University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Spelling Sexuality: An Ethnographic Study on Language and Queer Culture with UIUC Undergraduate Students

Scherkenbach, Laura

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/31371

Description

Title
Spelling Sexuality: An Ethnographic Study on Language and Queer Culture with UIUC Undergraduate Students
Author(s)
Scherkenbach, Laura
Issue Date
2012-05
Keyword(s)
  • Language
  • Queer
  • LGBT
  • culture
  • reclamation
  • sexuality
Abstract
My research addresses queer culture and language on the UIUC campus; how students currently use terms, such as “homosexual” and “queer” on campus, what terms are being eliminated or replaced from popular vocabulary and how students on the UIUC campus are reclaiming certain words or terms regarding queer culture.
Series/Report Name or Number
  • GWS 467/HIST 396 Locating Queer Culture Spring 2012
  • Instructor, Siobhan Somerville
  • Our goal for this course was to create original research projects about queer culture, with a special focus on our local context, the University of Illinois, in relation to the surrounding Urbana-Champaign area. Our guiding questions included: What are the various ways of defining “queer”? What counts as “culture”? Where do we find queer culture? How is queer culture produced, sustained, or transformed? How do institutions (such as universities) help to produce or erase queer culture? What roles do race, class, and/or gender play in the production and/or visibility of queer culture? Our course texts included selected examples of queer cultural production, including film, novels, television, magazines, and music. Assignments were designed around two research projects: (1) an archival research project on some aspect of local queer history and (2) an ethnographic research project on some aspect of contemporary local queer culture.
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/31371

Owning Collections

Diversity on Campus/Equity and Access PRIMARY
This collection examines ways in which the U.S. university and the American college experience are affected by diversity, and difference. In particular, these student projects examine experiences of diversity on campus, including important contemporary social, cultural, and political debates on equity and access to university resources.