SPRING 2008 MEETING TIME AND LOCATION
South Hall 3431D, MW 12:30-1:45 p.m.
DESCRIPTION
In recent years, the field of language, gender, and (now) sexuality has become increasingly sophisticated in its theories and methods as it has turned from traditional questions of gender and sexual difference to more contemporary concerns with the discursive construction of normative and non-normative identities, the reproduction of language ideologies of gender and sexuality, and the circulation of power in gender and sexual systems. This course provides an overview of current key questions in the linguistic study of gender and sexuality, with an emphasis on the theoretical and political grounding of these developments. The course begins with a historical survey of how the field emerged as a branch of feminist scholarship and then turns to several key theoretical concepts in sociocultural linguistics and feminist theory that have inspired recent work, including indexicality, language ideologies, performativity, and social constructionism. After exploring the debate over the role of identity versus desire in theorizing sexuality, we investigate the question of power as it is inflected by gender. The course concludes by examining the ways that alternative gender styles and even alternative genders both subvert and submit to the binary system of gender and sexuality.
Linguistics 233 can serve as an elective for the LISO (Language, Interaction, and Social Organization) interdisciplinary Ph.D. emphasis. It also counts toward the interdisciplinary Ph.D. emphasis in Applied Linguistics.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing in linguistics, education, sociology, anthropology, modern languages, or related field.