SOC41150

Queering Global Challenges invites you to think about the world differently at a moment when everything seems to be shifting. We are living in a time often described as apocalyptic: ecological collapse, political turmoil, technological acceleration, and social fragmentation constantly challenge the answers we once relied on. The familiar frameworks of Modernity (its institutions, its norms, its theories) are no longer sufficient to help us navigate what comes next.
In such a moment, thinking otherwise becomes more than an intellectual exercise; it becomes a survival skill. This module offers precisely that: a space to experiment with ideas that refuse the ordinary, question the inevitable, and open up unexpected futures. Our guiding lens will be Queer Theory: a post-structuralist and deeply imaginative intellectual tradition that began with questions about gender and LGBTI+ lives but now speaks to global issues ranging from climate politics and migration to technology and social justice. Queer Theory challenges the stories we have inherited and proposes new ones; it unsettles the “natural”, disrupts the “normal”, and embraces unpredictability.
Over the semester, we will take major global challenges and queer them: that is, we will re-read them, twist them, challenge their assumptions, and ask how they might look from the perspective of lives lived at the margins or in resistance to the mainstream. In doing so, we will practise a mode of thought that is creative, critical, and forward-looking.
This module is for students who are curious about alternative futures, who enjoy intellectual risk-taking, and who want to learn how to imagine beyond crisis. By the end, you will not only understand queer theoretical approaches, but you will also be able to use them to craft new ways of thinking about a world that feels like it is ending, and about the possibilities that can emerge from its ruins.