Gndr, Sexuality, & Wms Stdies: AIDS:Literature, Art, Activism

Advanced discussion-based, interdisciplinary approaches to the study of topics in the field. Representative topics: Feminist Media Studies; Feminist Theory in Historical Perspective; Gender, Sexuality and the Law. May be repeated for credit with different content. Topics vary by offering; periodic offering at intervals that may exceed four years. Prerequisites: GSWS 1010 or GSWS 1500; six additional hours in GSWS; Gender, Sexuality, & Women's Studies major or minor or Sexuality & Gender Identity Studies minor.

Prerequisites enforced by the system: (GSWS 1010 or 1500) Prerequisites: GSWS 2050 or 2070; Minimum junior standing PACE students with permission and override

If we don’t fight back, we die, Larry Kramer. 1981-1996 was a period of mass death in America. Not all the victims of AIDS were queer, but as Sarah Schulman writes, “homophobia was the prototype of the oppression that people with AIDS experienced. Active neglect. Cruel exclusion. Dehumanizing abandonment. From friends, family, class, job, race, neighborhood, religion, and country.” This course will focus on the creative outpouring of writers, artists, and activists in response to both their own mortality and the deaths of their friends, lovers, and community. We will consider work that bears witness to AIDS and the fusing of art and activism. What does it mean when an epidemic decimates a culture and what does it mean to agitate, archive, and create in response? What can the representation of AIDS and queer sexuality in the nineties tell us about how queer people are visualized and identify today? We will read the work of scholars and historians Sarah Schulman, Susan Sontag, and Douglas Crimp: poets and writers Larry Kramer, Mark Doty, Tory Dent, and Essex Hemphill; and consider the artists David Wojnarowicz, Nan Goldin, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, as well as the activist collective Gran Fury. Why study AIDS now? What are the lessons and impact on a queer future? Consider this work part of a search for a "usable past"—that is, knowledge that will help us navigate a challenging new climate.

Assignments include a reading journal, presentation, and a final project (creative or critical). There will be visiting poets and artists, as well as opportunities at the Fleming Museum. Curiosity, compassion, and inspired discussion are expectations for this course.