St. Cloud State University
General Education Goal Area 6 Designation
Humanities & Fine Arts
Academic Affairs Use Only:
Response Date: ______________________
Effective Date: ______________________
1.
Prepared by: Catherine Fox
Phone: 8-5106
Proposal Number: _________________
Email: cofox@stcloudstate.edu
2.
Requesting Unit: English
3.
Department, Course Number, Title: English, 305, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Literature
4.
New Course
5.
Will this course be flagged as a diversity course?
Already Designated as Diversity
6.
Will this course also satisfy another General Education Goal Area?
If “Yes” specify which goal area.
7.
Course bulletin description, including credits and semesters to be offered:
Existing Course
No
Diversity Proposal Accompanying This Form
No
Yes
Literary representations of LGBT and other non-dominant sexualities, gender identities, and
relationships. Particular attention to literary strategies and theoretical approaches in historical
social context. 4 Cr. DEMAND.
8.
Indicate the clientele for whom this course is designed. Is the course for general education only, or
does it fulfill general education and other program needs for this or another department? Obtain
signatures from any affected departments.
Designed for English major/minors and interested non-majors/minors. Meets diversity
requirement for English majors. Does not affect other departments.
9.
Indicate any changes that must be made in offerings or resources in your department or other
departments by offering this course.
None.
10.
For new courses or courses not yet approved for General Education, indicate any other SCSU departments
or units offering instruction that relates to the content of the proposed course.
11.
Courses designated as General Education are included in the assessment plan for the Goal Area(s)
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for which they are approved. Courses for which assessment is not included in the annual GE
assessment report for two years will be removed from the General Education Program.
X The Requesting Unit understands and recognizes the above conditions.
12.
Provide a concise explanation of how the following goal is a “significant focus” of the proposed course.
Goal Area 6: Humanities & Fine Arts
Expand appreciation and critical understanding of changing modes of human expression and systems of
thought in the arts and humanities, and develop abilities in the creation and performance of meaning.
English 305 expands appreciation and critical understanding of human expression because it offers an
opportunity to study a specialized field of literature that has traditionally been ignored or rendered
invisible within the conventional curriculum (the cultural representation and expression of the human
experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered peoples). Through reading, writing about,
and discussing canonical and non-canonical LGBT writers and expressions of their identities,
experiences, and knowledges students develop and create meaning with regard the historical changes
in literary representations of non-dominant sexualities and genders as well as their own sexualities and
genders.
13. In order for a course to be designated as fulfilling Goal Area 6, it must address at least 5 of the 7 student learning
outcomes (SLOs) below. Check the SLOs below that are focused on in the proposed general education course.
1. Demonstrate awareness of the scope and variety of works in the arts and humanities.
2. Describe and appreciate works in the arts and humanities as expressions of individual and collective values
within an intellectual, cultural, historical and social context.
3. Interpret and respond critically to works from various cultures in the arts and humanities.
4. Explore intellectually the ideas expressed in works in the arts and humanities.
5. Engage in creative processes or interpretive performance.
6. Articulate an informed personal response to works in the arts and humanities.
7. Analyze the diverse means of communication in the arts and humanities.
14.
Discuss how each Student Learning Outcome checked above is achieved in this course. (Note: Although
descriptions of typical assignments or types of assignments may be part of this discussion, it is not
appropriate to submit copies of actual assignments.)
SLO 1: The course introduces students to a variety of genres (autobiography, poetry, personal
essay, fiction, drama, etc.) that serve as cultural representations and expressions of human
experiences in the arts and humanities.
SLO 2: Students are introduced to both canonical and non-canonical writers who write about
LGBT experiences and competing individual and collective values within and across these
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communities. The competing interests of individuals and social groups are a recurring theme,
as are the uses and abuse of power, both in society and in personal relationships. Since LGBT
experience has been traditionally labeled as immoral, deviant, and corrupt, its serious treatment
as a legitimate aspect of human experience enables the exploration of intellectual, cultural,
historical and social values.
