Feminist Aesthetics of the Erotic (366-0-1)

Instructors

Elvia Mendoza
Crowe Hall, Room 1144

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-440: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

How can desire, creativity, and connection to our bodies serve as catalysts to challenge systems of power? And how and when do joy and pleasure become acts of defiance, opening new possibilities for social transformation? In this course, we will explore the erotic as a source of knowledge and creative power and the capacity it holds for dismantling intersecting systems of oppression in our everyday lives, collectively and individually. Bridging the personal to the politically, we critically examine the intimate parts of our lives, histories, and experiences as sites of and for critical thought that inform acts of resistance by insisting on a politics of refusal. Taking an interdisciplinary approach and engaging with a diverse set of texts and creative forms of expression, we also explore the erotic as a method of inquiry and theoretical framework to understand how embodied knowledge might inspire new forms of connectivity and resistance. Students will engage with different forms of critical creative expression to foster an embodied understanding of the material discussed throughout the course.

Learning Objectives

• Students will critically engage with theories of the erotic, examine its role as a transformative source of creativity and resistance, and apply their understanding to various sociopolitical contexts.
• Students will explore how the erotic serves as a practice of social and bodily awareness, emphasizing the connection between personal experience and intersecting dominant power structures.
• Students will develop an interdisciplinary framework for understanding the erotic as a source of knowledge for social critique and enacting social change.
• Students will cultivate writing skills and artistic practice to further develop their critical thinking.

Class Materials (Required)

Ciguapa Unbound "AfroLatinx Feminist Epistemologies of Tranceformation by Omaris Z. Zamora. NYU Press

Class Attributes

Social and Behavioral Science Foundational Discipl
SoC Humanities and Fine Arts Distro
SoC Individual and Social Behavior Distro