WGSS 240
Performing Masculinity in Global Popular Culture Spring 2015
Division II Exploring Diversity Initiative
Cross-listed AMST 241 / LATS 241 / SOC 240 / THEA 241
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

This course examines popular cultural contexts, asking what it means to be a man in contemporary societies. We focus on the manufacture and marketing of masculinity in advertising, fashion, TV/film, theater, popular music, and the shifting contours of masculinity in everyday life, asking: how does political economy change the ideal shape, appearance, and performance of men? How have products – ranging from beer to deodorant to cigarettes — had their use value articulated in gendered ways? Why must masculinity be the purview of “males” at all; how can we change discourses to better include performances of female masculinities, butch-identified women, and trans* men? We will pay particular attention to racialized, queer, and subaltern masculinities. Some of our case studies include: the short half-life of the boy band in the US and in Asia (e.g., J/K-Pop), hip hop masculinities at home and abroad, and the curious blend of chastity and homoeroticism that constitutes masculinity in the contemporary vampire genre. Through these and other examples, we learn to recognize masculinity as a performance shaped by the political economy of a given culture. The course includes a field trip to a drag performance in Northampton.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 20
Expected: 20
Class#: 3799
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: masculinity journal, mid-term essay, visual analyses of pop culture artifact, choice of final essay or 8-10 page final paper, short field trip reaction essay
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: in the event of over-enrollment, a short statement of interest will be solicited
Distributions: Division II Exploring Diversity Initiative
Notes: meets Division 2 requirement if registration is under AMST, LATS, SOC or WGSS; meets Division 1 requirement if registration is under THEA
This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
AMST 241 Division II LATS 241 Division II WGSS 240 Division II SOC 240 Division II THEA 241 Division I
Attributes: EXPE Experiential Education Courses
LATS Comparative Race + Ethnic Studies Electives

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