How should we understand and represent "difference"? What are the advantages and disadvantages of "identity" for critical work? The tremendous force of racism, sexism, homophobia, and class antagonism in American social life can make it easy to forget that the corresponding categories-"race," "gender," "sexuality," and "class"-are historical artifacts, the result of specific historical and global processes working in collaboration. In our time, refutations of the clean and natural appearance of these identity categories have become a commonplace. This demonstrates, in part, that culture is something constantly made and remade; that it provides raw materials for creative processes which redefine and re-present identity for specific concerns; and, that the application, defense, and meaning of "values" occupy negotiable terrain. But if difference is so structured into the mechanisms of society, what can explain our difficulty coming to terms with its increasing presence/ ubiquity in representation? This course will provide students with an opportunity to engage closely with the language and imagery at work in some of the pressing critical debates of today. The seminar will be taught through a series of comparative case studies across critical writing and visual culture, to include texts by Baldwin, Berkovitch, Bersani, Butler, Dyer, Fuss, Gilroy, Hall, Morrison, Owens, and Pearce; artists Beecroft, Candyass, Hammons, Ligon, Opie, Piper, Rauschenburg, Serrano, Smith, Weems, Walker, Wojnarowicz, and Yates; exhibitions Black Male at the Whitney, Sensation at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New Histories, and No Place Like Home; and, selected films and videos. Evaluation of seminar participants will be based on class participation, several position papers and oral presentations, and a research paper of 15-20 pages. Enrollment limited to 15.

Hour: ENGLISH