrounds and in the hallways of our youth, yelled in derogatory ways at those who didn’t quite fit in to normed ways of expressing gender. So, what can queer mean in relation to theory? And what does that mean for education/in educational settings/for youth? These are the central questions of this course. Together, we will investigate queer theory and the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people - particularly youth - as addressed in educational settings. We aim to challenge ourselves, to develop and to queer our own theoretical practices, and to consider what queer theory had to offer to our own work.

Note: Open to upper-level undergraduate and graduate students.

Credits: 3 hours