Queer Ecology [6-weeks, $300 Suggested]
Instructor: Stillman | Sundays January 22-February 26 | 5:00-7:00 PM ET | ONLINE
How many times have you been confronted with the absurd claim that there’s something “unnatural” about being trans or queer? What about clownfish (yes, the Finding Nemo fish) who begin life as males and then develop into females? Or kobudai, who develop from female to male? Or gobies, who change sex back and forth often? What about lichens, which are hybridizations of plants and a fungi, or slime molds that literally go from being several distinct individuals to one single organism and back? What about the fact that human beings are now widely believed to be the hybrid offspring of premodern Homo sapiens and Neanderthals? No plants could survive without thousands of cross-species encounters, sexual reproduction involving varieties of partners of every conceivable sex and gender, and more than a dash of aesthetic flare. And without plants? Nothing else would have much of a chance. If we want to look the biological world with anything like clarity, we must accept not only that queerness is natural, but that nature is queer.
Queer Ecology will teach you to understand how queer theory and ecology can become mutually informative. Indeed, if we are to avert the worst consequences of the Anthropocene then queer theory and ecology must become mutually informative. We will engage with works ranging from published scientific articles to performance art, from fiction to the fight against climate change, and from the heights of high theory to the mud beneath the rotting leaves. Join us for Queer Ecology!
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For each class, four (4) full tuition scholarships and five (5) 80% tuition scholarships are available. Due to limited scholarship funds, we are currently only able to offer one class per term at the full scholarship level to any individual student—if you need a full scholarship, please sign up for the class you most want to take and email us to waitlist for any additional classes. We will add you when funds become available. Direct student donations are a crucial aspect of our funding model, and without them, we are not able to pay instructors a living wage. We encourage you to pick the payment tier that corresponds with your needs, but ask that you please consider our commitment to fair labor practices when doing so. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out or you would like to pay tuition on an installment basis, please email us directly, and we will work with you.
If at any point up to 48 hours before your first class session you realize you will be unable to take the class, please email us and we will reallocate your funds to a future class, to another student’s scholarship, or refund it. After classes begin, we are only able to make partial refunds and adjustments.