Social marginality is often involuntary. Individuals and groups in the United States have been marginalized by racism, classism, xenophobia, poverty, patriarchy, homophobia, ableism and other forms of domination. However, marginality it is not merely a condition that the marginalized have to suffer without any agency. Rather, it is a social process involving radical possibility on the part of those pushed to the margin or periphery. Also, marginality – as centrality- is not a stable concept and always situationally bound. In this course we will discuss texts that negotiate marginality from various angles, including chosen marginality and the margin as a position of resistance or empowerment from which authors criticize, reject, or reimagine society. We will discuss fictional and non-fictional texts from the early period of the nation to the present, as well as critical readings on the concept of marginality. Our readings will address various forms of transgressive agency from radical individualism to social and political radicalism to strategic essentialism and social activism.
- Trainer/in: Pisarz-Ramirez Gabriele