Special Topics in German Literature and Culture (246-0-1)
Topic
Queer East Central Europe
Instructors
Michal Janusz Wilczewski
1880 Campus Drive
Domenic Joseph DeSocio
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-415: Mon, Wed 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
Where do our current ideas, vocabulary, and politics about queer sexualities and genders come from? This course examines the birthplace of our modern discourses, concepts, and practices of sexuality when they first emerged in Central and Eastern Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We will uncover the origins of "sexuality" as an object of study, while also investigating the emergence of queer sexual identities and notions of deviance. Finally, we will analyze cultural expressions of queer sexualities and individuals across medium and genre (film, music, visual art, literature, etc.) as these ideas were invented, debated, and propagated by activists, scientists, doctors, authors, and artists.
The course follows an interdisciplinary and comparative approach engaging with history, literature, and sexuality studies within the contexts of Austria-Hungary, Germany, Poland, and Russia. Co-taught by a historian (Wilczewski) and a literary scholar (DeSocio), students will engage with methodologies from queer theory, feminist theory, and cultural studies to interrogate how different regimes of sexuality emerge and develop under different socio-political systems (fascism, capitalism, socialism, communism) and transform as they travel across time and place. Throughout the course, we will ground our discussions within the key continuities and differences between this moment in history and the current state of LGBTQ+ rights and communities in the region and in the United States.
Assignments include: regular attendance and in-class participation; short, weekly response papers; an analytic essay; a group book report and presentation.
Learning Objectives
Study how sexuality and gender are expressed and articulated through diverse forms, genres, and styles of literature and art through practices of close reading and analysis.
Investigate the social, political, cultural, and historical factors converging to create concepts and identities of sexuality and gender, and how these factors influence their artistic expression, the relations between the artist and the public, and the potential of creative art to challenge or to affirm social and cultural norms.
Critically analyze how literature and the arts can reveal the differences and diversity, as well as the continuity and unity, between different cultures and time periods.
Produce persuasive interpretation, analysis, and commentary on literature and art, both spoken and written.
Develop writing skills and sharpen powers of interpretation, critique, and aesthetic perception.
Teaching Method
Seminar
Evaluation Method
Attendance
Class participation
Papers
Presentations
Writing assignments
Class Materials (Required)
All materials will be supplied by the instructors on Canvas.
Class Attributes
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area