History 465 Syllabus

Kathleen Kennedy

Office: Bond Hall 358

Phone: x3043

Hours: MW 10-11

Email: kkennedy@cc.wwu.edu

Web: www.wwu.edu/~kkennedy

History 465

History of Sexuality in the United States

This course explores how Americans have constructed and reconstructed sexuality. This course is not a traditional survey as it does not seek to present a linear transition from a repressive past to a libratory future or conversely from liberation to repression. Instead it examines key moments in the history of sexuality in order to explore how and why changes in sex and sexuality occurred. It argues that sexuality is intimately related to issues of power and privilege in American society. Consequently we cannot understand the history of sexuality apart from race, gender and class. We will focus our analysis on "sexual borderlands"—the locations where different cultural constructions of sexuality collide and from that collision produce new meanings.

Required Texts: The following texts are available for purchase at the University Bookstore and the Textbook Place in Sehome Village.

Kathleen Kennedy and Sharon Ullman: Sexual Borderlands: Constructing and American Sexual Past

Kathy Peiss, Major Problems in the History of American Sexuality

Eileen J. Suarez Findlay, Imposing Decency: The Politics of Sexuality and Race in Puerto Rico, 1870-1920

John D’Emilio, The World Turned: Essays on Gay History, Politics and Culture

Amber L. Hollibaugh, My Dangerous Desires: A Queer Girl Dreaming Her Way Home

Assignments:

Your final grade will be based on the number of points you accumulate.

There may be minor adjustments made throughout the quarter

The reading must be done before the class on which it is scheduled. Unless otherwise noted all reading is due the first day of the week