ANTH243 - METHDS:SEXUALITY STUDIES

This seminar examines the links between queer theory and research methods, with an emphasis an emphasis on approaches that cross the division between the social sciences and the humanities. How do scholars who contribute to critical sexuality studies navigate questions related to knowledge, ethics, and practice? How do critical, transnational, and post-colonial theories inform methods in sexuality studies? Over the course of the term, students will become acquainted with a variety of methods for conducting qualitative research in the interdisciplinary field of critical sexuality studies. Introducing students to the process of doing research, we will consider such topics as: how to frame a research question, how to conduct a literature review, and how to choose appropriate tools to answer research questions. A range of methods including archival research, oral history, qualitative interviews, ethnography, cyber-ethnography, media and cultural studies will be explored. Issues of power, narration, interpretation, representation, and writing will be central to our discussion as we work through the relationships of theory and method.