Robert LaRue

Within the last two decades, there has been an exponential increase in mainstream discussions of LGBTQ issues. For many within the LGBTQ community, however, these mainstream images bring with them the sense that to be gay is to be white. Although a few exceptions exist, minorities are still left asking: Where are all the black, brown, and yellow faces? This course addresses this question, alongside another equally important one: How do black, brown, and yellow gays and lesbians experience their sexualities in and apart from these mainstream images? Focusing on 21st-century texts (read broadly to include, but not limited to, literature, poetry, nonfiction, and film), we will work toward a deeper understanding of what it means to be queer and a racial minority. In so doing, we will work toward a better understanding of what it means to belong to this (queer) nation.

Within the last two decades, there has been an exponential increase in mainstream discussions of LGBTQ issues. For many within the LGBTQ community, however, these mainstream images bring with them the sense that to be gay is to be white. Although a few exceptions exist, minorities are still left asking: Where are all the black, brown, and yellow faces? This course addresses this question, alongside another equally important one: How do black, brown, and yellow gays and lesbians experience their sexualities in and apart from these mainstream images? Focusing on 21st-century texts (read broadly to include, but not limited to, literature, poetry, nonfiction, and film), we will work toward a deeper understanding of what it means to be queer and a racial minority. In so doing, we will work toward a better understanding of what it means to belong to this (queer) nation.

This course in no way attempts comprehensive coverage of African American literature after 1945. Rather, we will read select texts published between 1945 and the present to explore how African American worldviews have shifted and/or remained consistent since the end of World War II. Particular attention will be paid to how African Americans use specific components of fiction (e.g., character, narrative, and setting) with the express purpose of discovering what fiction offers African Americans longing to make sense of their place in the world. Ultimately, while we will approach each piece as a snapshot of the nation, our discussions will be rooted in a recognition of the present as a conversation with the past.

James Baldwin is one of the most incisive and astute writers that the world has ever known. Black, queer, and fundamentally American, Baldwin wrote about the intersections and pressures of his various identities, his role as a writer, and his relationship to the nation with the force and energy of a man disappointed with the realities of what he saw but hopeful of the potential that he felt remained. This course explores Baldwin’s own impressive body of work (fictional and otherwise) alongside the lasting impact that he has had on the literary, social, and political world in his wake.

What can narratives of Blackness tell us about (1) who counts as Black and (2) the ideologies of the times in which these narratives are offered? Using this question as our guiding light, in this course we will interrogate films, fiction, and nonfiction to explore how Blackness has been attached to certain bodies at important moments in history and in order to promote specific ideologies. Beginning with Enlightenment-era Europe (17th and 18th century) and concluding in the 21st century, we analyze how Blackness has come to serve as both a label and an identity for particular groups of people and a means for establishing and reaffirming social boundaries—paying particular attention to issues of gender and sexuality. At every turn, we will work to understand how narratives of Blackness impact us all.