The following feature story appeared in the campus
publication MOSAIC in April, 1999. Although some courses, students, and
faculty members referenced in the story may have changed, it still provides a
full and accurate picture of the Gay and Lesbian Studies program.
For current course information and a faculty listing we encourage you to visit
the program's homepage.
INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF SEXUALITY ON LITERATURE AND LIFE
Associate Professor of Sociology
Stephen M. Valocchi says that when he came to Trinity in 1985, he realized that many
students were interested in gay and lesbian studies but that "there was a huge
curricular gap" in terms of courses to meet the demand.
Since then, a lot has changed. Today, the course catalogue lists nearly 50 courses—offered by no fewer than 14
different departments and programs—that are related to gay and lesbian studies. In
addition, the past two years have seen the development of a handful of new
courses—all heavily enrolled—that specifically focus on the manifestation of
sexuality in the fields of art, culture, science, and society. Two years ago, the
"Lesbian and Gay Lecture Series at Trinity College" also was launched. Now
Valocchi and a group of faculty and students, with the support of the Dean of the Faculty,
are on the verge of creating a full-fledged academic program that will offer a cohesive
curriculum in gay and lesbian studies at Trinity. The ultimate goal, notes Valocchi, is to
offer a major and a minor in the emerging field.
Interdisciplinary perspectives shed new light
Scholarly interest in gay and lesbian studies is generally
traced back to Michel Foucault’s groundbreaking work in the late 1970s, which
explored how modern notions of sexuality are historical constructions. Other scholarship
followed, raising issues about how the shape of social institutions could be understood by
examining the regulation and control of sexuality. Gay and lesbian studies, says Valocchi,
offers the opportunity to reread literary works, philosophical texts, and explorations of
the nature of democracy and capitalism with these insights in mind. "It’s a
matter of bringing sexuality to the forefront and asking how it sheds light on other
things."
One of the new courses this spring, "Methods of Studying Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual and Gender Issues," taught by Professor of Psychology George C. Higgins,
Jr., highlights the interdisciplinary nature of studying sexuality. The course material
touches upon the biological sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities, according
to Fatou-Maty Diouf ’02, who is enrolled in the course. "The course helps us to
see the whole picture," says Diouf, a prospective computer science and psychology
major and the newly elected president of the student group called Encouraging Respect of
Others’ Sexuality (EROS). She gives the example of a reading assignment that
theorized homosexuality was passed on genetically through the mother. It sparked
discussion among classmates with different academic and personal backgrounds and
perspectives about whether homosexuality was a "nature" or a "nurture"
issue. Says Diouf, "We were all trying not to concentrate on our own personal
feelings or our own academic fields to understand how it could be both."
Not entirely new
While a cohesive program in gay and lesbian studies would be new at Trinity,
using homosexuality as the touchstone to illuminate issues in various disciplines is not.
Associate Professor of History Cheryl Greenberg has been incorporating gay and lesbian
content in some of her courses for more than 10 years. In "Subcultures in
America" and "Race and Ethnicity," for example, she gets students to learn
about different cultural communities by studying them comparatively. She has paired texts
about gay culture with texts about African-American culture to increase students’
understanding about both, as well as about straight and white cultures. While Greenberg
didn’t know much about the emerging field when she started teaching gay and lesbian
material, she says it "seemed natural" to explore it in the same way she
explored other multicultural perspectives. She says, "What attracted me about it was
that it was another minority community trying to find its voice."
Thinking politically, thinking critically
Trinity’s course offerings in gay and lesbian studies
during the last two years have been enriched by two adjunct faculty members, both known as
pioneers in the field. Visiting Professor Henry Abelove, who has taught a fall-term course
on "The Newest Minority: The Emergence of Lesbian-Gay Community and Culture,
1895–1969," edited a core anthology for the course. Visiting Assistant Professor
Robert Corber, who has written two books about homosexuality, is currently teaching
"Homosexuality and American Culture." Corber notes that like women’s
studies and other relatively new fields, gay and lesbian studies must fight the perception
that it’s not a "legitimate" focus of study, that it’s faddish or an
"identity-based" program that people go to in order to feel good about
themselves. Corber says he directs his students to think "politically as opposed to
therapeutically," focusing on the broad implications of homophobic structures that
shape society rather than on personal self-acceptance. In his course, which is
cross-listed under American studies, English, and women’s studies, students must
examine films, plays, and novels with a critical eye and write about them from "a
historical perspective."
Valocchi points out that gay and lesbian studies is, in
fact, very much like other, more well-established disciplines in the liberal arts
education. "It prepares students in the same way that every other field does,
creating critical thinkers and engaged citizens," he says. "It develops in
students useful skills -- including writing, and critical analysis and research skills --
that are transferable to any field or career."
Next steps
Jeffrey S. Green
’01, an engineering and computer science major, is among a half a dozen students who
are collaborating with faculty to put gay and lesbian studies on the map at Trinity. Green
says that launching the lecture series two years ago took homosexual issues out of the
classroom while at the same time helped to build momentum for the new courses, all of
which have all seen high enrollments. He says, "Clearly students are
interested." Renowned poet and essayist Adrienne Rich, who is a scheduled speaker for
the series this coming fall, will likely draw even more attention to the fledgling
program. In the meantime, more course development grants this summer are expected to
expand the course offerings in gay and lesbian studies and help meet the increasing
demand. Valocchi says that the next steps to a formal program will be developing a core
set of courses and hiring a faculty member with expertise in the field who will do the
remaining curricular and administrative work.
Leslie Greene
’98, an Individualized Degree Program (IDP) student who majored in women’s
studies and has also been involved with the growth of gay and lesbian studies at Trinity,
notes that such a program would be exciting for the College because the new field brings
new material to the academic table and provides so many opportunities for new research and
scholarship. Greene, who is currently applying to law school, says, "In my view,
studying gay and lesbian issues is important because I think we need to keep pushing the
boundaries of all academic disciplines."
-- Leslie Virostek
