Q Center

The University of Washington has a number of hidden gems, classes, and certificates that center LGBTQ+ identities, experiences, and positionalities. However, given the size of our institution and the myriad of offerings it is not always easy to locate the courses that engage with Queer liberation, identities, and/or histories. To connect and empower students to potential course offerings, the Q Center has compiled a list of extant courses that we believe incorporate some of these elements into their learning space.

Certificates for Graduate Students:

The department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies (GWSS) offers two Graduate Certificates. Graduate students interested in incorporating feminist coursework and/or explicit work on queer methods of inquiry into their program of study, especially in areas that historically exclude such narratives and methods from their formal curriculum, are encouraged to consider these certificates!

Courses:

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Course Name Department Area Notes
CLAS 328 Sex, Gender, and Representation in Greek and Roman Literature Classics VLPA/I&S, DIV Affirmation and inversion of gender roles in Greek and Roman literature, myths of male and female heroism; marginalization of female consciousness; interaction of gender, status, and sexual preference in love poetry. Readings from epic, drama, historiography, romance, and lyric.
CL AR/ART H 461 Gender and Sexuality in Classical Art and Archeology Classics/Art Hist I&S/VLPA, DIV Examines gender and sexuality in the visual and archaeological records of Greece and Rome, with a focus on topics such as the body, clothing, the gaze, homoeroticism, sexual labor, gendered spaces, and transgressive genders and sexualities. Recommended: previous coursework in Greek and/or Roman art at the 200- or 300-level is encouraged. Offered: jointly with ART H 461; AWSp.
HSTCMP 248 The AIDS Epidemic: A Global History Comparative History I&S, DIV Examines global AIDS epidemic as key episode in twentieth-century. Begins with first AIDS patients in 1980s, moves back in time, considering histories of illness and inequality enabling epidemic to have devastating and uneven effects. Explores how politics of sexuality, class, citizenship and race shaped responses to epidemic by governments and communities, and, how HIV/AIDS gave rise to new forms of activism, research, and philanthropy.
HSTCMP 281 Queer and Trans History Comparative History I&S, DIV Histories of queer, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, genderqueer, intersex, and a host of other identities. Explores these identities, focusing on Europe and the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; on German and African American history; and on analyzing race, class, and gender.
HSTCMP 284 History of Sex Comparative History I&S, DIV Traces history of sex (acts and desires as well as related notions of gender) from medieval Europe through nineteenth and twentieth century Europe and its colonies to the present. Examines the dramatic changes in how people thought about sex, changes that touch on important questions in women’s and gender history, the history of racism and oppression, the history of religion, and the history of politics and society.
HSTCMP 580 Gender And History Comparative History Introduction to gender as category of historical analysis, examining the impact of feminist theory within the discipline of history. Course traces historiographical debates in women’s and gender history and explores, through cross-cultural comparisons, how scholars have conceived the relationship between gender and categories such as class, race, ethnicity, and sexuality.
ENGL 259 Literature and Social Difference English VLPA, DIV Literary texts are important evidence for social difference (gender, race, class, ethnicity, language, citizenship status, sexuality, ability) in contemporary and historical contexts. Examines texts that encourage and provoke us to ask larger questions about identity, power, privilege, society, and the role of culture in present-day or historical settings.
ENGL 367 Gender Studies in Literature English VLPA, DIV The study of contemporary approaches to analyzing the gender politics of literature and culture. Examines special topics in the history and development of the major theoretical trends, including the relationship of certain theories of gender to relevant works of literature.
ENGL 466 Queer and LGBT Studies English VLPA/I&S, DIV Special topics in queer theory and lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) studies. Examination of ways lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer histories and cultures are represented in criticism, literature, film, performance, and popular culture.
HSTCMP/GWS 581 Queer and Trans History GWSS/Comparative History Studies development of queer and trans history as subfields and interdisciplinary thought that has shaped them (critical race theory, queer theory, trans studies). Surveys foundational works of theory that have influenced historians (and other scholars) as well as important books and articles in the two interrelated historical subfields. Examines the role of intersectional analysis in the subfields as well as generative debates among historians. Offered: jointly with GWSS 581.
GWS 264/ ENGL 256 Introduction to Queer Cultural Studies GWSS/English I&S DIV Examines the cultural practices in literature, film, and art that articulate and give meaning to bodies, sexualities, and desires. Teaches critical thinking about identity, power, inequalities, and marginality.
RELIG/GWS 334 Gender, Sex, and Religion Religion I&S, DIV The Bible and its interpreters invented the gender categories and hierarchies that readers take for granted. Employs academic approaches that illuminate the construction of those categories and explores the debates within Judaism and Christianity as well as within academia today about gender, sex, sexuality, and religion. Offered: jointly with GWSS 334; Sp.
RELIG/GWS 534 Gender, Sex, and Religion Religion Delves more deeply into foundational texts of the Bible, Judaism, and Christianity, while paying closer attention to historiographic trends in the field of gender and feminist studies of religion. With JSIS C 334/GWSS 334. Offered: jointly with GWSS 534; Sp.

The Q Center and all of our programming is funded by the Student Services and Activities Fee.