How engrained is gender in our lives and social values? How is the gender binary connected to constructions/perceptions of race, colonialism, and more? How does the destabilization of the gender binary threaten the systems that are foundational to society (e.g., capitalism)? This course is an opportunity to develop critical skills in ongoing discussions about gender, sexuality, and power by engaging this topic in three parts: Gender/Power, Subverting the Frame, and World/Politics. We will explore the complex relations between gender, and the gender binary especially, as a tool of power and central to our constructions of race, patriarchy, and neocolonialism (Gender/Power). Central to understanding these dynamics is an exploration of gender theory and how it is informed by feminist thought, and the ways that trans studies applies an intersectional frame that more fully allows us to consider the way that gender variance destabilizes social categories that are perceived as central to society and hierarchy (Subverting the Frame). Lastly, this course considers the way that trans studies connects to philosophies and theoretical traditions that challenge neoliberal values, imperialism, and capitalist investments, while writing new worlds (World/Politics).
- Teacher: Benae Beamon