Course Description

In the spring of 2020 many Americans were sent home by the state, to shelter in place and learn new ways of working “safely.” Others were deemed “essential workers” and forced to labor under conditions of risk. Some faced homelessness while others fled to second homes. Emergency has illuminated our notions of “home.” This collision of work and home, public and private, exposed multiple fault lines across the axes of race, gender, class, and sexuality. The particulars of our responses to our current moment--a pandemic in which a threat to our lives may lurk just outside our front doors--are rooted in a long history in which the home becomes a charged site for racialized, classed, and gendered performances of cleaning, cooking, childcare, and schooling. Topics include the division of labor, domestic workers, queer and feminist revisions of home, hygiene, homelessness, food and nutrition, home makeovers, clutter and efficiency.

 

See all 2020-2021 course offerings on the WGS Courses page.