CRTSD

CRTSD-1500-7: FICS: SEXUALITY AND IDENTITY

Spring 2024

Subject: Critical Studies

Type: Seminar

Delivery Mode: In-Person

Level: Undergraduate

This course examines the idea of “sexuality” in relation to our sense of "identity"– including who we are and how we understand ourselves in the world and in relation to each other. We explore what certain activists, scientists, artists, and others mean by the term “sexuality” in a variety of contexts. We examine a wide variety of media including texts, images, videos, resources, and debates. We seek to answer questions and to support claims by exploring the role of the individual in the past and present in understanding how something like “sexuality” might relate to their sense of “identity”: who they are, what they hope to achieve, and how they build connections and relations utilizing their “sexuality” as a point of orientation. Key for the course are three modules that move through various approaches, in historical and contemporary terms, to the concept of “sexuality” in relation to “identity”: activism, spirituality, and science.

Foundations in Critical Studies introduces critical thinking skills essential to college-level work in the humanities and sciences. Students develop their critical capacities through close reading and active response to cultural texts and phenomena drawn from multiple disciplines and reflecting diverse perspectives on major themes or topics in contemporary life.