About the Minor in Queer Studies

The Department of Women's Studies offers a minor in Queer Studies, providing students with an opportunity to study sexuality as a complex historical and cultural formation, rather than merely a feature of intimacy or an outcome of universal and unchanging biological forces. UCI’s minor was established in 2005, and is one of a growing number of similar degrees being offered at universities and colleges internationally. Queer Studies scholarship addresses a number of central questions: What constitutes the history of sexuality? How is gender related to sexuality? How are cultural norms of sexuality linked to assumptions about the proper desires and capacities of bodies? How is sexuality linked to processes of racialization? By what means and to what ends is sexuality policed?

Queer Studies is a relatively new field, emerging in the 1990s. It draws upon concepts and methods from anthropology, history, geography, psychology, sociology, literature, philosophy, political theory, biology, art, and art history, religious studies, science and technology studies, performance studies, and visual studies. Queer Studies focuses on the study of how norms are produced and come to be taken for granted, and, conversely how they are destabilized either through their own internal contradictions or through the interventions of activists seeking social justice. Thus the field shares intellectual affinities with the interdisciplinary fields of women's studies, gender studies, ethnic studies, critical legal studies, and cultural studies. Interdisciplinary insights from area studies, religious studies, science and technology studies, and visual studies also enrich this field of study.

Requirements for the Minor

A list of courses that may be approved via petition

To sign up for the minor, contact us or join the QS minor mailing list.

Faculty Affiliated with the Queer Studies Minor:

Dina Al-Kassim, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature
Jonathan Alexander, Ph.D., Louisiana State University, Associate Professor of English and Campus Writing Coordinator
Christine Balance, Ph.D., New York University, Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies
Sharon Block, Ph.D., Princeton University, Associate Professor of History
Tom Boellstorff, Ph.D., Stanford University, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Julia Bryan-Wilson, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, Assistant Professor of Art History and Director of the Visual Studies Ph.D. program
Jonathan Hall, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, Film and Media Studies, and the International Center for Writing and Translation
Lucas Hilderbrand, Ph.D., New York University, Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies and Visual Studies
Susan Jarratt, Ph.D. University of Texas, Austin, Professor of Comparative Literature, of Education, and of Women’s Studies
Catherine Lord, M.F.A. State University of New York, Buffalo (Visual Studies Workshop), Professor of Studio Art
Bill Maurer, Ph.D. Stanford University, Professor and Chair of Anthropology
Glen Mimura, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz, Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies, Visual Studies and Asian American Studies
James Nowick, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor of Chemistry
Rachel O’Toole, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Assistant Professor of History
Nasrin Rahimieh, Ph.D. University of Alberta, Maseeh Chair and Director of the Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture, and Professor of Comparative Literature and of Women's Studies
Bryan Reynolds, Ph.D. Harvard University, Professor of Drama and UCI Chancellor's Fellow
Sharon Salinger, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, Dean of Undergraduate Education and Professor of History
Jeanne Scheper, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, Assistant Professor of Women's Studies
Annette Schlichter, Ph.D., Humboldt University of Berlin, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature
Lauren Steimer, Ph.D., New York University, Lecturer in Film and Media Studies
Ulrike Strasser, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Associate Professor of History
Jennifer Terry, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz, Associate Professor of Women's Studies
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, Assistant Professor of African American Studies

Enroll in courses now!

Faculty:
If you would like to be affiliated with the QS minor and/or
offer/cross-list classes that fulfill the Minor requirements,
please contact us.