U of Florida fall course catalogue features classes on 'Afrofuturism,' 'Early LGBTQ Literatures'
The English Department at the University of Florida in Gainesville is set to offer classes on 'Afrofuturism' and 'Early LGBTQ Literatures' during the Fall 2024 semester.
The UF English Department will also be offering courses like 'Black Englishes' and 'Feminist Speculative Fiction.'
The English Department at the University of Florida in Gainesville is set to offer classes on “Afrofuturism” and “Early LGBTQ Literatures” during the Fall 2024 semester.
Early LGBTQ Literatures will attempt to “[familiarize] students with the long tradition of LGBT literature before what we might call the ‘invention of homosexuality,’” according to its description on UF’s website.
“After an overview of influential Western traditions that helped shape a legible tradition of LGBTQ writing in English, the course will focus intensely (but not exclusively) on queer identity-formation in nineteenth-century American literature,” the web page continues.
The course will include readings from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Plato’s Symposium, the King James Bible, Shakespeare, as well as “case studies by European sexologists.”
The class on LGBTQ literature will be taught by Professor Jodi Schorb, who, according to her biography on UF’s website, has “longstanding research interests in the history of gender and sexuality, from queer mullets to murderous mothers.”
Schorb’s current book project is titled “Self-writing and Sexuality in the Long Eighteenth Century.”
Students who participate in the course on “Afrofuturism” will “engage in close examination of texts by Afrofuturists from both academic and popular realms.”
Afrofuturism has been defined as a movement that attempts to understand “notions of Black identity, agency and freedom” by examining “art, creative works and activism that envision liberated futures for Black life,” according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
“We will consider the relationship between science fiction, African American history, and African diasporic literary traditions including dystopian and utopian visions of the past and future,” the UF course description reads. “We will also consider the various ways in which technology intersects with race and how Black artists use science fiction to challenge hegemonic systems of oppression.”
The Afrofuturism course will be taught by Julia Mollenthiel, a professor in the African American Studies Program at the University of Florida. Mollenthiel “teaches interdisciplinary courses on Black Horror, Black Feminist Theory, [and] Black Women Transatlantic,” according to her school biography.
Other classes set to be offered by UF’s English Department include “Black Englishes” and “Feminist Speculative Fiction.”
Campus Reform has contacted the University of Florida, Professor Julia Mollenthiel, and Professor Jodi Schorb for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
