Harvard to offer 'Global Transgender Histories' during spring semester
Harvard University will offer a spring semester course that explores 'Global Transgender Histories.'
Classified as a History and Literature course, the class will explore topics such as 'cross-dressing,' 'queer sexuality,' as well as the 'history of trans activism.'
Harvard University is offering a spring semester course that explores “Global Transgender Histories.”
Classified as a History and Literature course, the class will explore topics such as “cross-dressing,” “queer sexuality,” as well as the “history of trans activism.”
“Students will examine the lives of ancient and medieval people who crossed boundaries of sex and gender,” a course description reads. They will also “consider the historical overlaps between cross-dressing, queer sexuality, and gender non-conformity,” and “discover the history of trans activism, both in the U.S. and globally.”
“Students will become familiar with some of the global vocabulary of gender identities beyond the binary and will understand the historical impacts of phenomena such as racism, imperialism, and medicalization on gender identities, particularly since the nineteenth century,” the description continues.
History and Literature Lecturer Jules Riegel will serve as the course instructor.
According to her university biography, Riegel uses “they/them” pronouns and is working on a book on “gender, sexuality, and perceived collaboration in the camps and ghettos during the Holocaust.” Riegel is also “planning future research on transgender history in Eastern Europe.”
This is not the first time Harvard has offered this course.
According to a blog post on a History and Literature web page, students examined “trans cowboys” during the course offering in 2023.
“The Wild West was something of a haven for all kinds of people who lived outside their assigned gender, and we’ll meet some remarkable people who found freedom to live their lives there,” Riegel said during a question-and-answers session with the department.
“Around the world, contemporary politicians and media describe trans existence as a new phenomenon, a symptom of modern social and cultural disorder, and/or a foreign importation that undermines local values and traditions,” she said. “On the contrary, this class reveals the long history of gender diversity, the many gendered ways of being across global cultures, and the incredible resilience and survival of trans individuals and communities.”
Another Harvard University course, “Gender in Byzantium,” is currently being offered this fall to teach students about “trans monks” and “genderless angels.”
The course focuses “on the entire spectrum of binary and non-binary conceptualizations, representations and performances of gender in Byzantium by exploring textual and visual material alongside recent scholarship on gender and sexuality.”
Campus Reform has contacted Harvard University and Jules Riegel for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
