Your last project in the class will be a group presentation, in which you will collaborate with some of your colleagues to create a queer manifesto. The purpose of this final is to allow you to apply concepts from the course to the larger worlds in which you live, with a focus on the possibilities of social change – and to learn from your fellow students about the different ways in which each of you might find the course’s ideas to be applicable.
A manifesto is a bold, challenging declaration: it sets forth beliefs, intentions, plans, and demands. Your manifesto should offer a set of beliefs, intentions, plans, and/or demands rooted in one or more of the aspects of LGBTQ Studies we have studied this semester; beyond that, it can take any form. Maybe you’ll start a new queer movement; maybe you’ll develop some critical queer art, or a new publication; maybe you’ll challenge the norms of LGBTQ representation in mainstream or subcultural media.
Here are some things to think about:
• Audience. Who is your manifesto for? You might be addressing the student body at UMD or a particular part of it (students in your major, for example), some segment of the LGBTQ community, the audience for a particular film or TV show, or someone else entirely.
• Style. Queer political statements are rarely dry and textual. How might you incorporate images, video, music, performance?
• Disagreement. Is everyone in your group on board with the same manifesto? If not, that’s not a problem – but can you incorporate the disagreements into the manifesto itself?
• Reaction. What controversies might your manifesto stir up?
Here are some examples of manifestoes from LGBTQ movements and activists:
• Gay Liberation Front Manifesto
• Queers Read This
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• Femme Shark Manifesto (Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Zuleikha Mahmood)
• Impossibility Now (Dean Spade)
Requirements for the presentation will include:
• A maximum of ten minutes presentation time
• Some kind of visual component (PowerPoint, Prezi, handout, etc)
• A bibliography of works cited that should include at least six items, no more than two of which can be from readings assigned in class
• A one-page reflection from each group member describing their role in the group and the dynamics of how everyone worked together. You must turn in your one-page reflection in hard copy on the day you present.