Methods Seminars are in-depth, interdisciplinary investigations of a particular problem or theme. These seminars focus on ways of knowing the world characteristic of the disciplines represented in the seminar, such that the forms or methods of investigation are as important as the subject matter itself.

This seminar is an interdisciplinary queer exploration of normativities in the United States. How are norms produced and reproduced? What does the feeling of belonging have to do with power? How do norms lodge in and structure our bodies, and how do we put them into play through our embodied practices such as our standards of good taste or good health? How, when, and by whom are norms challenged, and with what results? Assigned materials focus on themes of masculinity, racial authenticity, embodied citizenship, and the injuries of class. We'll explore bodies, feelings, and actions through film, fiction, critical memoir, history, and philosophy. Our goal is to think critically both about which norms are in play in particular social and creative environments, and about what kinds of relationships and social contacts those norms facilitate and/or frustrate.