ENGL 4870: Topics in Rhetoric: Queer Theory

WSTU 4550: Topics in Womens Studies: Queer Theory

Wednesdays, 5:30-8:00pm // Holt 209
Dr. James Arnett
James-arnett@utc.edu
Office: Holt 338-E
Office Hours: Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday, 1-3pm
Course Description:
This course will serve as an introduction to some (but certainly
not all) of the threads of contemporary queer theory. We will be looking
at the relative explosion in queer work in the past twenty-five years,
and will be reading a wide range of texts from a wide range of
disciplines (literature, philosophy, history, etc.) and in a wide range of
forms (lyrical, fictional, autobiographical, etc.). A semester is not nearly
enough to cover all the bases or get a complete sense of the
development of the theoretical body, but it is an opportunity to focus in
on a series of problematics around gender identity, sexuality, and
sexual identity politics. Because of the intimate nature of then theories
and embodied lives well be discussing at length, it is important to be
mature, measured, civil, and open-minded. Agreement with any and all
theories is not required for success in this class, but a nuanced
understanding of the myriad theories is, regardless.
Course Catalog Description:
ENGL 4870r - Major Issues in Rhetoric
(3) Credit Hours
An intensive seminar on a focused issue in rhetoric. Specific subject to
be identified in the schedule of classes. Prerequisite: ENGL 2050 or
department head approval. Open to English majors only; others with
department head approval.
Course Objectives:
1. To become more competent at reading, discussing,
processing, and writing about gender and sexuality theory.
2. To become more familiar with trends, tropes, and problematics
in queer theory.
3. To be able to reflect knowledgeably about the differences
between sex, gender, and sexuality, and the shading that
exists amongst and between these terms.
4. To be able to develop connections between read theory and
philosophy and contemporary culture and politics.
5. To be able to make informed syntheses of multiple texts
across genres with an eye to recurring themes, motifs, and
problematics.

6. To understand oppression and intersectionality.

7. To hone the skills of analysis and argumentation across a
range of texts.

Required Texts:
Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Volume 1, Vintage, ISBN: 9780679724698
Jose Esteben Munoz, Disidentifications, Minnesota, ISBN: 9780816630158
Lisa Duggan, The Twilight of Equality?, Beacon, ISBN: 978-0807079553
Samuel Delaney, Times Square Red Times Square Blue, NYU, ISBN:
978-0814719206
Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts, Greywolf, ISBN: 978-1555977078
[other texts uploaded to or linked from UTC Learn site]
Grade Breakdown:
A = 89.5%-100% // B = 79.5%-89.4% // C = 69.5%-79.4% // D =
59.5%-69.4% // F<69.4%
Assignments
Late Work Policy:
There is no late work to speak of in this class. For the reading
journals, no late entries will be accepted. You either do, or do not, turn
it in on the day that its due. For the seven-page papers, there is one
extension for the first; none for the latter. The first can be extended
one class period at a letter grade loss. Presentations, obviously, cannot
be extended, as they need to happen on the day theyre due.
Attendance and Participation 20%
Attendance is crucial. We meet once a week. One absence will be
tolerated. Two will knock you to a B in attendance, three will be a C,
four absences leads to an F in the class. If youre struggling with an
outside issue, illness, loss, etc., please address this with the professor
as soon as humanly possible so that alternate arrangements can be
made.
Reading Journals 20%
For each class, youll be doing a 500-word reading response
journal. In it, I want you to talk about one (at most, two) significant
take-aways from the reading, and I want you to pursue one
tangent from the reading identify a possible rabbit-hole to chase
the idea down, and elaborate on the implications of doing so. There will
be fourteen entries total, and youre expected to do ten. If you are
absent in a class period, thatll cover one of the three dropped
entries; the other two are up to you. Stay on top of these totals: if you
miss three early, youre consigning yourself to completing all of the
rest; if you miss four early on, know that youll never rise above 90%
for the assignment. Each assignment will be given points out of ten;
the total will be your grade for this assignment at the end of the

