LACS248D/ENGL289E/LGBT298D: Moving Bodies: Narratives of Queer and Trans Diaspora in the Americas

This course examines how are queer and trans immigrants in the Americas are represented in contemporary literature and documentaries. We will watch documentaries and read novels and short stories written by and about queer and trans immigrants to analyze how stories about queer and trans immigrants are told. In this course, we will examine questions such as: How do the stories of queer and trans migrants in the Americas circulate? What are the structures of power animating their social and geographical displacement? Through texts and documentaries, we will examine the social and power structures that inform the movements of queer and trans immigrants and their narratives in the Americas. Moving Bodies thus focuses on both the body of cultural work produced by and about queer and trans displaced people and communities and to real bodies in movement.

This is a Global Classrooms course, developed in partnership with the Office of International Affairs (OIA) to provide virtual opportunities for global engagement. Global Classrooms can range from embedded experiences to immersive, project-based collaborations. Learn more about Global Classrooms: go.umd.edu/gci.

This course is open to UMD and non-UMD undergraduate students.
UMD students: Register in Testudo for the following three credit course:

• LACS248D: Moving Bodies: Narratives of Queer and Trans Diaspora in the Americas
• ENGL289E: Moving Bodies: Narratives of Queer and Trans Diaspora in the Americas
• LGBT298D: Moving Bodies: Narratives of Queer and Trans Diaspora in the Americas
• This course will count towards GVPT elective credits.

Non-UMD undergraduate students: Please apply through University of Maryland Office of Extended Studies.

This course will include a blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning (check Testudo for more details). This course will be offered during Summer Session 1-A (May 31 - June 17).  Synchronous sessions occur on Mondays and Wednesday, 6pm-8pm. 

OIA International Education Scholarship
The Office of International Affairs is committed to increasing student access to international education opportunities, both at home and abroad. The OIA International Education Scholarship is a need-based scholarship awarded to students who enroll in one of OIA's Global Classroom's for Summer 2022. Eligible students can receive up to the value of three credits of undergraduate tuition ($1,122) based on financial need and funding availability. 

Scholarship Eligibility Criteria: Degree seeking UMD student in good academic standing who is registered for one of the Summer 2022 Global Classrooms courses

Apply by 11:59pm EST on May 15, 2022. Funding decisions will be released by May 23. 

*Please note this program qualifies for eligible Pell Grant recipients to apply for the Gilman International Scholarship. 

Cecilia was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She moved to Southern California at seventeen, where she completed her B.A. and M.A. in English at the University of California, Riverside and California State University, Los Angeles, respectively. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at UMD, where she researches queer and trans performances of survival in the diaspora. She is also a graduate resident at the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center, where she is completing a Graduate Certificate in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. She has taught and acted as a teaching assistant for WGSS and LGBT courses at UMD and other institutions. In addition to academic writing and teaching, Cecilia explores questions of gender, sexuality, embodiment, and movement through her work in performance art.

For general questions, please contact the Global Classrooms team.