About
This is a great introduction into feminist and queer studies and its relationship to the archive, which are spaces that hold different narratives and histories about how we once lived, informing us about the past, present and future. This holds an important place within feminist and queer scholarship, enabling us to understand how racialised and gendered histories live on. Through media examples we will explore how LGBTQ artists and activists use the archive in their cultural interventions.
The American author, feminist and social activist bell hooks articulates that “confronting the ways women-through sex, class and race-dominated other women” is the basis for a truly liberatory and empowering feminist framework. Through an analysis of media examples, this unique course will provide you with a fascinating overview of, and accessible way into, feminist and queer studies. We will put feminism and queerness in conversation with the archive – a space in which we can understand the past, present and future in parallel - gaining an insight into the major themes and intersections within these fields. We’ll cover film, photography, television and archival material in order to address the body, gender politics and erotic desire through an intersectional lens. You will be encouraged throughout to develop new ways of thinking about gender and sexuality. This is ideal for former or future students within the arts, gender, media and cultural studies, who are looking to develop or build further on their existing knowledge or interests.
You will not only learn about feminist and queer studies, but also how to present your ideas, develop arguments, analyse media examples and how to conduct research through a feminist and queer framework. Towards the end of the course you will have the opportunity to present and receive feedback on a topic of your choice based on the themes you have explored over the duration of the course.
Why Study this Course?
- Gain insight into key issues within sexuality, gender, race and media studies
- Develop a variety of approaches and skills to analyse media examples
- Learn to reflect upon the relationship between feminism and the media
- Understand how film and media shape our understanding of sexuality
- Learn to understand key theoretical concepts which shape the intersections of feminism, sexuality, race and media studies
Week 1: Introduction
- Introductions
- The course content, objectives and outcomes will be discussed
- There will be a collective reading of a short text to provide you with an insight into the type of literature which will be covered in the course
Week 2: Mapping Queer and Feminist Studies
- A history of different types of feminism(s) will be outlined and analysed through a critical lens
- The purpose and power of feminism will be explored using bell hooks’ text, looking at the consciousness raising element of feminism as a radical praxis
- A history of queer studies will then be outlined with a focus on queer of colour perspectives
- The intersection between queer of colour theory and women of colour feminisms will be reflected upon with reference to the El Tayeb reading on queering ethnicity in Europe
- To illustrate the importance of an intersectional view of queer and feminist histories, there will be a short screening of Gay Black Group (United Kingdom, 1983, 24min)
Week 3: Media Studies and Sexuality
- Sexuality within the media will be discussed through looking at different media case study examples
- The construction of sexuality in the media will be explored through a feminist lens
- Drawing on critical media studies, students will engage in an interactive discussion on power, agency and audiences
Week 4: The Use of Archives
- A look at the role of archives and the types of knowledge(s) that are conserved in archival spaces
- Through looking at Esteban’s work, the concept of archive will be queered, illustrating how archives may be located in unexpected places and home different types of knowledge, emergent knowledge
- There will be a screening of Marlon Rigg’s work to illustrate how an avant-garde piece of work by Black queer filmmaker Marlon Riggs speaks to the power of the archive
Week 5: On Queerness and Diaspora
- The relationship between queerness and diaspora will be built upon to illustrate the power of “queer diaspora” in capturing the nuanced histories of those whose identities have marginally positioned
- Racialised subjectivities within queer spaces will be explored using Gloria Anzaldúa’s work on women of colour feminisms and sexualities
- The diasporic element will be further consolidated through reflecting on transnational queer and feminists relationships that forged solidarity and intimacy
Week 6: Black and brown Audio Visual Culture: British Perspectives
- Tracing the history of Black and brown audio-visual culture in Britain from the 1980s onwards
- A brief look at the infrastructure and institutional support that enabled Black and brown creatives to craft experimental work
- An analysis of the textual, political and social potency of the work in the context of anti-racist movements and an expansion on the concepts of diaspora, identity, Blackness and queer.
- A look at how this work correlates with a politics and praxis of resistance
Week 7: Feelings, Intimacy and Affect
- The affective cartography of different sexualities will be explored here, with a deep analysis on tactility, trauma and affect theory
- The ways in which trauma and colonial histories effect intimacy and affect will be analysed
- Sarah Ahmed’s work on happiness will be used to interrogate how certain feelings may be socially conditioned and bend according to the will of patriarchal and racist structures
Week 8: Navigating Desire and Race
- The racialisation of desire will be explored. Desire will be interrogated through the prism of colonial histories, looking at how this impacts on the ways in which certain racialised subjectivities may be represented and perceived
Week 9: Pleasure Politics
- The power of pleasure in its nuanced and capacious conceptualisation shall be built upon using the work of Audre Lorde and contemporary feminists
- Pleasure as resistance will be explored in the context of histories of racialised oppression and sexism
Week 10: Class Presentations
- You will share a 5 minute presentation on a selected case study based on the themes from the course
