DHUM 27A63 - "Gay": The Genealogy of a Western Identity

This course examines the historical construction of “gay” as a modern Western identity. Using a genealogical approach, it traces how same-sex desire moved from social practices without identity to a named sexual subject, and how this identity has been shaped by discourse, law, space, affect, literature, crisis, and political struggle. Topics include sexuality in antiquity, the emergence of the homosexual in the nineteenth century, performativity and the closet, gay urban spaces, literature and shame, the AIDS crisis, pride and drag, and contemporary transformations linked to digital culture and social acceptance. The course concludes by asking what “gay” means today, and whether it remains an identity, a culture, or a historical formation.