FAIR 472A - Queering Family

“To answer death with utopian futurity,” writes Queer Black feminist author Alexis Pauline Gumbs, ”is a queer thing to do.” Taking Gumbs’ statement as a starting point, this class examines entwined histories through which queer and queered communities have 1) been subject to reproductive injustices and 2) asserted their right to reproduce family against all odds. Central topics of consideration include: slavery, colonialism, & the nuclear family; critical histories of “child welfare,” adoption, & custody movements; Advanced Reproductive Technologies; radical mothering & parenting; queering childhood; mutual aid, queer care and kinship; and family abolition. Exploring these histories and themes, we will ask what it has meant to “queer” family as a both deeply intimate and political act to nurture generations and lay claim on the future.

Prerequisites & Notes: One course from: FAIR 203A, FAIR 242A, ETHN 201, WGSS 211, WGSS 212, or WGSS 213; or instructor permission.
Credits: 5
Grade Mode: S/U