semester. You will be writing these entries in a journal that will be

turned in during class, and returned, marked, by Friday of that week to
facilitate the next entry. There will be a depot outside my office to
facilitate this exchange. For each journal, youll be assigned a value
between 1 and 10; the cumulative total equals the percentage youll
receive on the whole assignment.
Presentation 20%
Over the course of the semester, students will be responsible for
presenting on one of the readings on one of the days of the course. In
some classes, we will be reading several shorter selections; for others,
we will be reading one long text. Accordingly, there will be multiple and
varying slots for presentations. What is expected for presentations is
manifold: 1) you will submit three overarching questions and three
specific questions that you want to ask to the class to the professor at
least two class periods ahead of your presentation; the professor will
pick two of each and send them out to the class for reading journals
due in the class of the presentation. 2) You will make up a handout for
the class that contains a) biographical information on the author youre
presenting; b) the largest/most influential arguments from the reading;
c) telling quotes/passages from the reading that are followed by your
own annotations/close readings of those passages. And 3) You will need
to write a 2-page reflective narrative that puts your figure in
conversation with the previous thinkers from the class [note: this is
essentially a kind of penalty for those who wait until the very end of
the semester to present!].
Two Seven-Page Papers 20%, 20%
At the midway point for the semester, as well as at the end, you
will be required to compose a seven-page research paper that hones in
on a particular topic or problematic that emerges from the reading. A
possible list of topics will be brainstormed ahead of the assignment,
and circulated on Blackboard to kick off pre-writing. Youre welcome to
write about any queer-relevant topic, but youre strongly advised to
run these topics by your professor in advance to clarify and situate
your research. We will be talking about the papers in the two class
periods leading up to their due dates, and youre encouraged to use
those brief sessions to float ideas, ask questions, etc. The second
seven-page paper has the option of serving as an extension of your
first seven-page paper which is to say that if youve hit upon
something significant in that first paper that can bear more
investigation/research, youre welcome to fold it into a 12-14 page final
paper if you desire.

Classes!
WEEK ONE | Wednesday, January 13th
Introductions, Expectations, Syllabus.
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Queer and Now [handout; Bb link]
Devon Carbado, Privilege [handout; Bb link]
WEEK TWO | Wednesday, January 20th
FOUCAULT
Foucault, The History of Sexuality: An Introduction: Volume 1
WEEK THREE | Wednesday, January 27th
FOUNDATIONS
David Halperin, Forgetting Foucault [Bb file]
Adrienne Rich, Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian
Experience [Bb link]
Gayle Rubin, Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the
Politics of Sexuality [Bb link]
WEEK FOUR | Wednesday, February 3rd
Judith Butler, Imitation and Gender Insubordination [Bb link],
other TBA
Judith Halberstam, An Introduction to Female Masculinity [Bb
file]
WEEK FIVE | Wednesday, February 10th
Eve Kososfky Sedgwick, Axiomatic, How To Bring Up Your
Kids Gay [Bb files]
Leo Bersani, Is the Rectum a Grave? [Bb link]
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Is the Rectum Straight? [Bb file]
WEEK SIX | Wednesday, February 17th
POLITICS

How To Survive a Plague, dir. David France

Douglas Crimp, Mourning and Militancy [Bb link]
Jeff Nunokawa, Queer Theory: Postmortem [Bb file]
WEEK SEVEN | Wednesday, February 24th
Cathy Cohen, Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens [Bb
file]
Lauren Berlant, Live Sex Acts (Parental Advisory: Explicit
Material [Bb link]
Heather Love, Compulsory Happiness and Queer Existence
[Bb link]

 Jasbir Puar, Homonationalism and Biopolitics [Bb file]

WEEK EIGHT | Wednesday, March 2nd
QUEER OF COLOR CRITIQUE
Phillip Brian Harper, The Evidence of Felt Intuition: Minority
Experience, Everyday Life, and Critical Speculative Knowledge
[Bb file]
Dwight McBride, Its a White Mans World: Race in the Gay
Marketplace of Desire [Bb file]
Judith Halberstam, Shame and White Gay Masculinity [Bb
file]
Cherrie Moraga, TBA
[FIRST SEVEN-PAGE PAPER DUE by class time]
WEEK NINE | Wednesday, March 9th
Jose Esteban Munoz, Disidentifications
Wednesday, March 16th SPRING BREAK, yall
WEEK TEN | Wednesday, March 23rd
NEOLIBERALISM AND NORMATIVITies
Lee Edelman, The Future is Kids Stuff: Queer Theory,
Disidentification, and the Death Drive [Bb file]
Lisa Duggan, The Twilight of Equality
WEEK ELEVEN | Wednesday, March 30th
Paris is Burning, dir. Jennie Livingstone
Roderick A. Ferguson, Race-ing Homonormativity: Citizenship,
Sociology, and Gay Identity [Bb file]
WEEK TWELVE | Wednesday, April 7th
Samuel Delany, Times Square Red Times Square Blue
WEEK THIRTEEN | Wednesday, April 14th
TRANS/POST THEORies
Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts
WEEK FOURTEEN | Wednesday, April 21st
Paisley Currah, Expecting Bodies: The Pregnant Man and
Transgender Exclusion from the Employment Non-Discrimination
Act [Bb link]
Selections, Trans Studies Reader, TBA
[SECOND SEVEN-PAGE PAPER DUE]
{by 11:59pm, Friday, April 23rd}