Conceptions of gender and sexuality have transformed over time and in different cultural contexts.  Literature, and more particularly, the public arena of theatre provide an exciting space within which we might learn more about the ways they have been envisioned, imposed and challenged.  Taking a historical perspective on drama, we will pay special attention to discourses on gender and sexuality in Latin American and Spanish theatre and consider the way this genre's performative aspect plays into both the questioning and diffusion of particular codes in different Hispanic societies.  How is the sexuality of men and women in the seventeenth century represented and spoken about at that time?  What was expected of the ideal, "rational" man of the Enlightenment and what doors might that have opened, if any, for women?  What kinds of questions are posed by voices in the Latina community today?  To what extent have writers moved beyond gender/sex binaries and challenged the conventional definitions of both?  To what degree are both gender and sexuality merely performances of received notions?  Finally, reading the works in their literary and socio-political context, we will consider how theatre has been perceived in different situations, the kinds of discourses that perception has created and allowed, the changing literary conventions and their effect on our readings, and the relationship between theatre as experienced through the text versus through performance.

This course therefore aims to expose you to a wide range of theatrical works while both establishing terms for analyzing representations of gender and sexuality, and encouraging you to consider and challenge your own definitions of both.

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