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ENG41860

Academic Year 2026/2027

Queer Frictions: Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Literature & Culture (ENG41860)

Subject:
English
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
English, Drama & Film
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Assoc Professor Anne Mulhall
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

In this module we will examine the representation of LGBTQ lives, communities and conflicts in contemporary literature, performance, and film, as well as an exploration of queer and trans aesthetic and representational modes. Focusing on key 20th and 21st-century cultural production and cultural politics, we will explore queer, feminist and trans theories and histories as well as fiction, performance, film, auto theory, memoir, autoethnography, media texts, documentary, and other textual and visual forms. We will focus on ‘flashpoints’ in 20th and 21st-century queer and trans politics and aesthetics, situating these in historical and global contexts. Key topics may include: genre, form, aesthetics, and queer/trans literary and cultural production; class, race, gender and the politics of queer representation; queer ecologies; queer world literature; technology, space, gender and the body; normativities and anti-normativity.

This module draws on expertise from across the School of English, Drama and Film, and is suitable for students from a range of the School’s MA programmes. Module lecturers for 2025-26 are Sharae Deckard, Kate Fama, Taylor Follett, Romeo Fraccari, and Anne Mulhall (module coordinator).

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

- Advanced knowledge of key concepts and critical approaches in queer, trans, critical sexuality and gender studies
- Ability to analyse literary, film, performance and other ‘cultural’ texts in terms of their formal, aesthetic aspects as well as in relation to political, historical, legal and media texts and contexts
- Ability to understand, analyse and critically evaluate cultural production and cultural theory in relation to gender and sexuality as well as in relation to other intersecting power structures, such as race, ethnicity, class and migration.
- Ability to understand and challenge current understandings of gender and sexuality by interrogating cultural identities
- Ability to synthesize a range of materials and perspectives in the production of a coherent, well-researched argument
- Ability to produce a cogent, high level piece of academic research/writing


Indicative Module Content:

Please note that the topics may change from year to year. The following are the topics covered in the 2025-26 offering.

Week 1: Introducing Queer Frictions in Queer & Trans Studies, Theory and Politics
Week 2: Queer Spaces: U.S. Geographies of Rural/Urban Sexuality (Short Stories - Cather, Jewett, Nugent)
Week 3: The Limits(?) of Queer: Thinking through Singleness Studies (Short Stories - Freeman, Melville)
Week 4: Postcolonial Queer SF: Larissa Lai, Saltfish Girl
Week 5: Queering the Arab Spring: Saleem Haddad, Guapa
Week 6: Queering/Transing the Archive, Histories & Futurities 1: Jordy Rosenberg’s Confessions of the Fox
Week 7: Queering/Transing the Archive, Histories and Futurities 2: Jordy Rosenberg’s Confessions of the Fox
Week 8: Trans Temporalities and the Interregnum – Soula Emmanuel, Wild Geese
Week 9: Transness, Queerness and the Family – Torrey Peters, Detransition, Baby
Week 10: Trans Visibility and the Tipping Point: Neoliberalism, Surveillance, and the Displacement of the Social
Week 11: Trans Visibility & Streaming Television: The Diversity Industry and The Restructuring of Racial Capitalism

UNESCO highlights a set of key competencies that support individuals in their development and support society in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UCD has adapted these competencies and is combining them with others to form a general framework of learning competencies. This module will help you develop the competencies below to the levels specified. 
Learning Competency Additional Information Level

Collaboration

 The ability to learn from others; to understand and respect the needs, perspectives and actions of others (empathy); to understand, relate to and be sensitive to others (empathic leadership); to deal with conflicts in a group; and to facilitate collaborative and participatory problem solving. Proficient

Critical Thinking

 The ability to question norms, practices and opinions; to reflect on one’s own values, perceptions and actions. Proficient

Systems Thinking

 The ability to recognize and understand relationships; to analyse complex systems; to think of how systems are embedded within different domains and different scales; and to deal with uncertainty. Proficient

Strategic

 The ability to collectively develop and implement innovative actions that further sustainability at the local level and further afield. Competent

Integrated Problem Solving

 The overarching ability to apply different problem-solving frameworks to complex sustainability problems and develop viable, inclusive and equitable solution options that promote sustainable development, integrating the competencies in this list. Competent

Self-awareness

 The ability to reflect on one’s own role in the local community and (global) society; to continually evaluate and further motivate one’s actions; and to deal with one’s feelings and desires. Proficient

