Method, Evidence, Critique: Gender and Sexuality Studies across the Disciplines

Catalog description

Gender and Sexuality Studies is by its very nature interdisciplinary. Can we speak of any single methodology that ties GNSS together? How might scholars working on gender/sexuality acknowledge disciplinary boundaries and use disciplinary training effectively? We will start with the premise that studies in gender and sexuality are tied together by questioning foundational assumptions within a given field of knowledge and taking account of our own subject positions vis-à-vis our objects of study. By studying canonical theoretical texts alongside disciplinary studies characterized by a feminist and/or queer focus, we will investigate how gender and sexuality are constructed in various contexts, what kind of work they do, and how standards of evidence are marshaled in particular disciplines. Particular attention will be given to the role of critique, affect, and materialisms, including the materiality of language, in gender and sexuality studies.