Name | Queer and Trans New York City |
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Course | WGSS 20N01 |
Credits | 3 |
Fulfills | Individual & Society Social Sciences (I&S SS), Pluralism & Diversity Group C (P&D C) |
Level | Undergraduate |
Professor | Christopher Adam Mitchell |
Day/Time | Asynchronous |
Location | Online |
Semester | Winter Session 1 2024, Winter Session 2 2024 |
Notes | Hybrid Asynchronous |
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course explores the origins of queer and trans communities from the era of the Second World War—which historians have described as a “National Coming Out”—to the AIDS Crisis of the 1980s and 1990s. During this period, the Great Migration, immigration from Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, and Wartime mobilization brought unprecedented numbers of people together, many of whom formed the sub-cultural roots of today’s queer and trans communities. During the late 1940s and 1950s, queer and trans-New Yorkers learned to survive by building underground networks, cultural expressions, and sexual practices. In the 1960s, some of these subcultures attained unprecedented visibility and influence in the arts, music, and theater scene in New York City. In the 1970s, activists launched the Gay, Lesbian, and Trans Liberation movements, forever altering the politics of New York City and providing the groundwork for struggle and survival during the AIDS Pandemic. This course looks at the social, cultural, and geographic histories of queer and trans New York, and centers on the work and contributions of James Baldwin, Joe Cino, Samuel Delaney, Candy Darling, Marsha P. Johnson, Christine Jorgensen, Crystal LaBeija, Audre Lorde, Sylvia Rivera, Assotto Saint, Sarah Schulman, Andy Warhol, David Wojnarowicz, Holly Woodlawn, and many more famous (and not so famous) queer and trans-New Yorkers.
This course is hybrid-asynchronous: In addition to on-line learning modules that students can complete on their own time, there will be several non-mandatory opportunities for walking tours and archival visits.