Normative

 The ability to understand and reflect on the norms and values that underlie one’s actions; and to negotiate values, principles, goals, and targets, in a context of conflicts of interest and trade-offs, uncertain knowledge and contradictions. Competent

Anticipatory

 The ability to understand and evaluate multiple scenarios for the future – possible, probable and desirable; to create one’s own visions for the future; to apply the precautionary principle; to assess the consequences of actions; and to deal with risks and changes. Proficient

Digital Literacy and Judgement

 The ability to access, evaluate, create and communicate information in digital environments; to engage critically, ethically and responsibly with digital technologies and digital information; to understand their opportunities, limitations, risks and impact on individual’s digital identities; and to exercise informed judgement in digital participation and decision-making. Proficient

AI Literacy & Agency

 The ability to understand, critically evaluate and responsibly engage with artificial intelligence; to recognise how AI systems are shaped by human values; to assess their ethical, social and environmental implications; and to exercise human judgement, agency and accountability in AI-related contexts. Competent

Wellbeing

 Wellbeing is having the resources and skills to meet life's challenges, including attributes such as personal development skills, resilience, stress management, strengths, lifestyle skills, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, alcohol/substance use, academic skills, time management, goal setting, interpersonal skills, group work, communication. Proficient

The United Nations identified seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as core to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and UCD contributes in general to SDG 4 Quality Education. Further SDGs explored within this module if relevant are listed below. A scale of 1 - 5 indicates the extent to which the SDG is covered.


Goal Name Description Coverage

End poverty in all its forms everywhere 2

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture 2

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages 2

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 3

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 2

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all 2

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all 2

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all 2

Reduce inequality within and among countries 2

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable 2

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns 2

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts 2

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development 2

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss 2

Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels 2
 

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

76
Autonomous Student Learning

100
Seminar (or Webinar)

24
Total

200

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module is seminar-based, with a strong emphasis on group discussion and class participation. Approaches in this module may include:

Student-led discussion
Overviews, contexts, approaches etc outlined by lecturer
Discussion forums
Critical writing
Close reading
Group work and peer review

A proportion of written assignments in each module in the School of English, Drama and Film are subject to moderation, meaning they undergo a second layer of review by another grader. This is to promote consistency within and between modules in the same level and discipline.

AI Policy: The use of AI tools is not permitted in this module. Students are expected to engage directly with module materials and activities without the use of AI tools.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade Component repeat (in-module) Offered
Participation in Learning Activities: Three discussion questions on three different texts between weeks 2-11 of the semester. Each discussion question is 10% of the overall grade for the module. Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11 Graded No
30
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Final Assignment - essay of 4000 words OR creative project on one or more of the primary course texts. Week 15 Graded No
70
 No

As part of UCD's student support, under the Additional Consideration policy, extensions may be available for the following assessments in the module: Assignment (including essay/poster), Portfolio, Reflective Assignment, Report(s), and Individual Project.


Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Peer review activities
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback will be given in class to discussion posts. Feedback will also be given individually on essay proposals prior to completing the final essay, and post-assessment for the final essay. Feedback may include peer review and self-assessment exercises.

Please note that the primary texts for this module are subject to change year to year. The following were the primary texts for the 2025-26 offering.

Soula Emmanuel, Wild Geese. Footnote Press, 2023.
Saleem Haddad, Guapa. Europa Editions, 2016.
Larissa Lai, Saltfish Girl [provided to students as PDF]
Torrey Peters, Detransition, Baby. Penguin, 2021.
Jordy Rosenberg, Confessions of the Fox. Atlantic Books, 2017.

Short stories [provided to students as PDFs]
Willa Cather, "Paul's Case" (1905); Sarah Orne Jewett, "Martha's Lady (1896); Richard Bruce Nugent "Smoke, Lilies, and Jade" (1926); Mary Wilkins Freeman, "A New England Nun" (1881); Herman Melville, "Bartleby the Scrivener" (1856)

Visual texts [available via Brightspace]
Selection of clips from Euphoria (HBO, 2019–) and Y: The Last Man (FX; 2021); Pose; selection of ads and other digital texts.

Name Role
Assoc Professor Sharae Deckard Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Katherine Fama Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Taylor Follett Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Romeo Fraccari Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Assoc Professor Anne Mulhall Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Seminar Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 16:00 - 17:50
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