AMST3214: Queer Kinship: Undoing the American Family

What is the American family? Is it a part of the “American Dream”? Is it a claim to national belonging? The American family only exists within US mythology built on imperialism and settler colonialism. This course will explore how the heteronormative nuclear family structure symbolizes modern capitalist society that emphasizes the core American values of individualism, democracy, and the ability to reproduce. Thus, the individual family members are not only transformed into productive citizens but are also tasked with the responsibility to reproduce the nation(alism). For example, the recent advancement for gay marriage is scripted as a new phenomenon that poses as both a threat to the American values and a sign of progress. This paradox exposes the limits of gay identity politics and nationalist ideology within neoliberalism, which later used to justify and rationalize racist and xenophobic ideologies. This course asks: how is the American family always already queer?

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