University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois's LGBT Community - A Look at Organizations

Ahern, Dana

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/31373

Description

Title
The University of Illinois's LGBT Community - A Look at Organizations
Author(s)
Ahern, Dana
Issue Date
2012-05
Keyword(s)
  • LGBT
  • community
  • RSO
  • gay
  • lesbian
Abstract
I have conducted interviews with individuals who have been active in official LGBT campus RSO’s such as “Pride” as well as unofficial LGBT organizations that are based on campus such as small reading groups, etc. I also interviewed individuals who identify as LGBT, but who are not active in campus organizations. I asked about the experiences with both types of groups in terms of general feelings of inclusion, as well as the perceived goals of these groups and how well these groups seemed to accomplish these goals. Before I began my interviews, I explored past research regarding campus RSO’s, as well as further exploration of scholarly literature critiquing LGBT movements.
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
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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/31373

Owning Collections

Student Communities and Culture PRIMARY
The university offers an extraordinary opportunity to study and document student communities, life, and culture. This collection includes research on the activities, clubs, and durable social networks that comprise sometimes the greater portion of the university experience for students.