Queer Time and Memory: an introduction

What is the course about?

How do we remember queer lives? What might it mean to experience time differently?

This introductory session explores queer time and queer memory. Drawing on key ideas from queer theory, we will first examine how familiar life patterns-often organised around family, reproduction, and ideas of progress-shape expectations about how lives should unfold, and how queer lives have often sat uneasily within them. We will introduce thinkers including Elizabeth Freeman, Jack Halberstam, José Esteban Muñoz, and Lee Edelman who explore questions such as: What happens when lives don’t follow expected paths? How might past, present, and future feel different from queer perspectives? And how might queerness disrupt these expectations?

The second part of the session turns to practices of queer memory. We will explore ways in which queer communities have preserved and created histories, focusing in particular on community archives and memorials. Through examples such as the AIDS Memorial Quilts, Queering the Map, and grassroots archives like the rukus! Federation, we will consider how these practices respond to loss and erasure, while also creating new forms of visibility and belonging.

What will we cover?

This session introduces key ideas and examples across two main themes-queer time and queer memory-including:

• Rethinking time: how queer thinkers have challenged conventional ideas about life, work, family, and progress, and what it means to imagine “queer” ways of living in time;
• Why queer memory matters: why queer histories have often been difficult to document or preserve, and the different roles queer memory can play, from mourning and trauma to resistance and recognition;
• Queer archives and memorials: how projects such as the AIDS Memorial Quilts, Queering the Map, and community archives like the rukus! Federation preserve and reconstruct marginalised histories, and make them visible in new ways;
• Inclusion and representation: debates about whose histories are remembered, how communities are represented, and the tensions within queer memory practices.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

• Describe key ideas associated with queer time and queer memory.
• Identify different ways queer histories are preserved and represented.
• Reflect on the purposes and challenges of remembering queer histories.

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

This is an introductory course open to anyone with an interest in queer history, theory, or heritage. An open mind and a willingness to explore different perspectives are more important than any background knowledge. A good level of English will help you engage with the material.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

The session will be taught as an online lecture, with space for questions and discussion. There is no required work outside the session, though optional suggestions for further reading may be provided for those who wish to explore the topic in more depth.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

There are no additional costs. You may wish to have something for note-taking during the session.

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

You might also be interested in:
Contested histories: monuments, memory and power

View all our Histories, Memories and Heritage courses here.

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