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LGBTQIA+ Pride Month: Queer Studies

A collection of resources about the LGBTQIA+ community.

LGBTQIA+ Youth

Introduction

In this page you can find a selection of books and eBooks held by our library regarding queer studies, meaning studies of topics relating to gay, bisexual, transgender, asexual, queer and intersex people. There are also more specific resources about transgender and nonbinary people, as well as a section about LGBTQIA+ youth.

If you want to look at other resources on these topics, you can use these subjects to start searching in our catalog:

Queer Studies

Transgender and nonbinary people

LGBTQIA+ Youth

Queer Studies

Introduction to the Studies

Queer Theory: an Introduction

The essential history of queer theory The reclamation of the term queer over the last several decades marked a shift in the study of sexuality from a focus on supposedly essential categories such as gay and lesbian, to more fluid notions of sexual identity. On the cutting-edge of this significant shift was Annamarie Jagose's classic text Queer Theory: An Introduction. In this groundbreaking work, Jagose provides a clear and concise explanation of queer theory, tracing it as part of an intriguing history of same-sex love over the last century. Blending insights from prominent theorists such as Judith Butler and David Halperin, Jagose illustrates that queer theory's challenge is to create new ways of thinking, not only about fixed sexual identities such as straight and gay, but about other supposedly immovable notions such as sexuality and gender, and man and woman. First released almost 25 years ago, this groundbreaking work has provided a foundation for the continuing evolution of queer theory in the twenty-first century.

Finding Out: an Introduction to LGBTQ Studies

"Finding Outis an excellent and much-needed overview of LBGTQ studies, providing a thorough history and evocative readings reflecting a variety of perspectives and experiences."  --Brecken Chinn, Curry College   The new Third Edition of Finding Out: An Introductionto LGBTQ Studiesprovides readers with an accessible and riveting introduction to LGBTQ (lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer) studies. Designed as a combination of introductory text and reader, Finding Outhelps students understand the growth and development of LGBTQ identities and the interdisciplinary nature of sexuality studies. The book combines comprehensive introductory and explanatory material with primary source readings. The authors provide context (from history, literature and the arts, media, politics, and more) to form a coherent framework for understanding the included debates and readings. Going beyond simply providing a historical account, this easy-to-follow text offers an in-depth examination of LGBTQ culture and society--making LGBTQ studies a central part of your course coverage.

The Cambridge Companion to Queer Studies

This Companion provides a guide to queer inquiry in literary and cultural studies. The essays represent new and emerging areas, including transgender studies, indigenous studies, disability studies, queer of color critique, performance studies, and studies of digital culture.  Rather than being organized around a set of literary texts defined by a particular theme, literary movement, or demographic, this volume foregrounds a queer critical approach that moves across a wide array of literary traditions, genres, historical periods, national contexts, and media. This book traces the intellectual and political emergence of queer studies, addresses relevant critical debates in the field, provides an overview of queer approaches to genres, and explains how queer approaches have transformed understandings of key concepts in multiple fields.

Underdogs: Social Deviance and Queer Theory

A pathbreaking genealogy of queer theory that traces its roots to an unexpected source: sociological research on marginal communities in the era before Stonewall. The sociology of "social deviants" flourished in the United States at midcentury, studying the lives of outsiders such as homosexuals, Jews, disabled people, drug addicts, and political radicals. But in the following decades, many of these downcast figures would become the architects of new social movements, activists in revolt against institutions, the state, and social constraint. As queer theory gained prominence as a subfield of the humanities in the late 1980s, it seemed to inherit these radical, activist impulses--challenging not only gender and sexual norms, but also the nature of society itself. With Underdogs, Heather Love shows that queer theorists inherited as much from sociologists as they did from activists. Through theoretical and archival work, Love traces the connection between midcentury studies of deviance and the antinormative, antiessentialist field of queer theory.

Trangender and Nonbinary Studies