Humanities in the World II (211-0-30)

Topic

Gender, Trans, and All That Comes After

Instructors

Marquis Bey

S. B. West

Meeting Info

Harris Hall L06: Mon, Wed 3:30PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

NOTE: This course is only open to first-year students selected into the Kaplan Humanities Scholars Program.

Gender, Trans, and All That Comes After invites students into a conversation about the history of gender and how gender organizes our world. We ask: what does it mean to say that gender is a construct? What is the gender binary? What is transgender? How long have transgender people been around? We address these questions through dialogues in the field of Gender and Trans Studies, the Black radical tradition, and Latin American perspectives, offering an intersectional approach to gender. In the first half of the course, we begin by exploring gender through popular uses of "trans" to broaden our definitions of the term. We will explore trans histories from multiple continents and historical periods, and we will consider how trans experiences can both embrace and challenge gender's borders and beyond. Students will leave the course with a deeper understanding of the complex history of gender; what effect trans, nonbinary, and nonnormative identities have on our understanding of gender; and the importance of having an informed perspective on gender and its effects. This course is co-taught by two interdisciplinary scholars—Marquis Bey, professor of Black Studies and Gender Studies, and S. B. West, a professor of Latin American Literatures and Cultures and Gender Studies.

Registration Requirements

This course is only open to first-year students selected into the Kaplan Humanities Scholars Program.

Class Notes

This course is only open to first-year students selected into the Kaplan Humanities Scholars Program.

Class Attributes

Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
Historical Studies Distro Area