Gender, Sexuality, and History (321-0-20)

Topic

Feminist & Queer Archival Research Practicum

Instructors

Amy Partridge
847.491.5872

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-343: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

What role do archives play in feminist and queer world-building? What constitutes an archive, let alone a feminist and/or queer archive? What do gender & sexuality scholars actually do with archival materials and to what end? Our goal in this seminar is to explore these topics through doing! Course readings will include foundational and recent scholarship on feminist and queer methods of archival research and interdisciplinary scholarship in Gender & Sexuality Studies and beyond that take up and experiment with these methods. We will use this scholarship to inform our own collective research experiments using both online archives and the remarkable range of archival materials housed in Special Collections and University Archives at Northwestern. A portion of each class from Week 3 will be devoted to working with a range of pre-selected archival materials focusing on U.S.-based radical, feminist and/or queer-identified communities and movements (1900-1980).* In-class workshops explore the range of questions raised by a given collection; the kinds of information we can (and cannot) recuperate from distinct kinds of archival materials; the ‘point-of-view,' or ‘worldview,' assumed by the content and contours of given archive or archiving practice; assembling archives that enable us to recuperate processes by which new collective identities, unexpected coalitions, or seemingly intractable antagonism are forged; designing research projects that explore the historical trajectories informing our present understanding of, and approach to, feminist, LGBT, and queer or dissident identities, communities, and politics. This seminar will introduce students to the practice of archival research and research design and is intended to aid students -including those with no previous research experience—in articulating an undergraduate research project and making use of campus resources to secure the materials, funds, and guidance to carry out or expand on their final research proposal/project in subsequent quarters. To this end, we will also invite several campus-based researchers and/or archivists to meet with us in class and plan an (optional) off-campus field trip to local community archives to witness queer/feminist archiving in practice.

Learning Objectives

1) Develop skills of historical analysis, including working directly with archival materials
2) Identify and assess distinct methodological approaches to GSS-focused historical research
3) Engage in original archival research and learn research design

Teaching Method

- readings/case studies
- discussion
- guest speakers
- field trip
- in-class workshops & group work
- research projects

Evaluation Method

- Attendance
- class participation
- group work
- research project

Class Materials (Required)

Provided in Canvas

Class Attributes

Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
Historical Studies Distro Area