Language, Gender, and Sexuality

Language reflects, enacts, reproduces, and challenges sociocultural identities and ideas surrounding gender and sexuality. This course explores these relationships from the perspective of sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, including seminal theories and studies, and most work at the forefront of the field, and emphasizing work by scholars representing racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities, and different national and linguistic backgrounds. Class material will include academic texts, and examples from media and everyday life. Students will have the opportunity to suggest topics to explore and to lead class discussion.