Programs

Requirements

The minor in LGBTQ Studies is a six-course (24-quarter-hour) program that requires an introductory course plus five elective courses distributed among three areas of concentration.

LGQ 150 Introduction to LGBTQ Studies

This required four-credit course will focus on defining the emerging field while giving students some perspective on the history and diversity of LGBTQ communities. Topics addressed will include: shifting definitions of sexuality and gender; the recent emergence of LGBTQ Studies as a discipline; the historical roots of LGBTQ communities in the United States; the development of queer theory as a critique of sexuality and gender; select LGBTQ issues in contemporary culture. This course will also help prepare students for study in the various fields covered by the elective courses and thus would ideally be taken beforehand (though this is not a strict requirement).

Areas of Concentration

LGBTQ Studies minors must take at least one elective course in each of the following three areas of concentration. This list is not exhaustive as new courses are regularly created and approved. Students should contact the program director for a current list of approved electives. Students may also petition the director for approval of a course not listed. Courses followed by the designation “on approval” include special topics and other courses that can significantly change focus with each offering; students should check the current list of approved electives for confirmation.

I. Queer Theory and the Intersections of Identity

This concentration poses fundamental questions about constructions of personal and social identity in relation to sexuality and gender. In these courses, students probe the discourse of sexual identity from several disciplinary perspectives, including psychology, psychoanalysis, geography, and women's studies. Approved courses include: PSY 213: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered Psychology ; REL 254: The Body and Human Relationships; WMS 388/488: Queer Theory ; WMS 394 Transnational Sexualities.

II. Queer Representations

This concentration includes courses that study the many ways in which same-sex desire has been represented in art and literature present and past. Approved courses include: CPL 312/ENG389/LGQ397: Sappho to Shakespeare: Literature of Same-Sex Desire; CPL 340: Constructing Lesbian and Gay Identities ; ENG 272/379: Lesbian and Gay Literature ; ENG 371: Queer African-American Literature; SPN 329: Latino Gay and Lesbian Literature ; LST 310: Queer Latinidad ; WMS 219: Gender and Performance (on approval); WMS 255: Deconstructing the Diva; WMS 316: Representations of the Body (on approval).

III. History, Politics, and Power

This concentration studies LGBTQ history in a variety of periods and settings, as well as current issues in LGBTQ politics. Approved courses include: AMS/HST 275 and AMS/HST 275 and AMS/HST 276: History of Sexuality in America, Parts 1 & 2 ; LGQ332/WMS 332/432/PSC 312: Creating Change: Contemporary Lesbian and Gay Politics ; LGQ 338/WMS 338: Sexual Justice: Lesbians, Gays and the Law ; PSC 358: Global Gender Issues (on approval); REL 256: Wellness, Disease, and AIDS in Cross-Cultural Perspective; REL 287: Roman Catholic Moral Traditions: Homosexuality; Movements.