HIST 332
Queer Europe: Sexualities and Politics since 1850 Spring 2017
Division II Exploring Diversity Initiative
Cross-listed WGSS 331
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

This course explores the construction, articulation, and politics of queer sexual desire in Europe from the later nineteenth century to the present. By placing queer sexualities in their broader social and political context the course examines the ways in which sexuality has become central to questions of identity, personal and national, in modern European society. Topics include: the role of the new science of sexology in specifying various “sexual perversions”; the rise of sexual undergrounds in the context of European urbanization; the birth of campaigns for “homosexual emancipation”; attempts to regulate and suppress “deviant” sexualities, especially under the fascist regimes in the 1930s; the effects of the postwar consumer revolution on the practices of sexual selfhood; the postwar “sex change” debates; the politics of 1950s homophile organizing and the 1970s Gay Liberation Movement; and the recent politics of gay marriage. The course will focus primarily on Britain, France, and Germany, but also on Italy and Russia. Readings will be drawn from sexological texts, political tracts, memoirs, and the writings of recent historians. Several films will also be discussed. “Queer Europe” meets the requirements of the Exploring Diversity Initiative insofar as it explores how sexual difference has been constituted, contested, and experienced and how what we assume to be the “sexual norm” has a profoundly political history.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 25
Expected: 15-20
Class#: 3516
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: evaluation will be based on class discussion, the posting of four 500 word response papers, two 6- to 8-page interpretive essays, and a final research paper of approximately 12-15 pages
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: junior and senior History and Women's Gender & Sexuality majors
Distributions: Division II Exploring Diversity Initiative
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
HIST 332 Division II WGSS 331 Division II
Attributes: HIST Group C Electives - Europe and Russia

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