Transnational Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality (341-0-20)

Topic

Queer(s) Without Borders

Instructors

Walker West Brewer

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-339: Mon, Wed 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

In global media and activist discourses, culturally specific expressions of gender variance are often framed in tension with—or in service to—Western conceptions of LGBTQ+ identity. This course examines that ambivalent space, focusing on the fraught dynamics between global LGBTQ+ movements and localized modes of gender and sexual variance. How do transnational rights frameworks both enable and constrain? How do local communities navigate global categories that may not align with their cultural, political, or historical contexts? We begin by exploring foundational theories of coalition politics within the U.S. context—reading scholars such as Cathy Cohen and Dean Spade—to understand the complexities of alliance, resistance, and identity-based organizing. From there, we shift toward transnational and postcolonial feminist critiques (including Chandra Mohanty, Angela Davis, and Jasbir Puar) to examine how these coalitional frameworks extend, fracture, or reconfigure in international contexts. The second half of the course centers case studies from Namibia, India, and the United Kingdom, providing grounded examples of how global LGBTQ+ identities intersect—and at times conflict—with localized understandings of gender and sexuality. Through these examples, students will interrogate the politics of visibility, the circulation of rights-based discourse, and the tensions between global solidarity and cultural specificity.

Class Attributes

Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity