SPRING 2003
KAREN TAYLOR
Visit our discussion board - tell us what you think.
Week 1:
Jan. 14 - Introduction
Jan. 16 - Adjusting the gaydar.
Week 2:
Jan. 21 - How can sex have a history?
Jan. 23 - Is it really about power?
Week 3:
Jan. 28 - The penetrators and the penetrated.
Jan. 30 - Same
Week 4:
Feb. 4 - Finding community
Feb. 6 - Homosexuals in panic.
Week 5:
Feb. 11 - Defining community.
Feb. 13 - In and out.
Week 6:
Feb. 18 - It's a Gay Life
Feb. 20 - Finding out. Discussion: Politics, tourchsongs, and the twinkie defense.
Week 7:
Feb. 25 - It's a Gay Life Too
Readings:
*on reserve in Andrews Library
Feb. 27 - Sex, sexuality, and love.
Week 8:
March 4 - The "Gay Plague": AIDS and Its Aftermath
Readings:
*on reserve in Andrews Library
March 6 - Between love and community.
Week 9:
March 25 - Where the boys are.
March 27 - Does she or doesn't she?
Week 10:
April 1 - Identity as performance.
Drag Queens, Clothing (off and on), and Gender+
+Woo-wah Cross-dress Day!
April 3 - GROUP-LED DISCUSSIONS ON The Material Queer (Groups 1 & 2)
Week 11:
April 8 - (TENTATIVE) Guest Speaker
April 10 - GROUP-LED DISCUSSIONS: The Material Queer (Groups 3 & 4)
Week 12:
April 15 - (TENTATIVE) Guest Speaker
April 17 - GROUP-LED DISCUSSIONS The Material Queer (Groups 5 & 6)
Week 13:
April 22 - Final Projects
April 24 - Final Projects
Week 14:
April 29 - Final Projects
May 1 - Wrap-Up.
ON-LINE DISCUSSIONS: As a way of perpetuating our class discussions (as if you didn't already have enough to do, eh?) we will have on-going discussions on a "discussion board" on the web. All of us will be responsible for posing questions (more about that later), but - ideally - you should feel free to take the discussion anywhere you want to. The point of these discussions is to give you a place to think out loud about the issues we are reading/talking about in class. Your discussion work will be worth 15% of your total grade.
CONFERENCE PAPERS: Phi Alpha Theta is the national history honor society, and the Wooster chapter, Alpha Beta, is hosting the regional confernece this year. This is an excellent opportunity for you to present a paper on any topic you choose (THINK I.S.!), but a paper on any topic from this course would also be greatly appreciated. If you choose to present a paper I will exempt you from writing an observation paper of 1-2 pages on the conference, and if you chose to present a paper on a topic from this course you can submit it as your final paper for this course and I will exempt you from presenting your final project in class. If you would rather not present a paper you must still attend at least one panel session of the conference, and write a paper about how the paper topics you heard might be understood differently if issues of gender identity and sexuality had been used as modes of analysis. Your presentation or observation paper will be worth 10% of your final grade.
GROUP DISCUSSION PAPER: For this paper you will work in groups of 4-5 people, addressing one of the concepts examined by the authors in one of the four "Dossiers" in The Material Queer. Both your paper and your questions and comments to us should exhibit a familiarity with the arguments in all of the articles in your group's Dossier, but your individual paper should focus on the theme (concept) examined in your group's Dossier, using evidence from one article in that Dossier. Your participation in leading discussion and your paper will, together, constitute 30% of your final grade.
3. FINAL PROJECT: Your final project may be an argumentative paper, or your own original poem, painting, sculpture, play, piece of music, collection of music, dance, video, etc. In short, your final project is virtually anything you want it to be, including your I.S. (Jr. or Sr.) if applicable, or an analysis of some paper or work that you have done for some other class. The only criterion for this project is that it re-vision your subject matter in terms of same-sex sexuality. People choosing to work in a creative art form should include a one-page critique of their work, discussing how it is "about" same-sex sexuality. If you choose to do a performance project, we would appreciate seeing at least part of it in class. This project will be worth 30% of your final grade.
PARTICIPATION: Since learning and teaching are really two sides of the same coin, and this is a seminar, your ACTIVE participation in this class is neccessary. While I completely understand that you may not want to talk in every class, I will expect you to feel free to speak whenever, and as often, as you like. Because participation also requires the presence of your physical body, I will keep a random record of your attendence, and your absence from class, if great, will lower your participation grade. Your participation is worth 15% of your total grade.
If you have any questions about the class, or just some random observations you'd like to share, you'll find my door and mind both open (except when I'm avoiding extra-terrestrials or the thought police). Or you could send me an email: ktaylor@acs.wooster.edu
Last updated: January 16, 2003
© Karen J. Taylor