AMST 241
Performing Masculinity in Global Popular Culture
Last Offered Fall 2017
Division II Exploring Diversity Initiative
Cross-listed THEA 241 / SOC 240 / LATS 241 / WGSS 240
This course is not offered in the current 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#: 1595
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 12 page final paper
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: a short statement of interest will be solicited
Distributions: Division II Exploring Diversity Initiative
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
THEA 241 Division I SOC 240 Division II LATS 241 Division II WGSS 240 Division II AMST 241 Division II
Attributes: EXPE Experiential Education Courses
FMST Related Courses
LATS Comparative Race + Ethnic Studies Electives

Class Grid

Updated 6:53 pm

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