What/who are ‘queer’ and ‘trans’? What labels have been used to understand and categorize queer pasts?
Week 2 is all about the historic labels used to describe, categorize, persecute, and understand queer people and their relations across time. We'll be considering how popular culture, media, and institutional sources have labelled queer people, and some of the history of the term 'queer' itself as a radical reclamation.
The first preparation module is listed below as a 'quiz' but as mentioned, these modules should indicate that you're thoughtfully engaging with the week's theme and sources.
--------
📖 Nikki Sullivan, “Queer: A Question of Being or Doing?,” in A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory (New York University Press, 2003), 37-56.
🔍 ArQuives Digital Exhibit: LGBTQ+ Tabloid Newspapers created by Kevin Manuel and Ewan Matthews
workshop & zine instructions
in our workshop this week, everyone contributed three labels to the collective creation and three labels to their own zine project. One surfaced a historic synonym for 'queer', another surfaced a historic headline from The ArQuives' digital tabloids exhibit describing queer people past, and the last label was ta personal description/definition of what's queer.
attaching the labels to threads hanging from the collective creation canvas, we commented on the threads of discourse throughout time & contributed to still ongoing debates about what and who is queer.
COLLECTIVE CREATION
more images of the completed creation are on the way!
