Queer and Trans Work

Catalog description

Queer and Trans Work combines historical research, oral history interviewing, and political economy to consider the experiences of LGBTQ+ people in formal and informal employment. The course focuses on New York City, with some case examples drawn from the US. The course engages the literature on what Allan Bérub calls "queer work": employment niches where the gendered character of the labor process enabled sexual and gender minorities to gain a foothold, have a visible presence, and integrate gender and sexual freedom into labor struggle. We will study historical and contemporary case examples of queer work by Anne Balay, Myrl Beam, Margot Canday, Marlon Bailey, Phil Tiemeyer and others. Included in our understanding of employment, we will consider experiences of working-class trans and gender nonconforming people of color in sex work, criminalized economies, and performance. Throughout we will listen to oral history interviews of experiences of queer and trans work, reflect on students' experiences in formal and informal employment, and develop oral history interviewing skills. Students then will conduct oral history, community-based interviews in student-driven research projects to understand experiences of queer and trans work today, and if possible contributing the interviews to an online public archive.