User:Karleeseek/Queer studies

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background

Queer is the implicit identity of gender and sex, and how it is incorporated in individuals lives. It can be used as an adjective, verb and a noun. Queer has been used intersectionality in academia, becoming a mode of analysis. This is since the reclaimed-slur encompasses inclusivity into the 21st century. Some find using the term queer studies more defining than LGBTQ+ Studies, as it provides more universal experiences.

Many topics within queer studies focus on the open possibilities beyond heteronormativity; detailing texts, cultural artifacts produced by queer individuals, as well as expanding beyond into how queer interacts with daily life.

Queer as a re-claimed slur

Queer has become the topic of controversy over the reclaiming of the slur used against LGBTQ+ individuals for the last century. There is a debate on the use of LGBTQ+ studies or queer studies. LGBTQ+ provides categorical depiction in the subjects, Whereas queer has a history of being a common descriptor for someone who was happy or drunk in the 19th century, then a slur against same sex individuals in the 20th century. Queer did not have an implicit sexual definition until the early 20th century and reclamation of the slur started during Late 80's and 90's. This was a response to the over all LGBTQ+ movement, with influence of the AIDs crisis during this time. Queer offers an expansion of definition without categorical labels, while some do still not accept Queer in the LGBTQ+ community due to its harmful history.

often implicit definition of ‘queer studies’ as either the study of ‘queer persons’ as the study of texts and other cultural artefacts produced by and about ‘queer persons’. there is nothing remiss in such definitions, which animate most work in queer studies and which I employ in much of my own research. However, they define queer studies in terms of object: ‘studies’ acts as a noun, and the outcome of queer studies is understood as knowledge about these queer objects and the dominant discourses with which they are imbricated.

"That's one of the things that queer can refer to: the open mesh of possibilities, gaps, overlaps, dissonances and resonances, lapses and excesses of meaning when the constitutent element of anyone's gender, of anyone's sexuality aren't made to signify monolithically. " -queer studies reader

Article body
There are currently over 40 certificate and degree granting programs with at least five institutions in the United States offering an undergraduate major; a growing number of similar courses are offered in countries other than the United States. (took this out 10/13)

Early academic study of queer community include lesbian researcher Mildred Berryman's 1930s groundbreaking The Psychological Phenomena of the Homosexual on 23 lesbian women and 9 gay men, whom she met through the Salt Lake City Bohemian Club. In the study most lesbian women and gay men (many of whom had Mormon background) reported experiencing erotic interest in others of the same sex since childhood,  and exhibited self-identity and community identity as sexual minorities. (took this out on 10/13, the study was never completed)

The UNL course, taught by Louis Crompton, led to the introduction in the state legislature of a bill (eventually defeated) which would have banned all discussion of homosexuality in that state's universities and colleges. (took this out 10/13, this has no reason to be here unless explaining why bill was defeated)

Recently, there is ongoing discourse on the lengthening of the LGBT term to either LGBTQ (adding Queer), and also LGBTIQ (adding Intersex) as this field of study grows. (took out 10/13)

-The "Background" section isn't useless, but the information seems to be outdated and unimportant. I think this is a massive opportunity to bulk your page and allows for so many different ideas to come to light (Really great points from Mars, adding in this sandbox to keep in mind) Queer Studies at non US Universities


 * “Diverso UFMG organizes since 2016..” correction to “Diverso UMFG has organized since 2016..”
 * Last sentence in first paragraph about Brazil needs major grammatical correction
 * Clarification needed in second paragraph about Brazil
 * Year needed in last paragraph about Brazil
 * Much of first paragraph about China is irrelevant to the section (seems more like an abstract to a study)
 * Analysis of article?? This is not needed in section (second paragraph about China)
 * Major improvements to section about China needed, reads as an analysis of a research article
 * No recommendations for South Africa section
 * Other countries outside Western culture needed if possible

Future of Queer studies and contemporary examples of how it will be used


 * "Charting the future of queer studies.." is a collection of essays in which scholar theorize how to address the problem
 * there are general problems in academia and scholarship with centering the lives of white U.S. experiences/issues while marginalizing the experiences of other identities (non-white, trans and transnational)
 * Queer (post)colonial studies: "refuses Western heteronormative structures"

Controversy over using the term Queer as opposed to something more neutral:



Make it more clear what Queer Studies actually is:

"Queer studies has questioned ‘the uniformity of sexual identities,’ tracing how sexual and gender variance undo fixed identity categories like gay, lesbian, and straight. This led to theorizations of sexuality and gender as flexible, often anti-normative, and increasingly politicized (Duggan, 2003). Most of this work involved thinking sex, sexuality, and their performances on a personal, institutional, or national scale (Berlant and Freeman, 1992; Butler, 1990; Rubin, 1984). In response to contemporary global incidents ranging from ‘the triumph of neoliberalism’ to the ‘infinite “war on terrorism”’ to ‘the pathologizing of immigrant communities as “terrorists”’ (Eng et al., 2005: 1), Queer Studies has largely transformed itself into Global Queer Studies (GQS). In this guise, it produces significant insights on the global workings of ‘race, on the problems of transnationalism, on conflicts between global capital and labor, on issues of diaspora and immigration, and on questions of citizenship, national belonging, and necropolitics’ "



This article would benefit from de-privileging the U.S. in the conversation and expanding the sections discussing international studies in gender/sexuality:


 * must take a transnational and decolonizing turn to move away from solely white and US-centric ways of conceptualizing queer lives and experiences "Charting the future of queer studies.." here
 * " Kenyan, Christian, Queer as a launching pad to think through decolonizing queer studies more broadly." centers African perspectives in order to challenge Western assumptions about queerness the work invests in understanding African sexuality taking colonialism into account