ENGL 218 - Literature, Gender, and Sexuality

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as WFQS 218) Topic for 2023/24b: Gender, Sexuality, Disability. This course is an introduction to disability studies, with a focus on the difference(s) that gender and sexuality make, particularly in representations of disability. We explore key concepts common to gender studies, queer studies, and disability studies, including the body, passing, social construction, intersectionality, medicalization, normativity, and more. We use a multidisciplinary lens to examine how social, cultural, and institutional structures shape experiences and perceptions of disability. Throughout the course we pay particular attention to how disability, gender, and sexuality intersect with other categories of identity. In focusing on representations of disability, we explore how depictions can either reinforce or challenge societal notions about disability. The course pairs texts from the 19th century, when the idea of the “normal” body began, with contemporary pieces, in order to explore changes over time. Christian Lewis.

This course satisfies the REGS requirement for the English major.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS