Queer Studies Minor

Are you ready to make a difference?

Explore how sexuality is central to human societies through intersectional, interdisciplinary scholarly inquiry, education and activism.

Learn how constructions, experiences and expressions of sexuality – including the invention of homo/heterosexuality and ab/normality, intimacy, kinship networks and embodiment – change over time and are lived in relation to interlocking systems of race, ethnicity, religion, class, nation, age, dis/ability and gender. 

Develop the intellectual and practical skills necessary to contribute to scholarship, creative production and innovation in the interdisciplinary field of Queer Studies and to serve as leaders in the creation, enactment and evaluation of efforts to create a more inclusive, just and equitable world.

Program Learning Objectives - QS students will:

1. Develop skills in critical thinking, creativity, lifelong learning and communication (including oral, written and visual) to multiple audiences.
2. Demonstrate substantial knowledge of foundational and contemporary research in the interdisciplinary field of Queer Studies, and substantial knowledge of the Queer Studies theoretical literature.
3. Gain an understanding of how the interdisciplinary field of Queer Studies creates new knowledge and draws upon and utilizes perspectives from multiple fields across the humanities, arts and social sciences.
4. Understand the ways in which constructions, experiences and expressions of sexuality shape and are shaped by social, political, ethical, institutional, economic, legal, cultural, scientific and technological factors in the past and present, with special attention paid to interlocking systems of race, ethnicity, religion, class, nation, age, dis/ability and gender in local, national and transnational contexts.
5. Understand the ways in which the dynamics of heterosexism and heteronormativity shape and are shaped by social, political, ethical, institutional, economic, legal, cultural, scientific and technological factors in the past and present, with special attention paid to interlocking systems of race, ethnicity, religion, class, nation, age, dis/ability and gender in local, national and transnational contexts.
6. Employ key concepts in Queer Studies to contribute to scholarship, creative production and innovation.
7. Develop the intellectual and practical skills necessary to engage with issues of social justice and serve as leaders in the creation, enactment, and evaluation of efforts to create a more inclusive, just and equitable world.

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Please see our list of tentative course offerings!

Please consult Cal Poly's Course Catalog for a comprehensive list of course offerings.

Interested in becoming a Queer Studies Minor?

https://wgqs.calpoly.edu/students/forms