SLO 3 & 4: The course is based on over sixty years of scholarship and research in GLBT
Studies, which intersects with philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology, psychology, biology,
communication studies, and the arts. In addition to literary texts, students are introduced to
literary and Queer theory and invited to apply this body of theory to critical interpretations of the
texts. Students are apprised of the contested issues in LGBT and literary studies and are
encouraged to explore those issues critically in response papers and class discussion in order
to draw their own conclusions. They are expected to engage in the analysis of textual and
contextual evidence, draw inferences, form interpretations, and make judgments and support
their conclusions. They are encouraged to conduct research as appropriate and are provided
with bibliographical and other tools of research in order to intellectually explore ideas expressed
through the texts. They are expected to observe accepted academic standards in developing,
using, and reporting on their research findings.
SLO 6: Students are given the opportunity through class discussion and response papers to
examine their own sexual/gender identities in relation to others and articulate informed
responses to texts. For straight students the course clearly provides an opportunity for
improving their understanding of the sexual/gender “other.” Gay male students will be exposed
to representations of lesbian experience and vice versa. Gay and lesbian students will create
their own informed personal responses to representations of bisexual and transgender identities
and vice versa.
15.
List or attach the Course Outline (adequately described and including percentage of time to be allocated
to each topic). Curriculum Committees may request additional information. Topics larger than 20% need
to be broken down further. Indicate in your course outline where the Student Learning Outcomes
checked above are being met.
TOPICS
I.
Constructions in Antiquity (10%) (SLO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6)
A. Sappho
B. Plato's Symposium
C. Ganymede (Iliad, Metamorphoses, "Hebe and Ganymede")
II.
III.
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Shakespeare (10%) (SLO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6)
Traditions of Male Friendship and Female Romantic Friendship (20%) (SLO: 1, 2, 3,
4, 6)
A. David and Jonathan (1 & 2 Samuel)
B. Montaigne's "On Friendship"
C. Aphra Behn
D. Tennyson
E. Emily Dickinson
F. Christina Rosetti
G. Mary E. Wilkins (Freeman)
H. Sarah Orne Jewett
I. Whitman
IV.
Homosexuality as Identity (20%) (SLO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6)
A. Oscar Wilde
B. Willa Cather
C. E.M. Forster
D. Radclyffe Hall
E. Gertrude Stein
F. James Baldwin
G. Allen Ginsberg
H. Rita Mae Brown
I. Audre Lorde
V.
Literature of AIDS--Tony Kushner, Angels in America (10%) (SLO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6)
VI.
Non-western Representations (20%) (SLO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6)
A. Chinese--"The Lady Knight Errant"
B. Japanese--Takahashi Mutsuo
C. Russian--Klyuev and Esenin
D. Egyptian--Cavafy's Alexandrian Songs
E. Native American--Chrystos, Brant
F. Latina--Moraga, Perez
VII.
Transgender and Post-modern Representations (10%) (SLO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6)
A. Hidden: A Gender
B. Jeanette Winterson
C. The Hours
ASSIGNMENTS
Weekly Response Papers: (SLO 3, 4 & 6)
For each week’s assignment, students will write a one-page, typed critical response to all or part
of a text and support their responses with textual evidence. The following questions are
provided to guide students critical interpretation:
What did you like or dislike and why? What kinds of feelings did the readings evoke and
why? What ideas or view of LGBT sexualities, identities and relationships emerge from
the reading and how so? What do you think of the way LGBT sexualities, identities, and
relationships are represented and why? What kinds of questions emerge from your
reading? To what extent in your response to the texts influenced by your own historical
and cultural position and identity? What do you think is significant about these readings
and why?
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Critical Analysis Papers: (SLO 2, 3, 4 & 6)
Develop a 3-5 page critical analysis of the way a particular writer or text represents and makes
sense of LGBT experience. What is the significance of this representation in light of its sociohistorical context and values? In light of the contemporary U.S. socio-historical context and
values? In light of other ways of representing LGBT experience?
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