Queer Utopia

Catalog description

What is the function of utopia in contemporary queer theory and practice? Initiated by José Esteban Muñoz, queer utopianism was originally a response to the so-called “anti-social turn” in queer studies that eschewed the responsibility of imagining a collective future. More than fifteen years later, we see a resurgence of utopianism in the framing of prison, family, and gender abolition as utopian projects that generate alternatives. This seminar expands the scope of queer utopia to include feminist, queer, and trans fiction and theory, from novels by Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia Butler, and Jordy Rosenberg to the theory of Herbert Marcuse, Audre Lorde, and Gloria Anzaldúa. We will consider the many ways in which gender and sexuality have been reimagined within utopian literature, theory, and political practice, as well as the limits of these interventions.