WMST 218 - Literature, Gender, and Sexuality

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as ENGL 218) Topic for 2021/22b: Gender, Sexuality, Disability. This course is an introduction to disability studies, with a focus on the difference(s) that gender makes, both in cultural imaginings of disability and in the lives of disabled people. We explore the key concepts that are common to gender studies and disability studies, including, language, the body, representation, social construction, intersectionality, and activism. We use a multidisciplinary lens to examine how social, cultural, and institutional structures shape the experiences of disabled people and how societal perceptions of disability produce social inequality. Throughout the course we pay particular attention to how disability, gender, and sexuality intersect with other categories of identity, including race and class. We give special emphasis to the ways in which disabled writers, artists, performers, and activists have challenged ableist stereotypes and stigma, reclaiming disability as a source of identity and pride.

Leslie Dunn.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS