WGSS 359
Queer of Color Critique and Literatures Spring 2025
Division II D Difference, Power, and Equity

Queer of color critique (QoCC) takes an intersectional approach to the study of sexuality and is particularly interested in how sexuality is constituted with and through other social formations like race, class, ability, gender, and nation. It draws on many different theoretical frameworks (women of color feminisms, materialist and post structuralist critiques, and queer critiques) and draws from many different disciplines (sociology, literary studies, psychology, etc). In this course we will study the key histories, terms, and debates in QoCC. Rather than imagine QoCC as a response to queer critique alone, we will study it as a co-occurring field with a long history. Reflecting QoCC’s interest in national and diasporic formations, we will situate our exploration of queerness in a transnational and global perspective. Our course materials include scholarly works as well as arts and literatures which develop and employ QoCC. QoCC is not only a theoretical framework, or a way of interpreting the world. Through our discussions and assignments, we will use QoCC to imagine new worlds.